Is the United States Slipping into a Recession...

In macroeconomics, a recession is a decline in a country's gross domestic product (GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive quarters of a year. Another accepted definition is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months. A recession may involve simultaneous declines in coincident measures of overall economic activity such as employment, investment, and corporate profits. Recessions may be associated with falling prices (deflation), or, alternatively, sharply rising prices (inflation) in a process known as stagflation. A severe or long recession is referred to as an economic depression. An example is the economic depression that the United States and many parts of the world endured from 1929 – 1941. This is known as the “Great Depression”, it was the worst economic collapse that our country has ever seen.
For years, the current administration in Washington D.C. has been telling the American people how strong the economy is and how much stronger it’s getting. Every employed person in the United States jumped on that wagon train and exclaimed how strong the economy is in this country. The rich getting richer; the large corporations making record profits (Last quarter Exxon-Mobile beat its own record for the highest profits ever recorded by any company, with net income rising 3 percent to $40.6 billion, thanks to surging oil prices. The company’s gross sales, more than $404 billion, exceeded the gross domestic product of 120 countries.) on the backs of the people; and the wholesale sale of our country and its assets to overseas investors do not make for a strong economy. When the people work at jobs and make a decent living wage, they spend money to the betterment of themselves, their lives and their family’s lives. This in turn drives businesses to grow, prosper and employ more people. This is the mark of a strong and growing economy. The current administration would like to have us believe that most Americans are working. How many seven-figure executives have lost their jobs and found employment as a Wal-mart greeter, and how many "worker-bee" types are sitting at home watching the world go by because their unemployment ran out; OR are competing with those ex-executives for the limited greeter jobs? Unemployment figures only reflect those people on unemployment, the unemployment rate in America drops as peoples' unemployment checks from the government run out. Sure, they might be working, but not in a capacity that allows them to spend money. Many of these people have borrowed money to support their lifestyles as they search for better jobs, which no longer exist because businesses have relocated overseas with cheaper workforces. Their credit cards are maxed out, paying fees for going over-the-limit, missed payments, late payments, etc., all the while the credit card companies try to find other ways to charge for their services. People take out home equity loans to pay off credit cards, and other expenses, and then are unable to pay those. It’s a vicious circle. Banks are foreclosing on homes in record numbers. (The housing sector is in a state of absolute disarray.) Which
ties up the banks' assets. Banks do not make money by holding onto property that they foreclosed on, but the housing market has slowed dramatically because the majority of people don't have the money to buy those properties, so the bank must sit on them and find other ways to charge their customers to make up the difference.
There is a well-publicized idea gaining momentum around the world, that the world is running out of oil and that's driving prices of basic necessities, and transportation through the roof. Maybe we are running out of oil. Maybe we're not. If we are, then the economy is likely to get worse before it gets better. We live in a global economy, where the United States is just one of the major players. For years, American businesses have outsourced their production type jobs to people and businesses overseas, forcing thousands in this country to find (or not find) other jobs, turning booming metropolises into centers of poverty and crime. And the trend continues, because it’s about how much money you can make for your shareholders, not about how many people you can employ. Today, we have started to see a backlash of these policies. Companies in other countries are beginning to realize that they do not need American companies to outsource business to them, but rather they can save money by eliminating the extra level of management in the United States. More jobs gone. And if this isn't bad enough, we let illegal immigrants into our country, give them the few jobs that we have left, and pay them ten cents on the dollar for the work that could (and should) have been done by Americans. Then the government taxes the shit out of the people who don’t have tax shelters, so we can pay for all of those illegal immigrants who arrived here, without being able to find work. Based on the numbers tossed about by the government, a full 10% of our population can be considered to be illegal immigrants. The cost of living is skyrocketing, the number of people who, while they may be working, cannot support the lifestyle to which they became accustomed to in the 90’s is skyrocketing, the fear that our government is part of the problem and therefore won't be able to do anything about the problem is skyrocketing as well.
The reasons we are in a major economic slowdown, centers on U.S. consumers, who drive the economy. Through the past six years they've been the most maniacal spending machines the world has ever seen. Stock market wobbles, rising interest rates, staggering personal debt, war, floods, hurricanes - nothing could slow them down. That was mainly because the value of their largest asset, housing, kept going up, and because they were confident about their jobs. As long as their home equity looked like a piggy bank and their paychecks looked solid, they just kept buying, and America's economic engine just kept turning. With subprime lending leading to more Americans being foreclosed on and the current unemployment rate at 4.9% it is not hard to understand why there is uncertainty in economy. The number of homes entering some stage of foreclosure
from notice of default to bank ownership increased 45% in January from the same period a year earlier. Who is to blame? The government for not better regulating the housing market? The banks for issuing subprime mortgages to people who do not qualify for the best market interest rates because of bad credit history? The American people for buying homes with adjustable interest rates that they can barely afford when the rates are low. (not to mention when after a year their current somewhat manageable rate of 1.9% shoots up to a cool 6%) Next thing you know they (and their newly ruined credit) are apartment hunting after the bank forecloses.
The main debate about the housing sector is not whether it has moved into a sector recession; but rather whether the housing recession will drive the overall economy into recession.
A region's gross domestic product, or GDP, is one of the best ways of measuring the size and growth of a countries economy. The GDP of a country is defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time. It is also considered the sum of value added at every stage of production, of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time. The most common and simplistic approach to measuring and understanding GDP is the formula below.
GDP = consumption + gross investment + government spending + exports − imports
So far American GDP has held strong, not posting any losses. But predictions anticipated an increase of over 3% in the final quarter of 2007; actual gain was only .6%. Predictions for this quarter are calling for a 2% decrease in growth. This would be the first loss posted since the 3rd quarter of 2001. Here are just some numbers to think about.
Current American GDP is around $14 trillion.
American GDP per Capita is $44,000.
GDP by Sector: Agriculture = 0.9%, Industry = 20.4%, Services = 78.6%.
United States Spending on Foreign Aid = $19 Billion (.16% of GDP).
Current rate of Inflation = 4.1%.
Population below Poverty Line = 12%.
Labor Force = 151.4 million.
Unemployment = 4.9%.
Exports = $1.024 trillion.
Imports = $1.869 trillion.
U.S. Revenues = $2.409 trillion.
U.S. Expenses = $2.660 trillion.

Public deficit = $9 trillion

Think about it...