POLITICS - The Hurting US Economy

Our economy IS hurting, especially the job market, but we need to remember we WERE in a very deep hole thanks to more than 8yrs of "no regulation" policies of a GOP controlled federal government. Also, the Democrats are not totally free of responsibility, but they were not in the drivers seat while this was on-going.

What ALL Americans need to realize is this economic-hole we are in cannot be climbed out of easily, nor fast. No matter what Administration we have in Washington DC the economy is going to take a long time to heal. We dug the hole for 8yrs and it will take years to fill that hole.

Also, historically, when the economy tanks jobs go first and when the economy improves the job market improves last. That how it works even though we don't like it.

By the way, for information on the US economy see the Bureau of Economic Analysis pages.

"As Economy Jitters Persist, Geithner 'Confident We're Going to Continue to Grow'" PBS Newshour Transcript 7/6/2010

Excerpt

JIM LEHRER (Newshour): If this bill becomes law, does that mean we are no longer at risk of a similar financial crisis?

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, secretary of the Treasury: We will have a much better chance to prevent future crises and limit their damage -- act much more effectively and much earlier and limit the damage and not leave the taxpayer exposed to bearing the burden of these crises. These are very tough reforms, very strong reforms, and they will help restore trust and confidence in the system.

Think back, Jim, to the Great Depression. It took this government four years after the great crash of 1929 to put in place basic protections for banks, and the securities laws, and those reforms laid the foundation for decades of the most-impressive record of investment, innovation, growth any major economy had ever seen.

But we allowed the moss to grow, risks to operate in the shadows. The market outgrew these protections, and the damage caused by that failure was catastrophic. But what these reforms do is prevent that from happening again, because it will extend this set of protections across the economy and make sure, again, banks can't take risks on the scale that they could damage the economy as a whole.

JIM LEHRER: Finally, Mr. Secretary, putting all this together now, after these many months and where we are now, do you understand why there are still millions of Americans very angry about what's happened to them as a result of the financial crisis and the economic crisis that has followed, and that so many of these things have yet to be fixed?

TIMOTHY GEITHNER: Absolutely. People are still incredibly angry and frustrated that they, who were responsible, careful, in the decisions they made, were damaged by the actions of people who were irresponsible, by the failures of Washington to provide basic protections against financial crisis. And again, the scars of this crisis cut very, very deep and they're going to last for a long time.

And that's why all of us in Washington have such a great responsibility and obligation to make sure we are working every day to make sure we have an economy that's creating jobs, again, at a more faster pace, we fix what is broken, and again, we restore confidence in the basic strength of America in providing opportunities to those who work hard.