The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: I_B_Perky on March 14, 2015, 11:47:34 PM
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The link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026358953 (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026358953)
The op:
marmar (66,245 posts)
“Consumers Aren’t Spending Even In a Booming Job Marketâ€
from Naked Capitalism:
Bloomberg: “Consumers Aren’t Spending Even In a Booming Job Marketâ€
Posted on March 12, 2015 by Yves Smith
I am sure Naked Capitalism readers can clear up what a Bloomberg headline screams is an “American Mystery Story,†that the economy is creating more jobs, yet retail sales have fallen three months in a row, with the latest being a 0.6% decline in February versus an expected increase of 0.2%. The analysts quoted on Bloomberg blamed the terrible February weather and were confident consumer spending would pick up soon.
Of course this article could simply be Dr. Pangloss meets the job market. It somehow appears to elude most commentators that the economy is creating more jawbs than jobs, and that the labor participation rate actually fell from 62.9% to 62.8%. But analysts somehow manage to look past that. From the Bloomberg story:
“The expenditures that add up to gross domestic product are coming in a lot softer than employment,†said Neil Dutta, head of U.S. economics at Renaissance Macro Research LLC. “Why would retailers be hiring if sales are falling? Why would they be boosting hours if sales are falling and why would they be paying more?â€
The other factor leading to lower spending is that the saving rate is up. Well, why shouldn’t the savings rate rise on a secular basis as the public realizes (if they haven’t already) that social safety nets, and most important of all, Medicare and Social Security, are being hollowed out?
I’m thus mystified by the uniform tone of boosterism in the media about the state of the economy. In New York, where many finance reporters live, things aren’t all that rosy, so it’s hard to attribute it to being biased by local readings. I’ve never seen more vacant stores than now, for instance. Even though that is driven by overly-aggresive rent increases (no joke, rents are being doubled in my ‘hood on Madison and Third Avenues), it still destroys good business and jobs (I’ve kept tabs when I can, and hardly any of the stores that are leaving due to rent increases are relocating). Similarly, salons, an indicator of discretionary spending, are hurting. The man who cuts my hair, who used to run a very successful salon, says he’s had multiple offers from salon owners begging him to take up the balance of their lease. ...................(more)
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/03/bloomberg-consumers-arent-spending-even-booming-job-market.html
I thought the oconomy was great? :mental:
Away we go....
leftofcool (7,674 posts)
1. Some of us just don't buy shit we don't need!
Troll!!!!
dixiegrrrrl (39,661 posts)
16. Some of us can't afford to buy shit we DO need.
Grocery budget has increased 50%.
Utilities across the board have increased.
My doc doubled the cost of office visits, blames it on Obamacare.
The only thing that has decreased lately is gas, which is great if you have a job to get to.
These guys writing for public consumption are either living in a fantasy world or making shit up.
Wait... I thought obumbles made it all better? Embrace the suck, dixiehurl!
SheilaT (17,285 posts)
33. Your doctor is basically full of horse shit to blame Obamacare, the ACA, if
he's raised the cost of office visits. While his costs may well have gone up in many areas (rent, salaries, new equipment) that legitimately require an increase in the cost of office visits, none of those things have anything to do with the ACA.
I've known lots of doctors in my lifetime, relatives and friends, and it's always disheartening to see how entitled the feel to a seven figure income. I've been saying for some years now that medical school should be free (as should all college) because it's genuinely criminal that people get out of medical school with huge debt. Those new doctors feel a lot of pressure to make a lot of money very quickly, and just as quickly start thinking they are entitled to that money.
obamacare is great if it weren't for all the greedy doctors!!!
djean111 (5,915 posts)
2. A lot of the "job boom" jobs are low-paying. Plus rents are up.
In addition, IMO and all that, only a fool would assume that any improvement in the economy is either going to stick around, or is really for more than Wall Street. Unless that trickle down bullshit trickles down, of course.
TROLL!!!!
GreatGazoo (715 posts)
3. One factor: the rising cost of healthcare is sucking every dime out of the economy
The US spends about 17% of GDP on healthcare. One economist estimates that when it gets to 20% the economy will collapse since no industrialized country has ever made it above that number.
