The Bush Years - The American Wasteland

It's terrible to contemplate what could have been if the WH hadn't been stolen by asset destroyers of the first order, back in 2000.

Um, Steve? The crash in the job market has been underway for a long time already. It's not news to anyone who is un- or under-employed. Nor recent college grads. Nor laid off workers. Nor those in troubled industries, like finance, manufacturing, services, IT, etc.

I guess the market for bloggers has been strong or something...

Lost jobs.

Less pollution controls.

More bombs bombing and bullets flying.

Trillion dollars to Wealthcare (TARP + other bailouts)

Homelesshopelessmortgagemess.

Less retirement

Higher healthcare costs.

Energy costs swinging high, then low following the housing bubble.

Add it all up and you get LEGACY.

The Bush years=the fastest theft of taxpayer dollars in the history of the planet.

Is we learning yet? (just how f88ked up things are)

Unfettered, free market capitalism, at your service. Thank you, Ronald Reagan.

I just hope we learn from this, institute sensible reforms, and allow the government to play a role in our society once again, to keep order, and to keep an eye on the future. It is clear that unfettered free market capitalism is not just insanely greedy, but blind as a bat, unable to see beyond next quarter's earnings statements.

As I read headlines regarding an 'unexpected' increase in unemployment, business bankruptcies, personal bankruptcies, etc., I wonder where these people, the experts, are living. I have known this was coming intuitively for years and have spoken and written about it. There is a sense of denial in this country because we have been, myself included, to face the reality of change that is necessary to transcend the current conditions. We are not talking about a change in what type of cars we build or how we get energy; we are talking an inner transformation of consciousness, whether you call it spiritual or secular. The model of competition is dead. We are now in a paradigm of cooperation and interdependence. The auto industry is a wonderful gauge of this phenomenon of Oneness. Figures of 1.2 million to 4 or 5 million jobs lost are being put forward as the consequence of the Big 3 failure. That is only the tip. Every aspect of our society, both locally and globally, is affected.

This is what we are facing. It is time we acknowledged it.

I am committed Oneness through Justice and Transformation
peace,
st john

NPR was reporting this morning that Bush still considers increasing unemployment benefits to be fiscally irresponsible.

Giving $700 billion dollars to the millionaire assholes who got us into this mess is fiscally good. Giving a couple of thousand dollars to the guy who lost his job and is about to lose his house because of the millionaire assholes is bad.

Is there a way to make Bush/Cheney go away now?

OOPS!
we have been unwilling, myself included, to face...

"I don't want to alarm anyone,"

Alarm away. This is just the tip of the unemployment iceberg. Reliable economic analysts (NOT those hacks on CNBC) are predicting that unemployment may soar to as high as 20% by this time next year.

II so agree with St John! I feel like we moved into a new dimension or something Nov 4.

The least they can do is extend unemployment. Wish they could take back the bailout and use it for doing something good. It obviously didn't help the stock market.

I don't think unemployment will get worse after Obama gets in. I'll bet he and his team will come up with all kinds of creative ideas that will work!

It is only fitting that the final hours of the Bush43 administration's economic disaster demonstrate a unique symbiance to those of Bush41's---because a rotten apple never falls far from a diseased tree....

What really worries me is that local govts are beginning to cut jobs because tax revenues are down and they are required to have balanced budgets. This could cause a downward spiral in the economy. Hello depression.

We need a aid package for local govts right now. We can't wait for next year.

guys, guys...rush limbaugh knows whose to blame here....

The Bloveating One, Nov 6th:"The Obama recession is in full swing, ladies and gentlemen. Stocks are dying, which is a precursor of things to come. This is an Obama recession. Might turn into a depression. He hasn't done anything yet but his ideas are killing the economy. His ideas are killing Wall Street."

ahhhh right.....obama has been a senator for four years, 18 months of which he's beeen running for president....yet while he "hasn't done anything yet," he SINGLE-HANDEDLY brought our entire economy to its knees, just by thinking up ideas.....he's one bad mutherf@cker, that Obama....

gone undiscussed is whose "idea" was deregulation? whose "idea" was derivatives...whose "idea" was to over-leverage everything in sight????

