U.S. Economy Shrinks by 6.1 Percent in First Quarter

[red states rule]

On Obama's 100 day in office - chalk up another "accomplishment" for the Chosen One


U.S. Economy Shrinks by 6.1 Percent in First Quarter

WASHINGTON -- The economy shrank at a worse-than-expected 6.1 percent pace at the start of this year as sharp cutbacks by businesses and the biggest drop in U.S. exports in 40 years overwhelmed a rebound in consumer spending.

The Commerce Department's report, released Wednesday, dashed hopes that the recession's grip on the country loosened in the first quarter. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a 5 percent annualized decline.

Instead, the economy ended up performing nearly as bad as it had in the final three months of last year when it logged the worst slide in a quarter-century, contracting at a 6.3 percent pace.

Nervous consumers played a prominent role in that dismal showing as they ratcheted back spending in the face of rising unemployment, falling home values and shrinking nest eggs.

In the January-March quarter, however, consumers came back to life.

They actually boosted their spending after two straight quarters of reductions. The 2.2 percent growth rate was the strongest in two years.

Still, the consumer rebound was swamped by heavy spending cuts in virtually every other area.

Businesses cut spending on home building, commercial construction, equipment and software, and inventories of goods.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/29/economy-shrinks-percent-quarter/

[Noir]

Sweet Jesus, 6%!!!

And on a side note blaming Obama fir it is a lil silly, but ofcourse you know that.

[red states rule]

Sweet Jesus, 6%!!!

And on a side note blaming Obama fir it is a lil silly, but ofcourse you know that.

Liberals can "Talk" about Obama's plans to make the economy grow from the "Bottom Up" but in reality it does not work that way..

Things are getting worse not better...

And there is no relief for small business in sight to help grow the economy.

[Noir]

things are clearly gonna get worse before they get better, to pretend otherwise is misleading, but to blame this all on Obama is equally misleading (as there are far to many hands in this pie to blame one or t'other)

[red states rule]

things are clearly gonna get worse before they get better, to pretend otherwise is misleading, but to blame this all on Obama is equally misleading (as there are far to many hands in this pie to blame one or t'other)

But that was not what we were told during the election

The only hands in the pie are those of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi and the Dem majority

[mundame]

This Mexican flu may further depress the economy in the current quarter if tourism, traffic, and shopping decline. For instance, there are travel bans on the U.S. now from the European Union, and it's coming up to the tourist season for them.


HOWEVER --- a big stimulus may kick in late this month: the extra $250 to people drawing Social Security, and the income tax refunds, state and federal. That could have an effect on the economy going into the third quarter, June through August.

[red states rule]

This Mexican flu may further depress the economy in the current quarter if tourism, traffic, and shopping decline. For instance, there are travel bans on the U.S. now from the European Union, and it's coming up to the tourist season for them.


HOWEVER --- a big stimulus may kick in late this month: the extra $250 to people drawing Social Security, and the income tax refunds, state and federal. That could have an effect on the economy going into the third quarter, June through August.

With more people losing their jobs, and busniesses cutting back things will not get better

Plus Dems are going to raise taxes on nearly all workers to pay for Obama Care

http://www.debatepolicy.com/showthread.php?t=22502

[Noir]

But that was not what we were told during the election

The only hands in the pie are those of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi and the Dem majority


Pure tosh mate and you know it.
Everyone from dems, reps, bankers, businessmen, con men, ect ect have all had a hand in this over the past 20 years.

[red states rule]

Pure tosh mate and you know it.
Everyone from dems, reps, bankers, businessmen, con men, ect ect have all had a hand in this over the past 20 years.

We were told Obama would bring CHANGE

As far as the current economic mess we are in it was Dems who started it, blocked reforms to tighten crdit requirements, and now they are going to fix things?????

[Noir]

We were told Obama would bring CHANGE

As far as the current economic mess we are in it was Dems who started it, blocked reforms to tighten crdit requirements, and now they are going to fix things?????


