City by city, here's your guide to the painfully slow economic recovery

Scott Olson / Getty Images

In President Obama's Chicago, one of the metro areas with very weak economic growth in new economic data, job seekers listen in 2009 to a recruiter during a job fair held by the City Colleges of Chicago.

The limping gait of the U.S. economy remains painful for many Americans and for President Barack Obama's re-election chances, with the vast majority of metro areas making only small, halting steps toward recovery, according to the latest Adversity Index data from Moody’s Analytics and msnbc.com.

Data released this week and included in the index, which measures changes in jobs, housing starts, industrial production and house prices, reflect changes in the economy through April.

The good news: The economy improved in April in every region of the country. Not a single state remains in recession. If someone in your family is out of work, that label may require a bit of clarification: While many have not recovered the jobs lost in the recession, no state is still in a sharp decline. In other words, one can be climbing out of a hole and still be in the hole. And looking more closely at the nation's 384 metro areas, nearly 90 percent have moved out of the recession into at least a modest recovery. The share of metro areas in recession in April was the lowest since the previous July.

The bad news: Only two states have entered a robust economic expansion. Among metro areas, only 6 percent are in expansion. The rest are stuck in a weak recovery, making small advances and not gaining much economic traction.



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Four years earlier, at the same point in President George W. Bush's second term, 19 states had expanding economies. That number fell rapidly to only one by the time of the 2008 election, when Obama defeated Republican Sen. John McCain, and was at zero just a month after his inauguration. In the three-plus years of the Obama administration, only Alaska and North Dakota have accelerated into a full recovery, and no one expects either of those two Republican states to vote for Obama in 2012.

Check your state or metro area
The Adversity Index is calculated by Moody's Analytics based on a design developed with msnbc.com. It places each area in one of five economic categories: Expansion is the best, recession the worst, and in the middle are three transition categories.

You can see the economic status of each state or metro area on an interactive map from Moody's Analytics. Here's the link for free access through a Moody's partnership with msnbc.com.

A slow recovery
"Although April regional data appeared favorable for continued recovery, more recent national data have been soft," reported economist Brent Campbell at Moody's Analytics. "May payroll employment came in below expectations, and the forecast has been revised lower. As a result, risk levels could rise for metro area and state economies in coming months."

Here's a snapshot from the April data:

States

  • 2 states are in a steady expansion: Alaska, North Dakota.
  • 5 are at risk, meaning they're still in positive territory but slipping toward recession: Illinois, Maine, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Wisconsin.
  • The remaining 44 (including D.C.) are in recovery, meaning they're still weak but rising toward expansion. The states improving into this category in April were Alabama, Connecticut, Missouri, Oregon and South Carolina, according to Moody's.
  • 0 are in a moderating recession, meaning their economies are not contracting as severely as six months earlier.
  • 0 are in an unrelenting recession. It's been that way since January. The last state out was Georgia.


Metro areas

  • 21 metro areas are in a steady expansion: Amarillo, Texas; Anchorage, Alaska; Austin, Texas; Bismarck, N.D.; Burlington, Vt.; Cheyenne, Wyo.; Clarksville, Tenn.; Columbia, Mo.; Columbus, Ind.; Dubuque, Iowa; Fargo, N.D.; Grand Forks, N.D.; Holland, Mich.; Lafayette, Ind.; Lafayette, La.; Lubbock, Texas; McAllen, Texas; Midland, Texas; Odessa, Texas; Sioux City, Iowa; Waterloo, Iowa.
  • 76 are at risk, meaning they're still in positive territory but slipping toward recession. That's the fewest since September 2010, Moody's reported. They are Abilene, Texas; Akron, Ohio; Alexandria, La.; Auburn, Ala.; Augusta, Ga.; Bangor, Maine; Battle Creek, Mich.; Beaumont, Texas; Bloomington, Ind.; Bloomington, Ill.; Bridgeport, Conn.; Brunswick, Ga.; Chicago, Ill.; Chico, Calif.; Cleveland, Ohio; College Station, Texas; Columbus, Ga.; Columbus, Ohio; Danville, Ill.; Decatur, Ala.; Eau Claire, Wisc.; Elizabethtown, Ky.; Eugene, Ore.; Farmington, N.M.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Florence, Ala.; Fond du Lac, Wisc.; Gainesville, Fla.; Great Falls, Mont.; Greeley, Colo.; Ithaca, N.Y.; Kennewick, Wash.; La Crosse, Wisc.; Lake Charles, La.; Lake County, Ill.; Lancaster, Pa.; Las Cruces, N.M.; Lebanon, Pa.; Lewiston, Maine; Los Angeles, Calif.; Madison, Wisc.; Mansfield, Ohio; Merced, Calif.; Michigan City, Ind.; Milwaukee, Wisc.; Monroe, Mich.; Morristown, Tenn.; Mount Vernon, Wash.; Muncie, Ind.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Naples, Fla.; North Port, Fla.; Olympia, Wash.; Owensboro, Ky.; Panama City, Fla.; Pensacola, Fla.; Pittsfield, Mass.; Port St. Lucie, Fla.; Portland, Maine; Providence, R.I.; Punta Gorda, Fla.; Richmond, Va.; Saginaw, Mich.; Sandusky, Ohio; Santa Rosa, Calif.; Sheboygan,  Wisc.; Springfield, Ill.; Sumter, S.C.; Virginia Beach, Va.; Waco, Texas; Warner Robins, Ga.; Wausau, Wisc.; Wenatchee, Wash.; Wichita Falls, Texas; Wilmington, N.C.; Yakima, Wash.
  • The largest group, the 242 metro areas not named here, are in recovery, meaning they're still weak but rising toward expansion.
  • 31 are in a moderating recession, meaning their economies are not contracting as severely as six months earlier: Albuquerque, N.M.; Anderson, Ind.; Anderson, S.C.; Anniston, Ala.; Bremerton, Wash.; Carson City, Nev.; Cleveland, Tenn.; Dalton, Ga.; El Centro, Calif.; Jackson, Tenn.; Lake Havasu, Ariz.; Lakeland, Fla.; Lewiston, Idaho; Longview, Wash.; Madera, Calif.; Missoula, Mont.; Modesto, Calif.; Ocala, Fla.; Palm Bay, Fla.; Palm Coast, Fla.; Pine Bluff, Ark.; Prescott, Ariz.; Racine, Wisc.; Rocky Mount, N.C.; Rome, Ga.; Salem, Ore.; Tallahassee, Fla.; Visalia, Calif.; Youngstown, Ohio; Yuba City, Calif.; Yuma, Ariz.
  • 14 are in an unrelenting recession: Albany, Ga.; Champaign, Ill.; Dothan, Ala.; Elmira, N.Y.; Fort Smith, Ark.; Gulfport, Miss.; Huntsville, Ala.; Lawton, Okla.; Montgomery, Ala.; Norwich, Conn.; Pascagoula, Miss.; Pueblo, Colo.; Reno, N.V.; Spokane, Wash.

About the Adversity Index

The index is based on changes in employment, housing starts, industrial production and house prices. Each geographic area is judged to be in recession, at risk of recession, recovering from recession, or expanding. More about the index is at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29866676/ns/us_news-the_elkhart_project/t/how-adversity-index-detects-trends-local-economies/.

For an area to be deemed in recession, the six-month moving average of the index is lower than it was six months earlier. To be deemed in expansion, the opposite is true. The categories "at risk" and "recovery" are transition stages: At risk indicates that the economy is slipping from expansion toward recession, while recovery indicates movement from recession toward expansion.

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There is no recovery, the world is digging a deeper & deeper hole. All the GFC was caused by unregulated banking & business sector then criminal action by governments all over the planet has stolen the legal taxes paid to governments to run nations & used that to bail out irresponsible/criminally insane big end of town. That rendered the nations bankrupt.......then they placed austerity on the citizens who did nothing wrong in this whole abortion called the GFC.

Now the bankrupt nations are simply being given bigger & bigger loans when they can't afford to pay the interest on the original loans. YOU CANNOT REPAY THE INTEREST ON LOANS YOU CAN"T AFFORD WITH NEW BIGGER LOANS........IT DOESN'T WORK!

There is no recovery just a bigger whole for the whole planet to collapse into & no way out, is there no-one in the media that can see the real picture here?

