I get weekly reports from Vanguard about the economy. Does anyone really have a clue? How about those stimulus jobs? Exactly how many jobs did the $780 billion + ( anyone's guess exactly how much) stimulus create or save? How about the jobless figures Vanguard mentions? Is the stimulus balancing these figures?

Will Wall Street and the banksters abuse our economy again as they have done time after time should the economy turn around nationwide? Do taxpayers "have" to pay back that stimulus and let's not forget TARP. Can we just print money from thin air and forget about these debts only too happy to have bailed out the very criminals that got our economy where it is?

Has anyone thought the problems we have today are a result of the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913? Will our problems today just go away?

I hear people speak of the economy in Texas. I can only hope we continue to do better than other areas of the country. Some weeks ago I read estimates of one thousand individuals moving to Texas every week from other parts of the country. Can Texas support an even larger portion of the U.S. populous?

Does the U.S. trade deficit matter?


Vanguard
November 13, 2009
Economic Week in Review: Quiet week produces positive signs

Economists were given a respite from last week's packed agenda, as only two reports were released this week. The Department of Commerce announced that the U.S. trade deficit widened in September to $36.5 billion. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims fell by 12,000, to 502,000, suggesting that the labor market is starting to improve. With little economic news to digest, the S&P 500 Index rose 2.3% to 1,093 (for a year-to-date total return of about 24%) for the week ended November 13. The yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 11 basis points to 3.43% (for a year-to-date increase of 118 basis points).
U.S. trade gap widens

The U.S. trade deficit widened to $36.5 billion in September, a significant increase over economists' forecasts of $31.6 billion and August's revised $30.8 billion deficit. A 2.9% increase in exports was more than offset by a 5.8% rise in imports. Factors contributing to the increased trade gap include the trade deficit in goods, which widened 13.4% in September, and net imports of petroleum, which grew 24%.

For the third time in the last four months, however, both exports and imports rose simultaneously, which could signal that the worldwide recession is winding down as consumers become more active, according to Vanguard economist Roger Aliaga-Diaz. "In general, a widening trade deficit is consistent with economic recovery," said Mr. Aliaga-Diaz. "This is particularly so when the increase in imports is related to business spending on capital goods and raw materials (including oil), an important precondition for future growth."
Falling jobless claims bring hope to labor markets

Initial jobless claims for unemployment benefits dropped by 12,000, to 502,000, for the week ended November 7. Despite continued increases in the unemployment rate, the number of layoffs has been slowing since March, when initial jobless claims peaked at 674,000. This news and the announcement that continuing claims fell 139,000 for the week ended October 31 suggest that labor markets are beginning to stabilize.

"Companies are not cutting jobs at the rate seen during the recession," said Mr. Aliaga-Diaz. "This is an important first step for the recovery, but the improvement in the jobs front is expected to come only at a measured pace as businesses start gradually hiring more permanent workers over the course of the next couple of years."
The economic week ahead

A number of key economic reports are scheduled for release next week, including retail sales and business inventories on Monday, the Producer Price Index and industrial production on Tuesday, and the Consumer Price Index and new residential construction on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Conference Board releases the performance of its leading economic indicators for the month of October.

Job Losses Demystified
By Peter Schiff 11/14/2009

As the unemployment rate crossed the double digit barrier for the first time since Michael Jackson
learned to moonwalk, President Obama announced that he will convene a “jobs summit” to finally
bring the problem under control. Using all the analytic skill that his administration can muster, the
President is determined to figure out why so many people are losing their jobs and then formulate a
solution. That's a relief; for a while there, I thought we were in real trouble! In fact, the absolute last
thing our economy needs is more federal government interference. If Obama really wants to know
what's behind entrenched joblessness, he should start by looking at the man in the mirror.

Obama is pursuing, with unprecedented vigor, the same policies that have for decades undermined
our industrial base and yoked us to an unsustainable consumer/credit driven economy. This
doubling down on Washington's past failures is destroying jobs at an alarming rate. Today we
learned that the September trade deficit surged by 18.2%, the largest gain in ten years. Much of the
deficit resulted from Americans spending Cash-for-Clunkers stimulus money on imported cars – or
“American” cars loaded to the sunroof with imported parts. In exchange for more domestic debt, we
have succeeded only in creating foreign jobs.

An article in this week's New York Times by veteran writer Louis Uchitelle confirmed a fact that I
have been alleging for years. Uchitelle pointed out that foreign outsourcing of component
manufacturing has led to consistent overstatement of U.S. GDP and productivity. The connection
goes a long way to explain why we keep losing jobs even as GDP is apparently expanding.

