IS the US in Recession and whos fault is that?

Just say thanks to Milton Friedman and his Monetary school of $#!7 if you are looking for "specific answer" then Friedman is the "who."

Oh yeah, what was he thinking, naming his book Free to Choose. Where is Stalin or Lenin when we need them. We would be so much better off

Jobs: 'Not as bad as we thought'

Employers trim payroll for fourth straight month, although decline is less than forecasts. Unemployment rate dips to 5%


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Employers trimmed jobs in April for the fourth straight month, according to a government report Friday that was not as weak as Wall Street's expectations.
There was a net loss of 20,000 jobs in the month, according to the Labor Department report, compared to the revised loss of 81,000 jobs in the March reading. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a loss of 75,000 jobs in April.
The unemployment rate slipped to 5% from the 5.1% reading in March. Economists had been forecasting unemployment would rise to 5.2% in the latest report.
"It's not good news, but it's not as bad as we thought it would be," said David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor's. "It's consistant with the view it's going to be a mild recession, but an extended one, where you spend a lot of time bouncing around the bottom."
The report showed continued losses in the sectors battered in the recent economic slump. Construction lost 61,000 jobs in the month, and manufacturing shed 46,000 jobs. Retailers also trimmed payrolls by 27,000 in the face of a pullback in spending by consumers.
But some other sectors that had posted job losses in previous reports rebounded, such as business and professional services, which grew by 39,000 jobs after a loss of 44,000 the previous month. The financial sector, which has lost jobs each of the previous 8 months due to problems in the credit markets, ended that streak with a narrow 3,000 job gain.
Tig Gilliam, CEO of Adecco Group North America, the unit of the world's largest employment firm, said he was encouraged by the turn around in those sectors, even though he expected job losses to continue in upcoming months.
"It's hard to get real upset about 95% employment, given everything else going on with the credit markets and energy prices," he said. "The job market, as far as I'm concerned, is the silver lining in the storm cloud."
Still the private sector as a whole lost 29,000 jobs, marking the fifth straight month of job losses outside of government payrolls. Overall, the economy has suffered a net loss of 260,000 jobs so far in 2008, and many economists said this report did little to suggest there is a real turnaround in the market.
"There may be a limit to the downside as to how bad the economy will get, but don't get too optimistic here," said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia.
There were clear signs of weakness in the report. The average work week slipped to 33.7 hours from 33.8, a sign that some workers had difficulty finding full-time work.
There was a large jump, by 306,000, in the number of people who were working part-time who wanted full-time positions, a fact that helped to take the unemployment rate lower despite the weaker job market.
"These are not the types of jobs that durable economies are made," said Jeoff Hall, the chief U.S. economist for Thomson Financial. "I, for one, don't think we're in a recession. But tell that to the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their jobs in the last four months with no signs of them returning."
The average hourly wage edged up only a penny to $17.88, the smallest gain in almost two years. The slim increase in pay, coupled with reduced hours, led to the biggest drop in weekly wages in almost two years.
It left average weekly wages up only 3.1% in the last 12 months, less than the 4% rate of inflation in the 12 months ended in March, an indication that paychecks are not keeping up with prices

The USA may or may not be in a recession. I could care less but as far as much of the rest of the world:


Sector Snap: Drybulk leaps as index hits record
Thursday May 15, 1:20 pm ET

Drybulk shippers jump as a key shipping index hits all-time high, with biggest 1-day gain

NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors flocked to the drybulk sector Thursday, as a key shipping index set an all-time high amid increasing activity for the vessels that carry commodities including iron ore, coal and grain.

The Baltic Dry Index, which measures drybulk shipping rates on 40 routes across the world, soared 418 points Thursday to close at 11,067 -- its highest point since mid-November of 2007. The increase marks the biggest leap ever for the index. The largest drop was 443 points in mid-January.

The index is managed by the Baltic Exchange in London.

Dahlman Rose analyst Omar Notka said the 2009 contract rate for Capesize vessels -- the largest drybulk ships on the seas -- has leaped 15 percent in just the past two days. Rates for the vessels on the spot, or unchartered, market topped $200,000 Thursday, he said.

