Friday Afternoon Economic News
[Guest post by DRJ]
The good news is that Ben Bernanke said today the economy is on the verge of recovery, forecasting a return to growth in the “near term.” The bad news is that the White House acknowledged the 10-year budget deficit will be $9.1 Trillion — $2 Trillion more than originally projected:
“The $2 trillion revision, first reported by Reuters, stems from new data that showed the downturn was more severe than previously known, an administration official told Reuters.
The new forecasts are based on new data that reflect how severe the economic downturn was in the late fall of last year and the winter of this year,” the official told Reuters, adding that the new projections “are now in line with the spring and summer projections that the Congressional Budget Office put out.”
Also next week, as has been previously reported, the administration will revise its annual budget deficit projection for this year down from $1.84 trillion to $1.58 trillion, since less money than once anticipated has been needed to stabilize the financial system.
Still, the rising debt has caused increased concerns among key foreign lenders like China, which in June reduced its holdings of US assets by around $25 billion.”
I’m starting to really dread Friday afternoons.
— DRJ
I think Barack Obama could take a lesson from the ONLY honest fish calculator on the internets. It’s a secret Mr. Obama but if you email me I will send you a link.
happyfeet (71f55e) — 8/21/2009 @ 4:00 pmBut also this is important dirty socialist math for to keep Bush’s tax cuts from not expiring. Yup. This ginormous dirty socialist deficit is already factoring in a HUGE tax increase.
happyfeet (71f55e) — 8/21/2009 @ 4:04 pmAnother Friday afternoon dump by Obsama and the Gang the Can’t Shoot Straight. I’m not kidding, we’re really, really screwed!
Next year the foreclosure rate will accelerate as the banks finally start to foreclose on all the properties that are in default now, but the banks have been holding off filing on so that their books will look better. Then the Commercial Real Estate Bubble will burst in 2010, inflation will surpass 10%, along with unemployment and interest rates. We’re really screwed folks. Thanks Obsama, you really f’d up a once great nation.
J. Raymond Wright (e8d0ca) — 8/21/2009 @ 4:04 pminflation will surpass 10%??!?
that is very high, for inflation
I’m scared.
Why is Barack Obama doing this on our little country?
happyfeet (71f55e) — 8/21/2009 @ 4:05 pmDon’t worry, once housing prices bottom out they can move housing back into the CPI to fudge the overall inflation rate back down.
Problem solved; that’s the Obama way.
ras (20bd5b) — 8/21/2009 @ 4:25 pmWhile I love reading Patterico’s site, the econ blogs are where it’s at…
http://www.zerohedge.com/
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/
william (873cd7) — 8/21/2009 @ 4:42 pmBut don’t worry. No matter what happens, it will NEVER be the Dem’s fault!
Unless there is good news. Then it will be due to Hope and Change.
Eric Blair (0b61b2) — 8/21/2009 @ 4:44 pmTime to buy more ammo and canned goods.
Houston Native (2f6613) — 8/21/2009 @ 4:46 pmfor real more canned goods?
Do we have to? I don’t get where the collapse of society/food shortage part really actually happens in the scheme of dirty socialist dominos. Mostly I think things just suck and keep sucking is what happens, but not to where you can’t go buy tasty Hormel products in cans if you want. They might cost 10% or so more than today like Mr. Wright says, but it’s not like there’s any reason to think the shelves will be picked clean.
But then you’d sure look stupid in a food shortage not having you no canned goods. Stupid and hungry.
happyfeet (71f55e) — 8/21/2009 @ 4:55 pmI guess the American public needed a new lesson on why giving Democrats control of government is like giving a 15 year old boy the keys to the Corvette and a quart of Jack Daniels.
SPQR (b95f0f) — 8/21/2009 @ 5:15 pmWilliam,
Sadly, I don’t think the economy is going to improve and this is either wishful thinking or political grandstanding on Bernanke’s part. But we could use some short-term good news in the face of a $9T deficit that may even be understated.
