This is a ridiculous story, honestly. What, is it a big secret that unemployment is super high? That jobs are almost nonexistent for those looking? When you do get a gig, you're basically underemployed? Those that have jobs are worried about losing them, and to ice the cake, no raises, increased costs for almost everything, and people are afraid of losing their homes.

in an environment like this, how the hell do you expect consumers to spend, spend, spend??? Get a grip, this is going to be one of the worst Christmas seasons in a long time, for reasons stated above. I mean really.... who's going to buy a new car or a flat screen when the economy is in the tank like it is.

Until people go back to work in droves, nothing is going to change. It's like we are all walking around in circles, and the only way to break it is the creation of new employment opportunities. Don't think that's freaking brain surgery to figure out, is it?

Hey, stupid in US government... help the consumers, not the bankers...

I agree where do they think this money is going to come from ? the sky? I am already in a no xmas mood

I need new clothes so what little and I mean little money I have I am spending on me for a change love my family don't get me wrong but they get a cookie and that is all this year.

I just bought brand new shoes in the Goodwill store - first time ever for me (for shoes). Paid 4 bucks. That is pretty much what I can afford right now.

It's because we are all spending our money on frivolous things like gas and food. And if by "consumers coming back" they mean the annual gorging on cheap chinese junk to wrap up and give to people who do the same thing, hopefully we will never get back to that.

I totally agree with you all! How stupid are the rich nabobs that run this country - and I mean ALL of them! They give the big companies and the banks all the breaks and I want to know - do they really believe that will fix things? Seriously? I'm supposed to feel bad about wanting corporations to pay taxes? Hey, they are 'people' now, according the Supreme Court! I'm supposed to feel bad about asking the wealthy to pay more taxes when they aren't having to worry about buying a winter coat for their child or keep the power running at their homes.

We have become a country built on the greed and wealth of a few and the rest of us get brushed aside as whiners or freeloaders if we need assistance.

Most of us have busted our behinds all our working lives. Just because a few abuse the system, we're painted with the same brush if we ask for help - help that (by the way) we've paid taxes into our entire working lives. Call it socialism, call it an entitlement, call it a friggin' unicorn, but the reason we pay taxes for unemployment and social assistance is in case we ever need it and for the disabled. Lazy my eye! I get so angry over this I could spit!

Well think about it -- how many shoes can you own? How many purses, coats can you wear? Has anybody been to Salvation Army stores and seen all the "stuff" that people give away? Sure, some of it is estate stuff - after death -- but a large amount is Americans hoarding, and just plum run out of room and have no need for all the stuff we buy. Everywhere you go in Chicago there's a store, I'm surprised more stores don't go out of business. You have grocery stores just feet away from each other out-pricing each other.

Of course consumers are tapped out.

Screw me once government, shame on you screw me twice... you know how it goes, I deal in cash now, if I don't have it I save for it.

Remember, all we need to do is give a tax break to the rich...........oh, and cut regulations too.......

Bloggitt is right, the price of gas is holding everything up. It costs too much to go anywhere and materials and goods are more expensive. All the stuff in stores is crap with phantom warranties, insurance costs just keep going up. ( Why does every damn thing have to be insured seperately?). Property taxes and govt fees are going up and health care is looming like a dark cloud over individuals and businesses alike. (Bad timing for that one , eh?) Repeal all the health care crap and take care of the nation's needs by freeing up money for people and business. Stop catering to lawyers, doctors, and corporations or the wholle shabang is going to freeze up. Rich people are rich enough. Give greed a break and mankind might survive.

And could you get rid of these annoying older and newer tabs they are a real pain in the ass....

There are jobs out there if you really want one. Those on unemployment are milking it for every last cent and many others aren't even trying to look. Grant it, they may not be the highest paying jobs but there are jobs out there and if you really want to work you will do anything it takes, even if it means working at Burger King, yes Burger King! Too many people would rather do nothing then work what they consider a job beneath them so they just sit on the couch and whine and complain about it. The economy is bad but it shouldn't be used as an excuse for people to be lazy.

LOL I mean really where have all these economic idiots been. the only reason we had an economy during the Bush years was because everybody spent more than they made. An economy based on credit will go nowhere. Now people are spending exactly what they make and guess what, good bye economy . Actually except for the tech bubble we are exactly back to what a normal US economy looks like with out the smoke & mirrors.No more tricks to fool everyone into believing we all have money. let face it the american dream is dead we all live from month to month and will go to our grave penniless.

This is what happens when you give the wealthiest 1% of the nation and a bunch of large corporations tax breaks, and expect this to somehow spur the other 99% of us to spend more money.

The economy won't recover until demand picks up, and demand won't pick up until regular people have money again.

Yes Tinlou, let's all work at Burger King and start spending............

Hire them and they will have something to spend---greedy ass corporations

We're sending a message, and it's we're too f'ing broke to spend!

It isn't the consumers that have gone AWOL. You can't spend what you don't have.

tinlou45

There are jobs out there if you really want one. Those on unemployment are milking it for every last cent and many others aren't even trying to look.

=========================

Let me guess.There's a reason your post has no votes. It's called stupidity. Your's is one of the most imbicilic posts I have read in ages.

Max, I haven't bought a pair of new shoes in 3 years, and I keep the older ones.

There are jobs out there if you really want one.

Says the "person" who has NO idea what is going on with this economy, or the unemployed.

@ imwhitewolf

Actually, I have 2 votes now. Normally I don't care about those things but since YOU are counting...

Hey "imwhitewolf" I for one agree with "tinlou45. The people I know that were on unemployment did exactly that. They "milked it" for all it's worth, at least a couple years. so phooey on you.

Maybe one day corporations will figure out that if people are working, then they can pay bills AND buy your crap. Hard to buy useless junk if all my money is going toward necessities. But no one has ever suggested that CEO's are intelligent people.

What????

Consumer spending and demand generates economic growth and jobs? This is BRAND NEW information...

Oh wait, some people have been saying this all along.

"It's because we are all spending our money on frivolous things like gas and food. And if by "consumers coming back" they mean the annual gorging on cheap chinese junk to wrap up and give to people who do the same thing, hopefully we will never get back to that."

That's right bloggit. They want to blame the people because we are not going out and running up the massive personal debt as most did before. It's just killing them, that people are now trying to live within their means and getting away from crushing debt. They also can't comprehend that many don't have a job anymore, and can't afford any debt what-so-ever.

