CARRIERE —
Editor:
About a week ago, Fed Chairman Bernanke held a press conference — very rare and unusual for him. His concerns at that moment were the congressional deadlock on the debt limit, the end of the second Quantitative Easing (QE-II) and the slowness of the economic recovery from the Deep Recession. A reporter asked him why he thought the recovery has not been better — and surprisingly (to me) he said he didn’t know.
Which has got me to thinking: Why haven’t we seen a more vigorous recovery?
First, here are some present economic-related conditions: 1) Unemployment is 9.1% and seems unlikely to make any substantial fall in the near future. 2) New home construction is at record low — the lowest since records have been kept in the past 60 years — when the U.S. population was much less. 3) Consumer Confidence Index in May 2011 has been falling — to a reading of 58 from a top of 110 in mid-2007 (100 is average). 4) Gas price in early June were at, over or near $4 a gallon. 5) U.S. corporations are sitting on $1.1 thousand billion (that is one trillion) in cash, profits are rising, but few corporations seem interested in investing this cash in expansions of their businesses. 6) There has been until this week, an under-spoken concern about America have a “double-dip” recession or going into a deflationary trend.
The common explanation I hear for America’s business lack of aggressiveness is that there is a climate of uncertainty. Maybe business leaders are justified in being uncertain, to wit: A) In an over-reaction to the “no down payment” mortgages of the 1990s and early 2000, mortgage lenders now require 20% down payment. With 24,000,000 Americans either unemployed, under-employed or have given up looking for work, and many fearful of losing their jobs; how many can come up with the 20% down payment. So we have the fewest new homes being constructed — and the construction industry has historically accounted for 1 in 8 jobs. B) Federal banking regulators are now requiring that major banks build up their capital ratios from about 7% to 9.5%. In the case of J.B. Morgan/Chase, this will mean putting aside an extra $35 billion. This is just one bank. This may mean that a couple of hundred billion dollars is going to be taken out of the lending market - and lending is what contributes to economic growth. C) Boeing is #1 or #2 in the U.S. in the export of manufactured goods. They have built a huge new manufacturing plant in S. Carolina is a “right -to-work” state. Boeing has a backlog of orders — mostly for international sales and can’t expand. What a chilling effect this must be having on CEO and corporate boards who might be contemplating an expansion on American soil. D) United States has huge untapped natural resources off its three coasts and in Alaska. It has discovered virtually unlimited natural gas deposits on American soil, and has the technology to convert coal to oil or gas. But the Government is not allowing industry to fully tap these resources. And energy is the backbone of industrial growth. E) The poor of the world are now suffering from increases in commodity prices, particularly corn. Yet 25% of U.S. corn production is taken out of food usage to make an additive to gasoline. F) American business is waiting to learn how they will be affected by over 200 new regulations that are going to go into affect from the passing of the Dodd/Frank Financial Bill, which passed Congress last year. Add this to the uncertainly about how ObamaCare rules and regulations will affect every corporation. (Co-incidentally — it was the same Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, Chairmen of their respective House and Senate sub-committees that in 1995-96 hauled S & L industry leaders before their committees and told them: “Every American family should be a homeowner”.)
If American business leaders are “uncertain” — seems to me they have some legitimate reasons for their uncertainty.
John Charles Rosen
Carriere
Letters
America’s Economic Quagmire
- Letters
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Palazzo's stand on disaster relief embarrassing
Dear editor,
U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo's recent vote against funding to pay flood insurance claims of Sandy victims should provoke embarrassment and disgust in Mississippians irrespective of individual politics. -
Letter to the Editor
Editor:
I would like to address the problem of unwanted animals being dumped in rural areas within the county. To those animal owners that do not want their animals anymore, for whatever reason; please be responsible and try to find a new home for your animal. -
Letter to the Editor
Never in the history of our nation has a president been reelected who has caused 23 million unemployed, 6 trillion of debt and a certainty that his policies will continue on steroids. Economics 101 would refute these policies. He told his followers to “vote for revenge.”
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We need checks and balances
Dear Editor,
Never in the history of our nation has a president been reelected who has caused 23 million unemployed, 6 trillion of debt and a certainty that his policies will continue on steroids. Economics 101 would refute these policies -
Butler Now contract raises questions
Dear Editor:
The new contract with Butler Snow creates many unanswered questions. First, after pleading poverty before and during the budget hearings, why is it necessary to spend over $450,000 dollars to hire a firm to do what we already pay the supervisors to do? It’s obvious that the taxpayer was the least considered party to this one-sided contract. Once again, the supervisors have validated one of the 5 characteristics of government. “The few who pay taxes are simply a source of revenue to fund the socialist policies of politicians and their politically connected cronies.” -
letter to the editor
Editor;
I had long feared that Obama would be reelected to a 2nd term due to his policies that inordinately benefitted and increased the size of the dependency class -— who would then overwhelmingly vote for him. -
Need to thank Mississippi farmers
Editor:
As a member of the agricultural community that provides food and fiber for the 98% of the population that is not involved in farming, I want to thank all of you for your support of this most vital industry in Mississippi. -
Letter to the Editor
Editor: I had a nightmare that I was in the middle of a presidential election.
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Letter to the Editor
Editor;
Gene Lyons is a master of inneundo and obfuscation as illustrated in his column in the August 30th Item. He starts off by intimating that Mitt Romney lies a lot and then cites 2 probable lies and 1 direct accusation of lying. That’s a total of 3. -
letter to the editor
Editor:
Was the reverse 911 used to warn county residents about the flooding danger. I experienced this first hand at 2:30 a.m. while bringing my wife to work in Picayune. I started to investigate and get the word out to media outlets and the only one to pick up on this was WGNO TV in NOLA. - More Letters Headlines
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Palazzo's stand on disaster relief embarrassing
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