It's the Economy, stupid - Languishing & Lingering after the Great Recession

But thank god it doesn't look as bad as the Reagan period, amiright? (Also, let's hope there isn't another global financial crisis.)

 

And sometimes they're the same thing. You'll need to be more specific.

How would you view the use of debt?

 

This is the headline of an article Another disappointing jobs report

YET...we created more jobs...and the unemployment rate went down another notch.

When did we get so cynical??
What is good enough?

I would think "disappointing" would mean getting worse, going down.
But NO, "not good enough"..."what have you done lately?"

People are petty and unrealistic.

 

Ok, I'm tired of red-meat conservatives throwing out financial fear mongering.
(more than likely because they aren't in full control...and their "guy" isn't at the top)

Let's stick to the facts...and not the ones from the liberals to get their agenda through either.
Can't we just deal with reality???

THAT, all the above AND we just struck energy gold in the Northern Plain states...enough to allow us to export on the levels of Saudi Arabia.

I think the employment scenario described above a combination of things, a subtle shift in low-skill jobs being converted into automated ones.
The fact that companies are sitting on unprecedented levels of cash ...and not hiring (because of the constant fear mongering...)
Nor do they want to train anymore...experience and orientation right out the box is the new mindset.

And finally...why are these myths touted so much?
Not just politicians and pundits fault...but media loves a controversy...if it bleeds, it leads.

I have a dream...a dream when people deal in true perspectives.
*sigh* But that's just a pipe dream...
Because people would just rather scream & shout about the sky falling or put on rose colored glasses otherwise.
And with those watching the gladiator pits the mayhem is just encouraged.

I wonder why I care so much?
Because I'm the idiot in the center of the battle shouting, "there's nothing to fight over..."

 

Yes, it's important to keep perspective here.

They recently found that the Northern Plains oil reserve is double what they previously thought. In real terms, that means ~7 billion barrels. A few caveats though:

• This still finds the U.S. out of the top ten nations by proven oil reserves.
• This still means Canada has ~6 times more reserves and Saudi Arabia has ~9 times more reserves.
• Even if you added in the estimated undiscovered U.S. oil reserves (somewhere around 200 billion barrels), America's total reserves would still fall short of Saudi Arabia's proven reserves—by an amount greater than America's current reserves.
• Production is key. Most of the Northern Plains oil is "tight oil," which mean it's difficult (i.e., expensive) to extract. (Ask Canada about oil that's difficult/expensive to extract.)
• Tight oil extraction has a lot of environmental repercussions that will only add to the difficulty of establishing a highly productive infrastructure.
• There are two reasons why it's difficult to bridge the gap between production and consumption: 1) production increases are extremely difficult to ramp up, 2) consumption increases are extremely difficult to manage—they're tied to the economy.
• So what you have is an economy that demands oil when it expands, but a difficult time accessing all this new oil you found. So what do you do? You turn to OPEC.

 

Silly American, Canada's oil belongs to China!

 

I think he meant Stephen Harper.

 

So we're not lingering so much after the Great Recession now,
although, it's still not up where it should due to management reticence and political/media fear-mongering.
Still US Consumer Confidence has reached a 6-year high...nice to know.

Yet the new re-coldwar scenario may throw things for a loop...if not other things.

However, different technologies are emerging and becoming more used and prevalent that may change how things work and the macro-economics.
One of these is 3D printing.
Still in its toddler stages...it has the potential to alter how things are made.

The 3D Economy

If this is true...then it will have impact to the manufacturing base.
While there will still quite a bit made professionally...these will be more sophisticated and complicated equipment.

The post-industrial nations will likely survive the transition easy, because they are more in a service orient economy and they are the ones building the more complex items.
But countries like China and otherwise will likely be impacted more.
They tend to build the "basics" cheap...and in volume.
So does this mean their new clients will be the mid to low income nations, where they won't have 3D printing and still need the basics?
Or will this trigger a recession/depression in their nations?

BTW...clothing won't be likely created by 3D printers, so they may keep that market.
But perhaps it will make it more of a commodity and allow them to charge more or pay their workers more.

I'm curious as to these questions.
What do you think??