Gotta keep feeding the banks all that interest money you know. Profits profits profits!

Another BS article for the gullible. Just look at the title; “Consumers go AWOL, slowing, or taking the recovery with them”, depending on which variation of the title one prefers.

They dare not speak the truth that there never has been any recovery as we’ve never emerged from the recession. Any activity they allude to are just what one would expect when people are just trying to survive. People still need to buy food, clothing, and even some big ticket items when absolutely necessary.

Yes, if the truth were spoken, it would say; the recession continues and the economy is in an extended period of stagnation and any change would only be for the worse, unless that change occurs in November 2012.

Its had to spend on more than just the basic necessities when you make half what you did 3 yrs ago!

Seriously? AWOL? Do you have a clue what that acronym means. It means Absent Without Leave. Are you saying that big business did not allow us to stop buying from them? And that there is no recovery yet is OUR fault because we won't buy their crap like good little soldiers? I stopped reading after the headline cause the headline was ignorant.You need a SERIOUS reality check! You have no business writing.

confirmed that American consumers are tapped out

Really? You mean a household making $80k having a $300,000 mortgage doesn't leave them with plenty left over at the end of the month to buy buy buy?

How could a massive mortgage, obtained during the "boom", possibly effect the average consumer?

So what defines an affordable mortgage? Very simple:

Affordable: Under 1.5 times household income

Upper limit: Twice household income

Strained: 2.5x household income

Bonkers: 3x household income

Instant poverty: over 3x household

So, slovenly consumers, where are you on the chart?

So now the failing economy is our fault. I wonder when the blame game is going to stop? As soon as we take our country back, thats when.

Consumers being AWOL doesn't mean they're saying it's their (our) fault nor are they saying to buy indiscriminately. All they're saying is that there is no consumer confidence... no demand. And you can cut taxes and regulation until you're blue in the face and absolutely NO JOBS will be created. I repeat... there is NO DEMAND. Stock your shelves and they won't come. Expand your business now and waste your hard earned money.

This paralysis was finalized with the jaw dropping last-straw Tea Party debacle and the debt ceiling. That's when all us consumers saw just how screwed we are and that we need to guard what nest-eggs we have left.

This isn't about unsure health care costs for business. This isn't unsure taxes or reguations with business. This is all about you and I being unsure that we will have a job... that we will have any equity left... that we'll still have any kind of 401K... or Social Security... or a pension... or Medicare... or will all our plans be nothing but garbage by the time this Congress is finished with us?

That's what this is about... and always has been.

So an economist want us to borrow money to spend on infrastructure that is not needed in order to increase my welfare. Figures.

Sounds like the Reeses commercial, no spending , no jobs, no jobs, no spending.

Stop the Canibals -

Taxes and regulations do matter. Texas was number 4 in Fortune 500 and 1000 companies around 15 years ago.

Now we have the most Fortune 500 and 1000 companies.

I'd like to say it's because we are special, but probably it's the lower taxes and regulations not being extreeme here.

So we are creating about half the jobs now. And leading international imports. (You can whine about the jobs not paying as much as they once did, or you can roll up your sleeves and compete with the world).

It's time for us to have an honest discussion about what will make us competitive again.

The same factors that bring jobs to Texas, take jobs from the US to other countries.

Our Federal Gov't doubled in size in the last decade.

That's not helping our economy.

People blame the wars ($1.3 Trillion in spending), but Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Portugal didn't spend much at all on military, and they are nearly bankrupt.

Our priority needs to be jobs, not Gov't.

We have got to become more efficient. That will mean cutting out middlemen. Make the tax code more simple, and we can use less accountants and IRS agents. Streamline torts, and we can use less attorneys. Cut regulations and handouts and less Gov't workers are needed.

Then those people will be available to do something else.

What I see as our problem is idle hands. Our system of paying people not to work (Welfare, Food Stamps, Section 8, Medicaid, etc.) is not going to cut it.

We have seen real declines in the US since we started the war on poverty.

Will it be a more hardnosed country? Yes. Will many have to work harder? Yes.

Example: we still hire illegals to pick our crops. Yet there are people in the farm towns getting welfare and not working. Yes, open jobs not being filled because we pay people not to work.

This has to change. We need all hands on deck. I have no idea why people can't see that we are in a crisis.

Our finest moment was during WW2, when we went to full employment. Even people at home grew gardens in their yards.

The only way out of the mess we are in is to work our way out.

That will mean working for whatever pay is available. In our Global Economy - we simply no longer can set wages where we want them.

I get that this will not happen. There are too many people that first will say: "Why does that other person have money, but I don't?"

And they have a vote, so they can use Gov't to take from some one else instead of earning it through work.

But that's what thieves in Prisons did. (Take from some one with more.)

It's time to end the denial. The world has changed. And unlike Greece, there is no one who will bail us out if we fail.

2/3 of Federal Spending is Entitlements.

Only 1 in 3 Americans work full time.

Andi, employees do not pay into unemployment.

Ryan in Texas,

There's a great idea! Let's get rid of all those government jobs. Then we'll have more unemployed people with no income! That'll get the ball rolling.

America's biggest companies, meanwhile, are weathering the recent slowdown relatively well: They've paid down debt and raised mountains of cash by cutting costs and keeping them low. Nonfinancial companies were sitting on more than $2 trillion in cash and other liquid assets at the end of June, the latest data available from the Federal Reserve. Cash now represents roughly 7 percent of all corporate assets, the biggest share in nearly 50 years.

Well at least we know the money didn't just evaporate. Will they spend the money abroad, keep it in the bank or spend it here at home?

Perhaps the FED gave us a clue when they changed the rates that they pay to keep money in savings. Money in savings will have to be spent instead of holding onto it if the discount rates keep going up.

http://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/statistics/dlyrates/fedrate.html

Government job, just another form of welfare

LMarcT: Your liberal blinders are stuck in the "on" position. I was enjoying your response and you just had to jump into the blame game yourself. If you want to blame lack of consumer confidence on just one side of the federal government , then you are certainly dilusional. You can thank the ENTIRE federal government for this debacle, not just one party or one branch thats not controlled by YOUR party. As for the failing economy and not wanting to spend money, the media shouldn't refer to us as "AWOL". We have been forced into this situation by a dysfunctional, broken, 2 party only government, and a relentless, mis-informing, manipulative media.

