More Great Economic News

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Cutting interest rates will stimulate the economy. More people can afford to buy already cheap houses. This is better than sitting there like a stupid, impotent moron like Jimmy Carter.
 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080116/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy

Inflation rate is worst in 17 years

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer 27 minutes ago

Higher costs for energy and food last year pushed inflation up by the largest amount in 17 years, even though prices generally remained tame outside of those two areas. Meanwhile, industrial output was flat in December, more evidence of a significant slowdown in the economy.

Consumer prices rose by 4.1 percent for all of 2007, up sharply from a 2.5 percent increase in 2006, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Consumers felt the pain when they filled up their gas tanks or shopped for groceries. Prices for both energy and food shot up by the largest amount since 1990.

In a second report, the Federal Reserve said that output at the nation's factories, mines and utilities showed no growth in December, adding to a string of weak economic reports showing that the economy was slowing at the end of last year.

That weakness has shown up in the biggest one-month jump in unemployment since the 2001 terrorist attacks and billions of dollars in losses at many of the country's biggest financial institutions. Citigroup Inc. reported Tuesday it had suffered a $10 billion loss for the last three months of 2007, reflecting bad bets on investments backed by subprime mortgages.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged by 277 points on Tuesday and fell even further on Wednesday as Intel reported weak earnings for the fourth quarter. The Dow was down by 26 points in late morning trading.

The unchanged industrial output in December was the poorest showing since industrial output actually fell by 0.5 percent in October. Output had been up by 0.3 percent in November.

The December weakness reflected flat output at U.S. factories, a tiny 0.1 percent rise in the mining industry and a 0.2 percent drop at the nation's utilities.

The Consumer Price Index rose by 0.3 percent in December, slower than the 0.8 percent in November, as food costs were flat for the month and energy prices rose by 0.9 percent after an even bigger 5.7 percent jump in November.

Outside of food and energy, inflation rose a more moderate 0.2 percent in December. This measure of core inflation rose by 2.4 percent for all of 2007, down slightly from a 2.6 percent increase in 2006.

The Federal Reserve is closely watching to see whether the jump in food and energy becomes more widespread and starts pushing core inflation higher.

Analysts said that with core prices generally remaining well-behaved, it will give the central bank the leeway to cut interest rates further to battle a serious economic slowdown triggered by a steep slump in housing and a spreading credit crisis.

The expectation is that the Fed will cut a key rate by a half-point when officials meet at the end of this month. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke raised hopes for further rate cuts in a speech last week when he said that economic risks had grown significantly in recent weeks.

The rising risk of a recession has prompted politicians to consider stimulus packages to give the economy a jump-start to either prevent a recession or at least mitigate its fallout. President Bush has said he may unveil a plan around his Jan. 28 State of the Union address. Democrats in Congress and presidential candidates in both parties are putting forward their own plans.

The CPI report showed that the 4.1 percent increase in overall prices was the biggest since a 6.1 percent jump in prices in 1990.

Energy costs rose by 17.4 percent this past year while food costs rose by 4.9 percent. Both were the biggest increases since 1990. Gasoline prices were up 29.6 percent, the biggest increase since they soared by 30.1 percent in 1999.

The 2.4 percent rise in prices outside of food and energy was the smallest since a 2.2 percent rise in 2005.

Clothing costs and the price of new cars actually fell for the year, both dropping by 0.3 percent, while airline fares, reflecting higher fuel costs, were up 10.6 percent and medical care, always one of the leading areas of price increases, rose by 5.2 percent for 2007.

Workers' wages failed to keep up with the higher inflation. Average weekly earnings, after adjusting for inflation, dropped by 0.9 percent in 2007, the biggest setback since a 1.5 percent fall in 2005.
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Uh, woohoo!?

- N
 
kmguru said:
Exactly...because economy is bad!
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Only because of the stupid morons who defaulted on their home loans. The rest of it is great: the stock market, unemployment numbers, interest rates, etc...

What an AWESOME time to be an American. :bravo:

The economy swings every 7 years or so. This is nothing new. We just thought we would miss this hit but the stupid people with their loans screwed it all up. And the media has been preaching doom and gloom for 7 years. They hate W. :(
 
sandy said:
Only because of the stupid morons who defaulted on their home loans. The rest of it is great: the stock market, unemployment numbers, interest rates, etc...

What an AWESOME time to be an American. :bravo:

The economy swings every 7 years or so. This is nothing new. We just thought we would miss this hit but the stupid people with their loans screwed it all up. And the media has been preaching doom and gloom for 7 years. They hate W. :(
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right your living in a dream world it sucks to be an american economically right now
 
sandy said:
Only because of the stupid morons who defaulted on their home loans. The rest of it is great: the stock market, unemployment numbers, interest rates, etc...

