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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Are We On Our Way to a Depression?

Democrats will find some way to blame Republicans. Republicans will find some way to blame Democrats. But it's increasingly obvious that the so-called economic recovery was little more than wishful thinking. In fact, Wall Street market strategist Peter Yastrow claims we are on the "verge of a great, great depression."

Former Clinton Sec'y of Labor Robert Reich reports that housing prices have dropped 33% below 2006 levels, which is actually a bigger decrease than during the Great Depression.

At a time when the private-sector payroll is supposed to be rebounding, there were just 38,000 new private jobs last month, well below the 175,000 predicted. Stocks dropped 2% in just one day.

In the meantime, Congress and the President are unable to reach agreement on raising the debt limit while reducing he deficit.

I never believed there was a recovery. Banks lent money against assets that are losing their value. Sure, they were bailed out, but those are still toxic assets, no matter how hard they try to pretend they aren't. And guess what, the real estate market is still in the tank, with no sign of improvement on the horizon.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Country is falling apart, Vote Republican in November 2011.

Check out www.newsheriffandy.com

In the Republican Primary Andy Roman had 11,797 votes. In the Democrat Primary Ron Rossi had 11,742 votes. Roman beat him by 55 Votes!

Looks like come Novermber, there will be a NEW Sheriff in town - Sheriff Andy!

Anonymous said...

Good thing Charlie Dent voted to give huge bailouts to banks that continue to fail for exactly the reasons you stated. What a colossal mistake by him and all involved. And it solved nothing.

Anonymous said...

Gee, who could have seen this coming?

Scott Armstrong

Patrick McHenry said...

Bernie -

For a very long time, the left in this country has waged war on both capitalism and our economy. They managed to take over the democrat party and place enough people in high office.

Unfortunately, Americans will now FEEL why socialism doesn't work, instead of just reading about its failures elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

Go to www.lvpc.org and view the Summary of Subdivision activity. Enough said. There is NO development occuring in the Valley. This can also be said for the State and Country. Housing is dead. Period.

c said...

Read anything written by Gerald Celente of the Trends Research Institute. Some of it is pessimism porn but the vast majority has been on the mark. People will need to learn to be more self sufficient in order to survive and thrive. That is why programs like the Penn State Extension are so important right now, they teach people the very skill sets that they will need to grow food, for one. Be prepared for what may come and learn to be self sufficient.

Anonymous said...

So our representative for so long in congress is part of the problem or the solution?

It's nice to blame Obama, but this was comming way before he was in office. Start with two unfunded wars.

We need new blood in Congress.

Patrick McHenry said...

Anonymous 8:32 said...

It's nice to blame Obama, but this was comming way before he was in office. Start with two unfunded wars.
__________________________________

Do you mean the two wars that Obama has continued or are you including the action in Libya that our anti-war, Peace Prize winning President started?

Anonymous said...

Charley Dent voted against the stimulus before he voted for it....

The financial mess is an equal opportunity disaster. Gerald Celente is good. I also recommend Robert Scheer's "The Great American Stick-up; How Clinton Democrats and Reagan Republicans..." (did in Main Street America) -- best book I have read on the topic. Cate

Patrick McHenry said...

Cate -

I'd have to agree with you about the financial mess.

Big Government Republicans joined with Big Government Democrats to come up with a Big Government "solution" that actually made the problem worse.

I remember Republican President Bush, Democrat Senate leader Reid, and Democrat House Speaker Pelosi huddling together and coming up with legislation to solve the problem. Also included were Republican Presidential candidate McCain and Democrat Presidential candidate Obama, who quickly gave the plan their support.

Until we start to recognize that Big Government is the problem - and realize that Big Government has supporters on both sides of the aisle - we are doomed.

Ayn Rand said...

If this news is correct and I have no reason to believe it is not, I would suggest we stop blaming the politicians. Who is to blame? I would suggest that you and I have been looking at him every morning. What was the turn out for the most recent election--10% or so. Allow me to suggest that you get or order "The 5000 Year Leap" to get an understanding about our nation and our Founders.They were not perfect but even with their sins they were a heck of a lot better, more moral and more religious, then we are. Their intellectual abilities and their vision was way beyond our comprehension. But the book lays out the path back to where we need to be and to do that we need to stop the bullshit that is going on. We need to do our research and our job to save this nation. We need to realize that not only do we have an economic problem we have a cultural and moral problem. Our enemies are within in our communities. They are frothing at the mouth and are working for a revolution inside out borders. We will not save this nation unless we step up, organize and push back against those who would eliminate us.

c said...

Very well said Cicero.

brenda said...

Many people will disagree with me, but worse than the deregulated mortgage crisis was the $4 per gallon gas problem that sent us into the financial mess we are in.

People who should not have been getting approved for a cell phone contract were getting 500K mortgages, which did not help, but when enough people are choosing between their gas tank and their mortgage payment, you have a recipe for disaster.

The bank bail out and stimulus plan was definately necessary. Although most think it did not work , I beg to differ. If the banking system were allowed to collapse, we would all be much worse off now, and the job situation would be much worse. It placed a bandaid over the problem , and we are still trying to find a way out.

