Mood of U.S. on leaders, economy 'getting ugly'

The reason why Americans' mood is ugly, is because they want the US out of Iraq - so (1) our service personnel can get out of harm's way, and (2) we can staunch the fiscal bleeding caused by this completely unnecessary war - but Congress has simply cowered in the face of the Cheney Administration - for fear of being labeled "soft on terrorism".

GETTING???!!!

It all comes down to good paying jobs! Simple plain vanilla.

All the jobs are offshored. No new good paying jobs left. The rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. The middle class becomes the poor.

Housing market will only get worst. No jobs. No payments. Period. Doesn't take a genius to figure it out.

Buster, right on all points. Nothing to add.

People are more educated and much more informed today then years ago. They understand foreclosures, bait and switch and 23.5% interest rates which can up tomorrow, and all without recourse back to the financial institutions. They also understand when the Federal Reserve drops their rate, that movement having NO effect on their immediate life. While the Stock Market goes wild, record foreclosures on homes are happening. The college educated understand profits don't ever trickle down, only up. The carpetbaggers since the 1980's have taken over our country and our financial future. This all happening while our political leaders on both sides only worry about their next job opportunity.

All these posts are spot on, but IMHO Lou said it best.

A job isn't the same as a good job.

Having to work two jobs doesn't mean it's twice as much fun.

Good god, you Lefties are such miserable people. Really, why go on??

No good jobs, Lou? Sorry, but there are lots of good job to be had out there. Are there good people out there for them? That may be the problem. Heck a buddy of mine who is the Tax Manager for Komatsu has been trying to find good people to hire for months. I see lots of condo buildings still being developed -- and that is just in downtown Chicago. And there sure is e hell lot of road ocnstruction going on judging by my 90 minute drive to work over 25 miles this morning. That is almost 4 minutes a mile!
Negativity, negativity, negativity: that basically is all the left has to offer.

Little Johnny,you forget to add,this is Clintoon's fault.

I understand it could be tough to get qualified help if all you do is look for it in India.

But seriously, if Bush says the economy is great, then I have no reason to believe anyone else, including that, leftie, loonie, commie named Greenspan. Heck, why don't we just nickname him redspan?

John D's answer is that everyone without a job, everyone whose careers have been derailed because of corporate downsizing or having had their jobs shipped to cheap, foreign markets go into real estate or road construction. All you lefty whiners are just lazy and stupid for not having figured this out yet!

Congratulations John D! You may have just saved the country!

(sarcasm off)

Lil' Johnny, since you appear to be math challenged, the report states 62% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track. So I suspect that when you say 'Lefties' you mean most Americans.

I trust that is what you mean. Correct?

Little Johnny D,
Just a few weeks ago you said that Chicago was a violent crime ridden dump, people are leaving it for the suburbs, and the Illinois economy is in the dumps because of "Bloblooyevich". Guess your "facts" change depending on who you are attacking or defending. You can have it both ways though because you are unstable and I wouldn't want to set you off lest you become outwardly physically violent. Your virtual cyberbully rages seems to mollify any temptations you might have to shoot or blow up Lefty Loons. Make sure you use enough question marks and exclamations on your next post to ensure you release all of you pent up self-loathing rage.

"I see lots of condo buildings still being developed -- and that is just in downtown Chicago. And there sure is e hell lot of road ocnstruction going on judging by my 90 minute drive to work over 25 miles this morning."

Posted by: John D | September 19, 2007 11:56 AM

The developers building those condos are largely banking on the "empty nest, retiring baby boomers" who will be selling their homes and cashing in their 401k's and pensions for the next few decades.

The trend recently has been for retirees to move back to the city into smaller condos. They are not intended, as much, for the current working people. So the job market and wages has very little to do with them.

And what does road construction have to do with anything? That's largely just repair work most of the time.

Would you people drop the “record foreclosure” bit? We have nearly 70% home ownership, an incredible statistic considering many who can afford to own do not own. Most homes have greatly increased in value over the last several years. We’re building new homes everywhere, despite a shrinking market. Is anyone really surprised about a “housing slump”? “Record foreclosures” are a miniscule part of overall home ownership. Many of these people are negotiating a better deal to keep their homes. Many won’t lose a dime on the entire deal, and will just go back to renting.

