U.S. Economy in shambles?

Question

For those of you who get on here and whine about how bad the economy is, here are some points which you are more than welcome to argue. The catch is, I have cited all othese facts so you also must have valid CREDIBLE sources or I don't want to hear it.

First of all the Dow Jones Industrial Average has broken its own record 3 times in the last two years. - Fact. Pay attention to the news.

Unemployment rate is the lowest that it has been in 30 years at 4.9% (down from 10.9% during the Carter administration.)*

Inflation in the U.S. is currently hovering at about 2.5%. The lowest it has been since Ronald Regan was President.*

Real Estate prices are the lowest they have been since the late 1950's taking into account the relative inflation of the economy. - Wall Street Journal

A higher percentage of employers now more than EVER are paying above minimum wage by an average of about $2.09.*

*= U.S. Department of Labor / Bureau of Labor Statistics

Answer 1

There you go again, using actual facts to make your point. You are a terrible person. ;)

Answer 2

Why is the U.S dollar collapsing if it is so great? That $2.00 above minimum wage wouldn't get you a studio apt in Watts even if you did work 40 hours doing it.
Real Estate prices are huge compared to the actual amount of people able to buy a home based on todays wages. Obviously the Wal Street Journal didn't take into account the sinking wages of the American worker.
Interest rates are going up.
Your money doesn't go as far as it used to because of rising gas prices and mortgage payments.
20% of your taxes goes to paying the interest on the National Debt which in turn goes to the same banks that loaned the money to the nation and the same banks who give money to the GOP. That's why the GOP doesn't complain about the huge debt and rising deficits that add to that rising national debt.
The infrastructure is falling apart in this country as witnessed by N.Y.C's huge vent system blow up a couple of weeks ago and as witnessed with the bridge collapse in Minnesota yesterday.
Our schools are getting cut AGAIN.
And, your president has us in an endless war that is costing this country trillions of dollars.
The jobs being created are those that pay minumum wage and are in the service sector. The middle class jobs are disappearing while CEO's salaries are rocketing past Saturn. Please, get the facts before you post nonsense.

The people benefitting the most from the DOW are equity corporations and hedge fund managers. The DOW has taken over 7 years to get up to just over 3000 above the highs of the Clinton administration. During Clinton the Dow TRIPLED. It's obvious the country always does much better under a Democrat than a Republican. I'm not even a Democrat and yet it is quite obvious.
Interesting that 70% of Americans agree with me on this issue.
http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=27922

Answer 3

Dow Jones is simply SHUT DOWN if it starts to free fall like it has done numerous times in the past two years..that is a FACT. This is to keep it so it doesn't keep falling.

Unemployment only takes into account those who are actively getting unemployment benefits, so the number is knowingly skewed into showing only ONE group of people. People who have been out of work and who are still looking for new work, but who don't get unemployment are not accounted for.

Inflation doesn't take into account FOOD and ENERGY, what people are spending most of their money on. To show how bad it is, there are only very few people who have any savings to speak of.

Real Estate prices are a result from high mortgage rates and banks scared to loan out money because of all the foreclosures which are happening...from ARMS and the regular loans. Real Estate is tanking currently.

As far as paying above Minimum wage...Wow...that still is not a livable wage. You have to be making at least $20 an hour to be...THAT is not happening. How many times in 30 years has our Senators and Reps gave themselves a raise? How many times have they raised the minimum wage?

I am not going to search for well known facts because I don't have the time. Don't want to believe them, then fine, I don't care.

Ever hear of North American Union? It is something like the EU with Mexico, the USA and Canada joined into one. Key words to look up are NAU, SPP, and the Amero (which is the currency they are trying to get the three to use)

Answer 4

Let's llok at your "facts" one-by-one, shall we?

1. Dow Jones is a scaled dollar value of 30 stocks comprising the index. Notice that Dow is never adjusted for inflation of dollar value as designed. Today it closed at 13,463. The index was over 11,000 in Sep 2000. A 22% gain over 7 years. But, to compare apples to apples, let's see what happened to the dollar over the same time period: approximately 30% loss in value! this is compared to majority of world's currencies, not even gold which is supposed to be a benchmark. So, as of today, we are sitting at an 8% loss in Dow in real money. But, a better indicator of stock market could be S&P500 index since it's more broad. There, we are still below 2000 levels. Source: Yahoo Finance.

2. Unemployment rate does fairly represent the health of economy, although it is important. The real situation is that the rate has been largely flat for the last 10 years, but the quality of jobs are on decline due to outsourcing.

3. The way the inflation is calculated by the government does not have a leg to stand on. I do not have the patience to explain all the problems with it, but you need to look at large expenses such as medical, college tuition, housing and food. Low cost of Chinese-made crap as well as falling prices of some goods due to technology improvement/outsourcing do not represent the real picture.