Ryan in Texas - I'm assuming the "Entitlements" you are referring to are Corporate Entitlements since payroll taxes and personal income taxes account for 80% of government revenues. Pretty good deal for the gov't when it can collect 80% and only give back 66, eh?

.... Shhhh Keep this quite but someone should tell Obama that 50% unemployment rate for African American males is bad ... by the way I think Obama's economic plan plan was written by the ....

.... KU KLUX KLAN ....

keep this on the down low cause we wouldn't want it getting out, people might think Obama was .... STUPID !!!!!

Consumers are being ripped off daily at the gas pumps and at the grocery store by Wall Street speculating in oil and food. Because it cost much more money to buy gas and food, money is not available to buy new cars, new televisions, etc...

You want an overnight bail out of Main Street by Wall Street? BAN oil and food speculation. The price of gallon for gas would be cut in half over night. Grocery bills would be substantially reduced. And this bail out would require no taxpayer money.

If it is OK for taxpayers to bail out Wall Street, then its OK for Wall Street to bail out taxpayers.

Ok American Business here how it goes no job=no money=no purchasing=no sales=no corpoate profits=no need for a billionaire CEO. I know I did not go to the Booth School at the University of Chicago but I bet that's exactly how it goes.

I also haven't paid less than $4 per gallon for gas in CA for about a year. But at least the caribou no one ever sees don't have to look at drilling towers in Alaska right?

I think Tinlou and his couple of fans are like the government officials and the writers of this article. They have no clue how most Americans really live. Their assumptions are based on their fantasies where there are plenty of jobs and money to go around. They don't see 1000 people standing in line to apply for 1 entry level job opening. They don't have to work part-time jobs or temp jobs that give no benefits. They don't have to pay for their own health care because they have no insurance. They don't have to lay awake at night wondering how they are going to buy what they need to survive and still have enough money to buy gas in order to go to work or look for work.

You might as well say that America is broke. The majority of people that economist count on to bail out our nation are broke. Most of the money in this country belongs to a small percentage of the population and they aren't sharing with the rest of us. Of course we aren't buying luxury goods. We don't even have enough money to buy what used to be called staples. If you don't believe it look at how fast grocery stores run out of Ramen noodles. It used to be the staple of teenagers and college kids and everyone else joked about it but now people are feeding their families with this cheap stuff just to have enough money to survive. This nation is in a pitiful state but it's not from lack on trying on the part of the population. We are trying to dig our selves out of the hole but we can't afford a shovel.

Economists need to grow up and so do some article writers.

There are a few places left where companies are hiring, yet all too often, those jobs barely pay enough to get a family of four out of poverty. There was a hiring fair this week in Muskegon, MI for a Johnson Controls plant there. Johnson, a major US manufacturer of auto and industrial batteries, among other products, was looking for experienced machinists and production workers for a couple of overnight production shifts, and yet, even the overnight weekend shift, four 10-hour overnights over the weekend, only paid $10.95/hour to start, or barely $22K per year. The story, on WOOD-TV online, went on to say that Johnson couldn't find the kind of experienced help that they were seeking either, at least not at what they were willing to pay.

It is no secret that if large numbers of jobs do not pay middle-income wages, consumer spending will not recover, and our GDP growth numbers will not recover either. 33 years ago I used to work as a junior set-up machinist in Cleveland for a medium-sized production company there. In 1978, at the age of 20, I was paid $7.70 per hour as a parts washer, and after a 6-month company-provided training program to learn to set-up a series of large multiple tool automatic lathes, my pay was raised in increments to $9.31 per hour during the Spring of 1979, working a regular Monday-Friday 2nd shift, at 9 hours per evening. The fact is, figuring the gross inflation rate since 1979 including food and fuel costs, that job would have to pay in the neighborhood of $33 per hour today just to have kept pace with inflation, so it is rather hard to believe that Johnson is hoping to savage their workers at 1/3rd of what my spending power was in 1979 at age 21.

In 1979 I shared a decent 2-bedroom two-story suburban townhouse with another guy from work, that rented for $190 per month. Our utility costs ran $35-$40 per month, gasoline was $79.9 cents per gallon, and even choice ribeye steak could have been had at the grocery store for $2.99/lb. In 1978 I managed to buy a brand-new Dodge full-size van for $5695, and even ordered it from the factory. During the Spring of 1979, my girlfriend and I managed to be able to afford a ski vacation in Colorado too, including airfare, lift tickets, meals out, and even the rental of a nice condo for the five days we were there. In 1979 my employer offered full paid group full-choice medical with no deductibles and no copays, plus 80/20 dental and vision, an employer-paid retirement plan, two weeks of paid vacation paid at my regular salary, plus 12 paid holidays, another full paid week off in July when the company did inventory, plus 5 sick days and 5 paid personal leave days. Our plant was air-conditioned and offered a full hot food service employee lunchroom too. We had 40 minutes paid for lunch and two 10-minute breaks during a 9-hour workday.

Since 1979, not only have the wealthiest 10% of Americans seen their incomes rise by 450% figured for inflation, but the bottom 70% in income have seen their average earnings fall by 40% too. In addition to the wage disparity, many middle and working-class jobs have been lost due to improved technology, as well as a more recent trend toward greatly increasing individual worker productivity while not matching productivity increases with pay increases. And, just since the end of Bill Clinton's Presidency, millions of middle-income jobs have been offshored, and not just blue-collar jobs either. It is little wonder that consumer spending per person has continued to drop off, and it will continue to do so until we get serious about making foreign trade fair to our own companies and their workers, instead of pursuing foreign trade policies seemingly designed to reap the greatest possible profit at the lowest possible cost no matter who gets hurt in the process.

One very certain way to greatly improve our GDP numbers would be to enact trade restraints against countries that refuse to honor our own standards of worker's rights and safety laws, as well as our own standard of environmental protection too. If we enact barriers against unfair foreign trade, we will bring large numbers of jobs back onshore, and while consumer prices will rise, so will wages, and so too will tax collections, which will eventually enable us to balance our Federal, State, and local jurisdiction budgets and enable governments to begin to hire once again too.

It is really hard to believe that anyone thought that offshoring our jobs to the lowest possible bidder who was willing to grossly violate our standards even moreso than the next guy would end-up in the best interests of most Americans. So what if the prices that we pay at our warehouse retail stores keep falling if our wages fall right off with them, along with the amount of taxes we have to pay that support our government too? Basically there is a direct line between the enactment of various unrestricted free-trade policies and where we find ourselves today, with many consumers not earning enough to maintain a level of purchasing necessary to sustain economic growth, let alone staunch government deficits and layoffs too.

