Employment figures clearly show that this is much more than a cyclical recession. It is the breaking of an historic credit bubble, made worse by the Fed's policy responses and recommendations on banking regulation since 1994.
If you look closely at the chart below, you will see that if you subtract the temporary government hiring for the Census, there is no recovery in employment. It is flat. With all the trillions spent so far, why is there such a weak response?
You cannot kick start something with a quick blast of stimulus if it is still broken. So any stimulus to the economy or subsidies to the banks that are being applied are essentially wasted, until the system is significantly reformed and restructured. That is the problem.
Worse than wasted really, because it robs future governments of the ability to engage in constructive action. Like a third world country, the pigmen were the first to the trucks, with the help of corrupt politicians, and are stealing the aid intended for the public and have been hoarding it.
Stimulus. Reform. What we have seen so far from the Congress, the Fed, and Wall Street is simply white collar looting, and ironically in a crisis which they created.
And when the investigations and trials come later, which they will, watch how the pigmen claim complete ignorance of any wrongdoing even in their own companies or at most a few sincere errors in judgement, just like the CEO's and bankers and the financiers have been doing already in front of the Congress and the FCIC.
Hyprocrites and liars playing the public, whom they secretly despise as their inferiors, for fools. This is the prevailing attitude in Washington, the mainstream media, and on Wall Street.
This excellent chart is from Calculated Risk.
And as an aside regarding purported sources of our troubles, an Economic Chupacabra sighting in the People's Republic...
"Many people believe Goldman Sachs, which goes around the Chinese market slurping gold and sucking silver, may have, using all kinds of deals, created even bigger losses for Chinese companies and investors than it did with its fraudulent actions in the US.” China Youth Daily
