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-   -   Believe the US Economy is getting better? Think again. (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=790931)

  • Apr 30, 2014, 11:04 AM
    smoothy
    Believe the US Economy is getting better? Think again.
    Obama made a historical mess out of many things.....including our economy. Despite constant claims to the contrary, there is ample proof its all propaganda and lies...and improvement isn't going to happen as long as he is screwing things up.

    If he resigned....there would be an Immediate huge improvement in every aspect of American life....and international affairs.


    17 Facts To Show To Anyone That Believes That The U.S. Economy Is Just Fine



    Posted on April 30, 2014 by Michael Snyder

    http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/w...17-300x300.pngNo, the economy is most definitely not “recovering”. Despite what you may hear from the politicians and from the mainstream media, the truth is that the U.S. economy is in far worse shape than it was prior to the last recession. In fact, we are still pretty much where we were at when the last recession finally ended. When the financial crisis of 2008 struck, it took us down to a much lower level economically. Thankfully, things have at least stabilized at this much lower level. For example, the percentage of working age Americans that are employed has stayed remarkably flat for the past four years. We should be grateful that things have not continued to get even worse. It is almost as if someone has hit the “pause button” on the U.S. economy. But things are definitely not getting better, and there are a whole host of signs that this bubble of false stability will soon come to an end and that our economic decline will accelerate once again. The following are 17 facts to show to anyone that believes that the U.S. economy is just fine…
  • Apr 30, 2014, 11:05 AM
    smoothy
    #1 The homeownership rate in the United States has dropped to the lowest level in 19 years.
    #2 Consumer spending for durable goods has dropped by 3.23 percent since November. This is a clear sign that an economic slowdown is ahead.
    #3 Major retailers are closing stores at the fastest pace that we have seen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
    #4 According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20 percent of all families in the United States do not have a single member that is employed. That means that one out of every five families in the entire country is completely unemployed.
    #5 There are 1.3 million fewer jobs in the U.S. economy than when the last recession began in December 2007. Meanwhile, our population has continued to grow steadily since that time.
    #6 According to a new report from the National Employment Law Project, the quality of the jobs that have been “created” since the end of the last recession does not match the quality of the jobs lost during the last recession…

    • Lower-wage industries constituted 22 percent of recession losses, but 44 percent of recovery growth.
    • Mid-wage industries constituted 37 percent of recession losses, but only 26 percent of recovery growth.
    • Higher-wage industries constituted 41 percent of recession losses, and 30 percent of recovery growth.

    #7 After adjusting for inflation, men who work full-time in America today make less money than men who worked full-time in America 40 years ago.
    #8 It is hard to believe, but 62 percent of all Americans make $20 or less an hour at this point.
    #9 Nine of the top ten occupations in the U.S. pay an average wage of less than $35,000 a year.
    #10 The middle class in Canada now makes more money than the middle class in the United States does.
  • Apr 30, 2014, 11:07 AM
    smoothy
    #11 According to one recent study, 40 percent of all Americans could not come up with $2000 right now even if there was a major emergency.
    #12 Less than one out of every four Americans has enough money put away to cover six months of expenses if there was a job loss or major emergency.
    #13 An astounding 56 percent of all Americans have subprime credit in 2014.
    #14 As I wrote about the other day, there are now 49 million Americans that are dealing with food insecurity.
    #15 Ten years ago, the number of women in the U.S. that had jobs outnumbered the number of women in the U.S. on food stamps by more than a 2 to 1 margin. But now the number of women in the U.S. on food stamps actually exceeds the number of women that have jobs.
    #16 69 percent of the federal budget is spent either on entitlements or on welfare programs.
    #17 The number of Americans receiving benefits from the federal government each month exceeds the number of full-time workers in the private sector by more than 60 million.
  • Apr 30, 2014, 11:07 AM
    smoothy
    Taken individually, those numbers are quite remarkable.
    Taken collectively, they are absolutely breathtaking.
    Yes, things have been improving for the wealthy for the last several years. The stock market has soared to new record highs and real estate prices in the Hamptons have skyrocketed to unprecedented heights.
    But that is not the real economy. In the real economy, the middle class is being squeezed out of existence. The quality of our jobs is declining and prices just keep rising. This reality was reflected quite well in a comment that one of my readers left on one of my recent articles
    It is getting worse each passing month. The food bank I help out, has barely squeaked by the last 3 months. Donors are having to pull back, to take care of their own families. Wages down, prices up, simple math tells you we can not hold out much longer. Things are going up so fast, you have to adopt a new way of thinking. Example I just had to put new tires on my truck. Normally I would have tried to get by to next winter. But with the way prices are moving, I decide to get them while I could still afford them. It is the same way with food. I see nothing that will stop the upward trend for quite a while. So if you have a little money, and the space, buy it while you can afford it. And never forget, there will be some people worse off than you. Help them if you can.
    And the false stock bubble that the wealthy are enjoying right now will not last that much longer. It is an artificial bubble that has been pumped up by unprecedented money printing by the Federal Reserve, and like all bubbles that the Fed creates, it will eventually burst.
    None of the long-term trends that are systematically destroying our economy have been addressed, and none of our major economic problems have been fixed. In fact, as I showed in this recent article, we are actually in far worse shape than we were just prior to the last major financial crisis.
    Let us hope that this current bubble of false stability lasts for as long as possible.
    That is what I am hoping for.
    But let us not be deceived into thinking that it is permanent.
    It will soon burst, and then the real pain will begin.
    Michael Snyder is the Editor of The Economic Collapse Blog.
    http://www.dcclothesline.com/wp-cont...nt-600x449.jpg Source: Business Insider


