Most American Believe We are Still in a Recession

The media is chanting America is on the road to recovery. However, they need to try and convince the majority of Americans with that stupid rhetoric because the public isn't buying into it. Destruction of the dollar, true high unemployment, high gas prices, and out of control spending won't convince the American people we are doing okay.

(Reuters) - More than half of Americans say the U.S. economy is in a recession or a depression despite official data that show a moderate recovery, according to a poll released on Thursday.

The April 20-23 Gallup survey of 1,013 U.S. adults found that only 27 percent said the economy is growing. Twenty-nine percent said the economy is in a depression and 26 percent said it is in a recession, with another 16 percent saying it is "slowing down," Gallup said.

The poll findings have a 4 percentage point margin of error, according to Gallup.

The health of the U.S. economy is expected to be a major issue as President Barack Obama, a Democrat, seeks re-election in 2012.

AP survey, Only oil shock can stop economy now

The Associated Press must be from another planet. They see the present state of this environment positive. AP is saying Americans are spending more on furniture, cars and electronics. Really? Who is buying cars with these gas prices?

AP is reporting an increase in American exports and corporate spending, which have helped drive the recovery, are expected to remain strong. What? With the failed bailouts to pay the CEO bonuses, the only way to drive this economy is consumer spending. We aren't producing anything in this country. Companies aren't spending. There is still a trillion dollars tucked away awaiting for the right time for companies to diversify.

The Associated Press is Obama's lap dog. The spending is through the roof, our debt will never get paid off, true unemployment and productivity will never improve, the dollar will continue to sink, and the turmoil around the world will keep this country struggling to make ends meet. Gas prices is one thing that will hinder this economy, but there is a solution; DRILL BABY DRILL.

(AP) WASHINGTON -- The American economy is now strong enough to withstand Middle East turmoil and the Japanese nuclear crisis. Only a big rise in the price of oil could stop it now.

Those are the findings of an Associated Press survey of leading economists, who are increasingly confident in a recovery that is nearly two years old. They expect the economy to grow faster every quarter this year.

In part, that's because the economists think Americans will spend more freely in the coming months. Higher stock prices have made people wealthier. And a cut in the Social Security payroll tax is giving most households an extra $1,000 to $2,000 this year.

American exports and corporate spending, which have helped drive the recovery, are also expected to remain strong, according to the quarterly AP Economy Survey.

The one factor that could make a second recession a possibility would be a jump in oil prices to $150 a barrel, economists say. Oil trades at about $112 a barrel now. The record high, set in the summer of 2008, is about $147 a barrel.

UPDATE: Obama Budget Proposes Broader Unemployment Taxes

Forget what Obama said about not raising taxes over the last two year. In today's headlines, Obama wants to increase unemployment taxes. Hypocrite! It would be easier to give business more of a tax break so they can hire employees and expand their business. Therefore, there would be a larger pool of workers to fund the unemployment insurance program. It is commonsense!

(WJS) WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama's budget proposal is expected to give states a way to collect more payroll taxes from businesses, in an effort to replenish the unemployment-insurance program. The plan could cause controversy at a time when the administration is seeking to mend fences with corporate America.

The proposal would aim to restock strained state unemployment-insurance trust funds by raising the amount of wages on which companies must pay unemployment taxes to $15,000, more than double the $7,000 in place since 1983.

The plan, which would take effect in 2014, could increase payroll taxes by as much as $100 billion over a decade, according to a person involved in its construction.

To avoid hitting businesses with a tax increase during the economic recovery, the proposal would delay the new rules until 2014. The plan is expected to be included in Mr. Obama's budget proposal for fiscal 2012, to be released Monday.

After Manipulating the Unemployment Figures 9.4 Percent is Still High

The current unemployment figures is manipulated and does not reflect the true unemployment figures in America. In fact, underemployment went to 19%. This is something no media outlet is willing to report. With the holiday season done, let's see what the unemployment figure will look like nexst month. The point is that unemployment will remain above 9 percent for the rest of Obama's term in office. This is unacceptable to the American people!

(MailOnline) President Obama insisted America was 'digging itself out of hole' today as new figures offered a glimmer of hope for the country's beleaguered economy.

103,000 new jobs were created last month and the unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent, its lowest level in 19 months, the Labor Department said.

But the job growth fell short of expectations and the drop in unemployment was mainly because people stopped looking for work.

But other factors can affect the unemployment rate, at least temporarily. One key reason for the drop was that the government no longer counts people as unemployed when they stop looking for work.

