Friday's jobs report wrapped up a week of disappointing economic numbers.
Some 54,000 jobs were created in May, and half of those were McDonald's.
Home prices have dropped about 30% - to 1999 levels (after inflation adjustment) - and continue to fall about 1% on average per month.
Only in Washington, D.
C.
environs are prices stable.
Durable goods orders are down, as is manufacturing.
Consumer confidence is down.
And now, Moody's has added its voice to that of Standard & Poors, threatening a downgrade of U.
S.
credit worthiness.
Welcome to the party.
And by the way, where were you two "seers" before the financial crisis? But I digress.
The Obama administration's quiver is empty.
The Grand Stimulus Program ($860 B) failed by almost any measure - as did all the more targeted Keynesian stimulus programs that followed - cash for houses, cars, caulkers and appliances.
Billions have been thrown at the housing crash and mortgage mess.
Fannie and Freddie have been infused with about $160B, with many more dollars sure to follow.
And the Fed has absorbed about a trillion dollars of mortgage backed securities to stem a further precipitous decline - and other nefarious reasons.
Still, housing continues to slump, and literally millions of homeowners are underwater and in default.
Foreclosures will continue for many more years at these or higher levels.
The Fed has infused tons of cash into the system.
Never mind dropping it from helicopters, they called Dover AFB and requisitioned the military transports.
Quantitative easing (QE2) ends June 30, so eighty billion less stimulus per month after that.
Has it achieved the Fed's dual mandate of stable prices and full employment? You decide.
QE3 anyone? Interest rates are already effectively at zero, so that arrow is gone.
The people, and the Congress (finally) have no appetite for throwing more money at 'stimulating' the economy.
So I think we can safely check that one off.
And the Fed is played out, it's moves failing at all but artificially pumping up the Dow (and gold).
In short, the quiver is empty.
All the artificial command and control measures have been employed - on steroids - as they were in Roosevelt's Depression days, and they have failed now as miserably as they did then.
Only now, we have about $5 trillion more in debt and an economy still in the toilet.
No, deficit spending, free money to banks, high speed rail, and unemployment payments aren't going to create the jobs, energize the economy, or make believers out of the business owners.
Nor, hopefully, will they get Mr.
Obamanomics reelected.
People, markets and businesses are forward thinking.
They (and they are all really just people) act and react to what they anticipate in the future.
So what are they looking at? The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) - what impacts will this legislation have on our business in terms of employee health care costs? As individuals? Dodd-Frank (Financial Reform bill) - hundreds of new rules affecting every area of our financial lives - checking accounts, debit cards, loans, business finance, failing community banks.
Will credit be available? Will I be able to finance my car, house, education or business? What will it cost me? NLRB (The National Labor Relations Board) - more thug government tactics, this time aimed at Boeing and its new plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state.
What should business expect next? Where will we be allowed to build a plant? What will be required of us to do so? DoE - the Department of Energy, formed in the Carter years to wean us from foreign oil.
Thirty years later we are importing 60% versus 28% when the agency was formed.
And now it, and the EPA, are doing everything in their power to cripple our domestic energy resources and raise the price of energy.
Remember Obama's own words, "energy costs will necessarily skyrocket".
That was in reference to coal - and that was okay by him.
As consumers or businesspeople, what will our energy costs be going forward? Taxes, Debt & Deficits - still looming is the battle over raising the debt ceiling and what tax and spending changes may ensue.
What will be the outcome of this debate and how will it affect me? This is by no means a full list of the 'uncertainty' facing families and businesses alike.
At home, folks are spending far more of their budgets on gas and food, which means less demand for other goods and services.
And many are afraid of what the future will hold for them.
So even if they have disposable income, they are not inclined to spend it.
For business, with so much uncertainty out there - energy costs, healthcare costs, new regulations, credit availability, taxes and more - why would you expand, build a new plant, or hire more employees? And with the consumer continuing to cocoon, would the demand be there anyway? We are in a world of hurt with no easy solutions.
But, contrary to what the mainstream media will tell you, it's not because Capitalism has failed, it is because we have failed Capitalism.
And we have failed to honor the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The answers are all in there.
Our way forward is to look to the past and embrace, once again, the individual's right to life, liberty and property.
And again embrace the notion of limited, enumerated powers, state's rights, and local control.
Government command and control, crony capitalism, and social engineering are all counter to everything American.
We need to start tearing down this awful web of government that is holding us captive and free ourselves to succeed once again - or even to fail - one piece at a time.
But quick.
Until we, as citizens and voters, insist that government get out of the way, and confine itself to its rightful, constitutional duties - and no more - we will continue this decline.
From education, to energy, to commerce, the "Federal" government's actions are at the heart of our woes.
Our quiver is far from empty.
Our entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well - and waiting.
Waiting for what government should provide - a level playing field, the rule of law, stable money, fiscal discipline, inviolate property rights, and individual liberty.