So, if you want a redesign of our foreign trade policies where fairness to America's workers and their families is the primary consideration, then vote Democrat. In fact, if one side or the other does not have a 65% majority in the Senate, and the House, the Presidency, and a majority in the Supreme Court, nothing is going to get done, as these last three years are a grand testament to. If your primary motive is how much money that you can amass no matter who you have to step on to get there, might I recommend moving to China, where I hear that clawing your way to the top and stomping on the needs, hopes, and dreams of your neighbor is a respected way of life there.

If crack cocaine addition isn't good for America, can extreme wealth addiction in a system where we are supposed to have a limited money supply be any better for us??? A year ago the Democrats passed a bill in the House and sent to the Senate a mandate that would have enacted serious penalties for companies that tried to offshore American jobs, and the 41 Republican Senators stood together and filibustered it, voting instead to continue to allow American companies to offshore our jobs without fear of any consequence of doing so. Have the House Republicans who were elected on a job creation platform done or proposed anything to create jobs other than to try to pass even more unrestricted free trade policies that will allow American companies to steal even more of our jobs and sell them to the lowest bidder?

I'm sure that when you voted Republican in 2010 that you thought that the kind of job creation that the Republicans were proposing were jobs here at home, and not jobs overseas in places where their average wages will act to continue to undercut our own. Like I said before, vote Democrat if you want the US to return to a land where the needs, hopes, and dreams of the average American are a primary consideration instead of a barrier standing in the way of making more money than the next guy. Once our employment markets stabilize and begin to favor middle-income job creation, then consumer spending will return, along with the kind of economic stability that many of us miss so much.

Dag-gone Nick, gas here in Denver is only $3.29, and 10 cents less if you buy your groceries at a store with a gas station. Gas costs even less in Wyoming too. Perhaps you should give-up worrying about whether the Caribou in Alaska can survive and instead see if you can get some gasoline shipped out to California from here??? I'll guarantee you that it would cost less than 70 cents per gallon to ship it from here to there by train, and if you were willing to buy a single railcar-worth you could also buy it wholesale too.

The best thing for this economy is to collapse the commodities prices and they can do this by stopping all margin trading and must take possession first before selling into this market, this will drop prices in half withing the first day. Our wages have been deflating for years and we no longer can afford to pay for higher gas, food, rent, healthcare, insurance all at once. The Fed should do exactly the opposite of what they are doing now, they are NOT going to fix this economy with low interest rates, they are only destroying those people who were earning a fair return on their savings and were spending and now they are NOT.

"Consumers go AWOL...."

Wow, MSNBC....are you saying that the Economy is in a WAR and that Consumers (main street America) are SOLDIERS who went AWOL for not spending money ?

Next thing you will report is "Consumers are our ENEMIES".

Sheeeesh....you are sounding more and more like Mr. Obama's White House media staff.

Consumer CONFIDENCE and SPENDING will go up immediately after Mr. Obama EXITS the White House in 2012.

My nephew works at burger king and he told me every couple of hours kids come in and ask to for work. The embarassing thing he told me was people some white people in there 40s came in and asked if there was any work. ha ha haha ha haha. He said its embarassing to told to olds about wanting to work at burger king.

You want "consumers" to spend? Look to your corporate people who are sitting on 3 trillion. Make them spend. For the rest of our Wall St. Economy - eff you.

Even with jobs we're broke. Wages are going in reverse while rent, gas, food is all going up. I still can't believe that there are some who think less than minimum wage jobs are worth pursuing. I mean, those people may not be technically unemployed, but they still live in poverty, don't make enough to pay taxes and most still rely on some form of assistance. They are still drawing more from taxes than they pay except now they work in a system that is stacked against them with no hope of getting a better job. Jeez, if every company thought they could get away with paying less than minimum salaries we would see the poverty level soar while company coffers swell! They'll use that extra cash to lobby to keep wages at the new low or to simply line the pockets of the bosses.

add the cost of medical care, which eats up any increase in wages plus some.

It's true. Do you know what my job has been giving only the HARDEST working employees as raises? FIFTEEN CENTS. That's right. You read it right. And this is a Fortune 500 company!

And they want to know why people aren't buying shiny new items to show off to their friends?

How about my power bill...ya know, the one that has gone up $20/month for no reason. Or my crappy comcast bill...that too has skyrocketed. That's why I'm not going to Walmart to buy brass candle holders, new pots and pans or looking for a new car!

if consumer spending is 70% of the economy, then why weren't the citizens given a stimulus package,to start spending money and creating a demand for goods made in the u.s. wouldn't that have put a lot of people back to work?

May God strike dead the next person who says the unemployed are lazy and just milking the system.

Obama gave the Tax Payer a tax cut. Didn't you notice that extra $20 per week??

ms fortune, you are so on the money (pun intended).

We are simply seeing the delayed repercussions from outsourcing and shifting manufacturing overseas.

Which, you know, benefited stockholders, CEO's, the top 5%, you name it.

But not the middle class.

Two generations of $9 an hour jobs will destroy this country.

I know. AWOL makes it sound like we've all gone to other countries to spend our 'wealth'. Hahaha. I would laugh if it wasn't so pathetic.

With low employment and lower wages, how can people spend? If middle and lower class' account for 70% of consumer spending then we are in for a world of hurt. Don't these greedy corporations and employers realize they are shooting themselves in the foot? If people are making less money then they have less money to spend. They are basically going to put themselves out of business.

Why in the world would this author use "AWOL" when referring to us? It makes absolutely no sense. We aren't absent without leave. We were fired by our employers and big business. The only people that went AWOL is corporate America.

The bottom line is, you want me to spend more money then put more money in my pocket to spend. Can't spend what I don't have. It's not rocket science...

If the TARP program had simply been a check for $20,000 to each taxpayer, rather than money to the banks, I think we would all be better off. The banks would recover consumer debt and consumers could pay of debt and turn that into disposable income, thus stimulating spending.

The math seems to work on this. Any thoughts?

yakfitguy: that's a brilliant idea, to be honest. I would refinance my house and lower the payments so that I could spend more. Millions would pay off debt or just throw it back into the economy.

...too bad the average American has no pull with our elected officials... not like the banks do.

