Their article states: "There are two kinds of recessions: the one that economists measure, and the one that ordinary people feel.
"The official recession is over. That's because the economy is growing again after a sharp decline, with GDP back to the levels of mid-2008. For people who have kept their jobs, suffered no loss of income and enjoyed a rebound in their investments thanks to the year-long stock market rally, things are pretty good.
"Then there's the unofficial recession, which clearly persists. (Why is there an official and an unoffical recession?) More than 8 million people have lost their jobs over the past two years, and the economy has barely started to add those back. Many others have had their pay or hours cut. The housing bust, in its fourth year, still isn't over. Foreclosures continue to mount, businesses and consumers remain gloomy, and many families are struggling to get by on reduced income. 'It's a recovery, but it sure doesn't feel like it,' says Nariman Behravesh, chief economist for forecasting firm IHS Global Insight."
Not sure how that last paragraph convinces me that, even to an economist, the recession is over.
And how does someone account for the fact that federal, state and municipalities are not doing well, especially their pension funds, and some large private companies are still hurting quite a bit.
Below is an article on the Yahoo! Tech Ticker site (my comments in parens):
"General Motors is out of bankruptcy but the troubled car giant still can't turn a profit. The company lost $4.3 billion in its first six months since emerging from bankruptcy. GM Chief Financial Officer Christopher P. Liddell is confident the road ahead will be smoother, saying 'there's a chance of achieving profitability in 2010.'
"Let's hope so. The U.S. government owns 61% of the company. (Well, not exactly the U.S. Government. How about Main Street USA. Will taxpayers ever see anything from this "investment"?)
"GM is also struggling with its pension obligations; a large portion of GM's loss was due to a settlement with the United Workers Automobile Workers union over retiree health care liabilities.
"According to a report by the Government Accountability Office, GM will need to add $12.3 billion into its pension fund by 2014. If GM and Chrysler (which is in the hole $2.6 billion) terminate their pensions, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation – funded by, you know who - would then become responsible for as much as $14.5 billion in unfunded liabilities. However, if GM starts making money the company will be able to pay into the pension, the GAO reports. (Hope you caught that...the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. Bet you had no idea you assisted in funding all of these things.)
"Underfunded pensions are a widespread problem, not just for the private sector, ...
"The New York Times reports, an independent report of California's three big pension funds found a shortfall of more than half a trillion dollars. This could lead to a major political problems, especially when and if states raise taxes to bridge the gap." (Shortfall of a half trillion dollars? I would certainly think that amount of money could be more accurately defined than a shortfall. How about, a deathleap.)
This is a video from Yahoo! tech Ticker discussing the issue:
It is astounding how people are throwing around the word trillion like you could pull one of those bills from your wallet or purse.
I read a few weeks ago that our federal government has borrowed $3.5 Trillion from the Social Security Trust Fund, which, if I understood the article correctly, does not really show as part of the overall deficit. (Creative accounting...)
Our elected leaders need to let America get back to work, stop deficit spending, not force us to buy things we do not want or need, not create more and more oversight agencies (that really do not seem to do their job, anyway), and allow the Free Enterprise system to work.
Yes, get rid of the criminal element that does exist in the private sector, but also, clean your own houses on Capitol Hill.
Over For now.
Main Street One
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