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U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

bloomberg.com

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Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#531

Post by vkou »

aphextron wrote: post #145
nimbius wrote: post #98

This is anecdotal and it might come across as bitter and tonedeaf as someone who is not in a STEM job and cant see the bigger picture very well. Im a diesel engine tech who repairs those big trucks carrying food and shit tickets to grocery stores. the fact that ANY market is completely detached from whats actually happening to Americans is frustrating. My job just cut benefits and hours but we're "essential." Remembe…

> No school means poor kids roam the street like packs of feral dogs asking for money for food around here. I think this is possibly the single biggest long term problem we're going to face as a result of all this. Economic recessions will come and go. But missing 5/8ths of a school year is going to be absolutely devastating for this generation of kids. They will be left permanently behind without a serious concerted…

> But missing 5/8ths of a school year is going to be absolutely devastating for this generation of kids.

It's not. The amount of learning that happens in a typical school year is not very high. The world can skip an entire year of school, and the educational cost it will pay will not be very high.

The cost of missing a year of childcare, that school provides, on the other hand, is pretty massive.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#532

Post by sethammons »

standardUser wrote: post #314
cpursley wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of people are calling for central planning of economies right now, and that's freighting if history is any teacher.

Examples of any influential individuals calling for overthrowing the current economic system and replacing it with a centrally planned economy?

While not influential per se, it feels like every response to "people need work / pay" is "the govt can save us, get back in your house moron." The only way that anyone talks about it working is the govt taking over and suspending this or that, paying for this other thing, a few trillion here and there. They are all saying "centrally planned economy" without saying it.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#533

Post by [deleted] »

mc32 wrote: post #503
DethNinja wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually I believe they sent a clear message that they want problems to get even worse. It is not even keeping the status quo at same level, at the face of this pandemic almost all world governments decisively pursued enriching the 1%. I only hope more people woke up to this fact and form a critical mass but I doubt it.

You can read if that way. What I see is them propping up business so that there are actual jobs to go back to once things stabilize. It does little good to send people thousands of dollars if when that dries up, and it would, there are no above board jobs to go back to.

[deleted]

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#534

Post by redisman »

baron_harkonnen wrote: post #257
nimbius wrote: post #98

This is anecdotal and it might come across as bitter and tonedeaf as someone who is not in a STEM job and cant see the bigger picture very well. Im a diesel engine tech who repairs those big trucks carrying food and shit tickets to grocery stores. the fact that ANY market is completely detached from whats actually happening to Americans is frustrating. My job just cut benefits and hours but we're "essential." Remembe…

Tech people will be hit much harder by this than they think. The STEM world is largely in denial because ultimately SV grew because of the last major recession. That won't be happening this time. Startups are having massive layoffs right now, and each week bring companies further and further down the chain lay people off. I strongly suspect we'll see more major layoffs next week. Most big tech companies are driven by…

I also feel pretty strongly that many companies have been hoarding engineers/etc. because they've been so flush with cash from places like SoftBank and because there has been no expectation of making a profit for the last 10 years. Then they make them work on a VPs pet-projects with not much business value and those will be reviewed fairly soon.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#535

Post by munificent »

mc32 wrote: post #417
base698 wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unrest starts when people had and lost. The people who were able to afford a BMW last year find themselves homeless this year. True Believer has lots of insight into the circumstances than lead to unrest. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer

I think it starts when people have nothing left to lose. There’s no hope to lose, there’s no illusion left. On the other hand, some societies can descend quite a bit and be okay with going into more or less survival mode: witness Russia.

Not "nothing less", but just less to lose than to gain. People are willing to gamble on a roll of the dice when the upside is larger than the downside.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#536

Post by bluedino »

nimbius wrote: post #98

This is anecdotal and it might come across as bitter and tonedeaf as someone who is not in a STEM job and cant see the bigger picture very well. Im a diesel engine tech who repairs those big trucks carrying food and shit tickets to grocery stores. the fact that ANY market is completely detached from whats actually happening to Americans is frustrating. My job just cut benefits and hours but we're "essential." Remembe…

>> No school means poor kids roam the street like packs of feral dogs asking for money for food around here.

In a lot of areas, schools are still open to serve breakfast and lunch to kids, school buses are dropping off food, and in states like mine, half the families are getting extra cash for food right now. Families will receive $193.80 total for March and April for each eligible K-12 student, and another $182.40 total for May and June.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#537

Post by lotsofpulp »

mc32 wrote: post #503
DethNinja wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually I believe they sent a clear message that they want problems to get even worse. It is not even keeping the status quo at same level, at the face of this pandemic almost all world governments decisively pursued enriching the 1%. I only hope more people woke up to this fact and form a critical mass but I doubt it.

You can read if that way. What I see is them propping up business so that there are actual jobs to go back to once things stabilize. It does little good to send people thousands of dollars if when that dries up, and it would, there are no above board jobs to go back to.

How nice of the governments to help businesses afford to eat instead of people.

There is no reason assistance to people has to go through business. The reason governments do that is because leaders own equity in the current hierarchy and definitely don’t want to disturb that by giving the lower classes leverage to demand better terms.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#538

Post by ancientworldnow »

asdff wrote: post #434
mc32 wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people will not want social unrest. Social unrest leads to chaos and unpredictability. A better alternative is the less sexy but more productive political action obviously with buy in from the power brokers. Unrest is what happens in Venezuela or Yemen, etc. it doesn’t always have to be like that as those are extreme; never the less unrest is a medicine that is in most instances worse than the disease.

Not even 3 decades ago all it took was a jury verdict for anarchy and looting to sweep across LA, requiring the national guard to put down the unrest. People were breaking into stores to steal diapers. What will be the breaking point this time around?

This intentionally ignores 100 years of oppression and institutional racism that was the actual powder keg. The verdict was just the striking of the tinder.

The exploding inequality and continuous safety net collapse in the united states could very well be a similar powder keg waiting for a match.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#539

Post by parsnips »

standardUser wrote: post #314
cpursley wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of people are calling for central planning of economies right now, and that's freighting if history is any teacher.

Examples of any influential individuals calling for overthrowing the current economic system and replacing it with a centrally planned economy?

AOC, Rashida Talib, Ilhan Omar. What do you think the Green New Deal is?

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#540

Post by coldpie »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #291
owenwil wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The thing that worries me is that by attempting to prolong it as long as we are, we are basically setting up a stage for a greater depression Killing thousands of people in the name of the economy would also set the stage for an even longer, deeper recession...

I wish we could not communicate in bumper stickers. I did not argue this in any way, but you jumped to a conclusion and I am not certain what that conclusion is based on.

A reply is not necessarily a disagreement or correction. They might just be adding their own opinion and thoughts on to yours.
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