Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (52929)	8/6/2004 2:29:52 PM
From: J.B.C.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Hmm, we're talking again? I guess your chance to be right once is good motivation, huh? How many jobs would be lost in the US if companies couldn't outsource to cheaper cost? George Bush didn't invent our high labor costs, outsourcing has been happening for decades. We've survived by the fact that we produce and invent more. A one month data point doesn't make a statistical sample, but hey I'm just a dumb engineer. Your problem is that you believe that this is a zero sum game, perhaps you're not as well read as you profess. Does the economy ebb and flow? Yes, but you wouldn't recognize it, you're stuck in your bash america at all cost mentality and miss the ride when it's time to ride. Maybe I'm not a knowledgeable guy, but I know the US is the best thing going and that we always overcome adversity. I know in your mind:"this time it's different". Trouble with neocon's like you is that you've been saying that for a century or more. You bash Bush, yet there is absolutely nothing Kerry brings to the table. You've gone left. You've invested your future and your new career bashing the US. It's you that loses if the US wins, but I'm sure you'll morph into something new when we succeed and your bash America newsletter fails. And then you'll tell us you vote either way. You do that cause you just can't make up your mind who you are. >>you preach and preach like some kind of knowledgable guy<< This one is a real laugh coming from you. By the way unemployment figures went down, but I guess that doesn't support your case. Jim

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (52929)	8/6/2004 4:13:02 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

Job woes cloud economy's future ___________________________ August 06, 2004 (Reuters) — The future looks increasingly dim for U.S. economic growth as high oil prices, spotty consumer demand and fears of terrorism prevent firms from hiring new workers, analysts said Friday. From behind their desks in New York and Washington, analysts and policy-makers had predicted that a June slowdown in consumption was a glitch in an otherwise sound recovery. But a meager increase in employment for July points to a very different reality, suggesting a slowdown in the world's largest economy is much more pervasive. ``Everyone and their brother was saying the soft patch would soon dissipate and that the economy would soon reaccelerate,'' said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director at the Economic Cycle Research Institute, an independent research firm in New York, adding: ``This jobs report clearly undermines that theory.'' U.S. employers added only 32,000 workers to payrolls in July as consumers, who can no longer rely on extra cash from tax rebates, were already growing reluctant to spend. So much for Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's contention that the economy had entered a period of self-sustaining expansion that would allow the central bank to gradually raise interest rates to a more balanced level. Now not only is the path for rates unclear but also the economy's ability to maintain healthy growth is in question. ``This seems to be very clearly an actual slowdown in demand; it is energy-related,'' said Peter Kretzmer, senior economist at Banc of America in New York. Oil prices have soared to record highs over the past few days, casting doubt on another proposition from the Fed — that energy costs would slowly come down as the year progressed. During the second quarter, rising prices at the pump were in part responsible for the biggest slowdown in consumer spending in almost three years, crippling economic growth. U.S. gross domestic product grew only 3 percent for that period compared with 4.5 percent in the first quarter. Lurking in the background, concerns about possible terrorist attacks have made it tough for companies to invest and create jobs amid a stream of often vague alerts from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. All this uncertainty has hurt the stock market, which is carving out new lows for the year as doubts about corporate profits reinforce momentum to sell shares. While few expect this raft of bad news to force the economy back into recession, the situation looks dire enough for previously optimistic economists to start thinking about revising down their forecasts for third quarter growth. In a recent Reuters poll, economists had forecast a median 4.2 percent annualized pace of growth in the third quarter, but the poor jobs data have thrown all those forecasts into doubt. Jan Hatzius, senior economist at Goldman Sachs in New York, said ``a lot of people will be cutting third-quarter growth estimates into the threes.'' He said Goldman was sticking with its forecast for a 3.5 percent pace but said ``it does assume a pretty strong rebound in the monthly data.'' On the bright side, car sales rebounded strongly in July after a sharp decline in June. But even here, analysts noted much of this rise was fueled by another wave of incentives and giving cars away for little or no profit in the short term is hardly an omen for potential growth in the economy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------