U.S. Economic Outlook
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-04-10/us-economic-outlook
In a speech last night in Georgia, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke cautioned that the U.S. economy is still far from having fully recovered from the darkest days of the financial crisis. Three and a half years since the financial crisis nearly 13 million Americans are looking for work. Although the unemployment rate dipped a bit for the month of March, the U.S. also added fewer new jobs than analysts had expected. Please join us to talk about jobs and the outlook for the U.S. economy.
Guests
Jim Tankersley
reporter, National Journal
Jerry Jasinowski
former president, National Association of Manufacturers
Betsey Stevenson
labor economist and visiting professor, Princeton University
Comments
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U.S. Economic Outlook
Bleak, in this time of government takeover of every aspect of our lives, how long can self determination survive. Why get up early when the hard work of the self reliant is taken by the government to support those who feel entitled to a free ride. If we avoid the bullet of Obama care maybe we can stretch out the madness of the unsustainable that much longer. If the supreme court screws us again with illegal federal government socialism it will only hasten the downfall. Obama thrives on division, civil unrest and poverty, I suppose there is a point that those who do not agree with him might start looking forward and enjoy seeing the misery of those who brought us to this place.
Right on Monte, Right on
Our jobs,our wealth,our future,have been exported to China. Until we bring back our jobs,this is the new normal. The median income of workers in my town dropped another $2000. last year. In a consumer based economy,destroy the consumer,destroy the economy.
Our growth here has come from foreign companies. Italian car maker.Mexican and Latvian steel mills.Our so called "Patriotic" "Job Creators" have $3 trillion in extra profits hidden offshore,created by offshoring U.S. jobs.Now they demand a reward. Our Nation`s trade deficit,and debt deficit almost mirror one another.
Kudos to the Main Stream Media for keeping us updated on the recent second Egan Jones downgrading of the U.S. from AA+ to AA......
I guess from their perspective, no news is good news....pffft!
Because we have spent over a decade hollowing out our manufacturing sector, we now find we have no one trained for the new manufacturing jobs! Who knew??? Used to be people ON THE JOB grew with the new technologies as they came in. Now we have nearly a generation that has had NO background on which to build.
Hey oct 21
whining & crying about yore whoa's maybe popular where yore at but the rest of us are picking ourselves by our boot straps and are doing good! You can't always help the way the cards are dealt, but you play the hand you are dealt the best you can!!
Take all the income from the bottom sources in a years time
47 Billion total profit from Exon & WalMart
567 Billion " top 500 companys
5.2 Billion all Super Bowl ads
10 Billion total sports figures income
1.3 Trillion total income of all who make over 250,00
26 Billion StarWars Movie income
48 Billion Sell all of Beverly Hills Real Estate
50 Billion Half of W.Buffet & B.Gates
700 Billion plus all the other Billionaires
469 Billion All Christmas shopping profit
53 Billion Foriegn aid
117 Billion End all the Wars
Total payment to debt would be only a little over 3 Trillion!
We have a 15 plus Trillion Debt!
Get Real....the U.S. is Toast....
Regarding job skills, one major issue in the US is the dearth of math skills. If we could just deal with the fact that so many people fresh out of high school forget basic algebra, and sometimes even how to do basic arithmetic. If we could just do that, then maybe a more skilled workforce would be better employed.
I once asked the CEO of America`s largest phone manufacturer this,when you move your plant to the Philippines,who will buy your product ? Today,you can find these phones on Ebay collectables,his company failed. So let me ask these Globalization lovers this,WHO WILL PAY OUR NATIONAL DEBT IF ALL OUR JOBS ARE GONE,OR PAY SQUAT?
What, exactly, kind of qualifications do manufactures want? Are assembly line employees expected to be college graduates? That is an unreasonable expectation.If Chinese manufactures can train there employees, why won't US companies?
I can't speak about the manufacturing sector, but I couldn't find a job as an RN. The reason was that the local hospitals did not want to spend money on training. I left nursing for a few years, then returned. My skills were still there but needed updating. I looked at several hospitals here in Louisville. To spend money training an nurse would cut into the bottom line. They only wanted someone who could "hit the ground running." I was told to find someone who would train me and they would hire me away from the hospital that trained me.
