Signs Staggering Economy Could Stumble
OPS_admin | Dec 23, 2009 | Comments 0
More proof this morning that the economy needs a new jolt of government intervention to keep it growing out of the Great Recession: The Commerce Department announced this morning a 2.2 percent increase in gross domestic product during the third quarter of 2009. CNBC reports:
The U.S. economy grew at a much slower pace than initially thought in the third quarter, restrained by weak business investment and a slightly more aggressive liquidation of inventories. … Growth was boosted by government stimulus programs, including the popular cash for clunkers and tax credit for first-time home buyers…”
That report follows a dire prediction from economist Joseph Stiglitz that there is “a significant chance” that the U.S. economy will slip back into decline in 2010, bringing into reality the dreaded “W-shaped” recession.
Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University, called on Washington to make more funds available to state governments who face a drop in tax revenue. The U.S. economy, the world's largest, must grow at least 3 percent to create enough jobs for new entrants into the labor force, he said. … “If you don't prepare now, and the economy turns out to be as weak as I think it's likely to be, then you'll be in a very difficult position,” he said.
President Obama meets this morning with about a dozen smaller banks, following up on a meeting he did earlier this month with some of the nation's largest financial institutions. This meeting, like the one he did with the too-big-to-fail behemoths, is intended to encourage more lending to small businesses and to homeowners so that the faltering economic recovery can gain some momentum. The Associated Press story notes that “cccording to the Federal Reserve, loans by the nation's 8,000 banks fell 8 percent to $6.7 trillion in the past year, and some analysts expect them to keep falling at least through next year.”
Full Story TomPaine.Com – Home.
Filed Under: Economy - Labor
Comments (0)
-
If we don't change our ways soon...
A new report by the Royal Society, chaired by Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston warns that world population must be stabilized and consumption in wealthy nations must be reduced or the entire planet is in big trouble. As the report reads: "The number of people living on the planet has never been higher, their levels of consumption are unprecedented and vast changes are taking place in the environment. We can choose to rebalance the use of resources to a more egalitarian pattern of consumption... or we can choose to do nothing and to drift into a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills leading to a more unequal and inhospitable future."This is the same warning that President Jimmy Carter gave Americans back in the 1970's - but it was ignored when Ronald Reagan came to power with a "more positive" message basically telling Americans we can do whatever we want. And then after 9/11 - Bush told us all we should go shopping and consume ever more.And now with corporations calling the shots in Washington - long-term sustainability of the planet takes a back seat to short-term profits. If we don't change our ways soon - and embrace clean, alternative energy and educate women around the plant - then we all could be headed for a rough century.-Thom(Is there any chance we will learn in time? Tell us here.) -
LEGALIZE Democracy
" We the corporations" On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. __________
MOVE to AMEND
a project of the CAMPAIGN TO LEGALIZE Democracy
Help end Corporate personhood
-
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. 
moveon.org
