Consumer spending about to take another downturn

[Allentownjake]

http://www.strategyoneinsight.com/?p=136

If you own a small business or work in industries that are consumer driven, I'd prepare for 2009 like conditions again.

[true_blood]

I do believe we are on the cusp of a double dip right now. So much for that "recovery summer", huh??

[NHSparky]

http://www.strategyoneinsight.com/?p=136

If you own a small business or work in industries that are consumer driven, I'd prepare for 2009 like conditions again.

I'll go even further and say that they'll be WORSE.  Remember, we've never really recovered from 2008-09.  Some metrics have even gotten worse.

Second drop in home prices?  Second wave of unemployment?  Another wave of foreclosures/bankruptcies?  Second bear market (Dow 5000-6000?)  All well within the realm of possibility, if not likely.

[Allentownjake]

I do believe we are on the cusp of a double dip right now. So much for that "recovery summer", huh??

Absent federal spending, I don't think we ever left the recession.

[Duke Nukum]

Absent federal spending, I don't think we ever left the recession.

You are correct on this.  The whole "recovery" was a sham and even the illusion couldn't be maintained as evidenced by Obama's and Biden's "Recovery Summer" tour.

[NHSparky]

Absent federal spending, I don't think we ever left the recession.

I liken the federal spending to a sugar rush--a small and inefficient burst of energy in lieu of developing healthier habits, and with a crash that leaves the user feeling worse than when they started.

[thundley4]

Absent federal spending, I don't think we ever left the recession.

All that federal spending on the stimulus just took money from one sector of the economy and redirected it to where the Dems wanted it to go. They redirected the natural flow and probably prolonged the recession.

[Allentownjake]

I do believe we are on the cusp of a double dip right now. So much for that "recovery summer", huh??

I was calling that Mission Accomplished moment.  Bush took 5 years to look like a disaster and cost his party elections, Obama did it in 19 months.  Impressive.

[TheSarge]

I was calling that Mission Accomplished moment.  Bush took 5 years to look like a disaster and cost his party elections, Obama did it in 19 months.  Impressive.

The President made his share of missteps.  But in reality what happened in 2006 was caused by the Capitol Hill Congress Critters and not the President.

[Allentownjake]

The President made his share of missteps.  But in reality what happened in 2006 was caused by the Capitol Hill Congress Critters and not the President.

By the time he left office Herpes was polling better.

Frankly I think we are being a little hard on the Presidents.  They are stuck trying to manage crazytown.

Of course, they actively seek the job.

[thundley4]

By the time he left office Herpes was polling better.

Frankly I think we are being a little hard on the Presidents.  They are stuck trying to manage crazytown.

Of course, they actively seek the job.

Kind of funny now, in some areas President Bush is back polling higher numbers than Obama.

[Allentownjake]

Kind of funny now, in some areas President Bush is back polling higher numbers than Obama.

Well there is a battle over who will be the 3rd and 4th worst Presidents going on right now, I think Barack has an inside track going on.  Who knows, he keeps it up he might give old Buchanan a run for the title.

[NHSparky]

Well there is a battle over who will be the 3rd and 4th worst Presidents going on right now, I think Barack has an inside track going on.  Who knows, he keeps it up he might give old Buchanan a run for the title.

God knows that Jimmy Carter is breathing a little easier these days.

[Allentownjake]

God knows that Jimmy Carter is breathing a little easier these days.

Oh Jimmy at least has that picture with Sadat and Begin to stare at and say I'm not a total failure, I'm not a total failure.

[NHSparky]

Oh Jimmy at least has that picture with Sadat and Begin to stare at and say I'm not a total failure, I'm not a total failure.

As much as I loathed Carter and the late 70's (at the risk of dating myself), I do think he did a good thing with his Habitat for Humanity.

Too bad he didn't just stick to that.

[TheSarge]

Frankly I think we are being a little hard on the Presidents.  They are stuck trying to manage crazytown.

Oh really?  Funny you should say that Jake...

AllentownJake  (1000+ posts)        Thu Oct-22-09 12:53 PM
Original message
 
Dick Cheney, SHUT THE **** UP

Seriously Dick, you were the Co-President in one of the most disastrous administration, economically, diplomatically, and militarily in US history. Everything you got your reptilian fingers around has turned to absolute shit.

