Average household income falls 3.2%, then falls to 6.7% under Obama's 'recovery'

Average household income fell 3.2%, THEN FELL to 6.7% under President Obama's proclaimed 'recovery'
Special thank you to Twitter's @bconsdr8 for this link: http://t.co/jX00uinT

CEO Gives Obama a Piece of Her Mind

"I inherit a mess everyday, your job is to fix things and get people to work together for a common goal."

Disappointing U.S. Data Confirms Slowing Recovery

Weak US data fuel fears of slowing recovery

The US economy has stumbled deeper into the mud of another soft patch, with revised data showing a weaker pattern of growth in the first quarter.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis kept its growth estimate at an annualized 1.8 per cent, dashing hopes that it would be revised upwards, and said that consumption growth was weaker than it previously thought.

The latest data suggest the recovery will continue to be slow and painful, with average growth of about 3 per cent. That is only slightly above the long-run trend and will mean only a slow reduction in unemployment.

Whole article: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b53d97b2-8790-11e0-af98-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1NU91eoQP

Harry Reid Proclaims "I saved the world"

“But for me, we’d be in a worldwide depression.”

If Harry Reid hadn’t agressively pursued his patriotic constitutional duty of spending as much money as possible, the world would be in a bread line as we speak.

Somehow acting as Barack Obama’s rubber stamp in adding as much new debt in less than two years — $3 trillion at last check — an amount that took from 1776 to 1990 to accumulate, saved the world.

Steep Cuts in Government Employment Meant More Job Losses in September.

Jobless rate stuck at 9.6%, payrolls down

Fri Oct 8, 11:04AM PT - AP 0:34
Associated Press's Mark Hamrick reports steep cuts in government employment meant more job losses in Sept. (Oct. 8)

Private Sector Hiring Disappoints, Again

Private Sector Hiring Disappoints, Again
Posted Aug 06, 2010 11:45am EDT by Aaron Task

"Tepid", "anemic", "desultory" and "punk" are among the adjectives being used to describe Friday's July jobs report.

At 131,000 the headline payroll loss was worse than expected. In addition, the tally for May and June was revised down by nearly 100,000, further evidence the U.S. economy cooled considerably after its first-quarter spurt.

"This remains a terribly slow pace of job growth," writes Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak.

The big disappointment was private sector hiring, which totaled 71,000 last month, weaker than anticipated. (As expected, government payrolls fell by 143,000 as temporary census workers were let go.)

"The private sector number is the most disturbing," Tig Gilliam, CEO of Adecco Group North America, says in the accompanying video. "It's great that we have a positive number but we're really not seeing an acceleration of private sector jobs, which is what we need to see fairly soon."

Year-to-date, the private sector had added about 630,000 jobs, far short of the level needed to replace the nearly 8 million jobs lost since the recession officially began in December 2007. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.5% while the "real" unemployment rate (U6) remained at 16.5%. With 14.6 million Americans out of work (44% for six months or longer), the unemployment rate being unchanged is not good news because it shows many Americans remain discouraged or are dropping out of the labor force -- and out of the official tally.

"We've got to expect that number to go up because we have so many potential workers sitting on the sidelines," Gilliam says. "As the job market gets better, more people will get active and engaged and that will have the effect of increasing the unemployment rate."

Gilliam notes temporary hiring continues to improve, which is traditionally a good leading indicator for future employment growth (and good for Adecco.) Both average hourly earnings and the average workweek rose in July, which are positive signs, but, overall, the U.S. employment picture remains grim.

Economic future: "Obama makes it Impossible to be Optimistic"

Charles Ortel, managing director at Newport Value Partners. “It’s impossible for me to understand how you can be optimistic about the future,” based on continued weak private sector job market.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also admits we’ve got a long way to go.

Despite inflation worries, Bernanke signals another rate cut

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

July 21 (Bloomberg)

Treasuries rose, pushing two-year yields to the fourth record low in five days, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the economic outlook is “unusually uncertain” and policy makers are prepared “to take further policy actions as needed.”

