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By Charles Postel
$28.00
By Zeev Sternhell
$23
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By Marie Cocco — In 225 days, at least one high-ranking politician will become unemployed. How many will join President Bush in retirement?
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howstuffworks.com
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In what one economist has called the “strongest evidence yet” that the U.S. is in recession, the country’s jobless rate has grown 0.5% since April, the largest monthly jump in more than 20 years. The unemployment rate has been steadily rising this year, with 324,000 jobs lost since January.
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Flickr / sfadden
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The housing market is continuing its descent into Slumpsville, judging by the way things have gone over the first quarter of 2008, and indicators don’t look good for the immediate future, either. American homeowners have been forced into foreclosure in record numbers this year and late payments have soared to a new high.
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A survey released Friday showed that U.S. consumer confidence has fallen to the lowest point since the “stagflation” of the early 1980s. According to the survey, lower-income households, citing rising food and fuel prices, were the main source of the drop in confidence.
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By David Sirota — What passes for smart economic policy is actually a set of right-wing globalization measures that destabilizes the world economy. For the sake of Americans and others, our politicians need to wise up.
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A star reporter for the Los Angeles Times has written a clear, even elegant anatomy of an economy that is much worse than you probably think.
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blogs.trb.com
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Why is it that the U.S. economy is on a serious downswing? Could it be that we’re in the midst of a super-expensive war with little sign of scaling down in the near future that has jacked up oil prices to new heights and strained the federal budget? According to Bush, he’d have worked out our economic woes if it weren’t for those meddling congressional Democrats.
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boston.com
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President Bush announced that rebate checks will start winging their way to taxpayers as early as Monday, helpfully observing that Americans need a little help paying for necessities like groceries and gas during this economic “slowdown”—a slightly different story from his initial justification for this economic stimulus plan, and one that wasn’t lost on his critics.
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AP photo / Mary Altaffer
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John McCain joined Hillary Clinton in critiquing Barack Obama’s characterization of small-town Pennsylvania’s (and by extension, perhaps, America’s) “bitter” outlook, telling a crowd of magazine and newspaper editors on Monday that Obama’s description represented “a contradiction from what I believe America is all about.”
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Bloomberg.com
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The International Monetary Fund, the darling lending institution of neoliberal capitalists, believes that the U.S.‘s current mortgage crisis is dragging down the world economy. The IMF is predicting at least a two-year global economic downturn, led by the U.S. credit crunch, that also has a gambling chance of turning into a “global recession.”
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Dorothea Lange / FSA
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It’s looking that way for a growing number of Americans. Record home foreclosures, escalating unemployment and price hikes are hitting them in the gut, creating a record number—28 million—who are in need of food stamps to feed themselves and their families.
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A sharp jump in the number of Americans filing for unemployment has brought the four-week average to its highest level since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Last week, 378,000 new claims were filed. Roughly 2.8 million workers currently receive unemployment benefits.
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By Eugene Robinson — The Democratic presidential candidates squabble over real or imagined racial sensitivities, the Republican presidential candidate stages photo opportunities with the troops in Iraq, and meanwhile the financial system is coming apart at the seams.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Never do I want to hear again from my conservative friends about how brilliant capitalists are, how much they deserve their seven-figure salaries, and how government should keep its hands off the private economy.
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By David Sirota — In 1958, the GOP took a shellacking after the vice president used an anti-worker scheme in trying to win votes for his party. Now, right-wingers are resurrecting that failed strategy in Colorado, a key “swing” state.
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AP photo / Haraz N. Ghankari
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President George W. Bush has often invited comparisons to Mad magazine antihero Alfred E. Neuman, and his latest comments regarding a potential recession in the U.S. aren’t helping him shake the “What, me worry?” tag line anytime soon.
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The short month of February was long on economic problems, as 63,000 U.S. jobs were lost over the 29 days. In other words, for those betting that a recession isn’t around the corner, the outlook is dim.
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Officials at the Federal Reserve are running out of creative ways to stave off a recession and expect the U.S. economy to slow to a crawl in 2008, with a growth rate of only 1.3 to 2 percent over the year.
Posted on Feb 20, 2008
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Olle Johansson, Sweden —
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By Marie Cocco — While the president and Congress consider a cure for the Bush economy, they should look to the root of the problem: stagnant incomes.
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brokerforyou.com
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What to do about the slumping U.S. economy? President Bush may disagree with congressional Democrats on dozens of issues, but he seems to agree with their call for some kind of temporary stimulus measure to be implemented as soon as possible. Bush’s potential bailout plan will likely focus on income tax rebates to inspire Americans to go out and spend for their country.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Republicans once preached compassion, but then went off to war. Democrats waged a war on poverty, but then lost some elections. They decided the middle class is where it’s at.
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news.yahoo.com
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The stock market Tuesday had its worst day since 9/11 as investors around the world began to lose faith in the U.S. economy. The Dow fell by 4.3 percent, and S&P estimated total losses at $632 billion. The development came only a day after Alan Greenspan warned of a potential recession.
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The Economist
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Alan Greenspan used his powers of economic foresight Monday to caution Americans about a possible upcoming recession. While the former Fed chairman stressed that he can’t accurately predict changes far in advance, Greenspan speculated that we may see a dip in the economy within the year.
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Guantanamo Prisoner’s Case Demonstrates Unfairness of Military Commissions
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