BINGO! bailing out the consumer bailes out the banks too. Where would you put that 20k? In a bank! Where you would buy things creating more liquidity in the economy.

"What exactly did they expect to happen when they yanked the rug out from under millions of long term unemployed while continuing to hand billions of dollars to the banksters, Wall Street thieves, and send billions more overseas to people who cash our checks one day and stab us in the back the next?"

This is what truly I don't understand.

Why is it more important to fund "entiltlements" to foreign countries than to take care of our own?

And the comment about getting us all to work for less than minimum wage, and the poverty level going up...it seems to me that is exactly what the Republicans believe in..Sorry to be party biased, but it's how it seems to me. Leave the rich (corporations) alone, lower their taxes, let them rape the land and pollute the water for profit, and screw the rest of us. If they keep it up, just exactly who will be buying their oil (gasoline), mortgages, stocks, insurance? They'll have to find newer and more clever ways to rip each other off...maybe with high prices for tickets to the moon to escape the mess they've made of this planet. Oh, no, I sound like a ranting lunatic...better sign off now.............

doomsday awaits!!!!!!!!!

Andi,

We might as well be doing that.

AWOL--Absent With Out Leave. Who's permission am I required to have to absent my money (or lack of it) from the economy? The banks? The government? I've got news for the writer of the phrase, it's not AWOL, it's just BROKE--as in , "I am broke." I have no money. Inflation, gas prices, interest rates, no raises, pay cuts, furlough days, unemployment, and on and on have severely depleted what little I had. And now I'm required to have permission to be poor? Wow, the someone who wrote this article and used AWOL as the descriptive term is a clueless fool that needs a job doing something else. Kicking us while we're down is just plain dirty.

Agreed, Americans are not dumb. And maybe it amounts to the same thing, but when I'm thinking about my daily spending, I'm not thinking I should save because I'm confused about the future direction of the US economy; I'm thinking that I should wait and eat a late lunch at home rather than grab a burger at Wendy's while I'm out running errands because the rent is due and I'm not sure whether I'll have a job after next quarter. Unfortunately, a lot of people are thinking along the same lines I am. Rent/mortgage comes due, bills need to be paid, and who knows whether a job is "safe" (assuming you have a job to begin with)? So I'm thinking of my weekly cash flow and wondering if I can save 20 cents on toilet paper, not thinking of the confused economy's impact on my buying a new car. In fact, I don't even think of discretionary purchases larger than say, spending $75 on a wedding gift.

I also agree that there is nothing we can do to affect the process. Companies are going to hire, or they're not -- nothing the Feds can do. And banks aren't lending to people since being stuck with a bunch of 30-year mortgages at 3% won't be seen as a profitable move when interest rates go back up.

What's short-sighted about this perspective is that companies without a large export base may fail because we can't afford to buy their products. And when interest rates go back up, banks may find their consumers are banking at organizations that did give them that 3% mortgage, and are now getting a new car loan from that bank instead.

I don't know the answer, and I'm not sure that anyone really does. But I think that corporations are going to have to make the first move in breaking this vicious cycle. Without a reasonably paying job, the average consumer isn't going to help us spend our way out of this. You can't get blood from a stone.

I couldn't agree more. The recent squabble in Washington over to raise the debt ceiling or not, just destroyed any confidence that business or the consumer had in the government or in the economy.

Carl is correct, plus think about this: How many more shoes, coats, jewelry, shirts can you squeeze in the closet? How many more of these "stuffs" do we need?

tweet, businesses lost confidence in the economy when government started pushing for new taxes based on carbon emissions. We are already loosing a price battle against Chinese manufacturing and our own government wants to pile additional cost on to manufacturing here in the US. It seems they are trying to hurt manufacturing more then trying to help local manufacturing.

Gary, coal fired powerplants cannot be outsourced to China.

One of the reasons our government is powerless to force companies to keep jobs here or to impose tariffs on imports is because these very same companies have an oversized representation in our government. They can see to it that their will overshadows the will of American citizens or true American companies who have brick and mortar homes on American soil. What should piss everybody off, conservative and liberal alike, is just what Carl said - namely the definition of an American company is becoming muddied with so many multinationals. Is BP an American company just because some of its offices and employees are American? Is Texaco? Why should these companies(and many others) have any ability to influence or be represented in our politics when such a sizable portion of the company's makeup is foreign? Why don't we just let anyone from anywhere in the world give money to a campaign or send a lobbyist to Washington? Would we be offended if the Saudi prince bought an ad on prime time to tell us what to think about climate change or energy policy? Of course, we would tell him to go back to his sand dune of a country! Why then do we not balk when a giant energy company with Saudi ties tells us the same thing? Are we really fooled by the American actor they put out front? I'm so far picking on the oil companies, but they aren't the only ones by far.

Allowing any group of people who are not entirely American to have a say in America's governance abolishes the idea of America as a sovereign nation. We instead become nothing more than a market where anyone can decide our fate for their own benefit. And they are deciding it with every lobbyist and under the table sack of money, just as we decide the fate of other countries with our military. It is an occupation. When we vote we are just selecting the figureheads who will carry out the multinationals' business. Sure some of our elected officials try to put up a fight, but their power weens every year - and with every vote by our "supreme court."

The heads of these companies are from all over the world and they are pulling this scam in every corner of the globe. They are building entities that operate independently and above the level of national governments. We are all tied to them in some way and their power only grows while the governments of the world become less and less able to maintain a balance. We have seen the effect of these companies on weaker governments in the third world, now they will do to America what they have already done to places like Nigeria.

Welcome to corporate dystopia.

Carl Lafoon.

Americans are not dumb

====================

Unfortunately I disagree. All one needs to do is read many of the posts on this site (not just this story), USAToday, etc. and one comes to the conclusion that Americans have been dumbed down.

Cherie

The rich DID create the jobs after the Bush tax cuts took effect. The US Treasury was taking in more revenue that ever before in history up until 2007. The problem has been the fact that the democrats took over Congress in 2007 and everything went to hell. You have to stop blaming the rich for the mistakes of the progresive/liberal's.

You're wrong. Bush's tax cuts actually lowered revenue. Do some research.

No, Julie, you do the research; I'd suggest usgovernmentrevenue.com. It tells a different story than you do.

spider, that's a conservative website. The data is biased.

The revenue of the government doesn't mean much to people on main street. You're mixing apples and oranges.

