From "Front Edge of a Recession" To "Storm Clouds"

[marmar]

from OurFuture.org:




From "Front Edge of a Recession" To "Storm Clouds"
Submitted by Bill Scher on December 17, 2007 - 9:00pm.



The Bush Administration came into office seven years ago talking down the economy -- saying we're on the "front edge of a recession" in hopes of setting a low bar of expectations for themselves to clear.

But the bar just kept dropping.

Seven years later, when President Bush scheduled a speech designed to talk up the economy as he gets ready to walk out the door, he can't avoid conceding the mess he will leave to his successor.

In his prepared remarks today, Bush said with a straight face, "If you think about where we were coming out of 2001 and where we are today, you can't help but say the plan worked. Cutting taxes helped stimulate economic growth."

If by "worked" you mean corporate profits went up while family income declined (PDF file of Census data), he's right!

But after his prepared remarks, Bush actually took some questions from his Rotary Club audience. And the second one, from a commercial lender, punctured the Bush bubble:

What about my big customers that are driving diesel-powered equipment? ... fuel goes to $3.25 a gallon to $5.00, while at the same time that you're having an escalated health care expenses ... revenues aren't necessarily expanding in this soft economy that we're in. So what happens in '08 and '09 when the --

......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/front_edge_recession_storm_clouds?tx=3

[Warpy]

1. It will continue to be sour as long as conservatives are in control

and I mean their conservatives as well as our conservatives.

A return to demand side economics will save this country but conservatives are all wedded to what should be now thoroughly discredited supply side economics combined with free trade without fair trade.

It should be obvious to all of us that conservatives don't have any of the answers, but men who have gotten rich and powerful pushing that snake oil are not going to let go of it easily.

We're in for a long, miserable time of tightened belts and cold houses.