Capesize vessels are so named because they are too big to fit through the Panama or Suez Canals and must instead navigate the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn to travel between oceans.

Demand for Panamax vessels, the largest drybulk carriers that can fit through the locks of the Panama Canal, is also booming.

Notka continues to assert that demand for drybulk vessels will remain strong through next year, as steel prices continue to climb.

In afternoon trading, shares of DryShips Inc. leaped $5.71, or 5.8 percent, to $104.75. Diana Shipping Inc. added $1.77, or 5.1 percent, to $36.70.

Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd. gained $1.70, or 3.4 percent, to $52.36, and Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd. rose $2.11, or 2.6 percent, to $82.28.

Euroseas Ltd. added $1, or 6.9 percent, to $15.50, while Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. rose 37 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $14.26.

Danaos Corp. gained 61 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $25.77 and Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. rose 26 cents to $34.76.

Thomas Jefferson's Warning To America : "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." Written by Jefferson in a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802).

Next:
we ll be blaming the rothschilds

I already wrote a post about the Rothschilds, but then FF all of a sudden experienced "technical problems" and the post mysteriously disappeared... Hm...

Matter of a grave concern :-)

Heck as of late my city has had a crime spree... Lock and load!

China will never have a car in America... yea right!!!

The USA may very well be in a recession, but what about you ?

Is your own personal economy in a recession ?
How are you doing ? And who's fault is that ?

I've never been to a spot on planet Earth (and I've been to a few)
where so much opportunity awaits someone with a little ingenuity.
This goes for both the good guys and the bad guys.
Either way, you don't have to finish last.

Putting all the economic theory aside, if you're on the verge of losing
(or have lost) your job or your house(s) or your car or whatever you have or had
or perhaps have been afflicted by a disease or illness or some other catastrophe
or whatever horrible thing has befallen you this time, that's not the USA, that's you.

As long as you have a breath in your body to do something about it, you're not in recession.
Collectively, it really does look bad when everybody seems to be having a hard go at it,
all at the same time, but on a case by case basis, we are all responsible for our own personal economy.

Anyone who listens to the reports of recession and believes that they are personally involved
and allow themselves to be sucked into the void have given themselves an excuse to fail.
I can't disregard the facts: things are crappy all over, but I won't buy into the pessimism.

Okay, there's a recession. Refuse to take part in it. Don't be broke. Dont live beyond your means.
$4,000/month for a house ? Interest only ? Lost it ?
Best thing that could have happened to you. You were getting ripped off anyway.

No job ? Do something else. No jobs where you you are ? Move where you'll find work.
Sell something. Hell, sell everything if you have to. Don't be a walking advertisement for the recession.

If you're afraid of losing something, you should probably get rid of it.
We are held hostage by the things that we're so afraid of losing.
Sometimes, this applies to persons as well as things unfortunately.

You don't have to be in a recession, unless you want to.
Personally, I'm not interested, thank you anyway. And that's my fault.

---end of rant---

We are deep into recession’s land and we all are responsible for all that. Maybe we are naive or it’s just because we let naïve people to run our country. Anyhow, measure and control must be set upon our system.

I think he was on to sumfin!


“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

– Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin (1802)

I like your attitude!!

The GOV. has done a fine job of leading by example as far as money management goes...

You are right!!
Our government has done a really good job when we started to feel the consequences of everything.
But they knew it would be consequences...They knew there were some banks doing stupid things
They also knew this could be avoided because there were analysts and academics talking about recession since 2007.
I'm not talking about the present...I'm talking about our past and how it's affecting our future.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Police chiefs in the United States say the economic downturn is fueling a rise in crime and warn that cuts to their budgets could handcuff their efforts to tackle it, according to a report on Tuesday.
Of 233 police agencies surveyed http://www.reuters.com/article/domes...50Q6FR20090127

The worlds economic problems are in the hands of the banks. Over leveraged loans, all to affordable interest rates, etc. All too wrong was the ideal of "Savings". Advertising on peoples hopes of spending with no regret. It sort of reminds me of today's Forex Brokers:

"Open an account with $1 and have the trading power of $1 million"

Here is an interesting take on the banks... http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...40&postcount=7

Once the North American Union is in place the US will have Mexicans replenishing troop strength. Could It happen?