The looming Federal 14 trillion debt is a huge problem too. But there are ways to deal with that also. The decision to give tax breaks to companies who outsource jobs overseas was a bad one, and we are paying for that now.

With almost $4 per gallon gas and a lack of jobs, we may wind up going backwards. Time will tell.

Patrick McHenry said...

Brenda -

Regarding the bank bailout and the stimulus, I couldn't disagree more. The President and Congressional democrats used the recession as an excuse to ram through legislation to fund every liberal dream over the past 20 years and reward their political supporters.

It's all had very little to do with saving jobs or fixing the financial crisis. They didn't want to let a good crisis go to waste, and they didn't.

The stimulus is a very clear example of the flaw of big government thinking, as in order for the government to give almost a trillion dollars in stimulus it has to first take it from somebody. How does that stimulate anything?

Please remember that when the stimulus was passed, it was supposed to keep the unemployment rate from going above 8% (then unheard of). Now, we'd be happy if we could get back anywhere close to that figure.

I do agree with you about the gas prices being important. But that is all part of the President's plan, as Obama is on the record as supporting higher gas prices (although he wanted a more gradual increase).

Higher energy prices are necessary to force people to the left's heaven on earth of going "green". That ordinary people are getting crushed to solve a false problem is of little consequence to the left.

We need to recognize that there are some in this country who want to control every decision you can make - from how you get your healthcare, to how much drive, to what you eat, to how high you set your home thermostat, to how much you can make, etc. They will never be satisfied, and will always want more.

They need to be stopped.

Anonymous said...

You know not all Dems are tree hugging carbon credit cranks as not all Republicans are tax breaks to friends and pull yourself up by the bootstraps to the poor, we need to find a place in the middle, and fix the whole damn thing. Yes we are Rotting from within, Yes we have no manufacturing base for the high school drop outs to go to and make a living, yes we have a HUGE social problem , yes the schools stink, yeas people don't give a shit and don't bother to vote anymore (but they sure bitch all the time) we need to put all new people into EVERY office and we need to do it fast... Or as they say in the hushed backrooms of corporate america... Were Doomed

John Galt said...

Half of all wage earners in the US pay no federal income tax. They have no stake in federal economics and should not be expected to care - except that they not be made to pay. We've allowed the government that robs Peter to pay Paul to create more Pauls than Peters. Pauls will simply vote to extract more from Peters and so on and so on. Peters will seek shelter from the legal pickpocketing and not see any incentive to continue to prosper for Pauls' greater benefit. Thus, the outrage over trimming "entitlements." The collapse is easy to engineer. Hope and change rhetoric will do that. Getting people to accept the decline is more tricky.

Anonymous said...

Since Stoffa and Angle have been in charge everything has gone to Hell.

God save us.

Anonymous said...

Patrick -

We all get the fail that is Obama. But, he did not get us here. Both parties, bought and paid for by "Capitalists" who could give a rat's ass about anything more than securing their own positions, are equally culpable.

As for your argument for unfettered capitalism, well, that is all well and good on paper. In real life, the Angelo Mozilos,Sam Zells, John Thains, Ken Lays, Dennis Kozlowskis, Michael Milkens, and Halliburtons (and forget Iraq, Halliburton and friends are raping the land and people of this state in ways you could never imagine) of the world have proven over and over again that it doesn't work on a practical level.

Until one of them is ripped apart on a rack in the public square, they will pay lip service to the cause of the day, pit neighbor against neighbor, and make off with the bounty while we are beating the hell out of each other. Until we rise, as Cicero so aptly suggests, alll we do is pick our poison. Socialism masquerading as compassion or exploitation and theft in the guise of rugged individualism and self reliance.

Patrick McHenry said...

Anon 12:59 -

I think you may have missed the point of Cicero's post.

Perhaps you should read the book he recommends. I have.

Ayn Rand said...

Patrick McHenry
Right on the money

Ayn Rand said...

Anonymous 12:59
Other then capitalism what exactly would you propose? No system is perfect but with capitalism we the people cannot only become participants in the economy, we can also tend over it because it is a democratic economy. Your choices are not numerous. We can return to slavery, we can move toward numerous isms like socialism, communism, facism, monarchy and more. Which would you prefer?

Anonymous said...

"tend over it". What reality do you live in? All pure "isms" are the playthings of the influential using the treasure of the influenced.

Peter, meet Paul. Keep going my pretties, tear each other to shreds. You must buy your healing medicine from me at the end of the day.

Bookies are bookies in any "system". they make money whether you win or lose. That's the deal they never lose.

Anonymous said...

Ayn Rand said...
"Anonymous 12:59
Other then capitalism what exactly would you propose?"

I believe whole-heartedly in capitalism, with public hangings, dismemberment and heads on the lamposts of those types I listed above, those whom would abuse the rights and privileges of the American capitalist system sustained by the blood of patriots throughout our history.

Their crimes are no less offensive than that of the drug dealer, child molester, or traitor. Real consequences for these economic rapists, and you will see them turn and do the right thing and, eventually, see all prosper to the limits of their God-given abilities.