More Arrows Seen Pointing to a Recession

PETER S. GOODMAN
NY Times
Friday, Aug 1, 2008

The American economy expanded more slowly than expected from April to June, the government reported Thursday, while numbers for the last three months of 2007 were revised downward to show a contraction — the first official slide backward since the last recession in 2001.

Economists construed the tepid growth in the second quarter, combined with a surge in claims for unemployment benefits, as a clear indication that the economy remains mired in the weeds of a downturn. Many said the data increased the likelihood that a recession began late last year.

The next major piece of data comes Friday, when the government is to release its monthly snapshot of the job market. Analysts expect the report to show a loss of 75,000 jobs, signifying the seventh straight month of declines.

(Article continues below)

“We already knew the economy was weak, and now you have both a negative growth number coupled with job losses,” said Dean Baker, a director of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research. “There’s a lot of real bad times to come.”

President Bush zeroed in on the positive growth in the second quarter — a 1.9 percent annual rate of expansion, compared with an anticipated 2.3 percent rate. That follows growth of 0.9 percent in the first quarter. He claimed success for the $100 billion in tax rebates sent out by the government this year in a bid to spur spending, along with $52 billion in tax cuts for businesses.

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9 Responses to “More Arrows Seen Pointing to a Recession”

1. Emule Says:
   August 1st, 2008 at 6:55 am

   I say if you are going to give out money, why don’t you all visit everyone and hand deliver the checks because from all the so called “rebates”, I haven’t ever received jack crap.

2. chris diminie Says:
   August 1st, 2008 at 8:43 am

   “negative growth number”??? Ha Ha! Modern English sure does take it’s poetic liberties doesn’t it? Has the word “Decline” been retired? This type of language is pure mind control. NewSpeak.
   We think in words for the most part, so controlling language and what words are in the public vernacular is a means of controlling what thoughts we can form. The words Class Struggle seem to ring clearer every day though somehow.

3. rw3 Says:
   August 1st, 2008 at 9:12 am

   We have been in a recession for over a YEAR now!!! Trust me, I’ve been trying to get a new job for 12 months!

4. Todd Says:
   August 1st, 2008 at 11:20 am

   Until the American sheeple stop mindlessly obsessing over “bread and circuses” — http://www.strike-the-root.com.....din10.html — and start

   (a) educating themselves about the issues by watching documentaries such as “The Money Masters” — http://www.themoneymasters.com — and reading books such as Ellen Brown’s “Web of Debt” — http://www.webofdebt.com — and

   (b) raising some serious hell with their Congressmen,

   they will continue to get financially raped by the monied string-pullers who currently control BOTH major parties.

5. BillO Says:
   August 1st, 2008 at 2:20 pm

   The goose is cooked to a cinder. The only people who don’t know it are the American citizen’s.

6. Alienation Says:
   August 1st, 2008 at 3:05 pm

   “Many said the data increased the likelihood that a recession began late last year.”

   Are these the same people who denied any and all claims of “possible” recession for the last year? It’s funny how they can deny an event WILL happen, deny that it IS happening, and finally (a year later) come to consensus that it “likely” DID happen.

   All of us have failed miserably (without excuse) to take to heart our “citizen responsibilities”. The people of the United States have been complacent for too long, thus they have blindly given their social, economic, and political representation to an equally blind special elite whose only sensation comes in the form of greed. Unfortunately, we can “likely” presume that history will go on repeating itself and that the majority (the ONLY number that ever mattered or ever will matter) of people in this country will continue their slumber. Now is the time to shave off their eyebrows and paint their faces so that when/if they finally do wake up, they’ll be pissed.

7. Jer Says:
   August 1st, 2008 at 7:29 pm

   we are def. already in a recession and heading further down the spiral into a depression.

8. Gregory Fegel Says:
   August 2nd, 2008 at 4:46 am

   Dr. Jason Dodson is a Freemason cultist, fascist, and disinformation agent who trolls this website and reports bloggers to the National Security Administration.

9. WXYZ Says:
   August 2nd, 2008 at 3:05 pm

   Definitely the story of the week was the astounding revelation of
   of senior Nasa official Clark McClelland.

   McClelland supported astronaut Ed Mitchell’s claim that the military was interacting with alien races.

   McClelland revealed that he saw an 8 to 9 alien in the shuttle docking bay on his moniter during a classified shuttle mission.

   He also witnessed a UFO locked in a stationary orbit with the shuttle.

   You can find the full story at;

   http:///hismailroom.com