Bush assures Americans that U.S. economy will 'pull through'

Sunday 20th July, 06:02 AM JST

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TPOJ at 10:32 AM JST - 20th July

“This is a nation that has faced tough challenges in the past and overcome them, and we will do so again,”

Yes, we will. I believe this. In fact, I believe we've been trying to do this for years, but we couldn't because of the spectacular idiocy of our leaders.

“With sound policies in Washington and the ingenuity of our citizens, our economy will emerge from this period stronger and better than before.”

See what I mean? "Sound policies from Washington?" When ya gonna start with that, George?
westurn at 10:48 AM JST - 20th July

Just spent some glorious time in the states... trust me the average American continues to go about his/her daily life with nary the hype and tragedy insinuated here at JT. By reading all these gloom and doom stories on the net I expected to find Americans awash in angst and fear over their futures... bah ! People were too busy enjoying all the free things life in the US has to offer. Coupons, "buy one get one free" ! Discounted items at 70% ! Tightwad Tuesday events ! Free concerts ! Etc ! Cripes if we in Japan could only be so poor ! I've said it before, I'll say it again... "being poor in America is a helluva lot better than having money in Japan" !!! Life is good !
USARonin at 10:58 AM JST - 20th July

"because of the spectacular idiocy of our leaders..."

Yeah, can ya imagine what's gonna happen to us if Mr. Style and No Substance Barak Hussein Obama gets in?

Holey smokes.

USAR
Badsey at 11:13 AM JST - 20th July
1. Pay off all credit debts before the interest rates rise.
2. Buy your house now and lock in the interest rate (with inflation going up the payments will look cheaper and the cost of building a house will only get higher)
3. Keep all other costs to a minimum.
4. It's hard to figure saving with your money worth less and less and cost going higher and higher, but your house will hold it's value the best.
Worst case senario: You are retired and on a fixed income = I don't see the gov keeping payments up in check with this inflation = your money is worth 30-40% less but payments increase 1-3%.
Badsey at 11:21 AM JST - 20th July

necessities: If you are in the market for a car should you buy now? Yes, buy it before they raise the prices and also the interest rates are low. The costs of these products must rise = you haven't really seen it yet, mostly just talk. Fuel efficient cars are getting sold out though and harder to find.
SezWho2 at 03:51 PM JST - 20th July

westurn,

You could be describing bread and circuses.
presto345 at 03:55 PM JST - 20th July

Bush is the right person to convince the nation.
Sarge at 09:04 PM JST - 20th July

"Being poor in America is a helluva lot better than having money in Japan"

Heh.
Badsey at 09:24 PM JST - 20th July

this downturn in the economy actually happened before Bush came into office (Internet/stocks downturn+ later 9/11 downturn). They lowered interest rates and that helped massively. People bought homes. Now we are dealing with the backwash of those low interest rates plus high oil/energy, food prices, and Afghan/Iraq +?

You now have inflation and interest rates and costs must go up = in 8 years the situation has become worse, but then again we really didn't have a WW3 either (worst case senario). The common person is worse off generally than 8yrs ago.
Betzee at 12:16 AM JST - 21st July

The common person is worse off generally than 8yrs ago.

Indeed. The average American has to shoulder the burden of bailing out reckless financial institutions, shoulder the cost of two wars, cope with high oil prices and rising food prices as the value of the almighty dollar shrinks.

Some posters have used anecdotal evidence ("I didn't see anybody having a hard time") to assert the crisis is overblown. In fact foreclosures are concentrated (and very evident) in high-growth states like California and Florida where new communities sprout up overnight.

Now one can have limited sympathy for those who signed documents they didn't understand or overstated their income to qualify for loans. But it's also the loan company's responsiblity to independently verify the information provided by applicants. They obviously fell through on that and now need to be bailed out by the taxpayers because, in contrast to individual families whose loss of a home won't have ripple effects, they are too big to fail. This has to be addressed by the government....
Badsey at 12:40 AM JST - 21st July

California is losing people by the millions = this is really gonna hurt their tax base and they already are in a deficit + the fires are bad this year.

These wars were paid thru inflation = your money that you saved is now worth 30-40% less and it's getting closer to 50% = that loaf of bread is now close to $3 (a double in price since your money is worth 1/2)

The kicker: Dems want to raise taxes. Since your money is worth less I guess you sort of have to and I'm sure the politicians want their 50% raise also. (I'm trying to make everyone happy here)
Betzee at 02:40 AM JST - 21st July

California is losing people by the millions = this is really gonna hurt their tax base and they already are in a deficit + the fires are bad this year.

A bit of an overstatement. The Golden State typically has a net outflow during economic downturns and gets an inflow during the good times. If you're unemployed, well there are cheaper places to live.

That's part of the problem here: too many people in the service industry, where employment is generally more insecure, became homeowners (with huge mortgages). When their hours were cut back owing to the economic downturn, or they faced unexpected medical bills, in many cases they could no longer afford the payments. But if you took out a 370 grand mortgage and your house sells for 150 at auction you are on the hook for the difference.

Buying a house is one of life's major purchases. At a minimum, it should require a down payment which demonstrates a borrower's ability to save, as well as a stable work history. All that kinda went out the window during the real estate bubble....

A tax increase is inevitable whichever party wins the White House.
adaydream at 02:53 AM JST - 21st July

The economy will rebound. No thanx to george bush and his policies of giving tax cuts to the rich and funnelling $4Trillion to the ultrarich.

It's going to take a good year or two to work through the period we're in. And this $$multibillion millstone around our neck called Iraq will be hurting us for years to come.

Sooner we get a democrat in the Whitehouse and get a couple more democrats in the Congress, we'll fix this mess. < :-)
ca1ic0cat at 09:10 PM JST - 21st July

I'm not sure how much control a president actually has over the economy but if you look at history there has been another instance of an unfunded war and government givaways at the same time. It was Lyndon Johnson. The war was, of course, Vietnam and the giveaway was the "Great Society."

That might be the only true parallel between Vietnam and Iraq. But look at the result: "stagflation" in the 1970s that required interest rates of 20% and a big recession to correct.

We've got a similar situation now with inflation taking off due to energy prices plus the lack of growth brought to you by the subprime crisis. Of course the price of building materials was already going up with the effort to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure and the federal budget is in no shape to respond to economic issues. Except by printing money, which is inflationary and devalues the dollar.

The economy will rebound. But it's going to hurt and I suspect that the standard of living is going to suffer.
sdmsec at 04:44 AM JST - 22nd July

Very solid financial advice from Badsey.

I don't have much sympathy for those who took on too much debt or for those who gave loans to such risky clients.

It's funny though to see how congress points so much of the blame at the lenders. Especially, since they mandated much of the risky lending via the Community Reinvestment Act.