  • 41 votes
#1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 6:28 AM EDT

Trust:

Too long...you lose people after the first paragraph!

  • 13 votes
#1.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:11 AM EDT

Nick, 100% spot on cant fool all of the people I say. Trust, are you on amphetamines? WAY TOO LONG. Tony is right also.

  • 7 votes
#1.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:23 AM EDT

No recovery here. : (

The company I worked for here is going overseas. Not for cheaper labor.

High taxes, Obamacare, EPA is running off jobs to overseas.

  • 33 votes
#1.4 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:29 AM EDT

TrustVerify:

RIGHT ON!!!! , YOU NAILED IT, VERY COMPREHENSIVE, THANKS.

    #1.5 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:36 AM EDT

    Correct Rocky, we're in trouble man.

    • 10 votes
    #1.6 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:38 AM EDT

    While many have not recovered the jobs lost in the recession, no state is still in a sharp decline.

    Translation, we have hit rock bottom, folks. I am amused daily at how the press continues to call a completely failing economy a "slow recovery". Unemployment was up again this month as very few jobs were created. The REAL unemployment number continues to raise off the charts. Yesterday's news was about more and more foreclosures. Daily we read about the economic perils of Europe (all precipitated by precisely the policies being espoused by our president).

    The citizens of this nation are becoming more and more aware daily that the emperor is completely naked, and yet he (and his beloved press) continue to paint things in their best possible light. We all KNOW there is no recovery right now, and moreso, we KNOW that as long as our "leader" touts bigger government, more spending, and demonizes those who actually provide jobs, there will never be one.

    • 14 votes
    #1.7 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:42 AM EDT

    Bruce... Unfortunately, I don't think we have even hit "rock bottom" yet. Yet...

    • 17 votes
    #1.8 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:00 AM EDT

    Simple fix people. We ALL walk off our jobs, tell the corporations we are all independent contractors now and you pay us for our skills at 200% of what working for you wholesale (conventional employment) That way we incorporate ourselves, absolving us of punitive laws and putting us on the same playing field as corporations. We then can bury our profits, write off all living expenses, and pay (as GE did) $0.00 income tax. We handle our own affairs, we don't need any government (with 300,000,000 armed citizens we can defend ourselves ala "Red Dawn")

    The side benefit is that if we don't like who we are working for we can easily set up a competing business with like minded individuals.

    Think about it.

    BTW this is semi-sarcastic - I say that because that is exactly what I have done - it works!

    • 6 votes
    #1.9 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:18 AM EDT

    One really fed up boomer

    Simple fix people. We ALL walk off our jobs, tell the corporations we are all independent contractors now and you pay us for our skills at 200% of what working for you wholesale (conventional employment)

    Grand idea boomer. I'd give a lot more credence to it if I thought you could get ten people in a bare room to agree what time it is.

    • 6 votes
    #1.10 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:37 AM EDT

    Oh yes.. Doom and Gloom... The sky is falling, the sky is falling, and the only solice people seem to have is "blame Obama". Its all ONE's man fault for the entire economy. If we have to point the finger of blame, let's start with ourselves. It's our government, and yet year after year, we elect our leaders.

    • 12 votes
    #1.11 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:39 AM EDT

    This story is a crock of..........

    • 8 votes
    #1.12 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:47 AM EDT

    MSNBC can't stop giving falsies information, all is bias

    5 are at risk, meaning they're still in positive territory but slipping toward recession: Illinois, Maine, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Wisconsin.

    Wisconsin is doing better, where is California, in this list, Californiais close to bankruptcy.

    However in general the economy is worst and Obama can't fix it and he won't if he is reelected, will be 4 more years of the same.

    • 16 votes
    #1.13 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:05 AM EDT
    Comment author avatarTrustVerifyExpand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

    Hello folks, the corporate owned main stream presstitutes are going to guide us to an economic recovery? I don't think so! Why don't they expose the real problems we in America face and be part of the solution instead of the problem?

    We allow a foreign entity (Federal Reserve, neither federal nor a reserve, a group of mostly European banksters) to control our currency! This system is why you, I, economies and nations are debt slaves! The Fed and even the European ECB can print money, but how can they create wealth by letting bankers use it for speculation (derivatives market), greater consolidation, and big bonuses.

    We let Wall Street run our government! Wall Street is Washington and Washington is Wall Street! We have a two headed one party system serving their masters Wall Street and the Federal Reserve!

    Our presidential politicians in both parties are going to spend approximately 1 billion dollars each on their campaigns this year, yet we are laying off fire fighters, teachers and policemen. Two billion dollars on presidential campaigns, is that insane or what? Then, we allow the Super Pac’s with little regulation and full anonymity to influence our American elections through the sheer volume of money that will most likely be used for negative advertising to elect a corporate candidate or pass a corporate sponsored bill!

    Our congress is bought and paid for by lobbyists and are involved with insider trading, doing the bidding for those who put the most money in their pockets! They get rich while we the “freeloaders” get cuts to Medicare and Social Security all the while they receive a tax payer salary and health benefits for life for themselves and their family compliments of the “freeloaders”.

    We've legalized Corporations (Citizen's United) as people! They can now buy any election they want to, from sheriff to president! They don't even have to be American corporations! Corporations have severed their moral contract with America. It used to be you worked hard and helped them gain success and you shared in their success through better wages and benefits, all you get now is a pink slip.

    The BP Corporation will likely not be charged with any criminal malfeasance in the largest natural disaster in history. The oil leak continues to flow and there are reports Corexit is still being used without any oversight by the U.S.. Many scientists claim the gulf loop current has been broken as a result of the leak. If you want evidence of the leak just talk to the residents and oil spill workers living along the gulf from Texas to Florida.

    We invade a different country every year! Killing and displacing millions of people and spending trillions of dollars to enrich the Oil, Banking, and Corporate cartels!

    The Census Department of the American Federal Government recently reported that “50% of the nation’s population were living below the poverty line”.

    50 million people can't go to a doctor because they don't have health care!

    47 million people need food stamps just to feed themselves!

    25 million people are unemployed or underemployed!

    15 million people's mortgages are worth more than their homes!

    Our national debt is 15.3 trillion soon to go close to 17 trillion dollars! We pay off our debt with more debt! That is like putting gas on the fire! They tell the U.S. citizens it is their fault because they don't live within their means! They fail to mention it has everything to do with corrupt business and political leaders and the Federal Reserve and their fractional reserve banking system!

    The worlds GDP is 65 trillion and the derivatives market is estimated at 1.4 quadrillion. Greece which is a part of the derivative market has defaulted and the ISDA (International Swaps and Derivative Association) has labeled this credit event a default, our 5 largest banks who own 97% of world’s derivatives. Now the banks are trying to figure out how to pay off the on the credit default swaps owed associated with Greece! But that’s ok, we’ll bail them out again! You know their motto, privatize profits and socialize losses! If Spain and Italy default it will crash the banking system. QE3 has already started with the currency swaps and the Bernank has hinted at cranking up the printing presses into overdrive.

    Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the flagships of our housing bubble that has burst! The housing market used to be what was fueling the middle class as manufacturing was being outsourced to foreign countries, it got over leveraged like our banks and stock markets and there is no resolution in site! The mortgage settlement just signed is just another small fine and in reality a bailout for the banks for what they are truly liable for.

    They tell us social safety nets, Medicare and Social Security that you and I paid into is Socialism when the largest recipients of social welfare in the history of the world are our “Capitalist, Free Market” banking and financial institutions! Remember the bailouts? We keep bailing out the banks to the tune of tens of trillions and we're told it's because they are too big to fail and all the while we allow them to get bigger! We are witnessing the biggest bank robbery in history and the banks and financial institutions are doing the robbing!

    Our media (presstitutes) are bought and paid for by corporations and treat us like mushrooms! Reuters and the Associated Press try to tell us what to believe and think, such as unemployment is at 8.3% and falling, freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength, war is peace, they hate us for our freedom, the terrorists are out to get you, the economy is great, borrow and spend! etc…

    Our constitution, our most sacred document as a country is meaningless!

