The "recovery" is sputtering along

[MadHound]

Today's economic news was not good. Our economic "recovery", such as it is, is sputtering along, and quite possibly about to come to a halt.

Figures that came out today show that GDP growth in the first quarter slowed (I always love the caveat they put in, "unexpectedly") to 1.8%. This is, in large part, due to inflation, which was at an annualized 5.6% for the first quarter of this year. And of course, on top of this, first time claims for unemployment went up again, for the second time in the past three weeks.

This simply confirms what we're all seeing out there, that our "recovery" was dicey at best, and any little straw could sent us diving again. That straw turns out to be inflation, pushed by oil speculation(but hey, Exxon had 11 billion in first quarter profits:puke:) and also pushed by the Feds ongoing unleashing of the printing presses.

Since this inflation isn't going to go down anytime soon, we can expect our economy to get worse, for GDP to stagnate, or even go into the negatives. Meanwhile, more people will get kicked off their jobs, and around and around that vicious circle we will continue.

There is only one way to end this madness, and that is for a true, New Deal style jobs creation program. Until we address the issue of jobs in a meaningful way, any "recovery" is going to be a sham, and our economy will continue to wallow along in this, our own Lost Decade.

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Autumn]

2. K/R

:kick:

[emulatorloo]

3. Great News for Republicans, and much of it is their doing

as part of their strategy to keep the economy in a mess so they can win in 2012

[MadHound]

4. Oh, it is a bipartisan effort,

Part of the plan revolving around our two party/same corporate master system of government.

[Skittles]

5. CORRECT

[emulatorloo]

12. Sorry I don't agree. I live in a state with a Republican Gov, Republican House, and Dem Senate

The governor and house are just as bad as those in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan.

We have had anti-union legislation, anti-gay legislation, a bill to allow "deadly force" to protect a zygote and on an on.

Every one of those bills has been stopped by the Democratic Senate.

Now I understand the appeal of your "they are all the same" conspiracy theory. And I will agree with you that there are some "Democrats" who are pretty worthless.

But that is not the Reality. Certainly not in my state.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. K&R

[Poboy]

7. Green 'effing shoots!

[MadHound]

8. ?

Haven't heard that one:shrug:

[Poboy]

11. Apologies. It was typed as sarcasm. A year or so it was claimed the economy was

showing signs of improvement, or 'green shoots'.

[unkachuck]

9. the Chinese....

....economic model has been lifting their people out of poverty for decades....our economic model has been putting our people into poverty for decades....

....who has the worlds' economic model of the future?

[woo me with science]

10. K&R nt

[Aerows]

13. Anyone who grocery shops

Knows that we are not in a recovery period - the price of everything has gone up, and wages haven't. That pretty much tells you how things are.

[kenny blankenship]

14. More people believe the economy is in depression than recession or growth

they see no recovery.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/

Thursday, April 28, 2011
Gallup Poll Shows that More Americans Believe the U.S. is in a Depression than is Growing ... Are They Right?

Not going to excerpt it. Read the whole thing.

[DefenseLawyer]

15. In the long run it's not "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" it's "Wages, Wages, Wages"

We have to take big, long-term steps to raise wages in this country. Of course, if you are out of work any job is a good job, I get that. But people making just enough to get by on low wages and consumer credit do not lead to a stable economy, much less a thriving economy.