    http://www.dcclothesline.com/2014/04...omy-just-fine/
  • Apr 30, 2014, 11:09 AM
    NeedKarma
    Your copy/pasting skills are impressive.
    Is that the only website you get your "news" from?
    Do you ever look at actual facts and make your own conclusions?
  • Apr 30, 2014, 11:30 AM
    smoothy
    THese are all factual and accurate... And most people living on this side of the border know its true... thats why Obamas favorable ratings are at historic lows... (since everything he does is apparently "Historic")

    Besides that source is more credible than anything the NY Slimes prints or the Washington comPost publishes these days.
  • Apr 30, 2014, 04:06 PM
    paraclete
    yep sharin your wealth with the rest of the world is a blitch ain't it?
  • Apr 30, 2014, 04:23 PM
    Catsmine
    The small business owners in the U.S. are well aware of these statistics. More and more of our business comes from cash transactions that some don't report. Even some financial reports a citing the "Gray Market."

    $2 Trillion Underground Economy May Be Recovery's Savior
  • Apr 30, 2014, 05:29 PM
    smoothy
    I know a number of peple doing just that... to keep Obama and his minions from getting their fingers on any of their money.

    I wish I was able to... but in my job field... its not a possibility.
  • Apr 30, 2014, 05:57 PM
    paraclete
    Now that situation is exactly why we have a Goods and Services Tax, tax 'em when they spend it, helps to keep a handle on the disparity between income tax records and business income and the best part, all that taxation revenue flows though federal hands, doing away with those inefficient state sales taxes. We actually had a GST led recovery at one time
  • Apr 30, 2014, 05:59 PM
    smoothy
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by paraclete View Post
    Now that situation is exactly why we have a Goods and Services Tax, tax 'em when they spend it, helps to keep a handle on the disparity between income tax records and business income and the best part, all that taxation revenue flows though federal hands, doing away with those inefficient state sales taxes. We actually had a GST led recovery at one time

    THe liberals wouldn't have that... they couldn't penalize people who worked harder to get a better job with a higher percentage tax rate. And they couldn't exempt their core voters from paying it at all. As per the current tax system.

    Yes I understand your system...you spend more you pay more......but thats not fair enough for liberals.
  • Apr 30, 2014, 06:09 PM
    paraclete
    No the liberals love it, their concession was not to tax unprocessed food and give an extra handout to the welfare line to cover the cost which really is a few dollars a week, but it worked, it became a growth tax because the extent of the black economy wasn't truly known. The big debate now is how to tax all those internet transactions which cross borders and deprive local retailers of their business, I feel a bank transactions tax coming on
  • Apr 30, 2014, 06:15 PM
    Catsmine
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by paraclete View Post
    No the liberals love it, their concession was not to tax unprocessed food and give an extra handout to the welfare line to cover the cost which really is a few dollars a week, but it worked, it became a growth tax because the extent of the black economy wasn't truly known. The big debate now is how to tax all those internet transactions which cross borders and deprive local retailers of their business, I feel a bank transactions tax coming on

    So do you have a Bitcoin wallet yet?
  • Apr 30, 2014, 06:20 PM
    paraclete
    No but under our laws bitcoin would not be exempt, it is just one of the things they look to tax, batter and inkind is caught as well, not to mention attributing a value to free services. if it moves we tax it, and even if it doesn't
  • Apr 30, 2014, 06:23 PM
    Catsmine
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by paraclete View Post
    No but under our laws bitcoin would not be exempt, it is just one of the things they look to tax, batter and inkind is caught as well, not to mention attributing a value to free services. if it moves we tax it, and even if it doesn't