    We have lost most of our civil liberties through the passage of the Patriot Act and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the new National Defense Resources Preparedness (NDRP)! They have authorized the use of spy drones in American skies! You can be surveilled by any number of Federal agencies, have your phone and computer tapped, bank, medical, and private records accessed! You can be arrested without gaining access to an attorney or a trial. We are molested at the airports or radiated for “security”. And just recently added National Defense Resources Preparedness (NDRP) which comes on the heels of NDAA. This Executive Order allows the government to take pretty much whatever it wants including crops, farm equipment, vehicles, boats, aircraft and fuel to “prepare” for the national defense. This includes making people work for free. You think I’m kidding about the free labor? Here’s a line straight from the EO that says, “. . . to employ persons of outstanding experience and ability without compensation. . .” This is authorized even in peace time!

    NYPD’s aggressive street policing program, called “stop-and-frisk,” which predominantly targets low-income minority neighborhoods. In 2011, the program stopped and searched more than 500,000 New Yorkers, 85 percent of them black or Latino. This program is moving to a city near you!

    We have created another cartel the “Prison Industrial Complex”! We have outsourced our incarceration of United States citizens which consists of over 6 million prisoners! This exceeds the number of prisoners held in the gulags of the former Soviet Union at any point in history! All objectivity of prison reform has flown out the window in exchange for profits! No prisoners no profits! In some state contracts the conditions of privatization require that states guarantee prisons remain at 90% occupancy! Are there prison lobbyists? You bet and loaded with cash compliments of you and me!

    The Military Industrial Complex is King, our defense budget is larger than the rest of the world’s combined! We are the enforcement arm of all the world’s cartels! The policeman of the world! In our countries short history we have bombed over 60 different countries! The outsourcing of our security to private military companies like XE (formerly Blackwater) is increasing dramatically!

    The phony war on drugs! While our military protect the poppy fields in Afghanistan, the Opium supply produced in Afghanistan went from a modest 185 tons at the start of American intervention in 2001, to a robust 8,200 tons of opium, a remarkable 53 percent of the country’s GDP and 93 percent of global heroin supply; Wells Fargo has been caught laundering money for the Mexican drug cartel in the United States (look it up); The use of drugs in the health care industry is over a 100 billion dollar a year scam. There's no profit in the cure only in the treatment. You are not allowed to buy the same manufactured prescription drugs from other countries at a cheaper price because the drug lobby has had congress pass laws against it to protect their profits.

    We let the elite divide us so that they can keep us in fear, distracted, and divided to the theft going on right in front of our eyes each and every second of the day! The theft of our civil liberties, money and property!

    What is wrong with this picture and what does it say about us that we allow this to take place? We have lost our moral compass and our priorities as a country and need to get them back! It is time we concentrate on fixing America for awhile!

    • 22 votes
    #1.14 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:22 AM EDT

    Trust - Still too long. And the one above got deleted. Clue?

    • 10 votes
    #1.15 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:28 AM EDT

    I agree with you 100% TrustVerify.

    • 5 votes
    #1.16 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:34 AM EDT

    No matter how the media tries to 'spin' the news, Obama has been a huge FAILURE.

    We needed a pro-growth/jobs President to lead us out of recession, but what we got was an anti-business, anti-growth/jobs President who focused on agendas that stifled the recovery (massive new regulations, more costly programs for business, threats of tax increases, moratoriums on drilling for oil, expensive new EPA requirements, etc. etc. etc.)

    While these programs were well intended, they had the effect of stopping any chance of decent job growth, and all of that massive spending just put us $5.7 Trillion further in debt.

    According to the official government Bureau of Labor Statistics, we still have 1.3 million FEWER people working than when Obama took office, and we have an additional estimated 6 million workers who have entered the workforce (new working age people less those who retired) - only to find no jobs available.

    We just can't afford 4 more years of Obama.

    • 13 votes
    #1.17 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:41 AM EDT

    Hello Talk to the Hand, let's resolve some of these so that we can remove them from the list!

    • 2 votes
    #1.18 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:42 AM EDT

    Reality check folks- both Dem and Repubs have been in bed with big corporations for a long, long time. They have opted to put profits (both personal and corporate) over the stability of the citizens they employ. So, before you go and blame Obama (who's not great, I agree) let's be real and level set the playing field to say; "for over 40 years both sides have EQUALLY contributed to the downfall of our country"...

    Because that's reality- not what MSNBC or Faux news spouts off...

    The other day a friend asked; "during our lifetime (we are in our late 30's/early 40's name one politician you have truly followed and been impressed with"....neither of us came up with a name we felt great about. Obama, Romney- does not matter as one panders to the financial sector and the other all other sectors such as big oil and conglomerates...

    • 11 votes
    #1.19 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:48 AM EDT

    Obama Trade Document Leaked, would allow corporations to overrule environmental laws, etc

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/obama-trade-document-leak_n_1592593.html

    • 1 vote
    #1.20 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:48 AM EDT

    NickMahaleff...

    We were warned quite a few decades ago about the (NWO) New World Order. Those warning us were labled insane, crackpots, and anti-change & innovation. Well, I guess those harbingers of disaster proved they were right.

    Globalization had to be sold, and it was. The eventual One World Bank, a Global Policing Force, and Global governing organization are almost at hand. Sovereignty of States and peoples 'Rights' had to be compromised, and are in the process of being dismantled.

    The acts of outright theft of our peoples wealth and power, and the abuse of trust and power the two-party political monopoly practices (the Democratic & Republican 'Washington Establishmen't), no longer operates in the shadows, but with defiance and a 'so what' attitude.

    Remember one thing. All this crap taking place could not have happened without the active participation and complicity of millions of American Citizens. In other words, people keep voting for the corrupted Establishment representatives, the perpetrators/criminals... Democrats and Republicans.

    What do we do now? IMO the only option for the people is Revolution, and IF successful we can start from the beginning with nothing... hopefully a lot wiser, and maybe with a 'Constitution' and 'Bill of Rights' that more resembles what our Forefathers had intended for us.

    Any suggestions, other than accepting a life of subservience to the International financially Elite?

    • 7 votes
    #1.21 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:50 AM EDT

    Because that's reality- not what MSNBC or Faux news spouts off...

    Yeah, but CNN smacks em both pretty hard. As long as CNN stays in the middle, I'll keep watching them.

    • 1 vote
    #1.22 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:52 AM EDT

    My God, Roy. There is no hope of getting to a place of recovery until people start living in the world of facts. It does us no good to throw lies around. Moratoriums on drilling? President Obama increased drilling dramatically until the BP oil spill. The only threatened tax increase has been on high income American citizens which has no connection to business growth/development/hiring. EPA? That is what you think is stifling business? Your BLS data, even if they were accurate, are meaningless in this context.

    We need a President and a Congress working together to make real progress. President Obama did not do enough when he had both houses on his side and the Republicans blocked every reasonable chance for action after that. Neither presidential candidate has put forth a plan that would help this country, but the Ryan plan, which is the de facto Romney plan, is absolute madness. Suicide. To blame this mess on one person is myopic. Even President Bush was not powerful enough to destroy the entire economy.

    Does government stimulate its way out of this (Dem), which is what most economists would suggest or do we provide tax breaks to the wealthy (Rep) so they can build bigger bunkers for the eventual civil war?

    • 13 votes
    #1.23 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:03 AM EDT

    Simple math. Republicans have put and are putting this country at risk. Can not believe you people say dems had the congress. Not really true. Sure, they had the numbers, but the unhonorable new GOP completely gamed the system with never before seen levels of dysfuction and dishonor. This is a "F"ing fact. Deny it at your own peril and ignorance. This country would be a lot further along now if it was not for this same dysfuction continueing to this very moment. With no end in sight obviously. This new GOP has no honor. Obviously.

    • 6 votes
    #1.24 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:23 AM EDT

    Oh for crying out loud, get a clue- this president has divided the country like no other and the dem Senate is doing nothing- not even the budget required by law yearly!

    • 5 votes
    #1.25 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:30 AM EDT

    rockymtnroustabout

    Simple math. Republicans have put and are putting this country at risk. Can not believe you people say dems had the congress. Not really true. Sure, they had the numbers, but the unhonorable new GOP completely gamed the system with never before seen levels of dysfuction and dishonor. This is a "F"ing fact. Deny it at your own peril and ignorance. This country would be a lot further along now if it was not for this same dysfuction continueing to this very moment. With no end in sight obviously. This new GOP has no honor. Obviously.