DRJ (d8773e) — 8/21/2009 @ 5:19 pmDRJ – If this is the same william I have encountered in the last few days, this will only end badly 😉
JD (d3806e) — 8/21/2009 @ 5:30 pmDRJ,
No.. the next leg down is just around the corner. September I suspect.
Bernanke, Geithner, and Obama have screwed the pooch so to speak. I pray it wasn’t deliberate, but my tin foil hat says this was the plan all along…bring the US to its knees.
JD,
I don’t post here often so no worries.
william (873cd7) — 8/21/2009 @ 5:38 pmThis has been Obama’s plan all along: The best way to level the playing field is to level the playing field. Bull doze everything and everyone back to nothing – then we’ll all be even.
Corwin (60969b) — 8/21/2009 @ 5:44 pmWilliam – my apologies. I ran across a particularly virulent william the last few days, and the name stuck with me. Again, my apologies.
JD (d3806e) — 8/21/2009 @ 5:55 pmThe Socialist Way to equality…
AD - RtR/OS! (d00388) — 8/21/2009 @ 7:12 pmBring everyone down to the lowest common denominator…except the nomenklatura, of course.
The good news is that Ben Bernanke said today the economy is on the verge of recovery, forecasting a return to growth in the “near term.”
….Growth being a relative term, no doubt.
Blacque Jacques Shellacque (1641e7) — 8/21/2009 @ 8:25 pmCloward-Piven Strategy
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/02/the_clowardpiven_strategy_of_e.html
“Making an already weak economy even worse is the intent of the Cloward/Piven Strategy. It is imperative that we view the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan’s spending on items like food stamps, jobless benefits, and health care through this end goal. This strategy explains why the Democrat plan to “stimulate” the economy involves massive deficit spending projects. It includes billions for ACORN and its subgroups such as SHOP and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Expanding the S-Chip Program through deficit spending in a supposed effort to “save the children” only makes a faltering economy worse.”
krusher (5ed94c) — 8/22/2009 @ 3:03 amA company I worked at for 10 years had perfected the art of the Friday 5:00 PM “news dump.” But they even went one step further, waiting until the Friday afternoon before a Holiday weekend to deliver the bad news. So I’m even more worried about what we may learn the Friday before Labor Day.
Dmac (e6d1c2) — 8/22/2009 @ 8:21 amAs Obama’s ratings drop, the markets go up. This should not be conflated with a recovering economy.
Peg C. (48175e) — 8/22/2009 @ 9:48 amHmmm. Conservatives bemoaning budget deficits and debt. Ah, the joys of selective memory. Guess they missed the 8 years of fiscal irresponsibility in the Bush Admimistration they championed, with the Iraq War off budget wars tagged ’emergency funding’ for half a decade. Amusing. A first step to stop dreading Friday afternoon economic reports could start on Monday morning. Halt funding the wars Bush started.
“[The Iraq War] by our calculations, are now running at $12 billion a month — $16 billion if you include Afghanistan…” Source, Washington Post 3/9/08
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 8/22/2009 @ 12:20 pmThis post is for you, DCSCA.
DRJ (3f5471) — 8/22/2009 @ 12:30 pmWow. Newspaper fro over a year ago.
Guess DCSCA never hear that the cost has dropped since Bush’s last couple of days, where he signed a few orders drawing down Iraq troop levels…
Not that Obama hasn’t tried to claim that as part of the money he’s “saved”…
Scott Jacobs (d027b8) — 8/22/2009 @ 12:38 pm#22- The wars were off budget for half a decade and listed as ’emergency funding’ in the Bush years. They are not in the Obama budget calculations.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 8/22/2009 @ 12:50 pm“Ah, the joys of selective memory.”
DCSCA – Exactly. What was the last budget deficit under Bush? What was the biggest? What are Owebama’s projected to average?
daleyrocks (718861) — 8/22/2009 @ 12:53 pmBetter trolls please!
daleyrocks (718861) — 8/22/2009 @ 12:54 pmGiven that DCSCA is still repeating themes that had been debunked years ago, it is no surprise that he presents such a low quality of troll.
SPQR (26be8b) — 8/22/2009 @ 2:32 pm