Some 54,000 jobs were created in May, and half of those were McDonald's.
Home prices have dropped about 30% - to 1999 levels (after inflation adjustment) - and continue to fall about 1% on average per month.
Only in Washington, D.
C.
environs are prices stable.
Durable goods orders are down, as is manufacturing.
Consumer confidence is down.
And now, Moody's has added its voice to that of Standard & Poors, threatening a downgrade of U.
S.
credit worthiness.
Welcome to the party.
And by the way, where were you two "seers" before the financial crisis? But I digress.
The Obama administration's quiver is empty.
The Grand Stimulus Program ($860 B) failed by almost any measure - as did all the more targeted Keynesian stimulus programs that followed - cash for houses, cars, caulkers and appliances.
Billions have been thrown at the housing crash and mortgage mess.
Fannie and Freddie have been infused with about $160B, with many more dollars sure to follow.
And the Fed has absorbed about a trillion dollars of mortgage backed securities to stem a further precipitous decline - and other nefarious reasons.
Still, housing continues to slump, and literally millions of homeowners are underwater and in default.
Foreclosures will continue for many more years at these or higher levels.
The Fed has infused tons of cash into the system.
Never mind dropping it from helicopters, they called Dover AFB and requisitioned the military transports.
Quantitative easing (QE2) ends June 30, so eighty billion less stimulus per month after that.
Has it achieved the Fed's dual mandate of stable prices and full employment? You decide.
QE3 anyone? Interest rates are already effectively at zero, so that arrow is gone.
The people, and the Congress (finally) have no appetite for throwing more money at 'stimulating' the economy.
So I think we can safely check that one off.
And the Fed is played out, it's moves failing at all but artificially pumping up the Dow (and gold).
In short, the quiver is empty.
All the artificial command and control measures have been employed - on steroids - as they were in Roosevelt's Depression days, and they have failed now as miserably as they did then.
Only now, we have about $5 trillion more in debt and an economy still in the toilet.
No, deficit spending, free money to banks, high speed rail, and unemployment payments aren't going to create the jobs, energize the economy, or make believers out of the business owners.
Nor, hopefully, will they get Mr.
Obamanomics reelected.
People, markets and businesses are forward thinking.
They (and they are all really just people) act and react to what they anticipate in the future.
So what are they looking at? The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) - what impacts will this legislation have on our business in terms of employee health care costs? As individuals? Dodd-Frank (Financial Reform bill) - hundreds of new rules affecting every area of our financial lives - checking accounts, debit cards, loans, business finance, failing community banks.
Will credit be available? Will I be able to finance my car, house, education or business? What will it cost me? NLRB (The National Labor Relations Board) - more thug government tactics, this time aimed at Boeing and its new plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state.
What should business expect next? Where will we be allowed to build a plant? What will be required of us to do so? DoE - the Department of Energy, formed in the Carter years to wean us from foreign oil.
Thirty years later we are importing 60% versus 28% when the agency was formed.
And now it, and the EPA, are doing everything in their power to cripple our domestic energy resources and raise the price of energy.
Remember Obama's own words, "energy costs will necessarily skyrocket".
That was in reference to coal - and that was okay by him.
As consumers or businesspeople, what will our energy costs be going forward? Taxes, Debt & Deficits - still looming is the battle over raising the debt ceiling and what tax and spending changes may ensue.
What will be the outcome of this debate and how will it affect me? This is by no means a full list of the 'uncertainty' facing families and businesses alike.
At home, folks are spending far more of their budgets on gas and food, which means less demand for other goods and services.
And many are afraid of what the future will hold for them.
So even if they have disposable income, they are not inclined to spend it.
For business, with so much uncertainty out there - energy costs, healthcare costs, new regulations, credit availability, taxes and more - why would you expand, build a new plant, or hire more employees? And with the consumer continuing to cocoon, would the demand be there anyway? We are in a world of hurt with no easy solutions.
But, contrary to what the mainstream media will tell you, it's not because Capitalism has failed, it is because we have failed Capitalism.
And we have failed to honor the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The answers are all in there.
Our way forward is to look to the past and embrace, once again, the individual's right to life, liberty and property.
And again embrace the notion of limited, enumerated powers, state's rights, and local control.
Government command and control, crony capitalism, and social engineering are all counter to everything American.
We need to start tearing down this awful web of government that is holding us captive and free ourselves to succeed once again - or even to fail - one piece at a time.
But quick.
Until we, as citizens and voters, insist that government get out of the way, and confine itself to its rightful, constitutional duties - and no more - we will continue this decline.
From education, to energy, to commerce, the "Federal" government's actions are at the heart of our woes.
Our quiver is far from empty.
Our entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well - and waiting.
Waiting for what government should provide - a level playing field, the rule of law, stable money, fiscal discipline, inviolate property rights, and individual liberty.
Source...