Ten-year note yields touched a 15-month low as Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee that central bankers are ready to act to aid growth even as they prepare to eventually raise interest rates from almost zero and shrink a record balance sheet.

“An unusual outlook may call for unusual measures, and that means the Fed may take more action as needed, which would lead to lower rates,” said Suvrat Prakash, an interest-rate strategist in New York at BNP Paribas, one of the 18 primary dealers that trade with the central bank.

The benchmark 10-year note yield dropped 7 basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, to 2.88 percent at 4:42 p.m. in New York. It touched 2.85 percent, the lowest level since April 21. The 3.5 percent security due in May 2020 rose 5/8, or $6.25 per $1,000 face amount, to 105 1/4.

The two-year Treasury note yield fell as much as 2 basis points to touch 0.5520 percent, the lowest ever, before trading at 0.5601 percent. It previously reached record lows July 15, 16 and yesterday. Thirty-year bond yields slid 9 basis points to 3.89 percent.

U.S. stocks tumbled after fluctuating earlier.

No Decisions

The Fed chief, responding to questions, outlined options for further steps, including giving more information on the Fed’s commitment to low interest rates. Tools to boost the economy also include reducing the rate paid on banks’ reserves held at the Fed and using the central bank’s balance sheet, he said. Officials haven’t decided which they might use, he said.

Economic data over the past month that were weaker than analysts projected have prompted investor speculation the Fed may increase monetary stimulus in a bid to keep the economy growing and reduce a jobless rate from close to a 26-year high.

Policy makers have kept the target for overnight loans between banks in a record low range of zero to 0.25 percent since December 2008.

‘Extended Period’

Bernanke today affirmed the central bank’s policy of keeping rates low for an “extended period,” saying it expects moderate growth, a decline in the jobless rate and “subdued inflation” over several years.

Policy makers at their June policy meeting lowered their forecast for growth this year to a range of between 3 percent and 3.5 percent, from 3.2 percent to 3.7 percent in April, minutes released last week showed.

In his eight-page statement to the Senate panel, the Fed chairman devoted almost 10 times as many words to discussing the exit from stimulus as he did to potential actions to boost growth. Exit options include reinvesting proceeds from maturing Treasuries into shorter-term issues, selling housing debt and raising the interest rate paid on the $1 trillion of bank deposits at the Fed, Bernanke said.

Exit-Strategy Focus

“The market was looking for some kind of groundwork of what further accommodation would look like,” said Steve Rodosky, head of Treasury and derivatives trading at Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co., which runs the world’s largest bond fund. “If anything there was more of a focus on an exit strategy.”

A gauge of trader expectations for inflation, the gap between rates on 10-year notes and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, narrowed to 1.71 percentage points from this year’s high of 2.49 percentage points in January. It touched 1.68 percentage points yesterday, the least since October.

The U.S. will auction $39 billion in 2-year notes, $37 billion in 5-year securities and $29 billion in 7-year debt next week, according to the median estimate in the Bloomberg survey of primary dealers. The sales will take place on three consecutive days beginning July 27.

The $105 billion total would mark the third straight month the government has reduced its offering of the notes, and would be the lowest since it sold $104 billion of them 13 months ago.

‘Heavy Lifting’ Done

The U.S. budget deficit in June shrank from a year earlier, to $68.4 billion from $94.3 billion, the Treasury reported on July 13. Even so, the deficit this fiscal year is forecast to reach a record $1.6 trillion as the government funds efforts to revive growth and employment.

Matthew Rutherford, the Treasury’s deputy assistant secretary for federal finance, said earlier this year the department was confident the “deficit situation” would improve and that auction sizes had reached their peak. “The heavy lifting is done,” he said at a Feb. 3 press conference.

Two-year interest-rate swap spreads widened today for the first time in eight days after Bernanke damped speculation that policy makers were considering reducing the interest rate paid on reserves. The Fed will need to increase that rate at some point in the future when it begins lowering the support it provides the economy, Bernanke said told lawmakers.