Only one hospital was training people, but they were very selective (younger people I suspect). If they decided to train you, you had to sign a contract which stated you would work full time for them for two years. If not, there were penalties.
This is typical of the short sightedness of this nation. urbanrage is assuming that we need to pay the whole debt off in 1 year. Are you paying your mortgage in one year? How about your car loan?
We didn't amass a debt of 15 trillion in one year, it's been growing larger every year for decades. We are still paying for WWII if I understand things, so trying to pay in the manner outlined above is just plain ignorant
How can we justify to ever say that profits are more important people? Shouldn't we always error on the side of greater pay and freedom for the workers?
Naive is a cynical word for doing what is right.
Was listening to today's show and I had a couple thoughts about how America does not have enough qualified workers who are trained. 1) I heard the comment today about companies training people "for free" and then that worker then going down the street to peddle their new skills for more $. An easy solution for the company is to sign the worker to a contract. Obviously that would show loyalty by a company towards its worker (a trait that is no longer out there). 2) In my 30 years in the work force I have found that most jobs you learn by doing. Outside of brain surgery and or rocket science you learn the job by someone giving you the opportunity to do it. I understand you can't hire idiots and expect them to build an automobile but opportunity is the first step. Look at the guy in the White House, he did not go to President's school before he got the job.
Are the commentators Truly Puzzled about why we have no jobs. Capitalists do NOT hire employees -- they create return on investor capital. We have a Global Venture Capital Economy that serves the top 1% and they have broken the Labor/Wage Unions. American government/politics is a plutocracy now.
I see the future as bright. The way we will get more people back on their feet is INNOVATION. We are the country of INNOVATORS and DOERS. We will lead the rest of the planet out of the dull-drums through OUR INNOVATIONS!! As a truck driver I see a steady increase in freight moving ALL over the country. That means us who put our effort of TRUE self-determination into practice are doing better and the whiners & bellyachers are going to be left behind!!!
No, I was stating the fact that the U.S. debt is impossible to pay, regardless of time....
urbanrage,
Then you have effectively negated your own argument. If we were to implement what you said (and I am NOT advocating that) we would have the debt paid off in 5-6 years. Hardly impossible to pay, regardless of time
This is what gets me. Nattering Naybobs of Negativism pointing out things with nothing about what to do about it. As a manager once said to me, "Don't come to me with problems, come to me with solutions to that problem"
Mike Sergeant wrote:
"This is typical of the short sightedness of this nation. urbanrage is assuming that we need to pay the whole debt off in 1 year. Are you paying your mortgage in one year? How about your car loan?'
Considering the madman in the White House projects budget deficits into infinity, urbanrage makes a good and relevant point, "were toast"
If you want to talk about outrageous short sightedness, you would be talking about anyone who would even consider voting for Obama.
Oct21,
Quite frankly, Obama is not the one I worry about. It is the 535 that sit at the other end of the Mall and hold the purse strings. I make the point over and over again, Obama (or anyone else in the White House for that matter) can only propose and lobby for a budget. It's the Congress and Senate that actually pass the bills and spend the money. Its decades of short sighteness by this body that has run up this massive debt,and by extension the American People who put them there, not one guy in 3 years.
The banks stole more than $1 trillion dollars from this economy and we paid them every cent they needed to recover. And now we are telling workers that they must accept half-wages for their former jobs or move to the non-union South?
It's clear who has control of the strings that run our government, from the Executive to the Legislative to the Judicial. Banks won - commercial banks continue to play with workers' deposits in the investment field - and the working women and men lost.
"If you want a good job, you must 're-train'" puts no bread on the table of a line worker who was laid off from her/his manufacturing job and offered a returning wage insufficient to maintain a middle class life. Yet the well-heeled cocktail circuit, that chuckles at such talk, goes on in New York and D.C.
$1 trillion for the martini crowd; zip for we who work for paychecks. Where is the 'Liberty and Justice for All"?
Mike Sergeant wrote: "This is what gets me. Nattering Naybobs of Negativism pointing out things with nothing about what to do about it. As a manager once said to me, "Don't come to me with problems, come to me with solutions to that problem"
Is this a serious question? if it is and your that lost may I suggest, CUT SPENDING!
