Barry's stimulus worked: Holtz-Eakin Joins the Recovery Act Champions

[Agloco]

Only 34 Percent Of Americans Could Find $1,000 In Their Savings Accounts

When asked where they would turn if they needed $1,000 in cash fast, only 34 percent of Americans would look to their savings accounts for the money, according to a recent online poll by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. The other 64 percent would be forced to go elsewhere, from taking out a loan to borrowing from a family member. In a study released in June, Bankrate reported that only 24 percent of the nation has access to six-months of emergency savings, the majority of whom come from high-income households. In contrast, corporations today are sitting on close to $1.12 trillion in cash, a 59 percent increase from 2008.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/201...vings-account/

I'm surprised its that high tbh.

[boutons_deux]

They Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out: How The Banks Profit From The Lack Of Jobs

Consumer borrowing hit its highest level since August 2007 this June; here's why that's not a good sign for the economy.

Amidst a lot of indicators that say we could be heading for another round of recession—before the so-called recovery even reaches most people, let alone our millions of unemployed—June saw a jump in consumer borrowing, three times as much as expected, according to Bloomberg News. The $15.5 billion increase in credit was the biggest since August 2007, and revolving debt, which includes credit cards, was up by $5.21 billion, the most since March 2008.

So why the jump in buying on credit, if people still don't have money to spend? Carlos X. Alexandre at Seeking Alpha explained:

“...the most logical interpretation is that as other sources of cash are drying up – jobs, equity lines, etc. -- consumers are now turning to credit cards for basic expenses, and as credit lines become exhausted another round of defaults is in store. Some may say that cash sales are not reflected in the data, but the American way of life and the core economic engine has been plastic-based for as long as we can remember, and is not about to change anytime soon.”

In other words, a jump in consumer credit isn't a sign of confidence, but of desperation.

Credit cards are far from the whole story. $10.3 billion of the rise in borrowing was in non-revolving debt, which includes student loans, car loans and mobile homes.

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/151963

[boutons_deux]

Economists Say Republinomics Is Hurting Growth

Macroeconomists and private sector forecasters were warning that the direction in which the new House Republican majority had pushed the White House and Congress this year — for immediate spending cuts, no further stimulus measures and no tax increases, ever — was the wrong one for addressing the nation’s two main ills, a weak economy now and projections of unsustainably high federal debt in coming years.

Instead, these critics say, Washington should be focusing on stimulating the economy in the near term to induce people to spend money and create jobs, while simultaneously settling on a long-term plan for spending reductions and tax increases to take effect only after the economy recovers.

She cites Martin Feldstein and Hank Paulson along with a bevy of private sector forecasters as her sources on this. I would throw the right’s embrace of job-killing, output-stifling hard money measures as crucial part of the story.

http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/20...urting-growth/

========

The sadistic, sociopathic Repugs cleary, irrefutably WANT the worst possible economy and maximum pain for the maximum number of people and companies going into Nov 2012.

[Agloco]

They Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out: How The Banks Profit From The Lack Of Jobs

Consumer borrowing hit its highest level since August 2007 this June; here's why that's not a good sign for the economy.

Amidst a lot of indicators that say we could be heading for another round of recession—before the so-called recovery even reaches most people, let alone our millions of unemployed—June saw a jump in consumer borrowing, three times as much as expected, according to Bloomberg News. The $15.5 billion increase in credit was the biggest since August 2007, and revolving debt, which includes credit cards, was up by $5.21 billion, the most since March 2008.

So why the jump in buying on credit, if people still don't have money to spend? Carlos X. Alexandre at Seeking Alpha explained:

“...the most logical interpretation is that as other sources of cash are drying up – jobs, equity lines, etc. -- consumers are now turning to credit cards for basic expenses, and as credit lines become exhausted another round of defaults is in store. Some may say that cash sales are not reflected in the data, but the American way of life and the core economic engine has been plastic-based for as long as we can remember, and is not about to change anytime soon.”

In other words, a jump in consumer credit isn't a sign of confidence, but of desperation.

Credit cards are far from the whole story. $10.3 billion of the rise in borrowing was in non-revolving debt, which includes student loans, car loans and mobile homes.

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/151963

I don't find it comforting that a lot of the borrowing was in the form of student loan debt.

[RandomGuy]

I don't find it comforting that a lot of the borrowing was in the form of student loan debt.

The economy means that people are staying in college going for a masters, and I have little doubt that we are seeing an uptick in car purchases.

At the height of the financial crisis, people were buying new cars at a rate slower than cars overall were wearing out. That is unsustainable, obviously, and had to reverse itself at some point.

I don't completely buy alternet's particular opinion as to what this all means,
but unemployment is about to run out, and we seem to have some troubling structural unemployment as well.

Beyond that, I have little doubt that the government spending cuts will probably put the economy into a recession late this year or early next.

San Antonio will be losing something like 120 police officers due to federal grant money drying up. That is in addition to the loss of teachers from the recent budget debalacle.

[MannyIsGod]

Yeah - there are a lot of federal grants ending that will result in quite a bit of local cuts in the near term.

[boutons_deux]

I don't find it comforting that a lot of the borrowing was in the form of student loan debt.

and add in that a lot of the student borrowing was govt-guranteed education loans that went to poor students (poor in dollars, and poor in grades) at for-profit-scamming colleges, where the recruiting is brutal and dishonest, and the loan revenue pays the "university" mgmt way above non-profit universities.

And the Repugs shut down tighter regulation of for-profit colleges.