    You say it's simple math and then you drone on without presenting any math at all....

    • 3 votes
    #1.26 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:39 AM EDT

    Thank you, Obama.

      #1.27 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:51 AM EDT

      Roy Wilson keeps Spinning: According to the official government Bureau of Labor Statistics, we still have 1.3 million FEWER people working than when Obama took office, and we have an additional estimated 6 million workers who have entered the workforce (new working age people less those who retired) - only to find no jobs available.

      Roy, you keep broadcasting this statistic but it just doesn't jibe. As I've repeatedly said, 10,000 baby boomers a day are reaching 65 and retiring. You are saying that despite that, there are more workers entering the labor force than are leaving the labor force? Then how will there be far fewer workers covering Social Security retirees over the next decade? Remember, there were 7 workers for each retiree in 1950, and 4.7 in 2010. Projected figures are 3.5 per retiree in 2020 and 2.7 workers for each retiree in 2030. Sorry, but that's a shrinking labor force, Einstein.

      The labor force is aging, being discriminated against, and retiring (and therefore shrinking) and that's the biggest reason why there are fewer people working since Obama took office. There are also millions of jobs going unfilled in the USA because the skill sets of those looking don't match what's needed. The idea that president Obama is to blame for the unemployment in the country is laughable. A housing bubble that burst (and took $7 trillion (39%) in middle-class net worth with it is the reason we have high unemployment. Your man Bush was in charge as this was happening and came crying to us to help him fix his mess. Neither Obama or Romney can't do much to clean up the stench that left.

      Nice try from a right-wing Republican trying to make a Democrat look bad with phony statistics.

      • 7 votes
      #1.28 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:05 AM EDT

      Or there IS a recovery, you just need to stop being a whiny, bitch pessimist. :)

      • 1 vote
      #1.29 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:34 AM EDT

      Guide????????? Obama is doing a great job of slowing the recovery so why do anything?????? Obama is Steering us to doomsday!!!!!!!

      • 1 vote
      #1.30 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:46 AM EDT

      I can understand where a lot of you are coming from, but I personally am seeing recovery. I just finished my masters in electrical engineering and had a couple job offers and plenty of opportunites for interviews, many I turned down. The two positions I was offered, both companies are on a hiring spree. The one company is looking to hire 32 entry level engineers by the end of the year. The company I took a position for is a chemical company that just bought out another chemical company and already has projected increases in profits just from the buyout. Not only was I offered the job, I was offered a starting salary north of $70,000, plus a signing bonus and relocation money. I'm not the only person, at least in engineering, that is being offered jobs rather easily. So maybe the recovery is slow for those people who lost jobs that may not be coming back or maybe for people who never had the skills these companies needed in the first place, so they cut the fat and now aren't hiring these people. There is a recovery, it just may not be for you at the moment. Start looking elsewhere. If you will ever be successful in life you better be prepared for adversity.

      • 4 votes
      #1.31 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:47 AM EDT

      With more than $4 trillion in cash setting on the sidelines, it should come as a surprise to no one why the
      economy added only 69,000 jobs in May and unemployment grew to 8.2%. The fact
      is, Americans no longer trust Wall Street, which reflects negatively on federal
      banking and market regulators tasked with protecting investors.

      The private sector can create jobs faster than the government, but the government has to ensure capital
      markets that are worthy of the public's trust.

      Please sign the petition to the U.S. Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committee asking for improved oversight of federal banking and market regulators.

      To read more about what we’re trying to do and to sign the petition, click here:

      http://www.change.org/petitions/u-s-senate-banking-and-u-s-house-financial-services-committees-use-technology-to-provide-oversight-of-u-s-banking-and-market-regulators?share_id=HTpDoOQNJgpe=d2e

      It'll just take a minute!

      • 3 votes
      #1.32 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:52 AM EDT

      You gotta love the politically correct lefties. The rules are that whenever speaking about the economy, the word "recovery" must, at all times, be employed. They can say "slow recovery" or "painfully slow recovery", or a "stalled recovery" or when things are really bad (like an increasing unemployment rate), "backwards recovery".

      In all situations, "recovery" must be used despite the economic fact that there is no recovery at all, just a bit of economic activity that always occurs when there's stimulus money to be consumed, and once that money supply dries up, the activity stops.

      • 3 votes
      #1.33 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:57 AM EDT

      Four years earlier, at the same point in President George W. Bush's second term, 19 states had expanding economies.

      Which means that 31 did not, which might help to explain that 60-40% Democrat margin of victory in 2008.

      I also noted that most of the cities still in recession were smaller cities too, though, many on that list were smaller cities in the American South too.


      • 1 vote
      #1.34 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:02 PM EDT

      Obama and the Left, and voters dont care about the deficit PEOPLE, they all just want to spend,spend, and put everyone in welfare and foodstamp PROGRAMS or give it to all the union workers so you taxpayers can flip the bill for it. At least he'll get all the votes who support him. No one in this country wants to work anymore unless its FREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HOPE THIS COUNTRY DOES COLLAPSE AND I WILL BLAME ALL YOU OBAMA LOVERS WHO VOTE FOR HIM.

      • 1 vote
      #1.35 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:03 PM EDT

      Obama and the Left, and voters dont care about the deficit PEOPLE

      While the deficit is an issue to be sure, this article is about the economy at large, not the federal budget. These things are related but separate issues.

      I HOPE THIS COUNTRY DOES COLLAPSE AND I WILL BLAME ALL YOU OBAMA LOVERS WHO VOTE FOR HIM.

      If this country did collapse, we can all blame those who wanted it to collapse.

      • 6 votes
      #1.36 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:25 PM EDT

      BBYanko...You righties are the ones doing ALL the spending...on corporations...$12 billion ....$12 billion.....$12 billion to Big Oil.....demanded by Republicans....not one month ago. Some reason taxpayers must help an industry that has has 3 record 1st Fiscal quarters since 2009? Or do you want to continue to spout that BS?

      Not to worry, most of us blame red stater "ignernts" for this mess...You had 8 years and a very educated Harvard MBA...how'd he miss that 2008 Financial Meltdown headed his way?

      • 4 votes
      #1.37 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:49 PM EDT

      Denver Bill 2 "Grand idea boomer. I'd give a lot more credence to it if I thought you could get ten people in a bare room to agree what time it is."

      Denver You got me this time. I did forget to add that for it to work you must have a quorum "Me, Myself, and Eye) owning all the voting stock.

      In today's society there are those that would swear their football was square and then pass legislation making it the law!

        #1.39 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 5:20 PM EDT

        MSNBC: ".....here's your guide to the painfully slow economic recovery"


        Yeah, here's your "Guide": You're being @!$%#ed and lied to about it.

        You're going to have to wait till 2017-2019, IF "normal" unemployment ratio ever comes back again even by then.

        And that's the official line.

        The real line is that it may never come back again unless you will work for $8 an hour with @!$%#ty or more likely NO benefits.

        Both corporate backed parties Democrats and Republicans are doing as little as possible about record levels of unemployment because corporations are using the high unemployment and the desperation thats results to drive down wages and benefits to levels that will be "competitive" with China, Mexico Viet Nam, etc.

        Here's more from the Primer:

        It's a war against the middle class and poor (or working class if you'd rather). Wall Street swindled the economy off of a cliff and their servants in Congress and the White House (both parties) are using the resulting economic crisis to destroy all of the gains working people made in the first half of the last century.

        Even the corporate media is reporting the carnage to middle class prosperity: Between 2007 and 2010 middle class families lost 38% of their wealth which was primarily equity in their house.

        If you really want to stop them you'd better join Occupy or kindred groups and get out on the street and raise a fuss (demonstrate, etc) because just voting isn't going to do it.

        • 2 votes
        #1.40 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:58 PM EDT

        Hello TrustVerify

        Thank you for another thoughtful, well stated post. (#1.13 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 6:22 AM PDT)

        I certainly agree with you 100% and appreciate your taking the time to put forth such insightful take on the current state of disaster the United States is in.

        Bravo.

        • 1 vote
        #1.41 - Sat Jun 16, 2012 2:59 PM EDT

        sadmoronsvote2 - you say you want to start in a world of facts, and then you go off the rails with your "Obama expanded drilling". The FACT is that he did not, and in fact shrunk permits. The expanded drilling was from existing permits on private land, something Obama had no control over.

