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Krugman: “Things Are Getting Worse More Slowly”

By SusanUnPC on April 8, 2009 at 4:00 PM in American Consumers, Auto Industry, Economic Stimulus, Economy, Michigan, Unemployment, Workers

Of course, if you’re Rosily The Riveted ‘Bot Rachel Maddow, you optimistically title the segment, “Things Are Looking Up?.” Dear readers, please wade through the gushing over Obama’s visit to Iraq to get to Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman; it’s worth it because the economist and NYT columnist covers a lot of territory, including the Treasury Department’s delay on releasing the results of “stress tests” for banking institutions (which Larry Doyle is covering in the next story coming up):

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The crusty CNN newsman/commentator Lou Dobbs takes a depressing look at unemployment figures and how taxpayers are being HAMMERED:

California’s Burden: Workers Pay the Price
Workers in California are worrying about losing even more money. The unemployment rate is in the double-digits and climbing. Those who have jobs in the state are bearing an increasingly heavy burden and their tax rates are rising as well. Casey Wian has the report.

Even Maddow had a segment on unemployment, which some have noted does NOT include all of the people forced to work at part-time jobs or those who’ve given up entirely:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The President is doing “everything in his power”? Uh, like what? Well, the unemployment benefits are good — the infusion of cash into the economy also helps. Maddow, to her credit, asks some important questions of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who supplies some solid answers but not any real solutions.

All this talk about the BIG SQUEEZE on the average working person — both from employment crises and increasing taxes — reminded me of a segment I watched earlier Tuesday evening on Hannity:

“The Forgotten Man”
Applying the concept of FDR’s radio address to 2009

As I was preparing this story, I stopped by the YouTube channel of Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan — I’ve subscribed to his channel because I KNOW that the economy and jobs are foremost in his mind — mainly the 750,000 jobs that the state of Michigan expects to lose by the end of 2009. That’s a staggering number of lost jobs. Here’s Fox News’s Geraldo interviewing Rep. McCotter over the weekend:

McCotter on Fox News Geraldo from Detroit
Talking Jobs and Economy

750,000 jobs. That’s one and a half times the entire population of Lansing, Michigan.

“A cherished way of life is being lost,” says Rep. McCotter.

And future generations will have nothing to show for current slapdash solutions except a massive debt they’ll have to try to struggle to repay through exorbitant taxes that prohibit their achieving a decent standard of living.

It’s not such a rosy picture after all, is it.

http://noquarter foxyladi14

and if anyone thinks those fat cats in Washington gives RATS a..
I’mFedUp

Someone should let Obama know what’s going on in the world. He won’t do anything, but at least he’ll know. LMAO. We’re sinking fast and he’s still campaigning and partying like it’s orgyfest 2009. If that moron doesn’t think that people will one day soon wake up and notice that he has flushed us even further down the toilet…
John Smith

It does not even cross their mind. They are getting their contributions and salary no matter what happens. People are idiotic enough to keep voting for them.
Ferd Berfle

Things Are Getting Worse More Slowly

In other words, the situation is a slow rather than rapid decline. I sometimes wonder which is worse. Let the bottom drop out immediately and start to work on a *real* solutions, which includes no politicians or anyone else associated with this meltdown or allow everything to slowly wither on the vine. No answers here–only questions.
Snoopy

Turkish Flash T.V. MOCKS Obama in black face…

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=da8_1239137290

Turks think he’s a stupid moron a$$ Hole..
athena

It’s like pulling off the band-aid. Which is better? Doing it fast or peeling it off slowly, one HAIR at a time! ouch!
Peggy Sue

We’re being lied to, again. Around every turn, there are numbers being messaged, policies being disguised, and explanations and excuses galore. So Olbermann questions Obama’s expansion of presidential powers. Too little, too late.

Geither plays with the numbers, reintroduces his program with more lipstick [is there "not" a toxic [legacy] level], and the Obama folks tell us what a stunning success the POTUS recent trip abroad was. The fact that Obama walked away with nothing is beside the point. He had cheering crowds and journalists wetting their pants to describe Michelle’s clothes. Unemployment figures are announced as 8.5% when even Goolsbee has admitted the “real” figure is closer to 15-17%.

North Korea launches a test missle, even though Obama sternly condemned the action [what a killjoy]. We’re told that we’re not a Christian nation, even though 3/4 of the American population reports “Christian” affiliation, while we’re quite willing to welcome other faiths. We watch our POTUS prostrate himself to a Saudi King with barely a whisper from the MSM, then emphasize his own Muslim roots in Turkey, which was a “taboo” subject prior to his election. And we have people, citizens I fear, who take the side of the Somali pirates because American interests and grievous mistakes, they insist, are to blame.

