U.S. suffered worst quarterly contraction on record

[FreeinChrist]

U.S. suffered worst quarterly contraction on record as virus ravages economy

“This is obviously the ugliest quarter we’ve ever seen in our history,” Edward Moya, senior analyst at currency trading firm OANDA, said of the Commerce Department’s initial estimate of second-quarter gross domestic product, which showed the economy contracting 32.9 percent on an annualized basis, the biggest drop in more than seven decades of records.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/29/trump-v-shape-rebound-gone-387425
“A couple of weeks ago there was a lot more optimism that we would see a strong V-shaped recovery,” Moya said. But right now “there is a lot of bad news about how some areas are handling the virus. And every day we don’t have a new stimulus agreement in place is hurting the economy.”

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I fear we are looking at inflation and conditions like the 70s.

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[durangodawood]

If Trump cares about his image he should abandon ship. Its probly going to be a few ugly years digging out of this.

 

[civilwarbuff]

If Trump cares about his image he should abandon ship. Its probly going to be a few ugly years digging out of this.

How exactly did Trump cause a severe drop in 2nd quarter GDP?

 

[Paulos23]

How exactly did Trump cause a severe drop in 2nd quarter GDP?

He may not have caused it, but he lay claim on the economy before. He can't quit it now!

 

[lasthero]

How exactly did Trump cause a severe drop in 2nd quarter GDP?

 

[civilwarbuff]

He may not have caused it, but he lay claim on the economy before. He can't quit it now!

How could he have prevented this then?

 

[civilwarbuff]

2013......

 

[GreatLakes4Ever]

2013......

I fail to see what the date has to do with it. According to Trump’s own words he is responsible.

 

[wing2000]

How exactly did Trump cause a severe drop in 2nd quarter GDP?

I don't hold him accountable for shutting down the country and impact of that action to the economy. I do hold him accountable for his failure to lead the country through a pandemic....a failure that will now extend the economic impact.

 

[iluvatar5150]

How could he have prevented this then?

He couldn't have prevented it entirely, but some effective leadership both to his administration and to the country at large could've gotten measures in place to stem the tide sooner. A stricter, more comprehensive lockdown along with greater adherence to preventative actions (e.g. masks, distancing) could have let the disease run its course in the currently-infected without creating as many new infections. Had the disease burned itself out, we could've started re-opening for real around now. Instead, we didn't do it right, so we got all the economic pain of a lockdown without the benefits.

2013......

Yeah, that's the point. He was quick to posture and point fingers when somebody else was running things, but now that he's in the hot seat, none of it applies anymore. His attitudes are nakedly hypocritical.

 

[Paulos23]

How could he have prevented this then?

By taking Covid-19 seriously. Not firing the pandemic people. By following the playbook that was there, we would have been in a better position and maybe even opening up by now.

Instead, we are looking at states with overfilled hospitals that are turning people away. People are not leaving their homes to spend money and lots of workplaces are still closed. We could have had this under control months ago if Trump let the CDC do its job and followed its suggestions.

Maybe we would still have a shrinking economy. Heck, even Germany shrank by 10%, and they are doing better with Covid-19.

The real problem here is that Trump wants to always look like a winner, instead of taking the world as is and doing some leading. If he said at the beginning that this was going to be hard and long, he would be in a much better place image-wise than trying to ride on the state of the economy.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

How exactly did Trump cause a severe drop in 2nd quarter GDP?

Who’s in charge of this ship?

 

[JohnDB]

Because we live in a global marketplace and Economy our GDP is only an indicator of how we are doing by various metrics.

And if we could compare ours to other nations...we are probably doing just fine.

Every Nation has taken a hit with this virus. Not just America. Some Nation's entire economy is based upon trade with other nations that are currently OB.
Tourist countries and states like Bahamas, Bermuda, Hawaii, and etc are dead in the water.

So long as we really don't make any major changes to our free market underpinnings of capitalism (higher taxes, Gov't takeover of business, and etc) we will be just fine when a solution to this pandemic is over.

 

[FreeinChrist]

I think it was going to happen no matter what but not this bad before Covid19. The Fed started printing money last September in order to increase liquidity so that big banks could lend to smaller banks (the repo market it is called, if I have that right).
The economy was being propped up for quite a while, but it was showing problems before Covid19 showed up.

What I fear is that the economy crashes more, and because of all the money printed,
currencies will devalue and inflation will be bad - like in the 70s.
Some friends on Facebook were commenting about having a hard time finding some canning supplies - which reminded me of the 70s and a shortage we had at that time because folks were trying to garden and can more. They were trying to do this, but it is hard without the supplies:

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But one needs the way to preserve the food. It was a problem in the 70s and it is a worry if supplies are short. I hope it doesn't all come from China.

 

[civilwarbuff]

I don't hold him accountable for shutting down the country and impact of that action to the economy. I do hold him accountable for his failure to lead the country through a pandemic....a failure that will now extend the economic impact.

And exactly HOW should he have done that?

 

[civilwarbuff]

I fail to see what the date has to do with it. According to Trump’s own words he is responsible.

Sorta like....'if you like your doctor....'?

 

[Bobber]

I think it was going to happen no matter what but not this bad before Covid19. The Fed started printing money last September in order to increase liquidity so that big banks could lend to smaller banks (the repo market it is called, if I have that right).
The economy was being propped up for quite a while, but it was showing problems before Covid19 showed up.

What I fear is that the economy crashes more, and because of all the money printed,
currencies will devalue and inflation will be bad - like in the 70s.
Some friends on Facebook were commenting about having a hard time finding some canning supplies - which reminded me of the 70s and a shortage we had at that time because folks were trying to garden and can more. They were trying to do this, but it is hard without the supplies:

​

But one needs the way to preserve the food. It was a problem in the 70s and it is a worry if supplies are short. I hope it doesn't all come from China.

But wouldn't that take work? And isn't that when they built houses fairly small and most of a lot was a back yard for gardens? You know the time they thought it wise that everyone should actually be able to do things to survive? Weren't we told that it's really just silly to think about doing those things now days?

 

[civilwarbuff]

By taking Covid-19 seriously.

After attacking Trump's coronavirus-related China travel ban as xenophobic, Dems and media have changed tune

Not firing the pandemic people.

Who did he fire and when?

By following the playbook that was there,

What playbook? Everyone admits this virus was completely new and unknown.

 

[GreatLakes4Ever]

Sorta like....'if you like your doctor....'?

It was a stupid thing for Obama to say. The ACA never made changes to what doctor’s you could see. But before and after the ACA, your insurance company was always able to decide which doctors you could see. The ACA never solved that problem and Obama was wrong for saying “if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.”

 

[civilwarbuff]

Who’s in charge of this ship?

No one is talking about boats...go start a thread on that.....