First - ECON 101 -
Productivity is up! Productivity is up! Keith Olberman and Wolf Blitzer were breathing hard when they told me so... little green shoots!
So, let's break media tradition and actually think about this number.
Productivity is the relationship between goods and service output - and hours of labor. So - in the 3rd quarter, mostly due to the "Cash for Clunkers" retail sales aberration, US GDP was up 3.2% - at the same time unemployment rose each month - therefore hours worked decreased markedly... So, do the math... The increased productivity might be good news for stock brokers, but is really a non-issue for anyone else but politicians.
And, in the fine tradition of Government over-reach, there is this...A new idea from the folks who brought you the housing and banking collapse... Barney, Chris and the crew at Fannie and Freddie...
They want to be landlords! From the folks who could not handle mortgages despite a million mandates, they want to actually OWN the homes -- and lease them to their "clients."
Am I the only one who thinks this idea was already tried in Beijing and Moscow long ago?Can you imagine the public service "bankers" who gave mortgages in huge amounts to folks they knew would be desperately unable to pay by the end of the first month - NOW WANT MORE FUNDING TO OWN THOSE HOMES!???
And they will get it!
Is this really the "change" we've waited for? Wake up people. Your banks, your health care, your ability to heat and cool your home, your ability to own a home or other property, to have a business, your ability to eat and consume what you want - it is all being systematically limited or taken outright by a government run by people who have no clue - but are ambitious.
... And these people were elected by an American people made desperate by one party who governed 180 degrees from the way they campaigned - and the other which was so hell bent on forming an electable coalition that they promised to give away the country.Brian
Comments