Dithering? Dithering? Really Dick, well perhaps if your administration did a little bit more dithering we wouldn't be involved in two wars that have cost thousands of American lives and possibly over a million civilian causalities. Perhaps if you did a little less dithering in April of 2008 when the financial world was about to blow up, millions of your fellow citizens wouldn't be struggling right now. Finally if that man-child of a "boss" you had, did a little less dithering in August of 2001 around the ranch, maybe we wouldn't have had 9-11 to begin with.

I have no doubt in my mind, that some sort of deal was made to make sure a peaceful transition of power happened last January. However, I hope to God, that whatever deal that was made is strongly being reconsidered since your reptilian mug has a tendency to peek out every so often and chime in on what you think. Nobody cares what you think, Dick. You and your Kabul of reptiles have taken a once great nation to the brink of literally collapsing.

Please Dick, go back to Wyoming shut-up, before this nation has to send you to the Hague for your crimes.

What a hypocritical moran you are.

[Doc]

Jake.....since TRG brought it up, I would like for you to defend this statement:

AllentownJake  (1000+ posts)        Thu Jan-29-09 07:20 AM
Original message
 
Something to Remember about Republicans

The republican party represents people that still believe that the earth is 6000 years old and that Sarah Palin would be a great President. It represents people who are too simple minded to be able to reconcile their faith with an idea that their can be a metaphor in the Bible. There is also alot of racism there. Ignorance and blind faith is a dangerous combination

I'm sure we would all appreciate a very specific explanation, not your usual oblique equivocation......

doc

[Carl]

Jake.....since TRG brought it up, I would like for you to defend this statement:

I'm sure we would all appreciate a very specific explanation, not your usual oblique equivocation......

doc

Or this...

The Conservative Cave is a conservative website that spends most of their bandwith on reading DU and commenting on it.   I became aware of it about 3 months ago.

They had copied and pasted a number of threads I've written in DU and since I'm no longer posting there, I figured I'd drop by and say hi. 

Some of them were nasty (one asked me to kill myself, and than started talking about General Patton, head would explode if he knew I'm a fan of the General, and Patton is one of my favorite movies).  Others were curious, others wanted to blame me personally for everything Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had ever done.  A few were even nice.

Which brings me to a point.  It will be impossible to work with the Tea Party groups.  You might be angry at the Administration, but that movement is not one to follow or flirt with too much.  The leaders of that group are just as interested as the leaders in the two parties to continue the hate and anger and lack of rational discourse that has gotten us to this point in American History.  They want to continue the labels, they want to continue the name calling, and they want to continue turning everyone into a cartoon character of reality.  If the Tea Party became a legit political party, it would quickly devolve into the GOP and the patronage system that currently exists of campaign donations and private sector jobs for government contracts and policy will continue.

I liken them to Newt's GOP revolution that was all about reform, than reformed nothing in government.  Same shit, new brand.


http://oldelmtree.com/?topic=5346.0

Asked before and didn`t get an answer but as basically civil as you are treated here (I know there are exceptions) do you still say this?

[Zeus]

During the 1994 elections, Republican candidates for the House of Representatives took the unusual step of signing a “contract with America.” They pledged to enact this legislative agenda if their party won the majority. Rarely has a congressional election been waged on such a specific program. The Contract promised a balanced-budget amendment and a line-item veto to control federal spending; tougher anticrime legislation; welfare reform; a tax credit for families with children; reduced federal regulation; enhanced national security; reforms in product liability laws; and term limits for members. The Contract helped Republicans win control of the House for the first time in 40 years and elevated its primary author, Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich, to Speaker of the House.

During their first hundred days in the majority in 1995, House members passed most key elements of the Contract. But the Senate moved more slowly. Since Senate Republicans had not campaigned on the Contract, they felt freer to amend and even reject some of its provisions.

Contract With America

The Contract with America, a ten-point legislative program spearheaded by Newt Gingrich, the minority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, served as a Republican blueprint for reform entering into the 1994 midterm election season. Candidates who signed the Contract agreed to support a balanced-budget amendment, welfare reform, and congressional term limits, among other items. Implementation of the provisions of the Contract became the rallying cry of the new Republican majority in the House in the spring of 1995. The work to enact the Contract resulted in modest legislative victories and pushed congressional politics in a more conservative direction. However, congressional Democrats successfully worked to block passage of most of the Contract's initiatives, there by blunting its impact as a major issue in the 1996 federal elections. The polarized, partisan atmosphere created by fights over the Contract set the context for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998.

[Allentownjake]

Oh really?  Funny you should say that Jake...



What a hypocritical moran you are.

I'm changing my mind on some things.  

