The second is the lofty imbalance in this economy. 40% of profits in 2007 was due to financial companies, that is not counting their bonuses. This sends a strong signal to the rest of the economy, to people such as myself, your skills and work do not count.

Until these fundamental issues are reformed and debts are paid down, I do not see any strong growth for years to come. Any statements otherwise are simply wishful thinking.

PM, please feel free to disagree with me (though it’d be helpful to know which facts you disagree with) – that’s the beauty of our country and its wonderful value of freedom of expression. BTW, how much “berating” of others did the Democrats indulge in over the past eight years? I have first-hand experience of witnessing it – so all I learned about “berating” and mentioning facts, I learned from observing my liberal friends and their reactions to Bush-Cheney – I guess they also wanted to feel superior to those who voted for, and supported Bush. What’s sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander, no? Or are you saying that the Democrats and Obama deserve special treatment, and that the berating is only reserved for Republicans?

If my mentioning of facts makes you or others uncomfortable and bursts your Obama balloon of Hope-n-Change, that’s hardly my problem. Feel free to not give credence to my comments – I guess I’m giving people like you an easy way out to dismiss facts, and I’m fine with that. And if you are not a Democrat apologist and instead hold all political parties accountable, especially the one in power, then my comment shouldn’t bother you – it’s specifically addressed towards Democrat and Obama apologists, like Nancy.

Oh, and if any Republicans think I’m their buddy based on my criticism of Democrats and Obama, think again.

Richistan by Robert Frank
Free Lunch by David Cay Johnston
The Revolution by Ron Paul

If you are at all interestested in where we are heading as a society I would also suggest:

1984 by George Orwell

As for the worse recession since the Great Depression well it seems to me it’s far fro mover and we could be heading for stagnation.

Here is an analysis of how and why end of the recession talk is hollow.

It is called The End of the End of the Recession. It will take time to go through (72 pages, mostly one page graphs) but worth it.

http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/07/end-of-end-of-recession.html

“Obama had no choice but to continue the bailout policies, because changing course would have been tantamount to telling tax-payers that the hundreds of billions Bush spent would just be written off as waste by the new administration.”

But Obama did part ways – at least when campaigning – on the previous administration’s policy on Iraq war with no negative effect, and without acknowledging that the money spent in Iraq was a waste. Obama had no choice to continue with the bailouts not because of the feel-good reason you mention, but because he became a President thanks to “campaign contributions” (a nice euphemism for bribes) from those special interests who needed a bailout. Did you even look at the resume of his cabinet picks and their connections to the Wall St. companies? Or are you really that unaware of how things work in Washington? If your ignorance is willful, then it’s downright criminal.

“Personally, I think Obama should have scrapped the bailouts, but Republicans would have had a field day convincing Americans that Obama had just wasted all of Bush’s and the tax-payers hard fought efforts at stemming the recession.”

Really? Then how come Obama still won in November even though the majority of public was against those bailouts (look at polls taken during those times)? And how would the Republicans have had a field day when majority of Americans were against those bailouts, including many Republicans in the House? Short memory, Nancy? Or are you indulging in revisionist and your version of facts?

“President Obama, of course, just can’t win with Republicans.”

Don’t know what that means and why he needs to win with the Republicans – he ran on his agenda (not the Republicans’ agenda) and got a clear mandate to implement it. He did win in November with the Republicans around, promised single-payer healthcare 1.5 years ago contingent on Democrats being in control – which they are now. Who exactly is stopping him from implementing responsible policies when Democrats are in the driver’s seat in Washington, DC?

Sorry to say, but I have a feeling you’re an Obama supporter, and your comment is typical apologia for him and his failure to implement Hope and Change which you swallowed. As usual, it’s easier to blame others instead of being introspective, because if Obama is wrong, then that implicates you and those who voted for him. And how can you ever be wrong? There are always Republicans to take the blame. And so on the stupidity rolls on either side.

No, there is no real job retraining going on in Mi, in part because there are no jobs, in part because despitee the public statments of politicans and industry, they are not willing to invest in real job training for real jobs.

Antecdotal evidence of how someone created an industry 60 years ago is diverting but has nothing to do with the reality of detroit. To try to make this a matter of whether one is an optimist or not misses the point and helps to obfescate(?) the real problem.

Of course any thinking person wants the world economy to get off of the oil standard, etc. And certainly the auto industry will do anything and everything to avoid change, even to the point of destroying Detroit and the environment. But that isn’t why Detroit is economically dead. it is dead because world capitalism (I hate to use cliches but there it is)has cheaper places to make its products, for instance China where it uses free prison labor. There is no way that an industrial society such as Michigan can compete with dictatorships that not only allow but require that its citizens work under horrendous conditions for virtually no wages. Come on!!!! American politicans, media, industry complains about workers getting overtime!!! About getting vacations!!!!!! They complain about industry having to pay its fair of taxes to keep up the roads and sewers that it uses.

I guess that I would ask that you name one industry that will be put in Michigan and that will provide living wages to the millions of unemployed people. And please say something more than a cliche about how some new industries will magically appear as if some variant of the Adam Smith capitalist myths about the invisible hand that guides the economy and insures that all turns out well.

I don’t mean to sound mean. But Detroit and the people who are destitute there matter to me and the current cliches such as Shiller’s end comments are beyond comprehension.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08-chcHKPJw&feature=related