More Bad Economic News
On the heels of the news that US GDP is up above expectations, we learned that gas prices are heading down (as they do this time of year, historically – it’s called supply and demand — a mysterious concept to those of us hobbled by our public school education). Gasoline consumption growth in the US has been less than anytime in the past 20 years. But, you probably won’t see that reported in the prog-press, because that kind of news doesn’t cause the anxiety and pessimism the media desires in the run-up to the elections in November. You have to look beyond the opinion pieces reported as “news” in the AP or al-Reuters to find these kinds of facts. In all the major news outlets, that little factoid was missing — I had to go to the hard news sites to find that out.
As is always the case, this good news for Americans is bad news for the party out of power — the Democrats. But, all is not lost for the party of “no,” as it appears that they will be reclaiming their birthright in November of this year — control of the House of Representatives. All of their resources and energy will turn from opposing any meaningful legislation dealing with Social Security, WW III and other pressing issues to the items on their legislative agenda (I wish I knew what those were, besides hearings and Bush). Then, you know we’re going to see some serious energy policy coming out of the Congress… NOT!
September 3rd, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Oh wise and powerful Bo, I keep hearing all this doomsday info that the economy is suffering and market trends are pointing to a sad, sad real estate situation that’s going to last for years and years. I keep hearing that the economy is just fine and that we’ll be going on the up and up soon enough.
What sayeth thou?
September 5th, 2006 at 5:01 am
Sadie, economic prognostication is not my strong suit. I do know this… traditional economic cycles that occurred before and during the first half of my life, no longer seem to apply. Since the early 90s, we have seen steady growth with little inflation at or about full employment (5% unemployment is considered full employment).
Right now there is a surplus of new homes, putting pressure on all home buying, which means it’s a buyer’s market. However, this does not seem to have too big an effect on other economic factors and there is a good supply of first-time home buyers out there, who are just about ready to pull the trigger. I don’t think this is a long term situation… probably like ‘96 here in California and will turn back up within a year or two. We’ll see how I did when we get there (2007/8).
Concerned?
September 7th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Thanks for that sage advice. I agree–this might last for a little while but nothing even close to panic about quite yet.