    Good luck with that.
  • Apr 30, 2014, 06:28 PM
    smoothy
    Barter system can't be taxed. And cash transactions can be discounted enough peoples greed would convince most people to deal without checks.. or credit cards for work they need or want done. That's how it works in Europe. The cash price and the price with a receipt. THe receipt being much higher. I've dealt with the "Lavoro Nero" system in Italy since 1988. But with the Finance Cops (guardia di finanza) runnng around....its best done with people you've known a while. Also not much of a problem. Not quite as much here.
  • Apr 30, 2014, 06:56 PM
    paraclete
    Unfortunately the barter system can be taxed if they can pinpoint the exchange, there is an axiom in taxation, follow the cash, if it turns into cash at any point they can trace it. But they will attend batter marts and pick out traders and it is their best guess as to the value so you are screwed
  • Apr 30, 2014, 07:00 PM
    smoothy
    In italy the IVA... same as VAT in the UK... the value added tax.. its 28% in Italy... if you can avoid it where you can... the savings are significant. Its not the only tax in Italy....if you actually paid every tax you are technically supposed to pay there...it would total more than your total income for the year. Leaving absolutely NOTHING to live on. Now thats screwed up.

    No joke.....I didn't read that someplace...my friends and in-laws over there told me....even an ex-attorney General friend of mine there did back before he passed away, but then their incessant persecution of Amanda Knox starts taking a different light when you know all the other crooked and bizzar stuff that goes on there.

    I use Italy as an example because I know it so well.
  • Apr 30, 2014, 08:35 PM
    paraclete
    Yes italy never impressed, filthy place and what can you do when the population won't pay taxes, we are having a little fun argument here, the budgee smuggler wants to impose a debt levy, a mere 1%, it is said, to undo all the tax cuts in the last ten years, very emotive issue, but the benefit of the GST was to reduce income tax significantly. Those "Liberals" you talk about are the problem, whereas our liberals want to reduce debt, expenditure and they are willing to tax to do it. No matter how you play it taxation is theft.

    our population just don't get that "the era of entitlement is over" I expect yours don't either
  • May 1, 2014, 04:14 AM
    NeedKarma
    Quote:

    Yes I understand your system...you spend more you pay more......but thats not fair enough for liberals.
    That's what we have in socialist canada - the GST... it was instituted by the liberals. Your ignorance knows no bounds LOL.
  • May 1, 2014, 04:41 AM
    paraclete
    There is a real problem of definition here, Liberal over there means socialist where as here it means progressive; left wing versus right wing thinking. For us the socialists' left wing thinking causes big problems which take years to unravel. Our liberals are the enlightenment type thinking liberals not the socialist type thinking liberals so for us social programs can work if they are not over the top. However you have and have had allsorts of issues we don't have to deal with; deep racial divide, entrenched poverty, large scale illegal immigration, militarism, vigilantism
  • May 1, 2014, 04:53 AM
    smoothy
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NeedKarma View Post
    That's what we have in socialist canada - the GST... it was instituted by the liberals. Your ignorance knows no bounds LOL.

    I guess you know a lot about Liberal ignorance knowing no bounds... being the resident example of that.
  • May 1, 2014, 04:58 AM
    NeedKarma
    That made no sense at all.
  • May 1, 2014, 05:05 AM
    smoothy
    Give it a little thought, maybe have a coffee, give yourself time to wake up... it makes far more sense than what you said.
  • May 1, 2014, 05:13 AM
    NeedKarma
    That's your standard non-response that you always give instead of answering anything. LOL.
  • May 1, 2014, 05:14 AM
    paraclete
    he's just nasty tonight
  • May 1, 2014, 05:26 AM
    smoothy
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NeedKarma View Post
    That's your standard non-response that you always give instead of answering anything. LOL.

    I learned it from you... the king of people who's ignorance knows no bounds.
  • May 1, 2014, 05:48 AM
    NeedKarma
    Ok.
  • May 1, 2014, 06:49 AM
    paraclete
    bad attitude
  • May 1, 2014, 07:22 AM
    talaniman
    The only thing you have left out of your article, that liberals have been saying for years now, is the republican filibustering all the solutions to those problems for years. Refusing to compromise as in the latest filibuster of a minimum raise hike, is the biggest impediment to progress there is, so while you blame the administration, take a huge chunk of the blame for your side as well.

    Glad you are finally waking up to a lot of work has to be done yet has been put off by your side. Rich guys ain't going to bail us out, Creating demand on Main Street will, and that takes more trickle not less. A lot more. But of course workers stuck with jobs that make billions for corporation but keeps the workers on welfare is your idea of just fine.
  • May 1, 2014, 07:32 AM
    smoothy
    It would be far worse if we weren't filibustering more of the same bad ideas and bad programs that got us in this mess since Lord Obama was coronated.

