 |
 |
   Dan Savage, the brilliant and foul-mouthed sex columnist, has become one of the most important ethicists in America. Are we screwed?
 The federal government is supposed to issue new rules about debt levels for students in for-profit colleges. In the meantime, the states are working on their own regulations.
 Washingtons budget hawks want to decimate the federal workforce to shrink the deficit. It will have the opposite effect.
 There arent nearly enough counterterrorism experts to instruct all of Americas police. So we got these guys instead.
|
   |
|
|
July 30, 2010
ECONOMY STILL GROWING, BUT NOT VERY WELL.... The good news is, the economy is still growing, and has grown for four consecutive quarters for the first time in three years. The bad news is, the growth in the most recent quarter -- April through June -- was weak and far short of what the country needs.
Economic forecasters were expecting that the GDP would grow in the second quarter at a rate of 2 to 2.5 percent, so the results are largely in line with expectations, but that doesn't change the fact that such sluggish growth isn't enough. It's cold comfort, but it's worth noting that first quarter growth was revised upwards quite a bit. A month ago, growth from January to March was estimated at 2.7, but the Bureau of Economic Analysis this morning put the number at 3.7. In the bigger picture, it's tempting to think weak growth like this would encourage policymakers to act, but all evidence suggests that's impossible. Republicans in Congress oppose any and all stimulus efforts, and won't let Democrats vote on any additional recovery initiatives. The GOP will, however, fight with everything they've got for massive tax breaks for the wealthy, which we've already seen fail as a measure of generating economic growth. And with that, here's another home-made chart, showing GDP numbers by quarter since the Great Recession began in late 2007.
Comments
In my opinion the problem is the November elections can't come soon enough. If the Republicans keep up their scorched earth campaign much longer America will be a cinder. Anyway I haven't heard much that give me hope the underlying economy is going to turn around soon. Stimulus packages are great, but they don't solve the underlying problem which is we don't produce much in America any more. Posted by: Ron Byers on July 30, 2010 at 10:04 AM | PERMALINKWhy do Republicans insist on using a failed economic philosophy to derail the recovery? Posted by: Basilisc on July 30, 2010 at 10:17 AM | PERMALINKDo the American people have standing in a court of law to sue the Senate to change its silly filibuster rules? This is supposed to be a representative assembly, but the Replicant minority can evidently stifle just about anything. We're being deprived of the representation that's supposed to be guaranteed by the Constitution. Remember the Constitution? The real one, not the one the Tea Baggers keep yowling about. Do we have standing, or can these useless bastards just keep blocking anything that might actually help the American people? Posted by: Cap'n Chucky on July 30, 2010 at 11:08 AM | PERMALINKi think it's useful to point out to all those "when you gonna stop blaming bush?" folks that the economy [both gdp and job loss] really went to hell in 4thQ 08 and 1stQ09... Posted by: dj spellchecka on July 30, 2010 at 12:01 PM | PERMALINKWell, it's coming lately here but third time's the charm: 
May 2011
April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 |
|
|
    |
|
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
buy from Amazon and
support the Monthly
|
||||||||
