By what measure is the US economy booming?

Question

Is it the fact that the USD is reaching record lows on the international currency market and losing hegemony?
Is it the fact that the national debt has surpassed $9 trillion?
Is it the fact that personal income is being outpaced by inflation?
Is it because the financial sector is collapsing from losses in mortgage loans, which are likely to top $250 billion?
Is it because the cost of energy will reach a choke point within a few months?
Or is it the rosy data supplied by the government, low unemployment and low inflation, that proves to you that the economy is booming?
When did we start having the fox guard the hen house in the USA?

btw. I am not a liberal. So don't start with the liberal bashing.

Answer 1

I live in Michigan and my husband works in governmental accounting. The only way the economy is booming is if it is a grenade about to go off! It is about to explode in all our faces.

The financial conference that we went to was excessively bleak except for when you heard a politician talk. Somehow, they seem to put on these rose colored glasses to blind them to the real financial situation. Who knows, maybe they feel it is their duty to instill hope in the population, but those who are really in the know.....will tell you, it doesn't look good and Michigan is on the front edge of that financial disaster.

Answer 2

Great question.

I don't know how to answer without sounding like a Bush Basher, but I'll try.

In the Nixon years we had "I am not a crook." Meanwhile, dirty tricks were being honed to an art form. He continued American policies of propping up governments in spite of the best interest of the US.

As far as corruption, Ford and Carter were fairly clean, and doublespeak was not common, but neither man was perfect. Carter suffered from policies he inherited. He didn't handle them well, but he was honest about them most of the time.

Then we had the massive spending and equally massive debts of the Reagan years--the "big screen, big picture" guy who fell asleep in cabinet meetings. The Great Communicator was also a great misdirector of attention.

While I didn't like the elder Bush's social policies, I thought he was relatively honest. He was coping as well as he could with the mess Reagan left him. He had moments when he was putting a happy face on the economy in spite of obvious facts, and it got him de-selected in the voting booth.

Clinton worked with the Republicans, and together they brought the deficit under control. He benefited from forces he didn't control - the revolution in technology that fueled economic growth for a decade. I will always resent his looking into the camera and lying, but I know few men who wouldn't lie if they thought they could about what they had put where without the wife's knowledge. Where his "what" had been was not really my concern, though. His policies were reasonable, and I thought he was honest about them.

The economy was strong when Bush took office. You know the rest.

In my working memory, there has always been a fox near the hen-house, sometimes inside the fence, sometimes outside the gate. Recent events have put them right inside the door.

Answer 3

Devalued currency is making US made goods a better value oversees, costing less to buy in Europe and Asia, Thus, the trade defiset is shrinking mightily.
Second, this is stimulating job groth which is still creating very good employment numbers and raises in avaerage pay are good.
Third, the stock markets proformance is at historic highs with very high investment figures.
The agricultural sector is booming because the the overall rise in prices and profits from the high demand for corn, a huge bumper crop, and the demand for corn as biofuel for "gasahol"
The down side is oil prices and a real estate recession getting worse. The overal economy is still in good shape despite these two negatives...but for how long?
Raise taxes anytime soon and we will get a recession

Answer 4

Flights are full at high prices.
Hotels are full at ridiculously high prices.
Lines at fine restaurants are out the door.
Even with higher fuel prices, traffic is terrible and getting worse.
Government revenue is at it's highest historical level.
The CPI relative to population census and the National Income and Product Accounts has never been more stable.
Some sort of real estate ownership is enjoyed by over 70% of the population, the highest in history.

I think if I had a dollar for every time I heard an erroneous prediction of US economic doom over my lifetime, I could be Yahoo.
It has never been less likely than right now.

Answer 5

Really, I didn't know it was booming, I constantly hear how retail stores are complaining of losing allot of money, because noone is shopping. Also, I've seen a bunch of companies that have been around since before I was born and suddenly selling or shutting down all together. Job security is non-existant. Gas is always high no matter what the weather is. Definately not booming.

Answer 6

I agree. This is ludicrous. The jobs created were service sector jobs that pay minimum wage. Unemployment does not figure in those that were on unemployment and their money ran out that have still not found a job. Everything that is delivered by truck or train has went up and will continue until the price of diesel fuel drops. People are complaining about gas prices actually should be complaining about diesel prices. Everything they purchase from produce to clothing is going up for the foreseeable future.

Answer 7

measure economy booming

Answer 8

It is not. In todays money, the average male 1979, between 25-40, without a college diploma made about 43,000$/year. Today, the same sex and age group, but with a college degree makes about 41,000$/year. Also, American workers are more productive than they've ever been. There has been a redistribution of wealth since 1980, but it's been slow, and from the middle class, which now works longer hours, has more college loans to pay back, and produces more, to the CEO's who fashion themselves as deserving the money they make on the backs of their workforce.

Answer 9

Questions such as this one, is what y/a is supposed to be about.
Your dissertation / explanation of the conditions, announces the factual data to the public.
Unfortunately, This ol' man sees " A VERY BAD TIME ARRIVING SOON, POSSIBLY AS BAD AS THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF THE 30'S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Study the 1920's financial history, Political Scatology and those Political Attitudes, and then compare those , to today !!!!!
?CONSTIPATED??? This will scare the SHI-Z OUT OF YOU !!!!

Answer 10

I am by no means rich, but because of this economy and the fact that I am willing to get off my duff and work, I provide a good living for my family, have money in the bank, we are a single income family which means my beautiful wife can be home with our children to home school them with the truth and morality. This means that they are taught core values, respect for humanity (anti-abortion, sex before marriage is wrong, etc.), true science and not the junk science taught by the PS system. We own both our vehicles and our home and do not have any type of credit. We are debit free. All because we made a decsion not to be trapped by the lies of a liberal society. Try living a moral life for a change and quit blaming the economy, the Pres., the war, your neighbor etc. for your woes. (I don't mean you specifically, I mean people in general)