Everyone has had a hand in it, both patrys have had presidents and full houses over the past 20 years but no one did what they should have (because no one thought it would be like this, and no one wanted to ask questions incase they were the ones to Bring the problems about) so the issue was not dealt with by anyone

As for the retorick, no one can really bring change and we all know it. See that's the thing; we all know that we all know allot of things, but just pretend we don't, I guess that's politics.

[red states rule]

Everyone has had a hand in it, both patrys have had presidents and full houses over the past 20 years but no one did what they should have (because no one thought it would be like this, and no one wanted to ask questions incase they were the ones to Bring the problems about) so the issue was not dealt with by anyone

As for the retorick, no one can really bring change and we all know it. See that's the thing; we all know that we all know allot of things, but just pretend we don't, I guess that's politics.

Example One

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

By STEVEN A. HOLMES

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets — including the New York metropolitan region — will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates — anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

”Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990’s by reducing down payment requirements,” said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae’s chairman and chief executive officer. ”Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.”

Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.

http://bsimmons.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/1999-ny-times-fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending/


Example 2


September 11, 2003
New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
By STEPHEN LABATON
The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.

The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.

The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt -- is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.

''There is a general recognition that the supervisory system for housing-related government-sponsored enterprises neither has the tools, nor the stature, to deal effectively with the current size, complexity and importance of these enterprises,'' Treasury Secretary John W. Snow told the House Financial Services Committee in an appearance with Housing Secretary Mel Martinez, who also backed the plan.

Mr. Snow said that Congress should eliminate the power of the president to appoint directors to the companies, a sign that the administration is less concerned about the perks of patronage than it is about the potential political problems associated with any new difficulties arising at the companies.

The administration's proposal, which was endorsed in large part today by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, would not repeal the significant government subsidies granted to the two companies. And it does not alter the implicit guarantee that Washington will bail the companies out if they run into financial difficulty; that perception enables them to issue debt at significantly lower rates than their competitors. Nor would it remove the companies' exemptions from taxes and antifraud provisions of federal securities laws.

The proposal is the opening act in one of the biggest and most significant lobbying battles of the Congressional session.

After the hearing, Representative Michael G. Oxley, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, and Senator Richard Shelby, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, announced their intention to draft legislation based on the administration's proposal. Industry executives said Congress could complete action on legislation before leaving for recess in the fall.

''The current regulator does not have the tools, or the mandate, to adequately regulate these enterprises,'' Mr. Oxley said at the hearing. ''We have seen in recent months that mismanagement and questionable accounting practices went largely unnoticed by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight,'' the independent agency that now regulates the companies.

''These irregularities, which have been going on for several years, should have been detected earlier by the regulator,'' he added.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which is part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, was created by Congress in 1992 after the bailout of the savings and loan industry and concerns about regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which buy mortgages from lenders and repackage them as securities or hold them in their own portfolios.

At the time, the companies and their allies beat back efforts for tougher oversight by the Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Federal Reserve. Supporters of the companies said efforts to regulate the lenders tightly under those agencies might diminish their ability to finance loans for lower-income families. This year, however, the chances of passing legislation to tighten the oversight are better than in the past.

Reflecting the changing political climate, both Fannie Mae and its leading rivals applauded the administration's package. The support from Fannie Mae came after a round of discussions between it and the administration and assurances from the Treasury that it would not seek to change the company's mission.

After those assurances, Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chief executive, endorsed the shift of regulatory oversight to the Treasury Department, as well as other elements of the plan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/business/new-agency-proposed-to-oversee-freddie-mac-and-fannie-mae.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

[Noir]

Everyone had a hand in it pure and simple, bush himself had plenty of years when he was a strong president, with both houses, he could have pushed through whatever he would of like in the way of reforms, so to could the major reps in either house, but ofcourse it did not happen, both partys are into big business and both were gaining from the amazing growth brought about by an unregulated banking system

[red states rule]

Everyone had a hand in it pure and simple, bush himself had plenty of years when he was a strong president, with both houses, he could have pushed through whatever he would of like in the way of reforms, so to could the major reps in either house, but ofcourse it did not happen, both partys are into big business and both were gaining from the amazing growth brought about by an unregulated banking system

Are you ignoring the facts Dems blocked the reforms?

