12/2/08

Debt Rattle, December 2 2008: I'm sorry it's happening

Ilargi: The one and only institution whose official job it is to gauge US recessions and depressions, the NBER , National Bureau of Economic Research, reported yesterday that the US has been in a recession since December 2007. And yes, I do wonder why it took them a year to reach that conclusion, but many other things are more important. For one thing, this report speaks volumes, once more, about the extent to which the US government, which still denied a recession existed as late as last month, cooks its numbers, but it says something else as well. This will be the longest recession in more than 40 years. You're not going to find a single sound soul to predict it will be over by March or April. But many will still maintain that it's just another recession, and we've been through many of those and came out stronger and all that blubber talk. This one will be counted in years, not months.

So let's see, what advantages have the federal lies, cooked books and hedonistic statistics had for the country and the citizens so far? Exactly, none. And I would venture that the NBER knew this well before the election. Its co-director is Christina Romer, who now features prominently on Obama's finance team. Think she didn't tell him back in October? If she did, why was he silent during the campaign? And if he was, what are the chances he'll start being honest now? He's losing me more every day, I for one do remember Hillary's war-mongering rhetoric, and no, she does not belong where she is right now. The world we're entering will be far too volatile for someone so obviously suffering from a severe case of estrogen imbalance.

Read on...

Peacenik read Ilargi and asked Peacenik: Do you want Harper in power in this environment, or the coalition? Neither is a good option. But Peacenik thinks the coalition will care more about the unemployed and homeless and hungry than a Harper government. Yes it would be nice to let Harper totally screw up and reap the voter's anger. But this situation is just too dire. Events, political and economic, are out of control. Peacenik says "hold on."