        The FACT is permits expanded 58% under Clinton, 110% under Bush, and are down 36% under Obama.

        So while you are right that we should start in the world of facts, you need to join us, rather than repeating the lies of the administration. There is almost nothing the President says today that is clearly true, as he tends to quote half of the truth or less, and then wraps it in a lie.

          #1.42 - Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:09 AM EDT

          "We just can't afford 4 more years of Obama." Roy Wilson- It should read,"We just can't afford 4 more years of Obama and Romney."

          • 1 vote
          #1.43 - Sun Jun 17, 2012 8:38 AM EDT

          Before the Internet, this case would not have surfaced beyond the town on Florida where this crime occurred....Zimmerman would have been off the hook and he would have been applauded..............

          If Trayvon Martin had been the Triggerman-shooter and neighborhood watch man, and he had killed Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin would have been arrested and sent away for 30 years..to life.......

          Zimmerman, who actually is Hispanic...imagine if his name was Juan Ramirez......what would the outcome have been then,in either scenario ? How about if Trayvons name was John Joseph Adams III ?

            #1.44 - Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:51 AM EDT
            Reply

            Hello folks, if we really want to reclaim our economic sovereignty we can legalize our constitution and remove the Federal Reserve.

            • 18 votes
            Reply#2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 6:29 AM EDT

            See, now people will read that you are also correct.

            • 2 votes
            #2.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:24 AM EDT

            I thought your first post was spot on Trust (sorry you deleted it), but Midas is right. Us Americans are mostly short attention span theater. That's a lot of why we are in the spot that we are in. No one has time to be bothered with what is really going on and it's more fun to argue amongst ourselves thinking how we vote or what we decide has anything to do with our future.

            • 4 votes
            #2.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:19 AM EDT

            Thanks Heartland, let's see how long the re-post stays up. As the economies around the world fall, the presstitutes will censor the information to try and keep people snooki kardashian stupid!

            • 5 votes
            #2.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:29 AM EDT

            Trust Verify...It's not the Federal Reserve who is at fault...It's every single one of US skanko Big Bankers...who look for any way to skirt federal banking regulations..."They knew what they were doing was wrong and they just didn't care." (CitiGroup's former CEO.)

            • 1 vote
            #2.4 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:54 PM EDT
            Reply
            LooooongDeleted

            "The good news: The economy improved in April in every region of the country. Not a single state remains in recession"

            What a bunch of bullsh*t they're trying to feed us! I will guarantee anyone if they take a drive through the Midwest of this country, well ok maybe they won't see a recession, that because it's more like a frickin' depression!

            • 20 votes
            Reply#4 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 6:50 AM EDT

            The passengers on the Titanic were also told the ship was not sinking and we all know what happened there.

            • 14 votes
            #4.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:14 AM EDT

            What states in the Midwest? Nebraska has 4.3% unemployment. South Dakota, low unemployment. Iowa is booming.

            • 1 vote
            #4.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:09 AM EDT

            Tony....Wrong...According to a book I read about 30 years ago from a "Titanic" survivor, the only ones who knew in advance of the sinking were those in First Class...everyone else was kept in the dark...Now if that isn't a commentary on how the rich get off the sinking ship first, I don't know what is.

            • 1 vote
            #4.4 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:23 PM EDT

            They never wanted to use the d- word for obvious reasons of concerning themselves with public perceptions, and wanting people to buy the economy out of a recession whether they'd have the income to sustain it or not. Perception maneagement, so called is sometimes the devil in it all, if you will; but also part and parcel to the way PR works....

            One could just call it all a deep recession, and get it done with, while avoiding some of the jibber jabber as they try to convince people it's all rosey. And in matter of fact, a deep recession would be the defacto definition for the d- word (aka depression) :p

            • 1 vote
            #4.5 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:30 PM EDT
            Reply

            More Obama-cheerleading, trying to spin a continuing recession into a "slow recovery". The fact is, the only states doing well are those who are producing oil. Alaska, North Dakota and Texas. Until this jackass we're stuck with until November is replaced, those suffering in this country will see no light at the end of the tunnel.

            Borrowing more money from China to pay crushing debt has never worked and it's not working now.

            Obama. One and done. Our future as a country depends on it.

            • 19 votes
            Reply#5 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:13 AM EDT

            Wow I could not have said that better. I am impressed at the people here this AM.

            • 5 votes
            #5.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:39 AM EDT

            Make no mistake, it matters not who is "in charge". Our country is owned by Wall Street, Big Banks, Corporations and other world powers. Whoever is in the WH reports directly to their masters which is not the American people. The election exists only to keep us blind to the truth that we are merely little pawns in their game and to keep us arguing amongst ourselves. Both candidates S%$K, but that's the way it's meant to be.

            • 7 votes
            #5.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:59 AM EDT

            Bravo! I agree! Anyone who sits in the WH is owned by whoever loaded up their coffers with the most campaign funds. You left out one group: Political Action Committees (PAC). If you really want to see the policy direction of our government during the next four years, see who is behind the PACs. This country will not change its course until we the people stop allowing the few to dictate our destiny.

            • 4 votes
            #5.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:31 AM EDT

            Obama lies I would like to ask you a question. You scream about the debt (you and half the population of the nation) so would you be willing, should congress pass a law dividing up the national debt and budget deficit so each of us takes on a burden of equal shares to pay down that debt you are ranting about? If you have a family of 4 that debt would be about $1,000,000 spread over a 20 year note with commercial interest you would be paying about $10,000/month. Oh wait you all don't even want to share medical costs (ACA premiums) what was I thinking of. My bad!

            Obama lies - just so you understand this is sarcasm writ large and is intended to show you what a hypocrite you are.

            • 4 votes
            #5.4 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:32 AM EDT

            Heartland got it right, as long as we keep playing the Tweedle Dum vs Tweedle Dee game we will all lose. Greece and Spain are a glimpse into our future.

            • 2 votes
            #5.5 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:36 AM EDT

            Its a waste to blame a current administration for our economy, as though the next will save us. People for focus on politics are weak minded people looking towards someone else to make their lives better. The answer lies within all of us. Take value in contributing to our world, rather than taking from it and prosperity will follow....

            • 4 votes
            #5.6 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:50 AM EDT

            Cool..everyones against Obama..but can not wait for Romney to put this nation back where Bush and his repubican friends put this country..huge debt. And to get out of this debt..what is the republican idea starting with..why, more tax cuts for the wealthy and big business....which created more jobs outside this country than in..thank you Mr Bush. I have to wonder when all that are against our doing our part for the elderly,,who by the way contributed to building this country, are going to do when you are all among the elderly ? Or, do all you folks think for a minute that your republican friends will help you out. Can not wait to see that one. Along with this one..just where will our nation be when even more is cut from the education of our kids..or will only the wealthy be allowed an education ? Even now..college cost are jumping..the question for us all should be ..WHY? Are professors worth that much more money ? IS the administration of each colleg worht that much more money..or is it just greed...and the wealthy few wanting to cut out the middle class all together ?

            • 2 votes
            #5.7 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:03 AM EDT

            The heavy use of 'stimulus' monies have hidden the fact that we have been in recession for years. Unfortunately, this 'stimulus investment' has generated negative returns. Time to stop the bleeding...

            Here are the results of the federal stimulus over the last few years:

            GDP – US$

            2007: 14,028.7 B

            2008: 14,369.1 B

            2009: 13,939.0 B

            2010: 14,526.5 B

            2011: 15,094.0 B

            2012: 15,601.5 B (US budget)

            Annual federal deficit in US$:

            2008: 458.55 B

            2009: 1,412.69 B

            2010: 1,293.49 B

            2011: 1,299.59 B

            2012: 1,326.95 B (US budget)

            %GDP Increase (annual):

            2008: +2.43%

            2009: -2.99%

            2010: +4.21%

            2011: +3.91%

            2012: +3.36%

            %GDP Stimulus (annual; federal deficit $/avg. GDP):

            2008: +3.23%

            2009: +9.98%

            2010: +9.09%

            2011: +8.77%

            2012: +8.65%

            %GDP Net ‘Growth’ (%GDP increase - %GDP Stimulus):

            2008: -0.80%

            2009: -12.97%

            2010: -4.88%

            2011: -4.86%

            2012: -5.29%

            The above Net GDP ‘Growth’ assumes zero growth from the private sector. Our stimulus ‘investment’
            has earned us a negative return.

