Tuesday, September 21, 2010

You Coulda Fooled Me!


Guess what? Did you hear that the recession was over? Me neither? Well, the National Bureau of Economic Research said that' it's over. Yup! They said so in a report today. They said that the recession is over. It's funny... I have friends who are still out of work and are just about to run out of unemployment benefits and they don't think it's over.

Nevertheless, the National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the recession which began in December 2007 officially ended in June 2009, which marked the beginning of an expansion. The announcement rules out the possibility of a so-called “double-dip” recession, because any new downturn would be seen as a brand new recession. Huh? Are these guys for real?

President Barack Obama said that even though the NBER officially named an end to the recession, the economy has a long way to go and much work to be done to become healthy again. "Something that took ten years to create is going to take a little more time to solve," President Obama said at a town-hall-style meeting shown live on CNBC. At least, someone is rooted in reality. I'm glad it's the president and he's being honest about what we ordinary Americans already know to be true.

According to this National Bureau of Economic Research, (which, by the way, I never heard of before yesterday), it chose the June 2009 date based on examination of data including gross domestic product, employment, and personal income. "The recession lasted 18 months, which makes it the longest of any recession since World War II. Previously, the longest postwar recessions were those of 1973-75 and 1981-82, both of which lasted 16 months," the NBER added in a press release on its website.

Just because the recession ended 15 months ago, it doesn't mean that the economy is healthy, the NBER asserted. (Tell us something we don't know!) "Economic activity is typically below normal in the early stages of an expansion and it sometimes remains so well into the expansion," the NBER said.

An "expansion"? What is an expansion? I'll tell you what I do know. I know what a "euphemism" is... and an expansion" sure sounds like a euphemistic term for recession and depression without exactly saying the words. It sounds nicer!

U.S. officials have been struggling to find a way to speed up a sluggish recovery that has left unemployment at a painfully high 9.6 percent. The U.S. Federal Reserve's policy-setting committee meets today and is widely expected to discuss whether additional measures are warranted to bolster the economy. (You mean there are people who don't think this bares additional measures?)

Well, they can say the "recession", which used to be called a "depression" is now over and that we are in an expansion or whatever else they want to say we are in... but, we are still in deep trouble until people actually start going back to work. There is an old saying that's kinda crude, but fitting and it goes something like this... "You can't throw piss in my face and tell me it's raining." This is what this think tank seems to be trying to do and the American people aren't buying it!

1 comment:

Arlene said...

Oh, how well I remember hearing a version of that line! We heard, "Don't throw piss in my face..." as a way of saying we would not accept being hoodwinked or lied to. My mother tried to clean it up by substituting "dish water." And the fluids are flowing in our town. Those in power rely on "doublespeak" to stay in office.
When you decide to run, I work on your campaign! We can make a change that matters!




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