Depression not long off?
Posted on 19. Oct, 2009 by Nathaniel Bacon in Business & Finance, Economy, Israel & Jewish Issues, Nathaniel Bacon, Top Stories
Good times will not be returning any time soon.
We continue to lose jobs month over month. And while the statistics being released are showing a slow down, this is basically a fabrication. There are thousands of people falling off of unemployment compensation each week——none of them are reflected in the official numbers. Shadowstats.com estimates unemployment is above 20%. Take it for what you will, but these numbers are fast approaching the unemployment rate during the last well known depression.
Credit is contracting. The last decade in America has seen credit or debt, however you want to look at it, essentially become a second income. No more. The banks may be getting billions in loans, but for the individual on the street, credit is frozen. Couple this with the loss of primary income streams and you have a lot of people with no money fro even essential goods.
Foreclosures continue to mount. In addition to the foreclosures of the last 2 years, we have millions more in play right now, regardless of the mortgage programs the government institutes. Job Loss + Credit Contraction means there is no way millions of people will be able to make their monthly payments. more…
Debt defaults keep rising. Bank of America just released their numbers and lost upwards of $2 billion dollars, due in part, to credit card defaults. This is not the sign of a healthy consumer. more…
Small Businesses are getting hit hard. Small business is the engine that runs the entire economy, employing around 70% of the workforce. more…
The Middle Class is holding on for dear life. If small business drives jobs and production, it is the middle class that drives consumption. FULL ARTICLE
I keep telling everyone here in NYC that we are still in a depression and they look at me like I am saying something verbotten. It is a depression. Of course when asked to explain their view they cannot, all they can offer is “the stock market has not crashed”. It might as well have, there are more than six million unemployed because once UI money runs out, that person is officially dropped and no longer counted. So where have all these people gone, did they ALL find jobs? I think not, and what about the next group of people who will no longer be counted because they are close to exhausting their UI money?
Americans are almost totally ignorant of (a) history and (b) economics.
Add to this the unwelcome burden of preparing for hard times.
I predicted $ 1.00 gasoline. I was told I was crazy.
in a classical depression the wise individual gets cash-heavy and tightens up on discretionary items. And, of course, gets out of debt and STAYS out of debt.
If you can’t pay cash for it, don’t buy it.
It always amazes me how companies can fire employees to make short term profits when these fired employees are the people who buy their products and services.