United States Heading towards a Depression?

Fannie Mae is racking up losses and forecasts a steeper drop in home prices this year. Home foreclosures are accelerating around the country

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080506/ap_on_bi_ge/economy;_ylt=AsDN5ofIH93T674nfG4mDG.s0NUE

A Fannie Mae collapse could trigger a runaway downward spiral in mortgage backed securities.

 

Some of us have being crying wolf for a while now, but a few here are still living in a bubble. Unfortunately things will get worse, and I do blame the current situation on those in charge of our government, its on their watch after all and judging by their track record everything they've touched they've broken especially the one at the helm...King Bush.

 

I don't think much can be gained from blaming specific "state actors" like Bush. He's just the latest in a long line of people who have undermined the system. In fact, one could make the argument that he's actually done more for tearing up the system and starting with something new, fresh and responsible by waging his unfunded wars and presiding over the absolute corruption of the GOP.

What I do think is important, is spreading the knowledge of exactly why and how the system is defaulting. Not just recognizing symptoms but also causes, historical precedents, and solutions.

After all, Bush has done what Democrats have done before. To blame Bush, is to imply that a changing of the guard might yield different results.

But when you understand how politicized the economy is, and how we no longer deal in "real money" but instead, phony counterfeit receipts, it becomes obvious the problem is institutional, not incidental.

 

Citigroup considers $400bn asset sale

I guess the cost of raising capital is becoming too expensive and they need to shrink the balance sheet instead.

 

Tomorrow, Vikram Pandit, street idiot, to unveil "grandmaster plan" to take over the world.

I believe he is proposing to cut back on the free coke given to it's employees so they can work around the clock losing money. He has found this to be counterproductive, to say the least.

 

The losing money, or the coke? lol

This snort cocaine thing is becoming a P&R forum meme.

 

Dow has been barely scratched by this "recession" / downturn. This entire recession / depression issue has been sensationalized by the media, and you're all buying it based on what you see on Fox news. Theres no argument that the US economy slowed down due to the recent "credit crisis", but its by NO MEANS a recession, let alone a depression. Go look up the economic definition of RECESSION before you claim we're in one.

 

Hi! Welcome to the thread!

Try reading it, before posting foolish things! Thanks!

So the Chairman of the NBER, who declares what is and is not a recession, says it is a recession. Bernanke fears it may be a recession. Warren Buffet thinks it is a recession. Jim Rogers, Peter Schiff, recession. Alan Greenspan, recession.

Ron Paul, who is almost always right, recession. Government kicks back $600 to citizens, the first ever national rebate, but not a recession. Interest rates dropped irrationally low, but not a recession.



Let me explain something to you. The DOW does not dictate when we are in a recession or not. The Dow is down from a year ago, meanwhile monetary inflation is running somewhere around 15%. So if you're bullish on the market, you are taking a royal @ss whuppin'.

But hey, it's all Fox News. Real economists don't know nothing. You watch the DOW.

 

Actually the definition is just that simple, and it does take into account "a serious of other factors"... Its that "serious of other factors" that is partly to blame for the down turn and negative growth.

 

No, because anyone who is serious about economics knows that GDP is for the most part worthless, and I think we will see soon, if it hasn't already been done, that people will start proving exactly how GDP is manipulated.

The guy at ShadowStats may have already figured it out.

 

And anyone who is serious about macroeconomics, or at the very least made it to the 9th grade knows your full of .... $%#$

 

I don't have much respect for macroeconomics. And I agree, your economic education seems to be around a Grade 9 level.

How many times I have already explained the fallacies of GDP?

1) GDP is quantitative, not qualitative. If everyone took out loans and bought goods they neither needed, nor could pay off, GDP would rise. This is known as false prosperity.

2) GDP is indexed to inflation, when it should be indexed to the TMS or M2. Indexing GDP to M2 will show a wildly different picture.

3) GDP is susceptible (see #1) to Menger's Fallacy of the Broken Window. Like war spending, GDP may go up, but the standard of living does not. The goods produced are expendable and used for destructive purposes.

4) GDP is directly stimulated by government deficit spending, also known as the monetization of debt. This is what Ron Paul refers to as "creating money out of thin air".

If you understand any of the points I have made above, then you would understand that GDP just measures changes in velocity within a fixed period of time. Not "growth", whatever that word means.

 

It was not until I reached item four that I realized now where you are getting all this hogwash...

The school of Paulenomics.

I understand completely now.

 

Hunh? Are you back to name calling as a means of debate?

Actually, the Austrian school, and probably the Chicago school as well. I'm fairly certain Nobel Prize winners FA Hayek and Milton Friedman would be inclined to acknowledge my points.

Although Paul is one of the most talented economists in the Congress. A recognized author and speaker on microeconomics as they relate to issues of liberty and monetary policy.

No, sadly you don't. And you probably will continue to avoid understanding. That's what makes you an anti-intellectual.

 

I did not call you a name. You tend to see things that are not there. There's a word for people like that.

Doubtful.

Please, I don't want to piss my pants...
Stop it man, you are killing me. You should really look into a career change. Comedy is in your blood.

Who's doing the name calling?

 

GDP= Government spending + investment + consumption + net exports

 

I never said you called me a name. Not this post at least. Labeling my responses "hogwash" does not disprove them.

Curious you would say that. Which of them was least influenced by Menger?

Thank you for another excellent example of anti-intellectualism.

I suppose Mike Huckabee is on Fox Business News regularly, delivering insight on the economy? Of course not.

The Hardees employee of the month?