Mike Sergeant wrote: "Obama is not the one I worry about. It is the 535 that sit at the other end of the Mall and hold the purse strings."
The scum bag just put 500 million into the IRS for the implementation of Obama care yesterday without going through congress. Never mind he did not bother to wait for the supreme court decision. Obama has zero respect for this country or it's laws. He should be impeached.
Hey urbanrage
If you truly believe America is toast then leave the country!! Go live in China,Mexico, or Greece. We here in the U.S.A. are INNOVATORS & PART OF THE CAN DO CREW!!! You crybabies, whiners, and belly-acher's ARE going to get left behind.
During the AMERICAN REVOLUTION they called yore kind TORIES and we don't want or need you and yore kind in our country!!! We play the hand we are dealt and pull "ourselves" up by the boot straps!!
Like someone else pointed out "WE" did NOT amass ALL the debt in ONE year...So GET REAL and know that we can not and will not pay-off the debt in one year! We have almost ALWAYS have had a FEDERAL DEFICIT throughout "our" 236 year history as a country.
For over 30 years we`ve heard the promises. To me these "Supply Siders" sound like "Wimpy" of "Popeye" fame. "Buy me a hamburger today,and I`ll repay you Tuesday".
Give "Supply Siders" a tax break,or legislation benefiting the 1% TODAY ,they will in turn repay the American Society TOMORROW. Well I`ve been waiting since the "Great Reagan Recession",and still nothing.
The last crash was that of Wall Street,not the American people or it`s workers.Yet it`s the people who are paying the price for the philosophy of,the bottom line first,last, and the only thing that counts.
I believe until the Supreme Court rules "Obamacare" is the law of the land and you need to take a deep breath.
He hasn't "just put 500 million into the IRS". He put $200 million in over the past 2 years and plans to do another $300 million this year to implement the ACA. These transfers are authorized by Congress through the ACA. Again, its the 535 that are responsible for spending the money.
Cut spending? Where? Eliminating all discretionary spending won't even cover the deficit. Eliminate the military spending, we do spend more on our armed forces that all other countries combined, but I don't think the conservatives will go for it. Too much re-election capital provided by the contractors. How about we start prosecuting Medicare/Medicaid fraud along the lines of the esteemed Governor Rick Scott in Florida.
Hey oct21
"Is this a serious question? if it is and your that lost may I suggest, CUT SPENDING!"
This is a good start and I would add also REPEAL the Bush tax cuts. These would be a great way for the FEDERAL government to get it's financial house back in order!
IF anyone is still sincerely worried over American National Debt,
THEN they need to advocate Higher Wealth Tax for the Rich and Broadening OUR Tax Payer Base to include the lower Minimum Wage earners,
ELSE we will BE LIKE Greece... where no one pay taxes... no job... etc
-OR- ELSE they could be playing the classy American Politics of class-warfare... .
European-style Austrian economics and the subsequent recession there has the potential to be a U.S. Presidential October surprise unless the Radical Right Spin Doctors get to work fueling Apathetic American Mass with their fear-mongering politics of division.
What ails America most today is its lack of a national collective will. The direct result of the me, me, "Mini-Me Personality" disorder and the Austere rhetoric: "What's in it for me?" USA post-modern Bankrupt Republic mentality.
After tuning in & listening..what conclusion/summation do I come up with, from these esteemed panelists? Not to be harsh, but yea: Guardedly vague. Yet.
But it was'nt a total loss. One of the callers mentioned that the Agricultural Sector of the Economy looks positive..& may be growing. I appreciate coming away with this.
But all in all, nothing new learned with this show. And of course, very uninspiring. a Stroke-fest. 4 Adults (including Susan) who are pros at watching/waiting for water to boil.
Yeah, I've waited since Reagan's "Glass half-full, or half-empty?" analogy of the supply-siders (I Greenspan had a hand in that query?) for the trickle-down effect. Well, now you can reply: "Ronald Reagan, your (OUR) glass was half empty! We're down to the slobber & drool about now... .