The cost of healthcare effects insurance rates including liability insurance (car insurance). It also effect municipal tax rates and the access that local governments give taxpayers to use community properties they turn off fountains, swimming pools, close dog parks, etc to avoid liability or because their insurers make them do so in order to get coverage that they can afford.
We are already the sickest nation of the top 16 and it will get worse. We pay more for healthcare than any nation on earth and then 100,000+ American are killed every year by preventable drug interactions -- in other words, the 2nd leading cause of death in the USA is healthcare itself.
Dummies like them some drugs... don't see the irony.
CountAllVotes (12,999 posts)
7. You are right
Co-payments went up to $100 a pop on some of the RX's necessary around here. They used to be $25-40 and now $100!
If that doesn't bust you when trying to live on $1100.00 a month I don't know what else will.
Throw these high costs in with some of my medical co-pays to doctors now at $200/pop, nothing else will!
This is a major problem for me right now and NO I am not buying anything that I do not absolutely need/require.
Show is up around here, especially with rates pinned at 0%.
Dummie don't like obamacare? Embrace the suck!
BTW... WTF is "Show is up around here.."?
SheilaT (17,285 posts)
34. oh, my! I'm on Medicare, and the three prescriptions I have
are free to me by getting a 90-day mail order supply. I realize, of course, that you probably have very different medications, but what I'm paying ought to be the norm.
Oh, and all of my routine office visits are no copay. Again, Medicare. I am very much in favor of Medicare for all. Sure, some of our taxes will go up, but I'd be very happy to pay somewhat higher taxes so that someone like you can have what I've got. I'd also like to see a huge lot less spent on military, but that's another thread, isn't it?
Until this dummies taxes go up and then there will be wailing, gnashing of teeth and rendering of garments!
CountAllVotes (12,999 posts)
42. I too am on Medicare
and my supplemental plan is supposed to be a good one. Before Medicare the cost is $500+ at present and it doesn't cover jack sh*t. Pisses me off as they did not even bother to tell me about it!
BWAHAHAHA!!!! Medicare sucks? Who knew? So let us give it to everybody!!!!
SheilaT (17,285 posts)
44. You might need to revisit what supplemental plans are available to you.
I know they're different in different locations. I actually have an Advantage Plan with Humana. They get the $104.50 that I pay to Medicare for my Part B and the prescription drug coverage, and they cover all sorts of things that Medicare itself doesn't provide. I've been very impressed. Yes, mine's a PPO (they have a version available that covers all doctors, but costs an additional sixty or so dollars a month) but my primary care physician was already in their network.
I did have to pay $75 at a recent doctor appointment, as the eye dilation wasn't covered. It's not something they do every year, so next year's eye appointment should not cost me anything.
Didn't obumblescare cut supplemental plans like this?
Now wait for it....
CountAllVotes (12,999 posts)
45. I have no choice. I'm in a Union and they call the shots. With this latest thing, it is literally killing me financially as my husband has an RX that is also $100.00.
I'm sick of all of this sh*t and life in general I will admit.
BWAHAHAHA!!!!! I thought unions were great?
SheilaT (17,285 posts)
46. You're on Medicare and your union tells you what supplemental or Advantage plan you can have?
I don't think so.
If you're over 65 and still working, and your company employes more than 20 people, then your company health plan pays first, then Medicare. If the company employes fewer than 20 people, Medicare pays first, then your group health.
But if you are actually on Medicare, you are free to choose whatever supplemental or advantage plan you wish, among those offered in your area.
If I misunderstood, and you're not on Medicare, then my apologies.
Oh, and you may already know this (I didn't at first) but you must sign up for and commence payments for Medicare Part B (and pay $104.50/month) before you can get a supplemental or Advantage plan. If you haven't signed up for the Part B yet, because you're still employed and have coverage through work, you might want to check out the supplemental and Advantage Plans available to you, and see if it's feasible to do that. It would probably be a good idea to talk with the Medicare people first, to make sure this is doable for you.
