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So if the economy is so great.......

Always in His Presence

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How incredibly false. Not the topic of the thread but the falsehood just can't be left unresponded to.







The U.S. housing finance system is worse off today than it was on the cusp of the 2008 financial crisis, Republican lawmakers and Trump administration officials warned on Tuesday.


This is what I was saying did not get fixed during the previous administration - not the GDP -

Please stay on topic
 
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FreeinChrist

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To sum it up, Obama left the economy in great shape for Trump in 2017.

Now, thanks in part to the trade war with China, to weakening Dodd - Frank by the Republicans, and to the tax break for the rich, the following:

- corporate debt is higher than ever with about $3 trillion being rated as debt just about junk status.
- credit card debt is higher than in 2008
- student debt is immense
- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are hugely over leveraged
- jobs numbers were less than expected in August
- corporate profits are decreasing


see Here's a list of recession signals that are flashing red



Earnings growth estimates have come down drastically this year. Last December, analysts estimated S&P 500 earnings growth for the year would be around 7.6%, according to FactSet. That number is now around 2.3%.

Goldman Sachs and Citigroup strategists last month reduced 2019 and 2020 earnings estimates for the S&P 500, citing a sluggish economy, trade war threats and potential currency devaluations.​
 
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FreeinChrist

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This is what I was saying did not get fixed during the previous administration - not the GDP -

Please stay on topic
Trump is in his 3rd year in office. At some point, he needs to take some responsibilty, which he will not do unless it looks good.

The House was in Republican hands from 2011 through 2018. What did they do to fix Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in that time? The Dodd- Frank bill, passed by a Democratic House and Senate, helped to prevent problems like this a great deal....but who is resisting the reforms? Republicans.
Since laws related to finances have to come from the House - what did they do?

Please stay on topic
Please do!!
 
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FreeinChrist

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so from the OP:

Trashing Fed 'Boneheads,' Trump calls for central bank to cut interest rates to 'ZERO'

President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on the Federal Reserve to slash U.S. interest rates “down to ZERO,” admonishing chairman Jerome Powell and other leaders of the U.S. central bank as “Boneheads.”

“The Federal Reserve should get our interest rates down to ZERO, or less, and we should then start to refinance our debt,” Trump tweeted. “INTEREST COST COULD BE BROUGHT WAY DOWN, while at the same time substantially lengthening the term. We have the great currency, power, and balance sheet.”​

side note - does he really not know that the US cannot refinance its debt? Doesn't he know it is in Treasury notes and bonds? I wonder if he realizes the US cannot go bankrupt and refinance its debt like Trump did with his businesses.​
 
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ananda

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If the numbers for those classified as "not in the labor force" (those who gave up looking for work) is added to those officially counted as "unemployed", the unemployment rate would be much, much higher, over 20%:



On a related note, if inflation was calculated the way it was previously (using the formula before 1980), it would be about 10%:

 
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Cimorene

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Wage stagnation should be on the list bc yeah unemployment is down but more Americans are having to work multiple jobs just to be able to survive! Friends who live in the US have said that jobs they applied for that used to pretty much be considered just for teens & college students now have legit adults w families working them bc they need that income to survive. It's 2nd & 3rd jobs for a lot of the adults.
 
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DaisyDay

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The inverted yield curve which predicts a recession:
 
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Ricky M

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Thank you for saying what I was going to say - and saying it better than I ever could!
 
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Ricky M

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Wage stagnation started when Reagan codified income inequality. NO, you can't give one dog 10 bones on the assumption he'll share them with 9 other dogs. It never has worked and never will.
 
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ananda

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Wage stagnation started when Reagan codified income inequality. NO, you can't give one dog* 10 bones on the assumption he'll share them with 9 other dogs. It never has worked and never will.
* the dog with 100 bones already
 
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KCfromNC

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Again, if the economy is so great, why is Donald cussing out Jeremy Powell on Twitter for not doing his bidding and lowering the rates to zero or lower?
Based on previous examples, it is likely due to Donald's pattern of trying to help the bottom line of his real estate holdings.
 
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KCfromNC

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Plus really large downward revisions in jobs numbers ... suspiciously large, given the behavior of White House leadership w.r.t. facts and data in the past.
 
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Always in His Presence

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The House was in Republican hands from 2011 through 2018. What did they do to fix Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in that time?

The House is in Democratic hand right now.

What are they doing about it?
 
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FreeinChrist

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The House is in Democratic hand right now.

What are they doing about it?
What can they do if the Senate won't vote on any bill? And part of that is because McConnell doesn't think Trump will sign any bill. When did the Republicans in the House and Senate try to compromise with Obama about the economy? They didn't want to.

The Republicans had the presidency, House and Senate for 2 years. They rolled back Dodd - Frank.


Trump wants the Fed to lower the interest because it will save him money. It isn't for the economy.
 
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iluvatar5150

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There's also some argument that universities have higher administrative overhead both due to higher IT costs and to added staff who support various campus services and perks that didn't exist in previous generations. I haven't seen the actual numbers that quantify how big of an impact those represent, but I've heard people complain about them.



And low interest rates + no inflation is even worse.
 
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FreeinChrist

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IT services cost a great deal. All the technical stuff costs a lot.

Back when I went to college, we didn't have that. I had to use a slide rule until a Texas Instrument calculator came out after I graduated (at $110). No internet.
I can imagine what else costs a great deal.
in memorial:


$110 - and we thought it was GREAT!!!
 
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FreeinChrist

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Based on previous examples, it is likely due to Donald's pattern of trying to help the bottom line of his real estate holdings.
He wants the zero interest for a reason.

Trump Demands Fed Drop Rates To Zero. That Would Save Him $8 Million A Year.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday again attacked the Federal Reserve Board and demanded members drop interest rates “to ZERO, or less” ― a move that would benefit him personally by some $8 million a year.

Trump has approximately $340 million in variable-rate loans from Deutsche Bank financing several of his properties, with the amount of interest he must pay annually tied either directly to the benchmark set by the Fed or to a rate that in turn rises and falls with the Fed rate.
 
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iluvatar5150

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IT services cost a great deal. All the technical stuff costs a lot.

Sure, but at the same time, costs for an equivalent level of service are a small fraction of what they used to be. $10k today can get you a server with a much greater level of functionality and lower ongoing electrical and maintenance costs than a $1m+ refrigerator-sized machine would've given you in the 1980's.

What I don't know is how those sorts of expenditures today compare to those of the past.
 
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RocksInMyHead

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Back when I went to college, we didn't have that. I had to use a slide rule until a Texas Instrument calculator came out after I graduated (at $110). No internet.
I can imagine what else costs a great deal.
in memorial:
Off-topic, but I have an SR-10 (and a TI-30) sitting next to me right now. Sadly, they don't work anymore.
 
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