4. I am not sure how Real Estate prices support your point. If they are low, this means people can't afford it because of bad economy.

5. The minimum wage has been unchanged until very recently since early 1990s. $2 above it doesn't even cover the official inflation number.

Now, US economy is not in shambles, but it's far from outstanding by many measures. Look at defficits, real growth rates, huge problems down the road with Social Security and Medicare.

Answer 5

The economy is great, but to admit otherwise would require them admitting that socialism sucks. I think their heads would explode if they had to do that.

The economy today is stronger than almost ever before. There are many reasons for it but the primary one is people, you and I, have been able to keep more of OUR money and we have put that in to play in the overall financial growth of our country.

The tax relief packages of 2001 and 2003 have stimulated almost five years of steady growth. Federal revenues have risen 37% during the last three years and that is expected to continue through 2007. The deficit this year is expected to be 1.5% of GDP, which is below the average of the last 40 years. Productivity growth since 2001 has averaged 2.8 percent annually, which is considerably higher than the past three decades. New jobs since 2003 are at 8.2 million and the current unemployment rate of 4.5% is lower than the averages of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. If you want a job, there is one out there. Since 2000 real after-tax income is up 9.9 percent which has translated itself into a robust yet steady economy allowing more people to purchase primary homes than ever before in history.

So there it is in a nutshell, a great economy driven primarily by allowing we the people to keep OUR money. It is called equality of opportunity, what America is all about. But this is about to come to an end and the ramifications to our security are huge. The primary reason America is the greatest State in the world is due to our financial strength, anything that damages that puts us at great risk.

The Democrats have passed a budget that will eliminate those financial stimulus packages effectively raising taxes on every single American to the tune of $736 billion. One key issue, they are eliminating the lower tax rate on capital gains, the one element that has so effectively stimulated the economy in the last six years.

The AMT is failing and must be addressed. The Democrat solution to this crisis of their own creation; a 4% tax increase on small businesses and the upper tax bracket. The upper tax bracket is defined as >$80,000 per year in AGI, so America bend over, the Democrats are going to give it to you again. Small businesses employ over half of the private sector employees. What do you think a tax increase is going to do to private jobs growth? These are not companies that are outsourcing jobs; these are red, white and blue American jobs the Democrats are going to eliminate. These are the companies that have created over 60% of the new jobs in the last decade, and now the Democrats are going to punish them for that success.

This is not about conservatives and liberals. We are far beyond that debate. It is about America’s capital survival versus sweeping socialism. The capitalist economy works and that is proven, socialism fails, that is known. The two systems are diametrically opposed. Do not for one moment believe they can be blended into a benign socialist system. There is nothing benign about it. Socialism is a cancer, and it is always malignant and to save our country it must be removed in any manner possible.

Answer 6

rather trouble-free...He observed Reaganomics... Trickle down (supply the money to the wealthy and that they are going to enable what they do no longer choose "trickle down" to something people.) grant element economics (flood the marketplace with affordable crap and individuals will purchase it -- despite in the event that they have not got jobs) and deregulation (circulate away firms unregulated and that they are going to do no longer something yet good issues) upload in 2 pointless, unfunded wars and you have the disaster that became the Bush administration. to those that blame the Democratic majority in congress for a 12 months and a 0.5 while issues fell aside, i'd element out that the Republicans with majorities in the two homes and the administration of the White residing house have been no longer able to characteristic ANY private sector jobs interior the 1st 4 years of the Bush administration and that Bush veto merely one bill interior the 1st six years and then set a checklist of vetoes while the Democrats took administration of the legislature.

Answer 7

On July 6, 2007, The Bureau Of Labor Statistics Released New Jobs Figures – 132,000 Jobs Created In June. Since August 2003, more than 8.2 million jobs have been created, with more than 2 million jobs created over the twelve months ending in June. Our economy has now added jobs for 46 straight months, and the unemployment rate remains low at 4.5 percent.

Answer 8

The average American isn’t experiencing this “great” economy. Just telling them that it is great isn’t going to work. Americans are deep into debt, aren’t saving any money, are worried about health care, are struggling with tuition payments etc.

Answer 9

But how can this be ? We have to make President Bush look bad because he kicked our ----- in the elections and we know that the Democrat Party is the chosen party to run this country. So you must stop posting this kind of information the people are not yet ready for the truth.

Answer 10

It certainly is! Why do all the idiots believe the wonderfull figures that the government pulls out of its ar se! Can't they work things out for themselves? If the countries economy is so dandy, why is it trillions of dollars in deficit? Wake up, people!

Answer 11

I guess the only thing that they hear was that Canada's $ is worth more than ours. I am sure I heard that too. But what for one day? All of the other things overshadow that.