When does it stop? Americans are a patient and generous people. We put up with 8 years of GW Bush & Co. We’re into less than 100 days with the Dems and The Great Pretender.

I don’t see much of a difference, except the Democrats are weak on defense and turning into ridiculous and dangerous appeasers.

The beat goes on. And which ever song you’re singing, it sucks!

Krugman tells us the financial crisis is getting worse but more slowly?

Either they’re insane or we’re insane to keep buying this load of crap. Tell the guy standing in the unemployment line that this makes any difference at all. Tell my kids how their limited and indebted futures makes this credible. Tell me how my husband and I will ever be able to retire though we’ve followed the rules, payed our taxes and believed our corrupt politicians and parties.

Tell us. Tell us all. I dare you!

Incredible!

Participate in your local tea party. Or remain silent and afraid.
Ferd Berfle

Indeed and my point, exactly. I’m no economist and have no answers but I would like to hear something reasonable from these peckerwoods. As a chemist, I deal with real science everyday. I’d like for once to get a straight answer, which wasn’t full of hypotheticals at every decision point in the process-flow. It drives me crazy. At some point these duds either have to admit that economics is not a science but an art or else admit they know very little about which they speak.
Sassy

We hear reports daily now of companies in our area either closing or letting workers go.
My brother-in-law survived today, while 200 of his co-workers were given the bad news that they were out permanently.
My son-in-law’s company is cutting workers weekly as well.
Blah, blah, blah! No one is actually presenting a plan, and the “money changers” have made out like bandits!
http://www.sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

…or else admit they know very little about which they speak.

Bingo. What Krugman says in the video is pretty bland and obvious at this point, so of course he is right. What I want is for people who a) predicted this problem and therefore b) understand it and c) know what to do about it to be in charge. You will find them all at mises.org

Economics is a science. The reason it is so rife with posers is that these people only look at what effect a certain policy has either a) in the short term or b) on a few select groups. Mix politics into all this and you get policies that favor certain lobbies. Banking and finance are incestuously intertwined with Washington pols.

The banks (car co.s, life insurance co.s) that messed up need to be dissolved. There need to be consequences for bad decisions!!!
http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

Hey, please post these in open threads.
Ferd Berfle

Economics is a science.

Chemistry is a science
Physics is a science
Biology is a science
Astronomy is a science
Genetics is a science
Comparative anatomy is a science
Geology is a science
Plate Tectonics is a science
Agronomy is a science

Even psychology has some scientific aspects to it.

And these are just a small sample of what constitutes inductive logic and reasoning.

What do these real sciences have in common with economics?

Only that they are a human endeavor.

Economics is to science as is astrology is to astronomy.
KintheNorthwest

I think the only people who are making out are the VPs and big shots of the companies getting bailed out.
Whats sick is all the guys getting laid off are paying for these guys to make out with their taxes.
http://www.sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

The problem lies not with the logic and reasoning of economics but with the political poisoning of it.

Much of what is put before the public is not the logical stuff but the politically necessary (for someone) stuff.
TeakwoodKite

SusanUnPc, Great series of articles.

Thanks.
Dick Hertz

A lot of you are talking like solving the economic problems are going to be easy and Obama just doesn’t want to do it. Newsflash, it didn’t get wrecked in three months and it sure as p00p isn’t going to be fixed by waving a magic wand.
Is Obama perfect? No. Is he better than McCain? He11 yes, McCain has senile dementia creeping up on him.
The fact is, Obama is trying to fix the problems without setting knocking down the dominoes. The bankers (who are genetically Republican) didn’t set up these complicated instruments so Superman could come fix them by pushing a button or something. They have had decades since Reagan to find new ways to game the system and hide the mechanisms. And since they own the media, ALL television stations and newspapers, they can pay a wide variety of nincompoops to lie to you convincingly. Obama to cut defense by increasing the budget 4%? Obama is a secret communist, atheist, marxist, Jewish, African Christian while being Malcolm X and Jesus at the same time? Obama bows to Saudis after Bush sloppy tongue kissed the whole royal family? Being polite is a sign of weakness now? Simple slander to deflect from the fact that the wealthy own the GOP and are buying Democrats (Gutierrez) as fast as they can write checks. The conservatives lost, rightly so, and now they have short man syndrome, starting fights they lose and whining about it afterwards.
Obama may have a lot to answer for before this is all done, but he is not yet at the level of criminality of any Republican president or other office holder of the last 40 years.