Are things Really better? Recovery? Follow

Ok I've been watching the news and the past weeks it has not been good here in Texas. With the budget shortfall thousands of jobs will be cut in the state and our schools. Today they cut one thousand teaching jobs. The ball is rolling. Have we recovered or are we getting worse? Even the gas prices have started to rise. I don't see a good picture out there for jobs or even buying clothing. Even orange juice is going to be costly because of the new blight.

Not surprising. States were propping up their budgets with the stimulus money. Governor Perry was more than happy to ask for $4 billion in education funding from the stimulus. With that money drying up and no more on the way, states are cutting jobs in education and other public sector positions.


We're recovering. Which is a lot different than recovered.


Oil has risen with the unrest and instability in the Middle East. It was actually somewhat depressed before due to the economy and lack of people driving or transporting goods.


I have no idea what buying clothes has to do with anything. Likewise, a blight on oranges will lower supply and raise prices no mater what condition the economy is in. Jobs are still hurting with 9% unemployment and likely won't see strong movement until 2012 or so.

Texas has higher than average deficits. It doesn't help The Perry has declared a plethora of nonbudget-related items as emergency issues and is instead focusing on them.

Texas budget shortfalls are somewhat related to the overall economy, in that revenue from sales tax is down, but it is also related to poor planning and spending policies.

It's more than just one thing. Todays world is more linked than ever. Maybe twenty years ago things were not that much of an issue. The world is linked so deeply that the multitude of natural desasters have caused many things to skyrocket.

I atill have to wonder if other states are in the same shape as Texas or close? It's one of the things that brought me to ask the question in the first place.

One of the biggest causes to the price of goods like clothing and electronics was the protectionist mind set of the buy american campaigns. In today's economy a country can not economically survive by restricting trade. I understand why this was done, to potentially create more jobs etc. But that is just not how the world works anymore. Luckily for a lot of people. (primarily border cities with Canada) Stephen Harper just recently pressured Obama into easing his protectionist model. Specifically in relation to binational trade with Canada and the US.

Protectionism is passe, people are not going to pay 30 dollars for a Tshirt that costs 10 from China. People won't pay 400 dollars for a drop of lumber that only cost 300 when it came from Canada. The prices go up people stop spending and the economy loses money. By focusing on non protectionist trade the cost of goods generally remains as low as possible an people tend to spend more and more money.


As for disasters, they do play a role in the cost of goods, but no where near the same amount as the Government saying we don't want your products, we want American made products, so we will not be dealing with you at this present time.

Edited, Feb 17th 2011 7:27am by rdmcandie

Anecdotally, two items to add:

1. My company is hiring again for the first time in 2+ years, so yay.
2. A grocery store is opening in my neighborhood, and the job fair line didn't even reach the end of the block.

Does either of these mean the economy is in peachy-keen shape? No. Are they hopeful signs? Sure, for my area.

What natural disasters are you referring to?

Even with the current budget deficit, Maryland has been able to keep it's AAA rating on it bonds. Then our state isn't about to lay off teachers and government worker in mass.

Baltimore City is offering teachers buyouts, if they have work in system over 10 years.

I was going to say "I have no idea why you think one news story contradicts all the other indicators especially with things like short term market drops (as though the market only ever goes up and doesn't move from day to day) and driven by things such as oil prices which, as mentioned, are being moved by geopolitical factors at the moment and not the health of the US economy".

But in reality I know it's a combination of ignorance on your part and a desire to cry and cry and cry about Obama. It's okay... only six more years and then he's out of office!

"Atlantic Sun"?

Anyway, your attempts to kill the messenger aside, the author states where all the data is from. Of course, he also used to write for Forbes and worked as an investment banker so he's probably one of those scary "experts" I've been hearing so much about.


Which data is that? He's been using the same indicators since he started tracking it. There's indicators which show declines although they're in a minority. All his importance comment is, is him saying that he's not weighing any specific indicators not that the indicators don't matter.

I'm not sure if you're trying too hard or just not trying enough. You're failing either way.

Edited, Feb 17th 2011 1:15pm by Jophiel

LOL. "But... but... he's an 'expert' so he must have no real experi--- oh, he was an investment banker?

Well... umm... I still need to cry so... he never left DC!"

Of course, it's tricky to go to Cornell University while never leaving DC but you wouldn't want facts to get in the way of your desperation :D

Irrelevant. The fact that he continually replaced the phrase "the economy" with "the recovery" is all we need to know that the guy lives in a liberal bubble. Most people stopped trying to convince people that things were getting better by injecting that phrase everywhere sometime around Fall of last year when it became obvious that most people weren't buying it. That he's still doing it shows that he hasn't poked his head out of said bubble for a very very long time.


That said, it doesn't mean that his facts are wrong. His presentation is simply suspect is all. There are parts of the economy that are doing well, and others that are lagging behind. I think that the biggest issue for most of us on the other side of the political aisle is that we spent (borrowed) a hell of a lot of money to get kinda meh results. We're reasonably sure that we could have gotten the same meh results for a fraction of the cost and not ended out mortgaging our children's economic future for a short term "recovery" that doesn't look significantly different from a short term "non-recovery".