wait a minute....

[callmeslick]

.....this wasn't what I was led to believe by some here.

"The massive U.S. stimulus package, widely viewed by voters to be ineffective, put 1.4 million to 3.6 million people to work between July and September, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act also boosted national output by between 1.4 percent and 4.1 percent during that period, CBO said in its latest estimate."

from Reuters

[ruggbutt]

put 1.4 million to 3.6 million people to work between July and September

That's quite the number range. They couldn't narrow it down a little more than that? I mean, judging by that quote it could just as easily beput 3 to 7 people to work between July and September.

[callmeslick]

you'd have to ask the CBO on that one, rugg. Still, at worst case, pretty impressive, coupled with saving a million or so jobs in/around the auto industry. Maybe those weren't socialist plots, but sound economics?
Nahhhhh.

[Barfly]

Oh those dumb voters! I count myself as one of them, that thinks all the stimulus did, net, is destroy value. You have to weigh the claimed short term benefit, against the cost of borrowing the money or the devaluing effect of printing that money during a slow growth period.

Gubment stimulus is akin to economic cannibalism IMO. E.g. Lets say a hunter/gatherer named Slick Maynard Keynes, is going through a period of extreme hunger or starvation. Instead of being creative and adapting to the realities of his environment, he eats part of his arm. Ouch! But hey, the short term nutritional boost was worth it! If he keeps that up it will self-critiquing, just like the massive and ineffective stimulus spending in the US in the 30s or in Japan in the 90s. Unless of course he is heavily sedated by ideological fantasies that keep his head out of reality. Of course it's a silly analogy; our cannibal slick wouldn't eat his own arm; he'd eat his neighbors'.

(was that a good Pud imitation? Hehe)

[Wullie]

Very nicely said, Barfly
+1!

I heard most of those jobs were for the census.

I don't believe much of what comes out the CBO either.

I did hear today that applications for un-employment dropped and that house sales went further down the shitter along with home values dropping like a brick.

I also heard that China and Russia swore off the dollar today.

Good news everywhere.

[CUDA]

speaking of home values. when this whole mess started my home was valued at $304K and I had $60k in equity. a couple of months ago I got my new statement. it's now valued at whopping $180K and I'm upside down by $64K
Good thing I have 8 Kids I told my wife that we're going to charge each one of them $200 a month in birth retribution fees, and if they refuse to pay I'm moving in with them for a month on a rotating cycle for the rest of our lives

[callmeslick]

speaking of home values. when this whole mess started my home was valued at $304K and I had $60k in equity. a couple of months ago I got my new statement. it's now valued at whopping $180K and I'm upside down by $64K

which has exactly how much to do with politics, versus corporate finance and personal economics?
It was a housing bubble, folks should have seen it coming, lenders should have been way more cautious.
Beyond deregulating like mad for 20 years, I don't see politics entering into it in recent times in your example.

I'm moving in with them for a month on a rotating cycle for the rest of our lives

that will fix them! Have a Happy Thanksgiving, CUDA.

[CUDA]

Beyond deregulating like mad for 20 years,

It was a housing bubble,

thank you for making my point. the Government deregulation caused this mess, thank you Barney Fife and Chris Dudd

I don't see politics entering into it in recent times in your example.

and there in lies the problem.

[Wullie]

callmeslick wrote:

I don't see politics entering into it in recent times in your example.
and there in lies the problem.

According to slick, the value of your house exploded due the ancient Klinton policy of leaving no deadbeat without a house in the 90's and then not stopped by Bush.


Politics only applies when the problem is brought on by those of a conservative bent. Slick has no trouble seeing their problems, nor pointing, and screaming loudly.

[callmeslick]

Beyond deregulating like mad for 20 years,

It was a housing bubble,

thank you for making my point. the Government deregulation caused this mess, thank you Barney Fife and Chris Dudd

sorry, chief, but that wasn't when they had any real say. Look to Phil Gramm and others, and the fact that most of the deregulation occured between 1994 and 2004 ought to clue you into what party ran the show.
Even then, if we are to assume the political aspect came slowly over a decade or more, when, in a nation supposedly built upon individual freedoms, do we take the individuals who signed contracts(both sides) off the hook?