--With assistance from Susanne Walker and Oliver Biggadike in New York. Editors: Greg Storey, Dave Liedtka

Nobel Prize-winning economist: Says U.S. Recovery Prospect 'Very Weak'

BBC NEWS http://ow.ly/opnt
US recovery prospect 'very weak'

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has cast doubt on the strength of any US economic recovery, warning it may be hit by a "double-dip" recession.

More positive economic data has convinced many analysts that the US is starting to improve.

But Mr Stiglitz, a former World Bank chief economist, said "the prospects of a robust recovery are very, very weak".

He said there was a "significant chance" that the economy could contract again after a period of growth.

This is what economists refer to as a "double-dip" recession.

'Negative shock'

"We are not seeing a recovery of sustained consumption," Mr Stiglitz said.

He highlighted the fact that any recovery would be the result of government stimulus packages, which could not continue indefinitely.

"The withdrawal of stimulus packages in 2011 will be a negative shock to the economy," he said.

He also highlighted continuing risks in the commercial property sector.

Recent data has suggested a more upbeat view of the US economy.

Last week, figures showed that US manufacturing grew in August for the first time in 19 months and that home sales hit a two-year high in July.

Last month, figures showed consumer spending continuing to rise and durable goods orders jumping sharply.

New Bank Failures / Bernake claims we're near 'Recovery'

All 106 bank failures detailed on this bank failure map:
http://ow.ly/l7Zw

NEW YORK (TheStreet) --
New bank failures last week included two in Georgia and one each in Texas and Alabama, bringing the total number of banks and savings and loans shut down by regulators this year to 81.

Georgia continues to lead all states with 23 bank or thrift failures during 2008 and 2009, followed by Illinois with 14 failures, California with 13, Florida with eight and Nevada with five failures.

The Office of Thrift Supervision took over ebank of Atlanta and appointed the FDIC as receiver. The FDIC then sold the thrift's deposits and sole office to Stearns Bank NA.

Georgia regulators shut down First Coweta Bank of Newnan. The FDIC was appointed receiver and sold the failed bank's retail deposits and branches to United Bank of Zebulon, Ga.

The Alabama State Banking Department closed CapitalSouth Bank of Birmingham and appointed the FDIC receiver. The FDIC sold all of CapitalSouth's retail deposits and branches to Iberiabank of Lafayette, La. Iberiabank is the main subsidiary of Iberiabank(IBKC Quote).

The Office of Thrift Supervision closed Guaranty Bank of Austin, Texas, the main subsidiary of Guaranty Financial Group (GFG Quote). In a deal that was leaked Thursday, the FDIC sold all retail deposits and branches of Guaranty Bank to BBVA Compass of Birmingham, Ala., the main U.S. subsidiary of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BB Quote).

Guaranty Bank had $13 billion in total assets when it failed, and it was a particularly expensive failure, with the FDIC estimating that the cost to its insurance fund from the thrift's failure would be $3 billion. In comparison, Colonial Bank, which failed the previous week, had $25 billion in total assets and the cost of its failure to the FDIC was $2.8 billion.

First Coweta and CapitalSouth were included in TheStreet.com's preliminary list of 104 undercapitalized banks and thrifts, based on preliminary second-quarter data. Guaranty Bank and ebank were not included in the preliminary second-quarter list, since data for most thrifts was unavailable when the report was published on Aug. 6.

Of the 89 institutions on a previous list published TheStreet.com in late May, 35 have failed.

Large bank holding companies that have acquired failed institutions during 2008 and 2009 include JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote), which acquired Washington Mutual, the largest-ever bank or thrift to fail in the U.S.; SunTrust Banks (STI Quote); Regions Financial (RF Quote); Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB Quote); U.S. Bancorp (USB Quote); Zions Bancorp (ZION Quote); PNC Financial (PNC Quote); and BB&T(BBT Quote).