The bottom line is that buying Chinese goods make little in the way of American jobs. The outflow of jobs from the US is in step with the outflow of our money buying foreign goods.

Of course the Bush tax cuts have impacted our debt negatively.

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/320-80/6089-thank-george-w--again

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/obamas-and-bushs-effect-on-the-deficit-in-one-graph/2011/07/25/gIQAELOrYI_blog.html?fb_ref=NetworkNews&fb_source=home_multiline

Believe it or not, there is one common thread on both sides of the political debate and that is we all oppose special interests’ influence on politics and policy decisions. Democrats, Republicans, Tea Partiers, Libertarians, right-wing, left-wing, liberals, conservatives, you name it – they all agree on this one issue. Imagine that!

Do something about it. Go to: getmoneyout.com and sign the petition then pass it along. Be a part of the solution by working to ban all political contributions, whether from corporations, political pacs or individuals.

All of us, no matter what our affiliation, need to take back our government.

If you owned a "corporation" that was sitting on a pile of cash, and everything was working ok for you, would you then go out and spend this pile of cash hiring people just for the fun of it? You have no work for these people to do, but you're just going to pay them anyway? How long do you think your company would last? What about all those people whose 401k's are tied to your performance? What about all the people you already have working that would lose their jobs?

Do you people have any clue what business is about?

Did you hear the one about the "GOLDEN GOOSE"?

Hey Al, are you trying to tell us that you believe in trickle down? Its a myth, it doesn't work. Did you miss the last decade?

http://www.faireconomy.org/research/TrickleDown.html

lib50,

I guess so.

chicken, egg, chicken, egg, chicken, egg,

chicken, egg, chicken, egg, chicken, egg,

chicken, egg, chicken, egg, chicken, egg,

They are hiring. Hiring in China. How do you expect Americans to get jobs when we don't make anything anymore? We don't make anything anymore because people are happy with third rate WalMart goods that come from China. Follow the chain here.

Consumers dug their own hole. Corporations went with the market trends. Now that push is coming to shove in more and more peoples' lives you expect a miracle cure? Who do you expect to hire whom to make what product? There's nothing there anymore. The flow of goods made elsewhere needs to be slowed prior to job creation here. That's the crux of it.

JP:

You should stop talking. You don't have a clue. The reason people don't have jobs is because there are people in this world that will work for 1 tenth of the wages we demand. It's because you fools all bought Toyotas, and now GM and Chrysler and Ford have laid off hundreds of thousands of people because you don't buy their cars. And all the companies who make the parts can't compete with foreign labor either. And don't tell me about Toyota plants in USA. The profit still goes to Japan instead of to American investors. You have strengthened Japan and weakened America every time you buy a Honda, or any other foreign products.

GM and Ford weakened themselves by making c^ap that sucked. If they had focused on making good quality vehicles that weren't gas guzzling pieces of trash then they wouldn't have had problems with the asian cars.

There is no reason for a company to hire people it doesn't need...and they won't. Apparently, they (the companies) are doing just fine with fewer American employees. Some of the so-called "manufacturers" have hired lots of people in other countries, however.

chicken, egg, chicken, egg, chicken, egg,

chicken, egg, chicken, egg, chicken, egg,

chicken, egg, chicken, egg, chicken, egg,

Too bad we have to import most of our energy. Isn't this want Obama wanted - to "necessarily skyrocket" the price of energy?

No it is what Bush wanted.

The true cost of fossil fuel energy is disproportionately subsidised, both with real dollars in the form of tax breaks for big oil, and in environmental damage that is not paid for by producers in the form of acid rain, tar balls on beaches, and particulates that slowly kill our citizens, and that sets aside the total right wing denial of the ultimate costs of global warming. Consumer behavior will never change without policy incentives in the form of economic advantage of renewables over fossil/finite energy. America will never resume its world leadership role as it was until we lead by example. Energy is a good place to start. Tarrif the heck out of Chinese solar pannels until the factories move back here, along with the jobs. Do the same with other products until we get a balance of on-shore off-shore, with the tarrifs determined by the payroll difference between the offshore and onshore operations of the company, not the industry. Fix the tax code, comprehensively - no loopholes or gimicks - so every business and every individual knows EXACTLY what their responsibility is going to be. Don't try to charge for carbon output - figuring out how who and how much is a nightmare for our businesses and government. Instead, charge for carbon content in fuels as a surtax to level the playing field for renewables and use the proceeds for infrastructure. Charge a 0.01% surtax on energy consumption, regardless of source, for national debt reduction that can only go against national debt, and when the debt is gone, the surtax goes away. Charge a 0.01% surtax on equity transactions (stock trades), regardless of source, for national debt reduction that can only go against national debt, and when the debt is gone, the surtax goes away.

These steps would bring jobs back to our shores, increase the diversity of products manufactured here in the USA, decrease uncertainty in our economy, and eliminate our national debt. All done through the use of market forces.

terriels, I knew it was Bush still causing this mess ;o)

The price of oil is set on the world market. It doesn't matter where it is drilled from. If Exxon drills it in Texas that oil belongs to Exxon - not America - and they will sell it at the going rate, whether they sell it here or in Japan. More oil production in North America may bring the price down slightly when it makes it to the market (likely in many years), but by then our dependence on oil will have only deepened since we spent the money on oil rigs instead of alternatives or higher mileage vehicles. Since oil is a finite resource we should be figuring out how to go as far with less, not simply how to get more of it at the same price. That gives us more bang for our buck and could create just as many jobs.

mominnj - you're an f'n a$$. shut up

MOMINNJ has a good point. Who would buy overpriced solar panels from Solyndra, et al, if cheap electricity from plentiful American natural gas prices them out of the market? It's in the current administration's interest to keep energy artificially expensive to promote their "Green jobs agenda."

How does a country continue with entitlements when the cash is running dry. Isn't there a point when being humanitarian causes bancruptcy. Doyou proscribe to go over that point in the name of humanity?. Sorry, when the cash runs out, so should the food stamps, and any other crutch that sustains one and keeps one from actually doing something positive about their situation. Every one should take care of themselves and family, I'm tired of paying for the entire countries woes. i work hard. I do whatever i have to to maintain employment and i don't make excuses for why things are the way they are. Personal responsibility has gone the way of cassette tapes. Everyone wants help. Help yourself and stop whining you mooches.

