Economy

Another sad statistic on our failing economy. For 6 months straight we have lost jobs. Of course this is "business as usual" to the GOP.

That's how much the dollar has dropped during Bush's term. What a legacy builder!

Ouch:

Shares of General Motors Corp. plunged Wednesday to their lowest level since September 1954, as investors shrugged off better-than-expected June sales and analysts raised concerns about the company's cash needs.

George Bush's legacy continues.

The Dow and S&P sees the biggest losses in the month of June since the Great Depression. Of course we are just nothing but a bunch of paranoid leftists when we bring things up like that.

We all know how dim of news the oil prices are, but what does Asia's new inflation problem have to do with us? Think out sourcing. If inflation is high in Asia then the American companies that decided to ship their manufacturing overseas now have to pay more, not only in transportation from shipping costs, but now for the cost of doing business in Asia.

This global economy is coming back to really bite us in the ass, and it's the people of this country that are paying. I don't really see how it can easily be remedied either.

Exxon to leave the U.S. retail gas business. This is a cure for gas prices. No retailers = no price problem.

Yup Americans are still losing their houses, no matter how hard the idiots on Wall Street try to tell you that the economy isn't that bad.

That's how our great leader described the future of the economy today:

President Bush said Friday the slow growth of the economy is "not good enough for America," but new rebate checks will inject some life soon.

"This economy is going to come on," Bush said. "I'm confident it will."

Yeah those checks are going to help so much. I might buy a new house , or even a new car. Hey! How about a luxury European trip?

McCain has his economic plan:

When Senator John McCain was asked here this afternoon how he plans to
balance the budget, he said that he hoped to do so by stimulating
economic growth - and approvingly cited the example of President Ronald
Reagan

As The Huffington Post points out, and anyone over the age of 35 should remember, Reagan tripled the size of the national deficit. What's even more ironic is how closely Bush's economic plans have followed Reagan's.

Another sure sign of the recession. This is the highest rate in 5 years.

Something interesting I just saw. I had on Morning Joe and he was talking to Erin Burnett of CNBC. They were trying the usual "sugar coating" of the economy when Burnett was handed a piece of paper. She looked at it and kind of looked shock and said "Wow" then pushed it off to the side. A couple minutes later was when the breaking news alert of the new jobs figures started coming in. Was that what she was given and wanted to go back to sugar coating? If so, then isn't their job to report the news, not make it up?

Here is his own 3am ad:

Pretty interesting coming from a man who's top economic adviser is considered one of the key culprits in the entire subprime mess.

Speaking of Phil Gramm, let's look at his employer:

The spiraling crisis in the credit and housing markets has kept Gramm in focus, fairly or not. His employer, UBS, revealed yesterday that investment losses tied to the U.S. housing market reached $37 billion over the last six months. For the last three months, UBS posted a $12 billion loss.

Gramm, UBS's vice chairman, said yesterday he was "totally unaware" of his bank's massive holdings of securities tied to subprime mortgages, but, he added, "I'm confident we'll recover."

So Gramm was "unaware" of where a majority of the income was generated from, for a company he helped run? For some reason I just can't buy that. Gramm is just like McCain - nothing more than a liar. They will both destroy our economy even more.

Phil Gramm is McCain's chief economic adviser and was one of the chief architects of the deregulation of the banking industry that helped get us into the mortgage crisis. Now George Bush is proposing sweeping new regulations of the banking industry to help prevent more problems. This appears to go strongly against Gramm's beliefs, as well as the neo-con belief of "smaller government" over all. It is going to be interesting to see how the neo-cons respond to this new proposal.

America's own refugee camps.

(h/t Cesca)

The feds cut interest rates by 3/4 of a point, down to 2.25%. God bless the Bush economy! More money for the greedy.

Stock options seem to be the big "benefit" when companies hire people. They entice prospective employees with options to buy their stocks at reduced rates, or matching what they buy. But what happens if the company gets sold for a ridiculously discounted rate?

More so than other firms on Wall Street, Bear had encouraged its employees, from secretaries to top executives, to be long-term holders in the company's stock, and the employees own over 30 percent of the company.

[SNIP]

"My life has been flushed down the drain," said one person. There was talk Monday that with their life savings nearly depleted, some executives had moved quickly, putting their weekend homes on the market.

You not only face losing your job, but also any security you may have had in such circumstances, as well as retirement.

I used to work for Lowes and they did the same thing. When you were hired they tried their best to sell you on their stock options program. Numerous employees did so and that was the only stock they owned. I used to tell them how idiotic of a decision that was. At least you should diversify your portfolio some. Their stock hasn't done anything like Bear Stearns, but in this economic roller coaster, you never know.