Number of New Layoffs Drop Dramatically in April

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by pghquest

They havent spent the "recovery" money yet, and we're recovering just fine. If you artificially create an artificial bump, your creating a future fall, its the way it is..

We're "recovering just fine" BECAUSE the banks were stabilized and pulled from their free-fall by a government infusion.

In regards to your "artificial bump" claim - a bump is a bump - and as you yourself have said MANY TIMES there will always be a future fall.

Ken

[pghquest]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

We're "recovering just fine" BECAUSE the banks were stabilized and pulled from their free-fall by a government infusion.

You mean by Bush right?

p.s. we still would have recovered just fine but to claim that the banks stopped falling because of government infusion ignores the fact that the government caused the fall to begin with.

p.s.s. have you tried to get a commercial mortgage yet? Trust me, the commercial drop hasnt even came close to bottoming.

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by AeroGuyDC

Bernanke told Congress yesterday that he expects the recession to bottom out by the end of the year, but current unemployment percentages would continue well into 2010.

And I don't disagree with that.
Employment is always the LAST thing to recover in any recession - but the fact that the number of new unemployed is dropping (and more to the point - dropping FASTER than expected) is definitely a good sign.

Ken

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by pghquest

You mean by Bush right?

Sure.
He did the right thing in pushing for the money.
Unfortunately his demeanor at the time spooked the markets - resulting in a deeper recession than what was already coming.
It was bad, but his "deer in the headlights" shocked apparenced added to the recession's already strong impact.
Asking for the money for the banks though was the right thing to do - I just don't like the way he went about it.
Still, I give him credit for it - and to McCain and Obama for both pushing for it as well - though McCain appeared somewhat panicked too - while Obama appeared calm, cool and collected.
It was Obama's unruffled demeanor which erased any last traces of doubts I had that he was actually up to the job (despite his youth and relative inexperience). Based on the polls at the time the American people felt that way as well.

Ken

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by pghquest

p.s. we still would have recovered just fine but to claim that the banks stopped falling because of government infusion ignores the fact that the government caused the fall to begin with.

The banks caused their OWN problems.
They were greedy.
They ignored the rules regarding qualifications. Folks on the Right like to claim that the lower standards set by Congress are what caused the banks to collapse - but the fact is, the standards were just fine. The problem is - the lenders didn't even follow those standards and instead went BEYOND - pushing appraisers to appraise homes at the asking price (and dropping those appraisers who failed to do so) and fudging borrowers financial numbers so that they APPEARED qualified.
The truth of the matter is that the folks who wrote the mortgages simply DIDN'T CARE whether the borrowers were qualified or not - because they had NO INTENTION of carrying the loan. Their plan was just to write as many loans as possible (whether the people were qualified to burrow or not) and then SELL those loans to other "suckers".

THAT'S where the problem came in.
There was simply NO INCENTIVE on the part of the intial lenders to do due dilligence, and EVERY INCENTIVE not to do due dilligence. After all, the more loans they made and then sold, the more money they made. The fact that many of these loans were "bad" was not THEIR PROBLEM. They didn't care, because they had no intention of keeping the loans.

It wasn't the lending standards that were the problem.
It was the fact that lenders didn't FOLLOW those standards.

Originally Posted by pghquest

p.s.s. have you tried to get a commercial mortgage yet? Trust me, the commercial drop hasnt even came close to bottoming.

No surprise there - commerical real estate generally lags behind home loans.

Ken

[ParkTwain]

Originally Posted by pghquest

p.s. we still would have recovered just fine but to claim that the banks stopped falling because of government infusion ignores the fact that the government caused the fall to begin with.

It's amazing how factually wrong, yet confident, people can be on this board.