I decided to pick up a new 42" Flat screen last weekend, early Xmas gift to myself. this weekend i will be hitting Macy's to update my tired wardrode, and maybe grab some new shoes to match. There is no recession at my home and my kid will still have a great Xmas, like he does every year. No soup kitchens over here. We;ll be having turkey and a Ham this year, thanks to my bonus. And my company, and my department in particular, actually lost money this year. See, these are the perks you can get when you don't have a union to f&^%^ things up and muddy the water.

Dom, Did you notice that your posts didn't get any votes? If you're doing so well, why don't you already have about 3 or 4 42" flat screen T.Vs? They've been out for years now. Frankly, I don't believe you. People that brag about what they have usually don't have anything! Prove it to me you insensitive a$$hole!

Me thinks Dom gave himself his one vote. What a pompous jerk. What's scary is that he has been breeding - apples don't fall far from the tree.

Brugmansia: "Obama is to the right of center."

Hahahaha

What world are you living in?

Doing just fine? Shut up - you sound stupid!

How can you not understand? Businesses are not going to hire people they don't need. The person who made that decision would be fired. The business wouldn't survive, and EVERYONE would lose their jobs!

Don't you people understand how business works? Stop looking for a handout!!!

Al,

You ever hear of Henry Ford? Why did he pay his employees so much?

Well, of course the wealthy and corporate America are playing it their way. They can afford to take the short-term hit when the bottom drops out of the economy and we have ourselves a second Great Depression. History tells these fatcats that once the middle class is effectively eradicated, and unemployment skyrockets to 35%-40%, they will have a bumper crop of needy people begging to get work at any wage they can get (music to a millionaire's ears). A short term loss when their stocks tank, but they know they will make it back 100-fold if they just hold firm and weather the storm.

What the wealthy may not fully understand, though, is that we (the working and unemployed poor) will outnumber them 50-to-1....can you say "French Revolution"? A game of chicken, indeed!!

Many a great civilization, (Roman, Greek, Russian Empire),has crumbled with the disappearance of the middle class.

Actually, the fall of the Roman empire is normally marked by most historians as when the Romans started to give land to their slaves. So much for your theory.

east coast, you must be listening to quack historians. I've studied Roman history and not once was that a given cause for the fall of Rome. There were lot but that wasn't one of them. In fact I've heard some give credence to what Alice Mc said. The main ones are:

Rome splitting into two.

A too long succession of bad emperors. There was bad emperors before but you had good ones inbetween like Trajan, Hadrian and Vespasian. The bad ones wasted money on themselves instead taking care of Rome as a whole so they let infastructure decay in the "middle class" and poor areas.

A horrible plague that some historians call the first real Black Plague.

Too many invasions from Germanic Barbarians and Rome had sacked more than once. One by the Visigoths that could have been avoided if the Romans hadn't treated the Visigoths so horribly.

There were many reasons why Rome fell but yours, east coast, is not one of them.

Still you can't really compare Rome to us. You want a better comparison? Look south of the border. Mexico had no minimum wage, no regulations on corporations and basically no labor laws. Do we want to be like Mexico where most of the people are dirt poor and many children have to work instead of get an education. Think of the reason why so many illegal aliens are trying to cross the border.

We are so screwed.

You Paul are a LIAR. You are no Republican and never were.

BCR, So you're claiming that Lex Sempronia Agraria had nothing to do with the fall of Rome? You're not much of a student. It was Lex Sempronia Agraria that ultimately divided Rome and a divided Rome couldn't stand because of the massive overhead of the public works.

Instead of just telling me I'm wrong put up some proof of it. I see you got people to vote you up but it had more to do with saying what they wanted to hear than what they know about Roman history.

Just be careful who is in bed with your Democratic candidate. Smoke and mirrors?????

That's OK Optomyst, the t party has already fu@$#@ most of us and is trying to get up the vaginal of those it hasn't reached. So, what do I care if someone is trying to fu@#$# the Democratic candidate?

Eastcoast, Lex Sempronia Agraria was about giving land to the poor not the slaves and it was also put into effect in the year of 134 B.C. which was 610 years before Rome Fell. This was even well before Rome reached it's peak. I would say you are not much of a student.

Makes perfect and logical sense, doesn't it? Demand creates the need for increased supply, therefore creating the need for more jobs. Wow.....what a concept!!

Now.....how does one increase demand? Well, the supplier can make a higher quality product and sell it at a cheaper price, for one. But, that would mean a short-term hit to corporate profits. The big boys upstairs won't go for that! Too risky!! Or, they can start paying their employees more, so they'd have more money to spend, thus creating demand. Nope, fatcats upstairs say more money in the employees' pockets mean less money in their own pockets....not a chance! After all, they need that fat paycheck to make their payments on their summer homes in the Hamptons!

Or....the government can "twist their arms" a bit, through regulations and such....nahhh, they'll just pull up stakes and move their businesses offshore. The only other way is to stimulate consumer spending by the government giving tax breaks or stimulus monies to the masses. And still, the wealthy don't like it!!

Here's what needs to happen in the short term, since corporate America seems to think they don't need to "invest in America".....take away their corporate tax breaks! Tax capital gains at the same rate as income taxes. This isn't a tax increase....this is paying what you owe! You won't take that leap of faith in the "American workforce", you don't get to enjoy any tax breaks or incentives! Then, take the increased revenues and share it with the American consumer. Voila! Increased demand for goods.....followed by more job openings....it's that simple!

As soon as the wealthy minority understands that they are just that....the minority, and that the greater good of the country should take precedence, then we will start to get this country back on track again.

Also, they need to punish businesses for offshoring to the point where it is not worth it. My company is in the process of offshoring hundreds of jobs to our Manila office. There isn't a tax break in the world to change that. They just like the savings. If the government were to now place tariffs on anything created in Manila that was previously created in the US that would send a strong message. As it is it's all better for the share holders. Oh, and never mind that we are losing customers in droves because the quality of our products has taken a nose dive. Funny how upper mgt can't see the correlation. The people in Manila aren't paid enough to care about putting out great quality and those people in the US who still have jobs are busy looking for jobs elsewhere, because they wonder when they're next in line to be sold out.

After they get their tax cut, the problem will be the minimum wage. Just imagine how many jobs the job-creators could create if there were "no stinken minimum wage" laws.

That's right B707320C- Let's all race to the bottom!

So simple and yet, corporate America doesn't seem to get it. Also, minimum wage = no consumer spending. Another thing they don't get. People on minimum wage still need food stamps to survive. So now the government they love to hate so much still has to subsidize corporate greed. That's just wrong.