As far as jobs go, we’ve been at 95% employment for a few years, and this is BEFORE the baby boomers start retiring. Corporate websites are filled with (high paying) open positions already, and this will only increase in the upcoming years. You may need to switch careers, but the opportunities are there.

More questions for the “doom & gloomers”: If people are hurting, why are consumption rates at all time highs? Why are stores, restaurants, concerts, theatres, sporting events, etc. all packed? Why does everyone seem to have cell phones, computers, cable TV, etc.? Why is the younger generation much better at investing in 401ks & IRAs than the baby boomers? Since 9/11, why has our GDP increased (adjusting for inflation) by 2.5 trillion (in other words, the amount we’ve grown since then is larger than the entire economies of France or England)?

I’m not saying there isn’t room for improvement, or there won’t be a recession, or correction. You can’t keep going strong forever without an adjustment. The point is that the correction will be overblown by a resilient media and a lot of spoiled Americans. A recession in this country is like a pipe dream for most of the world. Get over it.

All I had to do to cheer me up was read Cheney's op-ed piece in today's WSJ.
As he states in the piece, everyone, including Alan Greenspan, has got it wrong about the economy, tax cuts, and non-military discretionary spending, etc.
Americans really don't understand much about this administration, do they? Cheney wouldn't need to spend so much of his valuable time cheer leading if Americans would grasp what he and Bush know about running the country.
It's tough being all-knowing like George and Dick.
You know, having to write these op-ed pieces and giving stump speech's to ignorant audiences is a lot of hard work.
Now all I need to do is eat another breakfast because I couldn't control the urge to hurl the first one atop Cheney's op-ed piece, and I'll be on my merry way.

"I see lots of condo buildings still being developed -- and that is just in downtown Chicago."

Its clear the thought never occurred to Mr. Dyslin that now that there are fewer mortgages being made, thus fewer buyers for the units he described, that those buildings may never get completed, or will be completed only after heavily discounting the units.

The extent to which the economy has been propped up by the housing boom (which is mainily a byproduct of ultra-low interest rates) is similar to the tech boom of the 90's. Irrational exuberance and a lot of paper wealth that will turn out to be a lot less liquid and a lot less valuable than people assumed.

And John also doesn't see any problem in spending 90 minutes commuting 25 miles. That doesn't sound very productive or efficient to me. Do you think that extrapolating that to the economy as a whole, that maybe sitting in traffic for hours each day might not actually be a good thing for the economy?

I'm in real estate and own property in another country, and I can tell you we are witnessing the beginning of a worldwide deflation in real estate prices, and it isn't going to only effect homeowners but the large segment of the economy tied up in the boom- financing, brokers, retail outlets, construction companies... so much has been tied to the growth in the residential housing market. And now that consumers can't cash out of their houses or refinance, its inevitable that consumer confidence and spending will suffer.

Interestingly, Mr. Dyslinn doesn't mention the most recession-proof business of them all: Defense contracting. Rain or shine, America will always need fancy new weapons to create death and destruction in the quest for global hegemony.

Why are Americans depressed? Here's a bakers dozen.
1. Our cost of living has gone thru the roof. Our standard of living thru the floor.
2. Our cost for energy has gone thru the roof.
3. The oil industry has been engaged in price collusion and price fixing for years, unchecked.
4. Americans are, more and more, finding themselves unable to meet their financial commitments (mortgages, etc), because of the above.
5. The auto industry, blind to what is going on, keeps cramming hemi's down our throat.
6. War and conflict (much for oil) is draining our pockets. World wide atrocities surface at times.
7. The oil industry continues to reep "windfall profits". I cannot concieve of the numbers stated.
8. Our legislators protect the oil industry's windfall profits.
9. Our legislators are on the take. They, as it has been noted, feel that what is good for them is good for America.
10. Republicans and Democratics are on the take whenever they can get it.
11. No one seems to care about energy conservation. How many cars do you see going the speed limit on expressways? Do many drive like a car in front of them is a car to be passed?Does the auto/oil cartel care?
12. What efforts do you see to stop this "on the take" mentality?
13. We have turned into a service country. We cannot compete in the world labor market. Many of our jobs have gone offshore.

There are many more. The big question is
WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT IT???