    Practically every idea Lord Obama Messiah and master of everything has had... has been historically bad... and historically destructive.

    Its been abundently clear... the poor aren't going to bail us out.. they are the ones dragging us under. Hands out for free stuff but contributing absolutely nothing in return.

    And what part of raising the minimum wage going to spark hyper inflation do you not understand...

    Tal I know you are old enough to have been around to see what Jimmy Carter gave us. And you were an Adult then to really see it and remember it they way kids wouldn't have. Rememebr the 10 -15% inflation rates, the Interest rates on mortgages of nearly 17%.


    Jack up the minimum wage... something that only 5% of the population earns will require increasing the wages on everyone that's above the minimum wage as well. Do you think anyone that's worked to earn their way up a few dollars above the minimum are going to be happy they are working harder than some new trained monkey that knows nothing makes? Nope they are going to be demanding raises as well which significantly effects a much large percentage of the population... meaning prices on everything will have to raise to accommodate it, eroding buying power and the people you were claiming to help... not being any better off then they were. And in fact are likely to be far worse off than they were.
  • May 1, 2014, 03:27 PM
    paraclete
    sharing just doesn't appeal to you does it
  • May 1, 2014, 03:46 PM
    smoothy
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by paraclete View Post
    sharing just doesn't appeal to you does it

    Sharing what... from the day the messiah got in office it was our way or the highway. In fact Obamacare was written behind closed doors without Republicans even being allowed in.

    Incidentally.. its our imperative to disagree with the emperor. We have a majority in the House... and we are ever more likely to take the majority in the senate in the mid tem election as well.

    The Dems of today believe the president is a King... when it's their guy... when the reality he not... we have coequal branches of government... the Executive branch doesn't lord over the rest , nor does the Legislative or Judicial... and that's codified in the constitution. And that takes a 75% vote of the states to change.
  • May 1, 2014, 04:50 PM
    talaniman
    I don't know not one democrat or progressive that thinks this president is an emperor or dictator or KING, just conservatives, and far right republicans embellishing their own rhetoric. No biggie to me because as you say, I have seen a lot of thing. After 4 or eight years we get a new president. In 3 we get a new president.

    See the pattern here? Surely you don't expect the president or the congress to be any better than the electorate they come from do you? None ever has before, none will. But when you get the power back, you can be the targets of embellished rhetoric. It is what it is.
  • May 1, 2014, 05:16 PM
    Catsmine
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by talaniman View Post
    I don't know not one democrat or progressive that thinks this president is an emperor or dictator or KING

    The only ones I know of are working for OFA and the Teachers' Unions, but they normally grant him higher office.
  • May 1, 2014, 05:23 PM
    paraclete
    I don't know how you say Obama is a king he has issued less Presidential decrees than republican presidents, you just don't like the fact that he bypassed your intractiable house on the ACA. So okay if you are successful in gaining the ascendency in the Senate you might even impeach the president until then don't hold your breath. But, do you have the will to travel the hard yards and do what must be don't
  • May 1, 2014, 05:31 PM
    smoothy
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by paraclete View Post
    I don't know how you say Obama is a king he has issued less Presidential decrees than republican presidents, you just don't like the fact that he bypassed your intractiable house on the ACA. So okay if you are successful in gaining the ascendency in the Senate you might even impeach the president until then don't hold your breath. But, do you have the will to travel the hard yards and do what must be don't

    THere is a HUGE differnce in WHAT KINDS he was doing. Other presidents didin't drop their pants and moon the rest of the government saying screw you, I'll do it my way anyway.

    THe plus side...every one of his executive orders can be cancelled and reversed by a single executive order when the Republicans get voted in next presidential election. They aren't Laws that THe house and senate need to have a majority vote for to change.
  • May 1, 2014, 06:43 PM
    paraclete
    so let me understand this you are saying presidential orders are ok because they are easily repealed, the new emperor can do it with a wave of his hand, but the laws passed by the legislature are sacrosanct, what happened to equal parts of government. I think you expect to do away with the ACA with a wave of your hand in three years, but it may not be so easy
  • May 1, 2014, 07:06 PM
    talaniman
    Don't blow his bubble Clete!
  • May 1, 2014, 07:34 PM
    smoothy
    Tal ( and the few remaining Obama worshipers) think Obamas words are equal to the Tablets brought down from Mt. Arafat by Moses... when they are really equal to the ravings of a lunatic scribbled on napkins in crayon.


    There is NO executive order that can be imposed that can't be as easily undone by the next administration... thats always been true... and always will be true.

    But yes....the next republican president CAN shut down the ACA with an executive order....just like Obama and Holder have simple stopped allowing other laws to be enfiorced. There is ni legal reason a Republican can't push those limits as far as Obama has...

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