            • 1 vote
            #5.8 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:41 AM EDT

            ObamaBasher....don't you freaks of nature in right wing angst and anger EVER give it up? You've been at the throat of this president for 3 years now. Yet, I can't help but notice how YOUR Republicans have yet to come up with a jobs program that doesn't make huge profits for their corporate cronies and stiff employees who would chance being hired by their profit pigs.

            As for Oil...Don't even go there. Drilling oil has expanded because YOUR Republicans just handed them $12 billion we don't have. Don't you dare ever blame this president for this economy when your asses in the GOP are taking what little revenue is left and hands it to Big Oil who doesn't need a goddam dime of our tax dollars.

            And by the way, since your GOP campaign billionaires have soooooooooo much moolah in the hundred millions to put into the 2012 campaign, why can't they pay higher taxes? Why do they need our tax subsidies? Slam dunk...I can't thank these billionaires like Adelson, Charles and David Koch, Norquist and Rove enough for proving why they should never ever get another dime of taxpayer funding or tax cuts, breaks, exemptions or subsidies...If they have that kind of money to throw into a campaign ....they don't need our help.

            • 1 vote
            #5.9 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:30 PM EDT

            If we can mention the Fed, and their own bail out in this (aka quantitative easing), I wonder if now would be a good place to bring up the Rothschild's, along with all those PACs and lobbying organizations, who fund campaigns to get their chosen bills through, regardless of the effect on the rest of the country they don't represent.

            Not that the Rothschild's are exactly a well known name that gets discussed around the dinner table....

              #5.10 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:37 PM EDT
              Reply

              How can this be? Obama says the private sector is doing fine.

              • 12 votes
              Reply#6 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:19 AM EDT

              Common man...The private sector IS doing fine. Did you not hear, see or read last week's profit results from the private sector businesses? Their profits are up by 6% since the year 2006...Funny thing though, what hasn't risen and in fact has decreased are Middle Class salaries. You got an explanation for how these Biggie Piggies are earning profits but their employees salaries went backward 2 decades?

                #6.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:35 PM EDT

                ewent not everyone in the private sector is a CEO of a successful company.

                  #6.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 2:03 PM EDT
                  Reply

                  Things are looking up, thank god, in NYC though.

                  Just yesterday 50 one percenters paid $40,000 each for dinner with the president.

                  • 14 votes
                  Reply#7 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:24 AM EDT

                  Things must be going better here in the Socialist Republic of Maryland. On Tuesday 50 people paid $50,000 a plate for lunch with Mr. Obama. All this while youth programs and recreational centers are closing due to a lack of funding. Baltimore is a war zone trying to dig itself out of debt by placing a .6 tax on bottles of soda. People/businesses/jobs are running, not walking away from the state.

                  • 10 votes
                  #7.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:34 AM EDT
                  Comment author avatarMichael Aufenkampvia Facebook

                  It's their money. Would you rather they spent it on yacht maintenance?

                    #7.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:40 AM EDT

                    And promptly got indigestion from listening to that communist.

                    • 4 votes
                    #7.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:48 AM EDT

                    I would rather them not be such hypocrites and put their money to worthwhile causes that they give lip service to. The fact that hundreds of millions of dollars are spent campaigning for a job that pays $400,000 per year is ridiculous.

                    • 7 votes
                    #7.4 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:50 AM EDT

                    How hypocritical of Obama to demonize the rich as the harbingers of the poor economy while asking for campaign donations and mingling with them.

                    • 10 votes
                    #7.5 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:52 AM EDT

                    I thought it was quite obvious that RSB would like to see it spent on "youth programs and recreational centers" ....

                    • 1 vote
                    #7.6 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:55 AM EDT

                    RSB,

                    I thought republicans were all about " It's my money, I'll spend it as I want".

                    These people were spending as they wanted, on the Obama campaign.

                    Why not a peep about the Koch brothers?

                    • 2 votes
                    #7.7 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:51 AM EDT

                    I can't understand why anybody's paying to have lunch with Obama. If you wait six months, you'll be able to have lunch with him for free when he comes to your door, offering to work for food.

                      #7.8 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:00 AM EDT

                      nothingnewhere...I guess you missed the $1 million Adelson donated to the GOP or the $200 million Karl Rove amassed in 2010 to defeat Walker's opponent..all from corporations. If they've got this kind of money to throw into campaigns...how dare they whine they can't pay higher taxes?

                        #7.9 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:38 PM EDT

                        Where would anyone get comming to the door working for food. Don't president's draw life long income, perhaps not as exhorborant as what Congress gaurentees to themselves, but life long nonetheless? Upon retiring, it certainly isn't a social security check they collect....

                        Now what Congress maneages to secure for themselves under the Congressional pension plan, that, is highway robbery, all on the tax dime....

                          #7.10 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:40 PM EDT
                          Reply

                          Borrowing by a gov. had huge advantages in 19th century when we built railroads and canals: and paid for WWII! What you DO with the money determines success or failure. Buying and then flipping homes with mortgages was bubble-making, gambling with borrowed cash with predictable collapse. Ditto with "derivatives". TVA, otoh, was built with loans and made that part of America part of the new economy. Boulder Dam did so, too. Slow down, think, read an economics textbook or two. Government borrowing is equal NOT to household borrowing but to private investment with client funds -- every bank and investment organization does this daily, and when latter dries up, former MUST occur or else deflation and depression must. Ask any GM worker, any teacher, any cop what deflation and depression would have done to her life..

                          • 4 votes
                          Reply#8 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:26 AM EDT

                          This is true to a point but it only works if the borrowing stops at some point. Pull the charts if we don't get this under control in the next decade this country will be in a terrible situation. Social security and medicare in 2030 really starts putting a major stain on the economy and we will be headed for a GREECE style ending!

                          • 1 vote
                          #8.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:14 AM EDT

                          Buddy...If people don't pay what they owe, isn't borrowing the only way to keep the bills paid? The government can't reduce the flow of revenue in the highest levels and then assume that the lower level taxpayers will be able to fill that huge chasm. The government can't reduce debt if it is handing out $12 billion tax dollars every year to Big Oil and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

                          We should not be handing out ANY tax subsidies to corporations who turn out one record profit after another. That simply means taxpayers are paying all of these corporations bills and their profits are their...nearly tax free and without owing anyone...so they think. You don't call it profit until all of your bills, responsibilities to your employees and consumers are paid in full. What remains is your profit...not before.

                            #8.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:44 PM EDT

                            Nah, he has a point, it comes down to something that would have a return on the investment, vs something that wouldn't. If an inventor has a really good idea, and a bank is sold on it; they're not unwilling in all cases to LEND THE MONEY up front, aka where the financing comes in. This would be because the bank execs believe that it will turn profitable, and the return for developing it, would be far more profitable then what went into funding it up front.

                            If it works, it's massively profitable for both the inventors and for the banks who get the payment back on interest... It'd also be the basis for economic growth. However, like anything of the sort, there is also the potential for a gamble here, as not everything that might have started as a good idea, always turns a profit. Sometimes, it can also be made obsolete, before fully developed by the creative efforts of someone else. If radio for instance wee to have come out after television, how many people would have bought radios, if they could have got "talking pictures" more immegiately?

                            Well maybe for the car, but otherwise, radio broadcasts such as from Orsen Wells wouldn't have been as popular if superior technology were to have come out, before it got fully developed and taken to market....

                            • 1 vote
                            #8.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:48 PM EDT
                            Reply

                            What? Wisconsin heading back into a recession? That can't be true! I mean all I have been hearing from that weasel face Walker is how good his state has been doing since he has busted the unions there!!!!!

                            • 4 votes
                            Reply#9 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:29 AM EDT

                            Careful, my union friend, ya might just get what ya wish for.

                            • 5 votes
                            #9.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:50 AM EDT

                            Mad-dog:

                            Walker's hands are now tied to implement the needed changes in the state since Democrats have a slight majority after the elections.

                            • 4 votes
                            #9.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:55 AM EDT

                            A slight majority after the elections ?

                            They're not even in office yet with that slight majority and you're ready to blame them for the states' problems.

                            Typical republican blame shifting crap.