Why? The consumers would be just as fast to send their money to China. Probably faster. The banks are greedy, yes, but there are no jobs to create since everything we need is imported.

Time to end free trade for countries like China and place heavy tariffs on goods that have been manufactured with the benefit of heavy government subsidies. THAT is why we can't compete. It's an unfair advantage and it needs to end.

Believe it or not, there is one common thread on both sides of the political debate and that is we all oppose special interests’ influence on politics and policy decisions. Democrats, Republicans, Tea Partiers, Libertarians, right-wing, left-wing, liberals, conservatives, you name it – they all agree on this one issue. Imagine that!

Do something about it. Go to: getmoneyout.com and sign the petition then pass it along. Be a part of the solution by working to ban all political contributions, whether from corporations, political pacs or individuals.

All of us, no matter what our affiliation, need to take back our government.

Okay, legalize marijuana. This is what will happen:

First, the drug cartels in Mexico and South America will scramble for other sources of income and will most likely turn to outright extortion, protection rackets, and other scams to maintain their control, or even go so far as to use their resources to foment public insurrection or civil war that could turn Mexico into another Somalia. In this country pot will get cheaper--for awhile--until the growers see no profit in it anymore and switch to other more profitable (and still illegal) drugs or other organized crimes.

Meanwhile, employers will have another excuse to exercise discrimination though mandatory drug tests of their employees (don't think for a moment pot-smokers will be "protected" by the EEOC). Expect to find complainers, older employees, those with unpopular sexual or religious affiliations to go first if they're caught "on the weed".

It'll be a field day for the insurance industry, who will not waste a moment to use drug tests to impose top-rate premiums for health and auto insurance and have the statistics ready to back them up (if they don't already). This will affect not even pot-smokers, but their entire families as well as insurance companies will surely cite "second-hand-smoke" as the reason. Whole communities will be zone-rated based on the percentage of pot-smokers in their area and be penalized just for living on the same street (it costs as much to fix a car hit by a pothead as it does to fix the pothead's car). Don't think for a moment they won't take advantage of that and instantly too.

It'll be open season for predatory litigators who will find a whole new industry in pot-related lawsuits involving everything from a slip-and-fall in a grocery store (the clerk was stoned and so he didn't mop the floor right), to medical malpractice claims (my 102 year old Uncle died because his nurse was rolling a doobie at the time), to civil lawsuits where the slightest slight can be blamed on the presence of cannabis somewhere on the planet. Stores and hospitals will have to carry pot-liability riders on their liability and health insurance policies if even ONE of their employees is a pot-smoker!

So go ahead, legalize pot. When the users find themselves disenfranchised from society by employers, insurance companies and other free-market forces, that may just be the best solution to the whole abuse problem!

Merlin since most hiring is done by small businesses, the same small businesses that have taken a beating in this economy, do you expect them to carry new employees while hoping the economy will get better? My guess is that you don't have a business, and you never plan to pony up the money ,put everything you own on the line, and start your own small business.

There is still 91% that are working.

Since the majority of consumer goods made in China and elsewhere, purchasing them only helps greedy Wal-Mart = minim wage jobs and not the big pitcure

91% huh? Where do you get that figure???

The unemployment rate is based on people that file for unemployment. It does not include people that do not file, nor people that had their benefits run out. Also it does not include unemployed illegals.

The real unemployment rate is much higher than 9%.

Deflationary crash cannot be avoided after credit inflation runs it's course. FED made credit easy for decades and America borrowed. When we borrow, banks create money. This new money inflates the money supply. However it comes with strings attached. Entire money supply is borrowed. It has principal + interest to pay. So the money supply is the principal of the debt, but interest portion is not created yet. So at a given time, if we want to pay debt with interest, we must borrow. If borrowing stops, deflation starts:

www.kondratieffwavecycle.com/credit-inflation/

This is why Bernanke is printing money and we are not seeing inflation. Because debt is deflating at the same time.

Why. I do not want to give out billion dollar advice for free . Sounds funny. I the banks failed. I the finincial incompetence is staggering. Its all these people did not deserve these high paying jobs. They stuffed it up. Like all stuffs they should of been the ones to suffer. The real problem here was the government was infiltrated with these demons. The lies in the Times magazine make me want to puke.

I work for a large construction company under a contract. We have alot of contracts to smaller firms. I got to know alot of the people. I do not know anyone who got a loan who did not have a job or have income to pay for it. A whole bunch of these people dumped there housing when it was worth less then what they owed to the bank.

What really happened? The banks and finincial firms thought they could sell housing to people on low wages and then they would lose the houses afterward. I know its true. I remmber 2007 and some of the trades and labor people told me about getting a loan about 200k to 500k. I go. Damn thats a big loan. Then later the same people tell me after 5 years the rate was going to be double.

I should of pulled out my 401k after seeing this. I really think they pulled a fast one on these poor folk.They were paying interest on loans of 12 to 14% . I go are you crazy. I thought 6 or 7% was high ha ha.

The banks tried to dupe the poor folk and its really fraud. There are individuals responsible for this mess. They all got away with it.

Some are still with the infammy.

Angelo Mozilo of country wide,

THe biggest SOn of B&^^%, Phil Gramm. He was the guy in the senate banking. The guy who repealed the Glass-Stegal Act. It was put in place in 1930s to stop this from happening. All the banks came along. All those banks came in and said. NO we are not like the people in the 1930s.

yes they were. They are ordinary people or even less then ordinary. They are no good bums who cant do there job and failed. They should of been allowed to fail. Take there bitter medicine. We should of broken up the banks. Now we get bank fees and economy to no where.

Then the banking boy , Hank Paulson, The goldman sachs implant to become US treasury man. He helped the banksters more.

The SEC had there head so far up there ar++. They still let the animals off.

Now the ones who were suppose to see this. The last possible check and it failed.

It was the Rating agencies. They lied. They got paid. They didnt know what they were rating

Standard poors, Moodys, Finch rated the junk and rubbish as good. They should be destroyed.

Now even Alan greenspan " I made a mistake in thinking that the financial firms could be trusted to self regulate".

Alan the wizard came down and said HE F+++ED BIG TIME.

Can't trust. Thats the problem. They are criminals with neoptism and lieing as there trade.

BREAK UP THE BANKSTERS. STOP THE BANKING FAMILIES FROM RULING AMERICA>