I worked for about 6 months after I turned 65, and although I'd signed up for Medicare Part A, I didn't bother with the Part B until I quit working. I was confused about how Part B worked at first, but once I figured it out, I was okay.
You don't know shit!!!! Unions are great!!!! Ain't no way!!! Right?
CountAllVotes (12,999 posts)
47. Yes they do
I am retired and still pay dues.
They have a list of plans to choose from and there are only 3 of them where I live and the one I have is supposedly the best of the lot.
The employer is a big one with some 35,000 retired members in it. I've watched it go from $1 co-pays to this $100 a hit thing.
I am permanently disabled so very few choices including doctors!
Disabled or retired? Which is it, dummie? Reality has a way of trumping spin, dummie.
Doctor_J (31,450 posts)
26. But the ACA is the greatest law ever passed in history!
Somehow massive growth in insurance and hospital stock prices is considered great news. Even self identified dems believe the most bizarre shit
TROLL!!! ALERT!!!!
daleanime (7,192 posts)
28. It has slowed the rate of increase....
but we knew from the get-go that it went no were near far enough to proper address the problem.
SHUDDDUP!!!!! Obamacare is great!!!
PowerToThePeople (5,047 posts)
50. Personally
The expanded medicaid portion of the ACA has been a great help to me the past couple of years.
That just makes me want to fight harder for universal health care.
So the dummie likes the fact that other people have their money taken from them by threat of force to give him free shit? Typical.
Fred Sanders (11,320 posts)
4. Complaining about consumer spending...in a BOOMING job market? Thanks, Obama.
Ex-energy spending, consumer spending is up. Retail sales include gasoline, down 30 to 40 %....thanks, Obama.
ALERT!!!!
KingCharlemagne (3,387 posts)
5. My own personal saga may help shed light on this paradox. After a prolonged bout
of unemployment, during which I ran through most of my savings and retirement savings, I finally found work last month . . . at a 30% pay cut. My fixed expenses (mortgage, food, utiities and so on) take up every last cent of what I now make, leaving me little or no money for discretionary puchases and dreading the inevitable car breakdown or medical emergency (when my ACA Bronze plan will require I pay huge deductibles).
While my situtation may be more severe than many people's, I could swear I've read similar tales here of folks like myself finding a job after a lengthy period of unemployment at a severe paycut.
ETA: I would not qualify for my mortgage currently based on what I am now earning. Got my mortgage back in 2009 when the shit had not yet hit the fan for me and my wife.
Who has been president for the last 7 years? What did the dems do when they had control of congress? Hint: It was not seeing about improving the economy.
Saphire (2,330 posts)
8. That's my story, too. I'm spending alright,
spending every penny i make just to get by. I've even got a second job to help a little. As dubya would say, lucky me.
Who has been in the oval office for the last 7 years, again?
KingCharlemagne (3,387 posts)
20. I'm making ends meet with only one job (at the 30% pay cut), but only barely. If I want to have fun,
take vacations, buy goodies, and so on, I too will need to find either a higher-paying job or find a second part-time job.
The solution to this paradox is very simple, athough the political will and vision are largely lacking among the political class: a Guaranteed Annual Income for all citizens and permanent residents by creating a sustained demand would restore a gaping hole in the Social Safety Net that 30 years of Reagan-Bushism has created.
I'm not holding my breath.
Embrace the SUCK!!!!
sendero (27,755 posts)
11. This is exactly what is happening everywhere...
... the unemployment stats are completely useless. If you lose your $70K a year job and replace it with a $40K job, you are now "employed". If you look for work for years and give up looking you are "not counted".
I like to keep reminding folks of this simple fact. Zero percent interest rates are, for the economy, like a ventilator for the man in the ICU. They are the only thing keeping it/him alive. As long as rates are zero, there is no recovery just like as long as the man is on the ventilator he has not recovered. Period.
WHO THE HELL HAS BEEN IN CHARGE THE LAST SEVEN YEARS???!?!?
KingCharlemagne (3,387 posts)
18. I read somewhere quite awhile ago that 95% of the gains from this so-called
'recovery' have accrued to the top 1% of the population (in the form of higher stock prices and reduced interest rates -- making bond prices go higher). Thus, it is safe to say that the American economy can have a 'recovery' of sorts but, if its gains are not widely shared, the economy will still be in something of dead cat-bounce mode.
