Uh-Oh! Looks like fears of a coming recession may be on target. WH in denial . . .

Weak Job Growth Numbers Prompt Stock Selloff

January 4, 2008

The unemployment rate surged to 5 percent in December as the nation added only 18,000 jobs, the smallest monthly increase in four years, the Labor Department reported on Friday. Investors responded by sending the stock market down sharply.

Economists treated the report as the most powerful evidence to date that the United States could well be falling into a recessionary downturn in economic activity.

“This is unambiguously negative,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “The economy is on the edge of recession, if we’re not already engulfed in one.”

The swift deterioration in the job market resonated as a warning sign that troubles once confined to real estate and construction are now spilling over into the broader economy, threatening the ability of American consumers to keep spending with customary abandon.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/business/04cnd-econ.html?_r=2&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print



Bush says economic foundation solid

Jan. 4, 2008 at 10:01 PM

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- While praising 52 consecutive months of job creation, Bush -- during remarks made after meeting with the President's Working Group on Financial Markets -- noted job growth slowed in December. A government report said employment experienced its smallest increase in more than four years last month and the nation's jobless rate hit a two-year high.

"I look forward to working with (Congress) to deal with the economic realities of the moment, and to assure the American people that we will do everything we can to make sure we remain a prosperous country," Bush said.

Among the realities facing consumers are higher prices for gasoline and food while core inflation is low, he said. Also consumer spending is strong, yet home values are beginning to decline.

One way to assist consumers is keeping taxes low, Bush said.

"If ... the foundation is strong, yet indicators are mixed, the worst thing the Congress could do is raise taxes on the American people and on American businesses," Bush said.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/01/04/bush_says_economic_foundation_solid/8632/

COUNTED as unemployed. The country is in a bind these days.

but this looks like a national trend, with a severe shortage of available credit.


from the article:

"Last year, companies fretted about business conditions amid falling housing prices and tightening credit, but they largely held on to their workers. Many slowed hiring, but did not fire.

Now, many companies are seeing their stock prices battered, particularly in banking and retailing. Falling house prices are crimping the ability of homeowners to borrow — a brake on consumer spending, which amounts to 70 percent of the American economy. Many companies have apparently concluded they can no longer tough it out and hope for better days: They are feeling pressure to cut costs now and slow production, resorting to layoffs.

“December’s bleak jobs report represents the siren call that this business cycle is just about over,” declared Bernard Baumohl, managing director at the Economic Outlook Group, in a note to clients. “We’re about to tilt over to the other side of the economic curve and begin the downsizing.”

The industry sub-sector that I worked in shed over 100K jobs in 2007.
I was laid off 3/07 and most of my peers are still out of work (their unemployment ran out 3months ago).
I knew the layoff was coming, so I gambled and refinanced my mortgage for $30K cash to live on.
As one of the 'lucky ones', I've just gotten a job that doubled my commute to 110 miles/day and my income has been cut in half.
I also just cashed out my 401(k) to stay afloat. Nice economy Mr. Bush.
Also, I've got no health insurance.
2007 was the worst year ever for my family.
Will we ever have an economy where our children will be better off than us?
Welcome to the Bushco economy...I feel like a friggin serf!
It's time for a change...I'm for Edwards.
<rant/off>

the stock market sell off today was because Obama won Iowa. Even when the economist he was talking to spelled out it was the employment numbers, the price of oil, the housing market, etc., Hewitt still stated with utmost authority that it was because the country was afraid of Obama.

the article has a pretty good synopsis of factors contributing to the decline, none of them because of any influence of the presidential race.

I imagine the market would respond well to any Democrat, even a populist like Edwards, who's proposed providing as much as $25bil stimulus in the event of the downturn that looks to be coming.

Thousands of disabled killed themselves when he was president --- !!!

All the unemployment records are screwed up ---

And welfare ended ---


And how close is everyone else to being tossed aside --- ???

There was just a story in the NY Times recently about new disabled people and the long delays to qualify --- many of the Vets ---

Sorry, I saved the story to post it --- and never fisnished totally reading it ---

But, obviously, they're using delays to keep people from qualifying ---
I guess hoping in the meantime they'll die or kill themselves!!!

But the buyers are few and far between. I've sold on eBay for years, and recently started a new little creative venture there with very little $ and while I'm having fun with it, other people who are doing the same as me are starting to undercut all of us. We're not talking a high ticket item here, so the way it's going, there is soon going to be very little, if any profit to be made. I'll hang in there for awhile since I just started, but I am shocked at the tactics. I am convinced it's because of the bad economy. So for now, I will continue, but am already looking for something different to do even though I'm enjoying what I'm doing and really don't want to give up yet. It sucks because the planning has been 6 months in the making and I'm only a couple of months into it. :(

http://www.cbpp.org/1-4-08ui-stmt.htm

"Today’s report shows that the economy is entering 2008 with a weakening labor market. Employers expanded their payrolls by a meager 18,000 jobs in December, private payrolls actually shrank by 13,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate rose from 4.7 to 5.0 percent. These data are very disappointing, but even so they do not mean that the economy is currently in recession, and Congress should not rush to judgment on the need to enact a fiscal stimulus package that, if not carefully designed, could do more harm than good."