What an AWESOME time to be an American. :bravo:

The economy swings every 7 years or so. This is nothing new. We just thought we would miss this hit but the stupid people with their loans screwed it all up. And the media has been preaching doom and gloom for 7 years. They hate W. :(
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Do you know a lot about why people default on mortgages?
 
sandy said:
...because of the stupid morons who defaulted on their home loans. The rest of it is great: ...
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Do you think these "stupid morons" were the inventers of "teaser rate loans" ARMs, "Lier loans" "Balloon notes" "nothing down motgage" and several other types of mortgages DESIGNED for poor, ill educated people who could not pay.

Certainly the bankers, who created all these new loan forms were not stupid as they very quickly packaged them up and sold them off to others even in foreign lands (like Northern Rock, etc.) so they would not get stuck with the inevitable defaults.

This system of collecting up front points, placement fees, etc. and then quickly dumping the bad notes on someone else is real creative intelligence (AND CRIMINAL DESTRUCTION OF THE USA for personal gain) but look on the good news side:
Soon the Arabs will own the US banks and they are so moral that they do not even charge interest.;)
 
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Billy T said:
Certainly the bankers, who created all these new loan forms were not stupid as they very quickly packaged them up and sold them off to others even in foreign lands (like Northern Rock, etc.) so they would not get stuck with the inevitable defaults.
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Oh right, not quite so stupid.
 
PPG Industries

ppg
 
President Bush has called for $145 billion worth of tax relief and other incentives to stimulate the economy and fend off a possible recession. He said a growth package must include tax incentives for business investment and “direct and rapid” tax relief for individuals. :yay:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22725498/

God, I love him! :bravo: :yay:
 
sandy said:
President Bush has called for $145 billion worth of tax relief and other incentives to stimulate the economy and fend off a possible recession. He said a growth package must include tax incentives for business investment and “direct and rapid” tax relief for individuals. :yay:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22725498/

God, I love him! :bravo: :yay:
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cept the problem right now is not low investment it is low spending from the private sector namely the poor and middle classes.
 
sandy said:
President Bush ....God, I love him! :bravo: :yay:
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You said you were buying real-estate about 6 months ago. So I predict that will be a "summer romance" ending in a lot of pain. See NEW reason at:
http://www.sciforums.com/showpost.php?p=1716764&postcount=108

or the original at the The economist, current issue (17Jan08), available on line. (An important effect of US population distribution I had failed to notice.)

here is a quote from it:
"First came the excitement of soaring prices. Then spirits came crashing down with the subprime crisis, and now homeowners are agonising over how far values could fall. An even bigger story, however, may be yet to come."
 
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I have been buying real estate since I was 18. The stuff I'm buying up now will skyrocket in value. They're all in awesome locations virtually unaffected by market conditions.
 
sandy said:
I have been buying real estate since I was 18. The stuff I'm buying up now will skyrocket in value. They're all in awesome locations virtually unaffected by market conditions.
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You do know what depressions are do you not? I do not expect you to know much about them so I tell one fact about the one in 1929. A large commercial property, well located, called the Medical Arts Building in Charleston of about 8 floors and almost a hundred medical offices changed hands for 5 or 10 thousand dollars. (I forget the exact sum - my father a doctor in it, told me this.) Otherwise the owner was going to jump off the top.

Rather than posting claims no one can check - give some specifics as I often do.
 
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Of course I do. We will never see one. Not while we're alive. Not while the Republicans are in charge. I don't care about market conditions. I am way more diversified than just real estate. In fact, it's only a small portion of my portfolio.
 
sandy said:
Of course I do. We will never see one. Not while we're alive. Not while the Republicans are in charge. ...
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Interesting claim, but false. In fact GWB has already had one recession and most honest people think his second is now in progress, but you only meet the offical definition 6 months after the start,

Let me recall: who was the only other US president this century to have two recessions. Oh yes, I remember, it was RMN, the only one ever to resign to avoid being impeached. As far as depressions go, HH was the one who made the only one in the 1900s - was HH not also a Republican? Last 100 years of history seems to show that ONLY Republicans make depressions and two recessions by one president.

Reason is they tend to serve the wealthy and when it gets too bad for Joe American, the economy goes to hell. Henry Ford understood that the workers must be well paid, and he did so, despite the critical comments from his Republican friends (Edison and Firestone especially) that he was ruining the economy by driving up wages, etc.
 
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sandy said:
I have been buying real estate since I was 18. The stuff I'm buying up now will skyrocket in value. They're all in awesome locations virtually unaffected by market conditions.
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Give a few examples of your recent investments, as I do, we can check / follow. Otherwise I and most others will think you are just a good BSer.
 
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