                            • 1 vote
                            #9.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:21 AM EDT

                            18 months of sour spew by dumocrats created an environment of unease for businesses. Few wanted to risk investing their expansion funds only to return to the anti-business policies of Doyle. Now that the recall was stopped, prepare for the Scott Walker expansion!!

                              #9.4 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:11 AM EDT
                              Reply

                              bullsh@%. But thanks for the propaganda article.

                              • 2 votes
                              Reply#10 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:34 AM EDT

                              trustverify- excellent commentary- spot on with the facts. Only thing to add is the Republican agenda and Bush administrations force feeding the American public on the virtues of NAFTA and the overwhelming loss of American jobs that resulted. Compound that with the corporate use of offshore tax havens keeping trillions of dollars out of the American economy and you have a perfect storm of degenerating the American economy. Combine that with the oil company lobbyists and their mega lobbyist (VP. Dick Cheney, aka, "America's worst Public health criminal") and his company Haliburton for their systematic poisoning of Americans by utilizing the "Fracking" method of injecting poison into our underground drinking water aquifer and it is obvious that the American way of life is being destroyed by corporations putting profit ahead of human health and dignity. At least when the Chinese decide to randomly kill it's citizens they admit it- in the US our news agencies clutter the truth and facts with corporate spins and meaningless rhetoric.

                              • 4 votes
                              Reply#11 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:40 AM EDT

                              How appropriate you would end your meaningless rhetoric with the words meaningless rhetoric.......

                              • 6 votes
                              #11.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:50 AM EDT

                              Only thing to add is the Republican agenda and Bush administrations force feeding the American public on the virtues of NAFTA and the overwhelming loss of American jobs

                              Funny thing is that it was Bill Clinton that spearheaded NAFTA. In fact, Hillary is pushing this agenda today for many countries!

                              • 10 votes
                              #11.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:58 AM EDT

                              The even funnier thing is that it doesn't really matter who was in power when it passed. The lobbyists for big Biz were driving the bus and they always get what they want regardless of who is in charge.

                              • 3 votes
                              #11.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:12 AM EDT

                              Didn't Bill Clinton sign off on NAFTA!

                              • 3 votes
                              #11.4 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:16 AM EDT

                              NAFTA was Ronnie Raygun and Bush Sr's baby, it took years to get done.

                              A Republican congress passed it and Clinton signed it.

                              Of course, the blame shifting Republicans call it Clinton's fault.

                                #11.5 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:22 AM EDT

                                Hello Bill, excellent points! I will add them to my diatribe.

                                  #11.6 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:31 AM EDT

                                  Bill: OMG if you believe NAFTA is to blame for our demise, you'd best do some more research or better yet walk into any mall or even Walmart, and you'll see what Bill Clinton's Chinese Trade Agreement did to this country. And everybody's hero Steve Jobs who took his inventions to be produced in China. Of course, China is on the rise, thanks to Bill Clinton. NAFTA is a drop in the bucket compared to Chinese Trade Agreement.

                                    #11.7 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:00 PM EDT
                                    Reply
                                    Comment author avatarMichael Aufenkampvia Facebook

                                    Do you people acquire ALL of your "knowledge" from bumper stickers and television commercials?

                                    • 2 votes
                                    Reply#12 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:42 AM EDT

                                    Please elaborate...

                                    • 2 votes
                                    #12.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:50 AM EDT

                                    Only Saturday Night Live!

                                      #12.2 - Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:29 AM EDT
                                      Reply

                                      In Louisville, Kentucky we have a boom going on created by four spring storms that produced 1.8 billion dollars worth of casualty loss, mostly covered by insurance. So in true stick your cities head in the sand behavior and coupled with Obama's amnasty for illegal aliens, we are inviting thousands of illegal aliens to come and take this work from domestic contractors using domestic labor. This city doesn't even require that the contractors work safe or pay taxes. The work won't be compleated by November but I doubt that Romney will react fast enough to make any difference after he becomes president. We watch, every day, as new hires streight in from the border buy new tools at the Home Depot and Lowes so they can jump up on the roofs and take our jobs. Thanks Obama.

                                      • 7 votes
                                      Reply#13 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:44 AM EDT

                                      C...

                                      That would be your Local Busnessmen hiring those "illegals". Those would be your Local building codes, they're not following. How exactly is that Obama's fault? Did he personally tell those contractors who to hire? Did he personally say-don't worry about the distance between those beams? I think your anger is just a little misdirected.

                                      • 2 votes
                                      #13.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:01 AM EDT

                                      "coupled with Obama's amnasty for illegal aliens"

                                      WTF are you talking about ? The only president to give amnesty to illegal aliens was Ronnie Raygun.

                                      Obama has deported more illegal aliens than any president before.

                                      You really are clueless.

                                        #13.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:24 AM EDT

                                        Hank: Maybe you should read the news today. President Obama is granting amnesty to millions of illegals as we speak.

                                          #13.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:03 PM EDT
                                          Reply

                                          You forgot a huge step. Vote the Dem's out. They tell us it's only fair to tax/confiscate the money of those who work to support the many who couldn't be bothered to earn their own way, though capable. Look at all the big cities failing fiscally, Democrat for years and years. To paraphrase "If you make it easier to be poor, you will have more poor." Ben Franklin

                                          • 8 votes
                                          Reply#14 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:53 AM EDT

                                          The democrats motto should be:

                                          "How dare you work hard and succeed!!"

                                          • 10 votes
                                          #14.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:59 AM EDT

                                          The trouble is, with every election we try to "vote the bad guys out" of office. But even if we succeed, they are simply replaced by another crop of bad guys. One of the main reasons for Obama's election was to get the Republicans out of office. Now the thrust is to get the Democrats out of office. The simple truth is, no matter what bunch we put into office, they will screw us.

                                          • 3 votes
                                          #14.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:27 AM EDT
                                          Reply

                                          We are free, free to work till we die, free to serve those who have, free to be scorned for not finding our way to the top of the heap. Land of the free!

                                          Home of the brave, so brave we won't allow companies that are "too big to fail" to fall. They MUST FAIL. We have to allow the chips to fall where they may so a true recovery can begin. Cowardly actions only worsen everything wrong with our economy and allow those who have manipulated the system so mercilessly to hang onto their ill gotten wealth.

                                          Monopolies were outlawed, so now we have a world where two or three huge companies dominate in nearly every category. Not monopolies, but duopolies or tri-opolies. These corporations, corporations that enjoy the same rights as living entities and who have wealth greater than the majority of nations have taken over. Governments are obsolete in a corporate run world. Regulations are forfeit since those charged with regulating must answer to their corporate masters. Elections are no longer decided by free vote of the population, a billion dollars forecast to be spent on the upcoming presidential dog and pony show proves it!

                                          Nothing will change through government action, in case you haven't noticed, there has been NO MEANINGFUL GOVERNMENT ACTION in many years!

                                          Meanwhile we point fingers at each other, spout hate and discontent toward those who swear allegiance to the party we don't belong to. Foolishness, the very pinnacle of foolishness. The parties, only two parties with any chance to take control and neither party represents the voters who stupidly think their vote matters.

                                          A billion dollars worth of advertising will make the difference in who takes office, but no matter which side claims victory, one thing is absolutely certain, the victors will not be the hopeless masses who cast meaningless votes in a sham of an electoral system!!!

                                          • 12 votes
                                          Reply#15 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:58 AM EDT

                                          So True!!! I wonder if the people as a whole will ever wake up and see the truth. In some ways it is starting to happen, that's why new laws limiting free speech and eroding civil liberties are happening. The great powers are getting a little nervous. The only laws that are passing with bipartisan support are those that are cloaked as anti terrorist measures. It is really the American people they are protecting themselves against.

                                          • 1 vote
                                          #15.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:07 AM EDT

                                          Democracy? We are already an industrial-military oligarchy.

                                          Oligarchy: a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes

                                          • 2 votes
                                          #15.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:42 AM EDT

                                          Great post. How sadly true.

                                          • 2 votes
                                          #15.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:03 AM EDT

                                          The sad truth is that one can only be free as their own mind and faculties are. If PR people and political pundits "influence the public mood and peception of things", then though one might be free to chose what they're thinking, their thoughts might not be entirely their own. Part of making one's own choices would also necessitate doing one's own thinking, and comming to realize what one really wants and desires. Short of this, would someone really be living as a free man? Free to do what, unless their choice is entirely their own?