Would you prefer me not to take a look at the past 10 years which have been a disaster for our country.  I'm even giving Dick and George some slack.  You should be happy.

In the past 10 years we have

1) Been attacked on our soil for the first time since 1812
2) Had two wars
3) Had a total economic meltdown possibly equivalent of 1929
4) Gone from full employment to depression level unemployment in 3 years
5) Watched two Presidencies implode

This is after I grew up in 20 years of relative stability.  Frankly if I wasn't confused as to what the hell is going on in the world, I'd probably be lobotomized.

Hell there are so many "truths" that I heard in my youth that have been turned on their head in the past 10 years it is hard to know what the hell to believe.

[Allentownjake]

Or this...


Asked before and didn`t get an answer but as basically civil as you are treated here (I know there are exceptions) do you still say this?

You threatened to shoot me my first visit.  It was kind of off putting.  Threats of violence generally tend to make people not think someplace is a friendly place to be.

Seriously, look at my list of the past 10 years.  

I think anyone who isn't a little confused as to what is going on in the world is crazy.  

Hell, Castro disavowed Communism today.  
You have a Christian preacher with 50 members in his church burning Quarans and it is national news
We are debating a Mosque in NY that doesn't even have the funding to be built just the permit
There are border wars and we are having a fight over enforcing federal law
The government issued an unemployment report forgetting to say that 9 states data was estimated and was only caught when someone asked a question about holidays.

It is almost as if the world has gone nuts.

[Carl]

You threatened to shoot me my first visit.  It was kind of off putting.  Threats of violence generally tend to make people not think someplace is a friendly place to be.

Seriously, look at my list of the past 10 years.  

I think anyone who isn't a little confused as to what is going on in the world is crazy.  

Hell, Castro disavowed Communism today.  
You have a Christian preacher with 50 members in his church burning Quarans and it is national news
We are debating a Mosque in NY that doesn't even have the funding to be built just the permit
There are border wars and we are having a fight over enforcing federal law
The government issued an unemployment report forgetting to say that 9 states data was estimated and was only caught when someone asked a question about holidays.

It is almost as if the world has gone nuts.

Be very clear...I did not threaten you.
I have always treated you civilly but seriously and have discussed things with you that way.
Just ask for honesty is all.

[Allentownjake]

Be very clear...I did not threaten you.
I have always treated you civilly but seriously and have discussed things with you that way.
Just ask for honesty is all.

Sorry to be clear, one of your members that was a very poor choice of words.

I'm going to be honest with you.  I have no clue what the hell is going on in the world nor do I have any idea who has the right way to make things better.  All I know is things are not going well, and I'm scared as hell for the future of my friend's children and would not have any of my own right now.

[Carl]

Sorry to be clear, one of your members that was a poor choice of words.

Regarding your list there will always be events in any 10 year time period that can be looked back on and said "My God,who would have ever imagined".
The events of 9/11 are a clear mark though that will always have a before and after recognition.
The rest are a lot more transient,in time they will be recorded and discussed but will not have the overall profound impact.

You may be too young to remember the last time we were in a situation like we are now,politicians from one side of the political spectrum having undercut a military action to the point the public lost a focus.
Economic woes and lost faith in political ethics and a President that was woefully unprepared for the office which started with his feelings that America simply was not exceptional and great despite flaws.

That all changed in November of 1980 so am not giving up just yet.

[Allentownjake]

Regarding your list there will always be events in any 10 year time period that can be looked back on and said "My God,who would have ever imagined".
The events of 9/11 are a clear mark though that will always have a before and after recognition.
The rest are a lot more transient,in time they will be recorded and discussed but will not have the overall profound impact.

You may be too young to remember the last time we were in a situation like we are now,politicians from one side of the political spectrum having undercut a military action to the point the public lost a focus.
Economic woes and lost faith in political ethics and a President that was woefully unprepared for the office which started with his feelings that America simply was not exceptional and great despite flaws.

That all changed in November of 1980 so am not giving up just yet.

I think we have a cultural problem right now, not a political one.

None of you are my enemies.  We may disagree on something but we are not enemies.  You are fellow citizens.

A depression may be actually good for the country or it could tear it apart.  We need to be reminded I think we are Americans.  We are in this boat together, pull together and build a better country.  Or we could tear each other limb to limb fighting over the last scrap of cheese left to us by previous generations.  

This is not a socialism/capitalism thing.  More of a community thing and a respect thing.

I apologize for the way I initially came here.  I have a greater understanding of your points of view and a respect for them.  Even if I disagree on some issues.