The Economy Is Getting Worse and Worse -- And No One's Doing a Thing About It

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/147929/the_economy_is_getting_worse_and_worse_--_and_no_one%27s_doing_a_thing_about_it

The economy is already down, and it can go lower. And no one seems willing to fix it.

We know we live in hard times that are on the verge of getting harder, with 500,000 new claims for unemployment last week, a recent record.

The stock market may be over for now as fear and panic drives small investors out. Big corporations hoard stashes of cash rather then hire workers. The D word (depression) is back in play.

Foreclosures are up, and the administration’s programs to stop them are down, well below their stated goals, only helping a sixth of those promised assistance.

And here’s a statistic for you: 300,000. That’s the number of foreclosure filings every month for the past 17 months. This year, 1.9 million homes will be lost, down from 2 million last year. Is that progress? In July alone, 92,858 homes were repossessed.

At the same time, the number of canceled mortgage modifications exceeded the number of successful ones. According to Ml-implode.com, last month, “the number of trial modification cancellations surged to 616,839, greatly outnumbering the 421,804 active permanent modifications."

And don’t think this problem only affects those homeowners about to go homeless. According to the New York Times, Michael Feder, the chief executive of the real estate data firm Radar Logic, says we are all at risk.


More at the link ---

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

1. Total paralysis from buying into Republican faith-based economic delusions

The administration has been wonderful on some things but seriously screwed the pooch on the over-riding issue of the day.

Had they listened to progressives... not let-it-burn anarcho-leftys, but just mainstream progressive economists... it would have been different.

The faith-based belief that interest rates are pegged to government deficit spending, rather than to expectations of economic growth/inflation is tragic.

[Barack2theFuture]

2. our 'government' is irretrievably broken.

it is incapable of performing its constitutional duties.

what recourse does the Constitution allow the people in this circumstance?

[Cal33]

5. And our fanatic right-wingers are doing their best to make

sure that the government not only stays "irretrievably broken,"
but also gets even more broken.l

[spanone]

8. what the fuck in the constitution fixes the economy?

[Barack2theFuture]

9. I don't know, but the government is broken and corrupted beyond repair,

irrespective of the economy.

[closeupready]

3. Why is this a surprise to anyone?

This situation is normal. The American government legislates and enforces policies favorable to the wealthy and corporations, and to a lesser degree, the upper middle class. If you aren't making over $250k per year, your life is only going to get harder, you are going to go hungry, and perhaps homeless, and don't even think about getting adequate medical care. And social security? Don't make me laugh, just like George Carlin told us, they want to get their hands on it, and they are going to get their hands on it, strip off a fee every time they touch the funds until it's all gone.

[blindpig]

4. No one can, within the Capitalist system.

As Marx would have it, much more capital must be destroyed before there is room for profitable investment to be made.

WWI didn't get the job done but WWII sure did. Think about that...

[Better Today]

6. "So what are we doing about it? ... Progressives are,...always on the defense, never..."

"So what are we doing about it? Are we demanding debt relief or a moratorium on foreclosures? Are we shutting down the foreclosure factories? Nope.

Progressives are spending time and wasting passion this August debating the construction of an Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero, invariably responding to the provocations and agenda of adversaries. They are always on the defense, never taking the offense."

Best observation of the entire article, imo.

[L0oniX]

7. I had thought that the $4 a gal gas was going to do us in...

but I see now that it is many things that are in process of destroying our country. I absolutely believe that we are fucked and will be fucked for the rest of my life at least.