Fewer people said they were out of work last month. The number of unemployed fell by more than 500,000 to just under 14.5 million, the lowest since April 2009.

Still, the unemployment rate has topped 9 percent for 20 months, the longest such streak on record. And even with last year's job gains, the unemployment rate fell only from 9.7 percent to 9.4 percent.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a more optimistic outlook for the economy while testifying before the Senate Banking Committee on Friday.

Still, Bernanke said it could take four to five years for unemployment to drop to a historically normal rate of around 6 percent.

Through all of 2010, the nation added 1.1 million jobs, or an average of 94,000 jobs a month.

Consumer Confidence Shows Surprise Drop in December

Before the media blast how sales during the Christmas season was fantastic, the reality is that we are still in a recession and the economy still sucks.

(CNBC) U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in December, hurt by increasing worries about the jobs market, according to a private report released on Tuesday.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes slipped to 52.5 in December from an upwardly revised 54.3 in November.

The median of forecasts from analysts polled by Reuters was for a reading of 56.0.

Economist are Bullish or Full of BS on the Economy in 2011

Do not buy the rubbish that the economy is going strong. The economist from Northwestern University explained it very well why things look temporary positive. We are fools to believe we are on the road to recover if we have high unemployment, needing to extend unemployment benefits for 3 consectutive years, states going into financial crisis, and the devaluation of the dollar. Keep in mind that the stock market can make money whether it is in the bear or bull market.

(New York Times) WASHINGTON — Eighteen months after the recession officially ended, the government’s latest measures to bolster the economy have led many forecasters and policy makers to express new optimism that the recovery will gain substantial momentum in 2011.

Economists in universities and on Wall Street have raised their growth projections for next year. Retail sales, industrial production and factory orders are on the upswing, and new claims for unemployment benefits are trending downward.

Despite persistently high unemployment, consumer confidence is improving. Large corporations are reporting healthy profits, and the Dow Jones industrial average reached a two-year high this week.

But......

Robert J. Gordon, an economist at Northwestern University and a member of the committee that sets the start and end dates of business cycles, cautioned against excessive optimism, noting the huge burdens on state and local governments, rising costs of health care and other long-run fiscal challenges. “The rise of the stock market is mainly because there are no other good investments in sight, not because the stock market has some unique talent in predicting what’s wrong with the economy.”

$2 Trillion debt crisis threatens to bring down 100 US cities

What recovery? I wish Obama and the media stop lying to us.

(Guardian.co.UK) More than 100 American cities could go bust next year as the debt crisis that has taken down banks and countries threatens next to spark a municipal meltdown, a leading analyst has warned.

Meredith Whitney, the US research analyst who correctly predicted the global credit crunch, described local and state debt as the biggest problem facing the US economy, and one that could derail its recovery.

New Jersey governor Chris Christie summarised the problem succinctly: "We spent too much on everything. We spent money we didn't have. We borrowed money just crazily. The credit card's maxed out, and it's over. We now have to get to the business of climbing out of the hole. We've been digging it for a decade or more. We've got to climb now, and a climb is harder."

American cities and states have debts in total of as much as $2 Trillion.

Omnibus Spending Bill is 1924 pages with 6488 Earmarks Total 1.1 Trillion Dollars

Washington, D.C. ­– U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) delivered the following statement today on the floor of the U.S. Senate:

“Mr. President, at 12:15 p.m. this afternoon, my office received a copy of the omnibus appropriations bill. It is 1,924 pages long and contains the funding for all 12 of the annual appropriations bills for a grand total of over $1.1 Trillion. It is important to note that the 1,924 pages is only the legislative language and does not include the thousands of pages of report language which contain the details of the billions of dollars in earmarks and, I’m sure, countless policy riders.

“While we continue to uncover which earmarks the appropriators decided to fund – thanks to a new online database – we at least know what earmarks were requested by Members and how much those projects would cost the American people if they were all funded. Taxpayers against Earmarks, www.washingtonwatch.com and Taxpayers for Common Sense joined forces to create this database. According to the data they compiled – for fiscal year 2011 Members requested over 39,000 earmarks totaling over $130 billion. Absolutely disgraceful. I encourage every American to go to the website www.endingspending.com study it, and make yourselves aware of how your elected officials seek to spend your money.