and Obama "owns" this recession?.....what about bush? paulson? the republican [2000-06] congress?
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buzzflash adds : Ideas? Such as putting in regulation for banks and insurance companies so we don't have to bail them out? Such as giving those making under $250,000 a tax break? Such as investing in this country?
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that obviously is THE reason

while i'm on the subject of bloveating..just wanna mention jonah's latest crapgasom from monday's la times...his suggestion to obama? do NOTHING, we'll all think of somethin' on our own and/or the free markets will figure it out.........watching mama's boy wrestle with economics is like watching a starfish using a mac....funny...odd...pitiful...

Posted by Mari:

"I don't think unemployment will get worse after Obama gets in. I'll bet he and his team will come up with all kinds of creative ideas that will work!"

It's good to have faith. However, the actual power of what the president over job creation is limited. The government can create incentives for job creation by giving tax breaks to companies and lowering Federal interst rates. The government up to this point has been doing that plus pumping billions, if not trillions of dollars into failing businesses. The next step to save the current system would be to nationalize some of these companies (which we are too for off from already doing).

So what can Obama do? The actual organizations that create jobs lie outside government jurisdiction. Factors, such as, high quarterly earnings, market demand and innovation have been non-existant or stagnant for quite some time. In, fact some factors are in a backwards trend. Companies have no choice, but to cut jobs. Everybody has been living the good life on credit for so long that we lost persepctive of the scope of our economy. Ask any investor five to seven years ago and they'd tell you it was raining money. The economy needs to shrink down to sustainable levels until there is easy access to credit. Hopefully businesses/consumers can learn to be responsible next time.

The good news is that (smaller) sustainable businesses are doing just fine. The bad news is that the power house flagship corporations that represent American pride are not. Free Market is all about unfetted competition. Everybody loves them some free market until it's in a free fall. That's when the 'government, just get out of my way' types will be doing everything possible for government hand outs, including buying small savings and loans in order to qualify for access to billions in tax payer bail outs.

This is what Obama is inheriting. He can continue to shore up fledgling markets and keep giant corporations on life support hoping that the economy will be able to 'pop the clutch' on growth. Personally, I would take more drastic action. I would make room for smaller buisnesses and let Americans find a way to be innovative again. In smaller companies your successes are paramount to the survival of the organization. Isn't that what free market is all about? Isn't that competition?

I have been out of work for three months. Not a lot of opportunities out there. Most companies have a hiring freeze in effect if they aren't actively chopping jobs. I am seriously looking at bankruptcy and/or foreclosure if I don't find a job before my savings run out.

As bad as it is for me, it must be much worse for those in manufacturing jobs. I pray for our country but I fear a depression is unavoidable at this point.

I just heard that Bush essentially killed a plan for the Big Three to become more accountable and viable and innovative--a piece that was indeed in place from the Clinton Administration...I don't recall what the spokesperson called this legislation--but I think it's important to remind folks just what the heck happened, how it happened--because there is a tendency to fill this vacuum with mythology in it's absence.

For employment to go down in advance of the holiday shopping season when there's normally a bump because of seasonal workers ... that's very bad.

Posted by Mari:

"I don't think unemployment will get worse after Obama gets in. I'll bet he and his team will come up with all kinds of creative ideas that will work!"
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Mari, it isn't that simple. Mick explained a lot in his post in answer to yours. About all Obama will be able to do in the first couple months is get a large stimulus plan, with jobs for those out of work, through Congress & start setting up the agencies, drawing up contracts, etc., which all takes time to get off the ground. I'm definitely not an expert on the economy or government, but from what I am seeing, we are heading into the worst I have seen in my 64 years of living on this planet. And it isn't just the US, but worldwide recession & various markets crashing.

So I guess where I am going with all this is, don't expect everything, or anything, to get better for quite awhile after Obama is sworn in. We appear to be looking at years for this recession to run its course. This ride we are on is still a runaway train on a steep downhill slope. It's going to take awhile to slow it down to the point where things are under some sort of control again. But we will, eventually start to pull through. And I think we have the team in Washington to make it happen ASAP.