Noir, it was Clinton and the Dems who pushed for, and got, credit requirements loosened so those "with less then good credit" could buy a home

Those same Dems are now in charge and we are to buy the fact they wil fix the problem????

[Noir]

No I am not ignoring the fact that dens were involved aswell, as I have been saying all along EVERYONE has had their hand in this (yes that means dems aswell) now are you trying to say that Reps were not at all responsible? Or so you agree with me that everyone got messy with this?

[red states rule]

No I am not ignoring the fact that dens were involved aswell, as I have been saying all along EVERYONE has had their hand in this (yes that means dems aswell) now are you trying to say that Reps were not at all responsible? Or so you agree with me that everyone got messy with this?

Well, the Republicans tried to rein in Fannie and Freddie, Bush tried 3 times, and Mccain tried once in the Senate

Each time Dems blocked them. Called them racists, and said Fannie and Freddie were not in any trouble

Show me where R's added to the problem

[April15]

On Obama's 100 day in office - chalk up another "accomplishment" for the Chosen One


U.S. Economy Shrinks by 6.1 Percent in First Quarter

WASHINGTON -- The economy shrank at a worse-than-expected 6.1 percent pace at the start of this year as sharp cutbacks by businesses and the biggest drop in U.S. exports in 40 years overwhelmed a rebound in consumer spending.

The Commerce Department's report, released Wednesday, dashed hopes that the recession's grip on the country loosened in the first quarter. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a 5 percent annualized decline.

Instead, the economy ended up performing nearly as bad as it had in the final three months of last year when it logged the worst slide in a quarter-century, contracting at a 6.3 percent pace.

Nervous consumers played a prominent role in that dismal showing as they ratcheted back spending in the face of rising unemployment, falling home values and shrinking nest eggs.

In the January-March quarter, however, consumers came back to life.

They actually boosted their spending after two straight quarters of reductions. The 2.2 percent growth rate was the strongest in two years.

Still, the consumer rebound was swamped by heavy spending cuts in virtually every other area.

Businesses cut spending on home building, commercial construction, equipment and software, and inventories of goods.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/29/economy-shrinks-percent-quarter/

Knee deep in shit and you really think he can get the Bush smell out it?

[red states rule]

Knee deep in shit and you really think he can get the Bush smell out it?

On the way home, my liberal coworker said how Dems were fiscally reponsible. I asked him how that was the case when Dems bitched about a $500 billion annual defict under Bush - yet they say nothing about a $2 trillion deficit under Obama

He said we are in an economic meltdown, and have to spend to bring the economy back

I asked how excessive spending and massive deficits were going to turn the economy around

He said it is a gamble Obama has to take

I said first you said Dems were fiscally responsible now they are gamblers

He leaned down and turned up the radio

Enough said

[red states rule]

So much for the change, and Democrat finincial responsiblity


FACT CHECK: Obama disowns deficit he helped shape

WASHINGTON (AP) - "That wasn't me," President Barack Obama said on his 100th day in office, disclaiming responsibility for the huge budget deficit waiting for him on Day One.

It actually was him - and the other Democrats controlling Congress the previous two years - who shaped a budget so out of balance.

And as a presidential candidate and president-elect, he backed the twilight Bush-era stimulus plan that made the deficit deeper, all before he took over and promoted spending plans that have made it much deeper still.

Obama met citizens at an Arnold, Mo., high school Wednesday in advance of his prime-time news conference. Both forums were a platform to review his progress at the 100-day mark and look ahead.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090429/D97SCPI00.html

All Obama has to do is convince 55 million of the "Obama's going to pay my mortgage, pay for my car, put gas in it, and give me a house" crowd of uneducated Democrats that he's telling the truth.

Given Obama's skill set, the Dems should've elected James Earl Jones for President. I like hearing him read someone else's words more than I like hearing Obama read someone else's words.