“In the short time I’ve had to review this massive piece of legislation – I’ve identified approximately 6,488 earmarks totaling nearly $8.3 billion. Here is a small sample:

$277,000 for potato pest management in Wisconsin
$246,000 for bovine tuberculosis in Michigan and Minnesota
$522,000 for cranberry and blueberry disease and breeding in New Jersey
$500,000 for oyster safety in Florida
$349,000 for swine waste management in North Carolina
$413,000 for peanut research in Alabama
$247,000 for virus free wine grapes in Washington
$208,000 beaver management in North Carolina
$94,000 for blackbird management in Louisiana
$165,000 for maple syrup research in Vermont
$235,000 for noxious weed management in Nevada
$100,000 for the Edgar Allen Poe Cottage Visitor’s Center in New York
$300,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii
$400,000 for solar parking canopies and plug-in electric stations in Kansas

“Additionally, the bill earmarks $727,000 to compensate ranchers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan whenever endangered wolves eat their cattle. As my colleagues know, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Gray Wolf program is under intense scrutiny for wasting millions of taxpayer dollars every year to ‘recover’ endangered wolves that are now overpopulating the West and Midwest. My State of Arizona has a similar wolf program but ranchers in my state aren’t getting $727,000 in this bill.

“Mr. President, I will have much more to say about this bill later this week. I assure my colleagues – we will spend a great deal of time talking about this bill and the outrageous number of earmarks it contains. But for now let me just say this: it is December 14th – we are 22 days away from the beginning of a new Congress and nearly three full months into fiscal year 2011 – and yet we have not debated a single spending bill or considered any amendments to cut costs or get our debt under control. Furthermore, the majority decided that they just didn’t feel like doing a budget this year. How is that responsible leadership?

“This is the ninth omnibus appropriations bill we have considered in this body since 2000. That is shameful and we should be embarrassed by the fact that we care so little about doing the people’s business that we continuously put off fulfilling our constitutional responsibilities until the very last minute.

“One thing is abundantly clear to me – that the majority has not learned the lessons of last month’s election. The American people could not have been more clear. They are tired of wasteful spending. They are tired of big government. They are tired of sweetheart deals for special interests. They are tired of business as usual in Washington. And they are tired of massive bills – just like this one - put together behind closed doors, and rammed through the Congress at the last moment so that no one has the opportunity to read them and no one really knows what kind of waste is in them.

“Let me be clear about one thing – if the Majority Leader insists on proceeding to this monstrosity - the American people will know what’s in it. I will be joined by many of my colleagues on this side of the aisle to ensure that every single word of this bill is read aloud here on the Senate floor.

“I encourage my friends on the other side of the aisle to rethink their strategy and move forward with a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government into next year when a new Congress takes over – a Congress that was elected by the American people on November 2nd. “The majority may be able to strong arm enough members into voting for this omnibus – but they will not win in the end. The American people will remember – and I predict that we will see a repeat of November 2nd in the very near future.”

43 Million American People on Food Stamps and Rising

With a 9.8% unemployment, Americans are feeling the pinch. The media tried to paint a rosy picture that America is on a road to recovery, but that is completely false. High unemployment, a deepen recession, and food stamp recipients are the only indicators a layman need to see we are heading in the wrong direction. We can thank Obama's bad policy and for 4 years of a Democrat Majority.

(Wall Street Journal) Some 42.9 million people collected food stamps last month, up 1.2% from the prior month and 16.2% higher than the same time a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Nationwide 14% of the population relied on food stamps as of September but in some states the percentage was much higher. In Washington, D.C., Mississippi and Tennessee – the states with the largest share of citizens receiving benefits – more than a fifth of the population in each was collecting food stamps

Obama and 9.8% Unemployment

As mentioned last month, the media can make up stuff to paint a rosy picture, but realistically, the numbers do not lie. Last month, the good news on consumer sentiment and economic figures are always short lived. The media and the government tend to manipulate the narrative. America continues to live in a deep recession. The current state of the economy is not Bush's fault. During the Bush era, unemployment was on average 5.3%. In 20 months under Obama rule, unemployment remains over 9%. If voters want another Obama term, expect this recession turn to a great depression.

Wall Street Journal U.S. employers added just 39,000 payroll jobs in November, a sharp slowdown from the prior month, the Labor Department said. The unemployment rate jumped to 9.8% from 9.6% in part due to more people joining the labor pool.

But with 15.1 million people classified as unemployed, and millions more on the sidelines who have given up searching for work, the road to finding a job remains bleak for many Americans. More than 6.3 million people in November had been out of work for six months or more, up 100,000 from the prior month.