So the Dow's up tonight. Three cheers. The Dow's up. Three cheers. We all know one swallow doesn't make a summer.
You can't be serious expecting the Dow to keep rising when stuff like the following is going on?
"This year, the government is borrowing 50 cents of every dollar it spends. If that were just a blip caused by a historic financial crisis that necessitated a $787 billion fiscal stimulus and a $700 billion bank rescue in the space of about three months, there would be little cause for concern.
But it is not a blip. It is a relentless curve of red ink that will, within the decade, take U.S. debt levels to the record reached at the end of World War II, from 40 percent of the nation's output now to 80 percent, and then rapidly thereafter into the realm of banana republics.
"We are accumulating a massive debt. We owe about half of that debt to foreigners, including the Chinese and others whose foreign policy is not always well aligned with ours," said Isabel Sawhill, a former Clinton administration budget official who now co-directs the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution. "So we are really losing control of our economic destiny and possibly losing control of our foreign policy as well."
Full article at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/24/MN2B17PDPL.DTL
Or what about this? Talk about the consumer in the USA being destitute!
"Governor plans to completely eliminate welfare for families
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to completely eliminate the state’s welfare program for families, medical insurance for low-income children and Cal Grants cash assistance to college and university students.
The proposals to sharply scale back the assistance that California provides to its neediest residents came in testimony by the administration this afternoon at a joint legislative budget committee hearing. It followed comments by the governor earlier today that he would be withdrawing a proposal to help balance the budget with billions of dollars of borrowing and replacing it with program reductions.
The proposals would completely reshape the state’s social service network, transforming California from one of the country’s most generous states to one of the most tightfisted. The proposals are intended to help close a budget deficit estimated at $21.3 billion."
Full article at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/05/schwarzenegger-make-massive-cuts-to-welfare-health-care-student-aid-.html
(20min delay)