Panel says US has been in recession since Dec. ’07
December 1st, 2008 . by TexasFredPanel says US has been in recession since Dec. ’07
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. economy has been in a recession since December 2007, the National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday.
The NBER - a private, nonprofit research organization - said its group of academic economists who determine business cycles met and decided that the U.S. recession began last December.
The White House commented on the news that a second downturn has officially begun on President George W. Bush’s watch without ever actually using the word “recession,” a term the president and his aides have repeatedly avoided. Instead, spokesman Tony Fratto remarked upon the fact that NBER “determines the start and end dates of business cycles.”
“What’s important is what is being done about it,” Fratto said. “The most important things we can do for the economy right now are to return the financial and credit markets to normal, and to continue to make progress in housing, and that’s where we’ll continue to focus.”
Many economists believe the current downturn will last until the middle of 2009, and will be the most severe slump since the 1981-82 recession.
Full Story Here:
Panel says US has been in recession since Dec. ’07
Some of us knew this, some of us KNEW that we were already in a recession. Some of us blogged it, some of us were told, by other bloggers, that we had NO idea of what we were talking about. We were told that George W. Bush had the economy well under control, were were told, during the Enron debacle, and the ensuing financial bailout, GWB knows what he’s doing and has the best money minds in the business working on this.
We have watched our finances go from pretty good in early 2001 to IN THE TANK in late 2008. So, let me ask you, WHO was the guy in charge during those years? Who inherited an amazingly healthy economy and a rather comfortable budget surplus when he took office?
Yes, I DO know that we had the attacks of Sept. 11th. Yes, I DO know that we had a military and Intel deficiency brought on by the Clinton administration. Yes, I DO know that the Bush administration had to ‘foot the bill’ to rebuild those military and Intel services, but I also know that the Bush administration has blown approximately $10B a month in Iraq for the nearly 6 years now, and so far, there is no REAL end in sight.
Let me remind the reader, Iraq had NOTHING to do with the attacks of 9-11, a fact that is substantiated by the DoD, the CIA and the U.S. Senate and House investigations, but we’re there, and will be there for a long time to come.
The Bush administration is, in MY opinion, responsible for the debacle that IS Iraq, and for the TRILLIONS of U.S. taxpayer dollars that have gone to pay for this very unnecessary war. I seem to remember in times past when war was considered to be beneficial to the economy, it created limitless jobs and opportunities. Has the Bush administration screwed up the ‘art of war’ so badly that now the American citizen goes broke? Are the major corporations going broke over this war?? Or from their own ineptness? Is Halliburton the only BIG winner here?
America is in a fix folks, the Bush administration is responsible for it. As Harry Truman said, “The buck stops here”. This happened under the Bush watch. Who else can you lay the responsibility upon?
EDIT TO ADD:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush expressed regret Monday that the global financial crisis has cost jobs and shrinking retirement accounts and said he will support more government intervention if needed to ease the recession.
“I’m sorry it’s happening, of course,” Bush said in a wide-ranging interview with ABC’s World News, which was airing Monday. “Obviously I don’t like the idea of people losing jobs, or being worried about their 401(k)s. On the other hand, the American people got to know that we will safeguard the system. I mean, we’re in. And if we need to be in more, we will.”
Full Story Here:
Bush to country: ‘I’m sorry’ about the economic crisis
Now I don’t know about YOU, but I feel a hell of a lot better knowing that Bush is *sorry*…
I watched the “recession” start for me in 2005. That’s when the housing industry took a dump up in Minnesota, where I was banished to for a few years. I wish the economists would be honest with the public.
Bush also said he was ‘unprepared for war’. Looks to me like Bush was ‘unprepared’ for every damn thing. What a doofuss!
Just out of curiosity, what ever happened to Iraq picking up a big chunk of the price tag on the Liberation of Iraq??
Thor, THAT is a damned good question, and one we’ll likely NEVER get an answer to…
We are dumping BILLIONS upon BILLIONS of OUR tax dollars into one of the most oil rich nations on earth, and we are seeing NO return for OUR investment…
Personally, I would NEVER have gone to Iraq in the 1st place, and if I had been FORCED to do so, I would have done so in the guise of friend and ally to Saddam, that would have been the most logical effort in Iraq, make Saddam an ALLY, he hated Iran, he hated al-Qaida, he didn’t like us too much but he would have taken any U.S. support he could have received…
Saddam was NOT worth the effort, the lives lost, the money spent, ANY of it, but he may have been valuable, not TRUSTED, but valuable none the less, he would have held Iran in check, thus leaving us free to pursue al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan if need be, and to other areas too, as needed…
I don’t care what ANY of the Bush Bots say, Iraq was NOT a part of 9-11, Iraq did NOT support al-Qaida and there were NO Taliban or al-Qaida fighters IN Iraq until WE went there, they then came to Iraq to fight us.
Now, strategically, that may not be an altogether bad deal, Iraq is a much easier theater of battle than the mountains of Afghanistan, the Russians suffered miserably but they were defeated by American MIGHT and TALIBAN guts… The enemy of my enemy is MY friend thing…
In any case, Iraq equates to $10B a month that could be well spent elsewhere, because GWB surely didn’t have ANY idea that Iraq was better ground to fight upon, all GWB had was a hard-on for Saddam and the desire to see him dead, damn the end results, to the American or Iraqi people, ‘Daddy’ had to be vindicated!!
And yeah, I know, Saddam WAS evil personified, he was a monster, but only to his own people, and if they didn’t have the balls to stand up to him, hey, they were HIS people…
Bush looks more lame everytime he opens his pie hole….and why the Hell would he give his first interview with Charlie Gibson? The Freaking ABC hatchet man who did all he could to derail Sarah Palin.
And if you loved THAT administration, just wait for the next one. There is absolutley NO way that the merest fraction of Obama’s “wants” can occur absent MASSIVE taxation and ever greater spending.
As Capt. Kirk said when he expired: “Oh my.”
BZ
I predicted the economy to recover in April if McCain Won and July if Obama won.
It all comes down to restoring market confidence and allowing for the growth on industry. If BO imposes another collection of taxes or revokes the Bush tax cuts It is likely to extend the recovery back to October.
He only has about 250 days before the next election cycle will start to weigh on the minds of those who have to run. This is covered in a blog entry I wrote a couple weeks ago.
Fred, I’ve wondered that too. What if we would have tried to “rehabilitate” Saddam and bring him into the “fold” on Democratic nations? We can’t just blame Bush for this. All during the 90′s, the Clinton Administration isolated Iraq rather than try to establish diplomatic relations with them.
Oh yea, the thanks we get from Iraq for freeing them from Saddam is they want oil at $80 per barrel.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081128210731.c9t7wc9j&show_article=1
I agree with Basti. All this talks about the economy is hitting me pretty hard. I’ve only recently graduated college (december 06) and started my career (teaching) in August 2007. This year (08) is really my first year with out mommy and daddy’s full financial support. I’m starting to understand the economy more and more each day and how it does affect me.
Naively I thought previously that the economy and all the financial talks didn’t effect me in the long run, but clearly I’m seeing differently today.
Am I still naive for trying to be an optimist in this situation?