Well that hope and change has resulted in an all time high jobless rate (DEC). I don't care if I offend the democrates but they have to go including the spinless republicans. We need true conservatives elected in 2010 & 2012. For those of you who think this economy won't affect you think again. All this unemployment/inflation/increasing taxes will affect all of us. No more hiding our heads in the sand anymore. We need to do something about this mess....GET GOD, GET INFORMED, DON'T DRINK THE KOOLAIDE, AND MOST OF ALL VOTE!!!!!
The rate of job losses has slowed dramatically. This is of little value to some who have lost jobs, but it still is a significant improvement from where it was in the not too distant past. This bodes well for critical consumer confidence...which in the past has comprised 2/3 of economic activity in the U.S.
Residential real estate markets are not healthy, but there has been stabilization in this area.
The manufacturing sector is increasing production.
The financial sector, though I'm not convinced appropriate corrective action has been taken yet (tough to do with conservatives and lobbyists screaming against reform measures), has stabilized significantly when compared to where it was in September/October '08.
Inflation has been, for the most part, non-existent for the last year. Despite the amount of money the government has spent, and invested, in what so far has been a successful effort to avoid the Great Depression Redux, massive deflation in housing values, equity investment values, and capital lending has effectively offset government stabiliaztion and stimulus dollars.
There has been significant improvement throughout 2008 for those who make an effort to invest wisely.
There are a number of challenges ahead, to be certain. One of the biggest is at what point in time, and at what rate to begin withdrawing economic stimulus. That decision will impact inflation going forward. Despite what the fearmongers would have us believe, hyper inflation is not assured.
I don't know what you consider "true conservatives", or what you believe should have been done differently, but any student of history understands that tightening monetary policy and reducing government spending during a period of great economic turmoil allowed a recession to metastatize into the original Great Depression.
The unemployment rate affects the majority of us.
The inflation rate has been benign, as the "velocity" of money has been reduced substantially during this recession.
Taxes have not increased substantially. Even the "liberal tax hikes" radio talk show hosts love to get outraged about are little more than restoring the top marginal tax rate from the previous administration's 35% to the 39% level it was at before. I suspect the overwhelming majority of people who are upset about this aren't anywhere close to the earning power necessary to actually be impacted by a change of this nature.
Again, I don't believe "all is well", but I do believe we're far from being in as bad a position as those who earn a living by inciting fear and devisiveness claim.
I suspect a very large percentage of people who criticize the government's fiscal irresponsibility have personal balance sheets that look far far worse. I base that suspicion on
data that shows half of U.S. households had net worths of less than $86,000 in pre-recession 2007...and 40% of pre-recession households had less than $38,000 in net worth.
This mess wasn't created overnight, and it won't be solved that quickly either.
Respectfully