                                          And I don't mean to say this wrt any particular side of the political isle; but it is one of those things that against the back drop of the PR industry as a whole, all the lobbyists, all the PACs, and all the political pundits out to tell people what they want or would support.... In some ways, it almost does go back to the ancient proverb "man, know thyself", because short of that, we're left with this quandry right here. And the quandry can be, that not all forms of bondage are one's of the body alone... And no, I don't intend to get too much into suggesting the analogy of "The Matrix", as we're not really all plugged in or anything like that, but... To be truly free, one would have to be the one making the choices, and doing their own thinking. Just saying, generally speaking and all....

                                          • 2 votes
                                          #15.4 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 2:00 PM EDT

                                          Nuadormrac,

                                          Whoa,

                                          Your post is one of the most thought provoking I've read. Great thoughts. So true that what we think is a product of what we hear, read, watch...we are clay, malleable, never hardened but continuously reshaped and manipulated!

                                          • 1 vote
                                          #15.5 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:55 PM EDT
                                          Reply

                                          Too many lobbyists in Washington. They get what they want and to heck with everyone else.

                                          • 8 votes
                                          Reply#16 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:59 AM EDT

                                          Too many lobbyists in Washington. They get what they want and to heck with everyone else.

                                          And Obama promised to end the lobbyist's influence while today he takes massive campaign donations from the same groups.

                                          • 9 votes
                                          #16.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:02 AM EDT
                                          Reply

                                          Republicrats and Demicans arguing over the position of the deck chairs on the Titanic. Believing their 'votes'mean something as the future continues to be delivered to its present owners.

                                          • 4 votes
                                          Reply#17 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:11 AM EDT

                                          Where is the Fiesty Redhead must be suffering from a hangover after hanging out with her socialist buddy Obama yesterday

                                          • 4 votes
                                          Reply#18 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:14 AM EDT

                                          I guess this means we've finally gotten to the point where any change will be an improvement. Many of the towns listed in the article are small towns that are each dependent upon one factory or corporation for their whole economy. If that factory hired a couple of people, even if just replacing some retirees, they are listed as "improving".

                                            Reply#19 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:16 AM EDT

                                            ???

                                              Reply#20 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:16 AM EDT

                                              Flabbergasted. I simply do not know what to say about this article.

                                                Reply#21 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:18 AM EDT

                                                It took 10 years and a World War to get out of the only recession that was worse than this one.

                                                Patience, stay the course.

                                                • 2 votes
                                                Reply#22 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:18 AM EDT

                                                take out 1 trillion in govt overspending per year and GDP would be negative. THat is not a recovery. Its a depression popped up by funny money. Obama has done nothing but spend a lot of money on things that should have gone under.

                                                • 2 votes
                                                Reply#23 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:19 AM EDT

                                                Of all the falsehoods told about President Barack Obama, the biggest whopper is the one about his reckless spending spree.

                                                As would-be president Mitt Romney tells it: “I will lead us out of this debt and spending inferno.”

                                                Almost everyone believes that Obama has presided over a massive increase in federal spending, an “inferno” of spending that threatens our jobs, our businesses and our children’s future. Even Democrats seem to think it’s true.

                                                But it didn’t happen. Although there was a big stimulus bill under Obama, federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since Dwight Eisenhower brought the Korean War to an end in the 1950s.

                                                Even hapless Herbert Hoover managed to increase spending more than Obama has.

                                                Here are the facts, according to the official government statistics:

                                                In the 2009 fiscal year — the last of George W. Bush’s presidency — federal spending rose by 17.9% from $2.98 trillion to $3.52 trillion. Check the official numbers at the Office of Management and Budget.

                                                In fiscal 2010 — the first budget under Obama — spending fell 1.8% to $3.46 trillion.

                                                In fiscal 2011, spending rose 4.3% to $3.60 trillion.

                                                In fiscal 2012, spending is set to rise 0.7% to $3.63 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of the budget that was agreed to last August.

                                                Finally in fiscal 2013 — the final budget of Obama’s term — spending is scheduled to fall 1.3% to $3.58 trillion. Read the CBO’s latest budget outlook.

                                                Over Obama’s four budget years, federal spending is on track to rise from $3.52 trillion to $3.58 trillion, an annualized increase of just 0.4%.

                                                There has been no huge increase in spending under the current president, despite what you hear.

                                                • 6 votes
                                                #23.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:24 AM EDT

                                                Of all the falsehoods told about President Barack Obama, the biggest whopper is the one about his reckless spending spree.

                                                “The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents – #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic.”

                                                -Candidate Barak Hussein Obama

                                                Before borrowing even MORE money than Bush

                                                “today I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we’ve long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay — and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.”

                                                Barak Hussein Obama

                                                Failed POTUS

                                                • 3 votes
                                                #23.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:27 AM EDT
                                                Reply

                                                I see the Obama loving MSNBC patrol is out in force this morning deleting posts they obviously disagree with.

                                                • 4 votes
                                                Reply#24 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:20 AM EDT

                                                Yep, and Thermen with his usual copy/paste BS.

                                                • 1 vote
                                                #24.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:15 AM EDT
                                                Reply

                                                This election choice is like selecting a gear on your shifter.

                                                You can throw it down and right into Reverse -- only to watch those beady eyed jackals Romney and Ryan drive you right off a cliff.

                                                You can pop it up forward and left-center to First and slowly climb the hill we all know we need to climb!

                                                Time will tell. But when you look at the facts, clearly Obama has done some good, and might have done much more — except for the transparently subversive, unpatriotic actions of extremists in Congress.

                                                • 2 votes
                                                Reply#25 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:31 AM EDT

                                                Obama should hire you to write propaganda for his campaign.

                                                • 2 votes
                                                #25.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:23 AM EDT

                                                You have one thing right we are headed for a cliff and Obama's going to drive us right off it! There are plenty of bills sitting in the senate right now that won't even get a vote. Harry Reid and the DEMS have them blocked so the prez doesn't have to make any tough decisions before the election.

                                                • 1 vote
                                                #25.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:25 AM EDT

                                                What election choice? In America there is no choice. 6 companies own 90% of the media.

                                                www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6

                                                You don't have a choice. You have owners. They own you:

                                                matrixisreal.wordpress.com/

                                                You are only a battery to them.

                                                  #25.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:47 AM EDT
                                                  Reply

                                                  American Co's have been outsourcing for years now, have been laying off people and hiring them back as contractors, as IBM has been doing.

                                                  IBM's plan is to have all American jobs outsourced by 2015, except for 20% of their total workforce, now this plan has been in the works for years, long before President Obama. So blame them, they care about money and profit over people!

                                                    Reply#26 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:31 AM EDT

                                                    Agreed!!! Gotta love Bill Cliinton's NAFTA!!! The single largest outsourcing of US jobs in history!!!

                                                    • 2 votes
                                                    #26.1 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:02 AM EDT

                                                    huuningbird is right that the global economy is much of the problem as is technology wasting jobs.

                                                    However, we need to understand global companies have no special obligation to the US or any other country. We need to compete competitively to get the jobs.

                                                    By outsourcing they are giving jobs to folks overseas.

                                                      #26.2 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:30 AM EDT

                                                      "NAFTA was signed by President George H.W. Bush, Mexican President Salinas, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1992. It was ratified by the legislatures of the three countries in 1993. The U.S. House of Representatives approved it by 234 to 200 on November 17, 1993. The U.S. Senate approved it by 60 to 38 on November 20, three days later. It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 8, 1993 and entered force January 1, 1994"

                                                      "The impetus for NAFTA actually began with President Ronald Reagan, who campaigned on a North American common market. In 1984, Congress passed the Trade and Tariff Act. This is important because it gave the President "fast-track" authority to negotiate free trade agreements, while only allowing Congress the ability to approve or disapprove, not change negotiating points."

                                                      http://useconomy.about.com/od/tradepolicy/p/NAFTA_History.htm

                                                      I bet you're one of those guys that think nothing should be blamed on Bush also, but no problem going back to blame Clinton, and falsely at that.

                                                      • 1 vote
                                                      #26.3 - Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:30 AM EDT
                                                      Reply
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