The recession is over - but not the pain.

[Peter Gibbons]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_bi_ge/us_recession_over

WASHINGTON - It's about to become official: The recession is over - but not the pain.    

The government will release figures this week expected to show that the economy has awakened from its deepest slump since the 1930s and is in the early   stages of a recovery. But the following week, the government will issue another set of figures expected to show unemployment continuing to rise toward and   possibly above a clearly recessionary 10 percent.

   

How can both be possible?

 

Answer:

 

The government prints huge amounts of new money causing inflation.

 

This makes it look like companies are now making more money. They don't need more workers to increase production.

 

Where do I claim my Nobel price for economics?

 

 

The government releases third-quarter Gross Domestic Product figures on Thursday. Many forecasters say they will show GDP growing at an annual rate of   about 3 percent, validating a widely held belief among economists that the recession ended in June or July.

   

But try telling that to the more than 15 million still unemployed, the small businesses and individuals who can't get loans and the people whose homes   are worth less than their mortgages.

[I D Shukhov]

There's been a lot of debate among economists about whether the recession will look like a "W", with one person believing it is basically an "L".  I'm afraid that the fundamentals aren't solved and that it really will be something like an "L".

[Origisaurus]

There's been a lot of debate among economists about whether the recession will look like a "W", with one person believing it is basically an   "L". I'm afraid that the fundamentals aren't solved and that it really will be something like an "L".

As long as that fear prevails, it will be an "L".  And consumer confidence has just about flat-lined.  

[Aussie]

Ironic that the only folks who didn't get it in the shorts were the short-sellers.

We avoided a technical recession here by a hair's breadth - a few tenths of a percent of positive growth or something - but only because the current Labor government threw money around like drunken sailors.  Cheques for about $900 were sent out twice to just about everybody to 'stimulate' the economy. The Labor govt claims it as 'their' idea, but they were only able to do it because the previous Coalition govt slowly and painfully built up a surplus after the last Labor Govt disaster.  Labor spent that, and billions besides.  There was never any question of the Coalition govt getting chucked out of office for any economic reason, it was just that people were bored after a decade of the same govt.  They thought the economy was on autopilot, so why not throw conservative honest but boring John over for Flash Kevvy.  Well, chucking money at the electorate can and did win Labor popularity, but that ghostly pale form up ahead is the checkout-chick ringing up the bill.  And we're 'all' gunna have to pay  it, slowly and painfully.

Living In The Seventies
(Skyhooks):
I feel a little crazy
I feel a little strange
Like I'm in a pay phone
Without any change
I feel a little edgy
I feel a little weird
I feel like a schoolboy
thats's grown a beard

I'm livin' in the 70's
Eatin' fake food under plastic trees
My face gets dirty just walkin' around
I need another pill to calm me down

I feel a bit nervous
I feel a bit mad
I feel like a good time that's never been had
I feel a bit fragile
I feel a bit low
Like I learned the right lines
But I'm on the wrong show

I'm livin' in the 70's
I feel like I lost my keys
Got the right day but I got the wrong week
And I get paid for just bein' a freak

I'm livin' in the 70's
I'm livin' in the 70's
I'm livin' in the 70's
I'm livin' in the 70's

I feel a little insane
I feel a bit dazed
My legs are shrinkin'
And my roof's been raised
I feel a little mixed up
I feel a little queer
I feel like a barman that can't drink a beer

I'm livin' in the 70's
I've just caught another disease
I'm livin' in the 70's
I'm livin' in the 70's

I'm livin' in the 70's
Eatin' fake food under plastic trees
My face gets dirty just walkin' around
I need another pill to calm me down

I'm livin' in the 70's
I'm livin' in the 70's
I'm livin' in the 70's
I'm livin' in the 70's

I'm livin' in the 70's
I feel like I lost my keys
Got the right day but I got the wrong week
And I get paid for just bein' a freak

I'm livin' in the 70's
I'm livin' in the 70's
I'm livin' in the 70's
I'm livin' in the 70's