As our economy becomes less competitive due to higher taxes, burdensome and uncertain
regulations, and capital flight, more manufacturing and services will be outsourced to foreign firms.
However, the flaw in GDP calculation allows the output of those foreign workers to be included in
our domestic tally. Since we count the output but not the worker responsible for it, government
statisticians attribute the gains to rising labor productivity. To them, it looks like companies are
producing more goods with fewer workers.

The reality is that we are producing less with fewer workers. The added “productivity” comes from
higher unemployment and larger trade deficits. This is a toxic formula that will have lethal economic
consequences.

Don't expect the brain trust at the President's job summit to fret much about these details. That
public relations stunt will likely ignore the root cause of the economic imbalances and instead stress
the need for government spending on training and education, i.e. more public debt. The unemployed
do not need government theatrics, they need actual jobs. But as long as the government props up
failed companies, soaks up all available investment capital, discourages savings, punishes
employers, and chases capital out of the country, jobs will continue to be lost.

To really fix the unemployment problem, the President must look past his peers in government and
academia to understand how jobs are actually created. In the private sector, all individuals have a
choice to either work for themselves or someone else. Since labor is far more productive when
combined with capital (office equipment, machinery, business models, and intellectual capital), those
who lack these assets themselves often choose to work for others who have sacrificed to
accumulate them. This increased productivity is shared between the worker and the owner of
capital, and both are better off.

However, for one person or company to choose to offer a job to another, there must be an incentive
to do so, and they must have the necessary capital. In the first place, employers must commit to
paying wages and benefits, comply with government mandates and regulations, and subject
themselves to potential lawsuits from disgruntled employees. All of these costs must be measured
against the extra profits an employer hopes to earn by hiring an additional worker.

If profit opportunities exist, jobs will be created. Otherwise, they will not. Of course, anything the
government does to raise the cost of employment, such as a higher minimum wage, mandated
heath care, or greater regulatory burdens, not only prevents new jobs from being created but also
causes many that already exist to be destroyed. Anything that diminishes the profit potential of extra
hiring will diminish the number of job opportunities that are created. Also, since it is after-tax profits
against which employers measure risk, the higher the marginal rate of income tax, the less likely
employers will be able to hire.

Finally, in order to hire workers, employers must have access to capital to expand operations.
Anything the government does to discourage capital formation automatically diminishes job creation.
By running the largest federal deficits in history, Barack Obama is diverting all available capital to
the Treasury, and is in effect waging a war against private capital formation.
If the President's summit truly intends to find the root cause of unemployment, his advisers don't
need Bureau of Labor statistics or complex modeling software, just the courage to drop their
dogmatic belief in central planning and embrace the laws of economics.

Copyright © 2009 Euro Pacific Capital

What we need are employees that will accept jobs regardless of the title. There are jobs that are available, but many refuse them because they are criticized, because others feel that it is beneath an American to work those jobs. It's like my dad used to tell me "If you don't work, you don't eat." When the government has rewarded the refusal to work with suplements, what are we to expect ?

I think you were joking but you know we can't just print money cause then wed be in a bigger whole when the inflation caught up

My last sentence was meant as a joke, because that is exactly what the American people have become. Americans are too good to work menial labor jobs. It's either beneath them, or it's too hard for them to do, because of the handouts. We have to outsource jobs, because America is too rich and too pristine to perform those jobs.

If that's not it, What is it ?

America was built on blood, sweat, and hard work. Now we're a bunch of whiners, wondering how the government is going to take care of our sorry rear ends. Our current government as Hares has pointed out is enabling people to depend on the government. Rest assured what the government gives the government takes : http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091116/ap_on_...x_credit_pickle .

Any person with half a brain would realize these things. I don't blame the government, because they don't have a clue. I blame the American people for believing the rhetoric of politicians and promises that they can't keep. If you're not voting, writing letters to your elected officials, or letting your voice be heard. You will be silenced, by those with louder voices.

It's time to take back our government for the people, of the people, and by the people. Our Nation is too great, to be followers of the rest of the world. I believe in America, and I believe in the citizens of America. We have to draw a line in the sand, and say enough is enough.

It's obvious that the feds don't know this simple fact because they are doing this very thing....where do you think all of that stimulous money came from??? Where do you think the money for the health care will come from??? They are simply going to print more and more.....Ron Paul and the rest of us who are wanting to go back to the gold standard are being proven right each and every day the federal reserve is allowed to continue it's existence......

Dave, good article to share! Well, well, well, the taxman cometh... to EVERYBODY...

Let me see if I get this right.... we're having to pay our "stimulus" back, but we continue to keep bailing out companies and the feds......

And I sure hope when those who were going to get a "little" tax refund back, actually ask... hey, where'd it go... that someone tells them... oh, THAT'S THE HOPE AND CHANGE YOU VOTED FOR....