I don't think the unemployment stats are 'completely useless,' just that they need to be considered along with other metrics like the workforce participation rate which is at the lowest point it has been since that statistic started being kept. There is an incredible amount of slack in the labor force today, between unemployment and underemployment.
And you still love dems? Moron.
sendero (27,755 posts)
21. They are "completely useless"...
... from the standpoint that they are used as a comparison tools from one time to the next. It was less than a decade ago that a 5.x% UE rate was a signal of a generally well-functioning economy. Now, it means nothing.
I understand you think that other factors have to be considered and indeed they do, but when the govt and the MSM talk about UE they conveniently leave out those contexts.
The O'misadministration fudging the numbers? :whistling:
Scootaloo (16,209 posts)
51. Same here
I lost my job back in 2013, blew through my skinny-ass savings while searching. I picked up a job (still have it) at 3/4 the pay and 3/4 the hours. Everything i make goes into expenses. I am literally hopping paycheck to paycheck, with the occasional don't-have-a-damn-choice overdraft charge swallowing whatever spare cents and dollars i can have left.
In 2013 obumbles had been president for how long?
There is more that I won't bring over. All say the same thing. The economy sucks. All won't open their eyes and see who is responsible.
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Every time there is bad economic news all libs cover for owebuma by being "surprised".
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dixiegrrrrl (39,661 posts)
16. Some of us can't afford to buy shit we DO need.
Grocery budget has increased 50%.
Utilities across the board have increased.
My doc doubled the cost of office visits, blames it on Obamacare.
The only thing that has decreased lately is gas, which is great if you have a job to get to.
These guys writing for public consumption are either living in a fantasy world or making shit up.
Whaaaaaaat? Your government has been lying to you? Your Lightworker is full of shit?
Nah. Nobody's saying that. :whistling:
sendero (27,755 posts)
21. They are "completely useless"...
... from the standpoint that they are used as a comparison tools from one time to the next. It was less than a decade ago that a 5.x% UE rate was a signal of a generally well-functioning economy. Now, it means nothing.
I understand you think that other factors have to be considered and indeed they do, but when the govt and the MSM talk about UE they conveniently leave out those contexts.
You don't say..............hmmmmm...
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Every time there is bad economic news all libs cover for owebuma by being "surprised".
Surprise: U.S. Economic Data Have Been the World's Most Disappointing
Is this a sign of unanticipated weakness in the economy?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-13/surprise-u-s-economic-data-most-disappointing-in-the-world
KingCharlemagne STOOPID(3,387 posts)
20. I'm making ends meet with only one job (at the 30% pay cut), but only barely. If I want to have fun,
take vacations, buy goodies, and so on, I too will need to find either a higher-paying job or find a second part-time job.
The solution to this paradox is very simple, athough the political will and vision are largely lacking among the political class: a Guaranteed Annual Income for all citizens and permanent residents by creating a sustained demand would restore a gaping hole in the Social Safety Net that 30 years of Reagan-Bushism has created.
:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
I'm not holding my breath.
What do you think allowed TheRapist to juggle the numbers and declare a budget surplus, goof? Who do think allowed the fundamentals of a strong economy, strong enough to let TheRapist leave it on cruise control, and draw accolades from simpletons like you for something he had no hand in either creating or sustaining?
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_enwllKVe46g/STRlabLgcuI/AAAAAAAAAAg/uF-J5qmXNBc/s400/SuperReagan.jpg)
You're welcome, Citizen!
Who kept TheRapist from shitting in his own bed?
(http://images.dailykos.com/images/123870/large/Republican_Congress_pic.jpg)
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Try to imagine living a life where not one waking moment isn`t spent miserably obsessed with how unfair it is that you are not given free shit.
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Try to imagine living a life where not one waking moment isn`t spent miserably obsessed with how unfair it is that you are not given free shit.
I'd LOVE to cause them even more anguish and misery.
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Interesting how the job market turns around when you get a repub senate and house but there's no credit given. Just saying
KC