Awww, you Loons continue to show no understanding at all.
Distrust and Verify: I do not choose to for the travel time to take 90 minutes for a 25-mile trip. But that is life on occasion. Road construction is jobs. People on the roads are also traveling to their jobs. I also do some real estate, and today's present situation is not anything that realtors didn't predict. Everyone knew the hot housing market would cool off, and in fact it cooled off a year or two after the prediction. The housing market is cool, but also closer to reality than the hot market from the late 1990s to 2005. It is expected to pick up some in the next year or two. Also, while prices may drop some, for those that bought their homes 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago, they will still makes oodles of money on those properties. If they bought five years ago or less and have to sell today, they may make some, none or in some cases even see a loss. However, in Arlington Heights there are still lots of tear downs taking place, for instance.
For Steve who says the downtown condos are for the empty nesters, that is not correct. Certainly that is a market, but those working downtown also is the market for those condos, and those in development will continue to be in development, and there are lots more on the horizon of development too. Will the downtown condo development cool off some? Probably so. It too was quite hot for many years now. That growth cannot continue.
The fact remains, there overall economy is still in decent shape, jobs are still available (and good-paying jobs too), unemployment remains relatively low.

Ted says the Employment rate is 95%! LOL Wanna try that one again buddy. You're claiming 95% of all
15-64 year olds are employed. You can't just subtract the Unemployemnt rate from 100% to get the Employment Rate.

"THE MOOD IN AMERICA IS THE THE MOOD ON THE BATTLEFIELDS OF IRAQ"

We are dealing with our own Secular Ethno Cleansing with our War on Terror. In America, we worry of our soldiers and then turn the pages to Gay Marriage, Immigration, Voter Caging, Voter Jamming, Voter Fraud, and a WORTHLESS DOLLAR. Gas is going to be 4.00 a gallon, its 83.00 a barrell but thats under the NSA radar.

America is waiting to cleans itself of its Immigration woes of the 80's. Forget that we invited, we invested and we traded our lives and jobs for Immigration.

I mean we need a Government for the People and by the People. Not by proxy, not by theft by deception, and not by Supreme Court Appointed.

National Political Reconcilation is needed in America. Forget Iraq, they will either reconcile or not. But fighting them over there so they don't come over here was the plan. It worked, they are here, with their secular ways and means of getting alone. S Bill 1639 would have sold Americas Nationality to Homeland Security. Then it would have consolidated American Government under One Supreme Dictator.

America is in a immoral secular stay, a George Bush, Dick Cheney Quagmire of their political and moral views towards the WORLD. You can agree or disagree and that may make you feel right, but this country is stuck on stupid and stupid equates to George Bush, Dick Cheney and Condolezza Rice.

Evil Threesome.

?Bob wants to know what should we do? Its not the 666 billion dollar question of end of next quarter, its now.

IMPEACH GEORGE BUSH, DICK CHENEY, AND CONDOLEZZA RICE

THEN let America Fix itself as we always have done with or without fearless criminal leaders.

National Political Reconciliation in the House and Congress of the United States is needed to restore the Constitution of the United States.

Decommission Homeland Security and recreate FEMA. Put FBI, CIA NSA, NAS on its highest alerts.

Kill SBill 1639 and start with Merit Based Immigration. Grandfather all immigrants ......I wrote my own bill.

Nancy Pelosi tells America, America is moving on, and we will move on together. But who am I.

Impeachment, Censorship and the firing of all staff and co-conspirators of George Bush claim to Weapons of Mass Destruction. Impeachment, Censorship and firing of all staff and co-conspirators in warrantless wire tapping without a court order or any FISA undocumented actions.

But who am I.

OK jethro, I'll try again. How about "fully employed by economic standards"? Sound better?

Buster your comments lead to the conclusion that the "bad mood on the economy" has nothing to do with the economy. I agree with that since most ecconomic indicators are going strong.

Bill Hoffman - if people were more educated today we wouldn't have this sub-prime mess.

John D hits the nail on the head - there are plenty of well paying jobs, unfortuately there are many unqualified people for these jobs because of their lack of education provided by the gov't educational monopoly.

DV - Johns point is if there is a lot of traffic, then the economy is doing well. If you want the first sign of the economy starting to slide, watch for a decrease in truck traffic.

Americans always score congress low, except for their own reps.

Come November 08 sombody gonna get elected, probably a Dem or Repub.