From the Department of Employment and Economic Development press release:
“This is a broad-based recession that is affecting nearly every state and every sector of the economy,” said DEED Commissioner Dan McElroy. “But we are seeing signs that the economy might be improving nationally, including increasing orders for manufactured goods in February, a slight uptick in consumer confidence in March and stronger sales for existing homes.”
If you look really closely, you can see the graph start to level off:
And, then Best Buy lays off 1000!
I think that is GREAT news! Did we stave off another Great Depression? Things could have gotten bad, and fast. Did we do it?
Thank you government for being there for us. Let’s move on now to see the government regulate instead of using “hands on” control… and the regulations should protect the middle class and it’s ability to prosper.
I shudder to think where we’d be if McCain had won the election. No doubt, a world wide depression of epic proportions would be in full swing and we’d be looking back and wishing the unemployment rate was only 8.2%. President Obama’s plan has been bold, ambitious, and expensive. The price tag has been and will continue to be enormous but penny’s on the dollar compared to doing nothing. A year from now, when unemployment is down to 5% and spending has been brought under control and the manufacturing sector has experienced a tremendous boom and trend lines for middle class income have finally begun an upswing after 30 years of flatline, what will the teabaggers have to say? It’s the biggest fear of the conservatives. What will they do if President Obama succeeds? How will they cow their constituency into submission without something they can use to scare them. Gay marriage won’t do it. Gun control won’t do it. North Korea won’t do it. The GOP is headed for oblivion and good riddance. America’s 30 year experiment with fascism is over, thankfully. The republic has survived Reagan and Bush the elder and Bush the lesser. Not without tremendous damage being done but we survived. Now, President Obama is repairing the damage that the criminals Reagan and Bush have done. I’m optimistic for the nation.
Lunacy!
You’re right. All the Republicans have left is lunacy.
¡Viva Bachmann!
C”Rush”
What a perfectly representative, predictable, dittoheaded comment.
Great Rebuttal!
I agree with a lot of what you said and interesting to think of what might have happened if McCain had won. Hmmm.
However, I disagree with the GOP being “headed for oblivion and good riddance”. We need two parties so there is a balance.
Certainly, the GOP’s agenda of late is disappointing and even dangerous. They seem to be rallying a certain base, perhaps the “Moral Majority” base, as if it were the center of the party:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Majority
It’s disappointing to see the GOP opt to rouse fear, hate, and civil disobedience instead of advocating for balanced power, better and transparent communication to the citizens about what is happening and what power they still have… etc.
We need two parties so there is a balance.
Certainly, I agree.
“headed for oblivion and good riddance”
You have to understand, it’s a tough love kinda thing. Like any addict, the GOP is going to have to bottom out before it admits it has a problem. The teabag enablers will prop it up for a while but when the economic recovery starts, the teabaggers will get sick of being lied to like any enabler eventually does. The GOP will not emerge from the recovery with more then 20% approval. They will be seen as obstructionists. It will be known as the Bush recession and the Obama recovery.
Right, except re: the economy, we’re not SURE where the bottom is. Hopefully you are right about the teabaggers getting sick of being lied to… when people hurt they look for easy answers, yes? A little rebellion? A little civil disobedience? A little can become a lot, sometimes.
On the “hopefully they will realize” idea/ philosophy: I didn’t hear any of the teabaggers talking about the difference in their paychecks, for example…
Being known as ‘obstructionists’. I suppose ‘obstructionist’ behavior isn’t all that hurtful, if that is all it is.