Do you see positive signs in the latest economic data?

I don't how many times this has to be said.. The jobs need to come back to the US!!

Outsourcing has killed our economy. American jobs are the only thing that will put our economy on a solid foundation.

The big economy scare was mostly orchestrated by the media to get their man elected. No different than the swine flu,pig flu,mexican flu ,N1H1 or what ever their calling it today was blown out of proportion for whatever reason they had. Anyone who believes anything the media has to say must be very very naive.

Make no mistake I'm not a Republican,But I do remember the President when running for office saying he was going to put America back to work. I have seen no evidence of them trying to bring jobs back to the country or sending illegals back home that are taking our jobs.

Somewhat optimistic although economy is not turning around yet. It is only worsening more slowly. Latest jobs numbers a bit misleading as one time temporary Federal Gov't  hiring reduced layoffs from 631,000 down to less than 600,000. Biggest concern is that although new unemployment rate is 8.9% (until revised), "underemployment" rate is 1 of every 6 workers. The keys for turnaround will be 1. Consumers feel confident to spend and 2. Employers hire again and don't try to keep expenses low by  squeezing their remaining employees to be more "efficient", thereby eliminating need to rehire. Consumers can spend which will help, but in long run, Employers must rehire in order to reduce unemployment /underemployment level or there cannot be a full recovery. Stock Market has risen rapidly in anticipation of an economic recovery later this year but may be too optimistic considering we're only slowing the bleeding, not in a true recovery phrase.

Been as dismal as it gets (I hope) here in Sarasota Fl, it's like someone flipped a switch 3 weeks ago and what was bad went to worse. Gas prices climbed 22 cents a gallon in the same time period, and who knows why. I have given up hope on being able to stay in my house now and going to send some company cars to voluntary re-po..Im screwed i know now and it's not going to get better.. It seems everything the Gov did and are doing is to help the ones that caused this mess and despite the big promises it alway's ends up back to no help for the ones that actually can help the economy.. how did bailing out the bank's and the UAW help anyone. It just wasted a lot of money and the end result is going to be the same. More BS and corruption........

Hey folks, listen up. I just got a job with the Federal Government. They are hiring, big time.. . Great pay, short hours, 30 paid vaction year, 15 days paid sick leave year and a really fantastic pension that pay 80% salary at age 55. Cannot beat that. Keep your tax dollars comming.

"President Barack Obama acknowledged some of the green shoots Friday, while at the same time warning Americans to "expect further job losses in the months to come."

Well, no kidding! I'm out there trying to find work to support my family, and the high almighty Barak Obama keeps bringing us down more with words of how it is hopeless things are. Why did 52% of Americans really vote for this kind of crap?

This is a person, as president, who has no clue as to how the real world works. And we have to pay the price for his ignorance. Obama owns this economy, that's a fact. He and his administration are hostile to business since day one as they believe it is up to government to get the economy on track.

Government has never created anything of substance that has been for the better. 'The New Deal', and 'The Great Society' are two of many that seems to be what is touted as great liberal accomplishments to society. Even though they haven't helped nor accomplished what they were supposed to do, the libs say that they should be judged only on their intentions, not their results. I say get real. It cost us a lot of money, grief, resentment and discourse that is worth saying 'These concepts suck.'

There's enough proof that governemnt can't do a damn thing right compared to the private sector. Yes, the private sector can screw things up too, but the difference is that in the private sector most will be held accountable. Who holds government accountable to their screw ups?

What's the difference between a Hoover and the political parties? With a Hoover, it is easy to remove dirtbags. They also hinder quality performance when you keep them in. We have enough dirtbags in DC hindering the performance of this country and us citizens. We're going to experience more problems with the 'lifers' in DC until they are ousted and sent packing away from the world that they want to stay in.

Why are we giving billions to a company (GM) who is outsourcing their jobs???!!!! This has got to stop. When has it become so bad to give workers a decent living wage? I want to start having the CEO jobs and VP jobs outsourced to other countries. I just bet there are some good managers in India who would love their jobs. We do not make anything any more. We are just one big consuming populace that supports the rest of the world's economies.

How can you encourage people who have been laid off to be re-trained in another job skill when that job skill will probably be shipped overseas in the future if the company owners can make a buck.

Part 2

Happy that Katlin & others got the Federal job, even if is temporary for a year. Any job is better than no job. Hope her's becomes permanent.

Anyone notice that oil prices are rising and so are gas prices.  Any recovery or even perceived recovery will be accompanied by Inflation. Anyone still unemployed will suffer additional burden of higher expenses. Even those employed will be squeezed by inflation. Current interest rates are so low that interest bearing accounts/CD's pay little. Millions of seniors have had income reduced as they depend on interest income more than younger persons. Stocks are the only "game in town" for a current decent return and not by accident.  For the poor, little benefit from economic recovery other than hope for finding a job.. Middle class will get some gains in 401k's and and probably house value stabilizes.  The wealthy have more stocks and larger home investments and will benefit the most, as always. Of course, businesses will benefit at first because of more consumer spending (increased sales) with increased profits until they have no choice but to rehire (additional expenses).

Let's hope this time when Recovery starts, the trickle down theory works. As businesses, benefit, some benefit trickles down to you and me. Then again, what got us into this financial crises was wealthy elitist CEO's/Investors who believed in greed, not any trickle down effect. Will it be different?

Quit Whining. How long did you people really think it was going to take before your spend now, pay later, lifestyles caught up with you??? Just because you make $xx,xxx.00 doesn't mean that you can spend 2x that amount, no matter what the banks tell you. If people had used their brains instead of payment calculator we wouldn't be where we are.

I invested soundly in stocks that had done well for a number of years and didn't diversify 20 times. yes, I lost money when things went to he!!, but only about 10%. If you try to make money quick, you tend to lose it just as fast..

"I'll buy a house way beyond my means and sell it later at a profit" was the battle cry of the first half of this decade. Let's see you sell it now. I bought a decent house at a decent price and have not lost a penny in value, but then again, my intention wasn't to "flip" the house either.

I really try to find sympathy for people who lost money in this mess, whether it be from stock losses of getting ripped off by Madoff but I just can't seem to muster any. Sort of like I can't find any sympathy for people who choose to live in cities that are below sea level, are prone to hurricanes, or earthquakes and wildfires. You knew the risks but chose to accept them.

SUCKERS

The problem is nothing is made in America any more, not even the box its shipped in.

The problem is nothing is made in America any more, not even the shipping container.

When is everyone going to figure out the BANKS are creating the mess - on the one hand they are taking "bailout money" out the wazoo, and on the other they are raising interest rates on their credit cards to all time highs; dropping card limits, and on the poor people who have "fixed" card rates - they are quadrupling the payment, they say they only guarantee the rate not the monthly payment - so your payment goes from $75 a month to $1200 a month - unless of course you allow them to "adjust" your interest rate - that used to be called Blackmail, but now it's standard practice. They are literally driving people into bankruptcy, with a smile on their faces and a fistfull of bailout money! Tell me - who is going to stop these people - oh yes the government is going to put laws in place to protect the consumer - IN JUNE OF 2010 - what about us poor people who are getting shafted this week, this month, this year. And if you think it won't happen to you - you are wrong! My credit rating "was" 745 out of 800 - I have never been late a payment, never went over my limits, nothing - when my card interest jumped from 3.99 to 15.99 I called the company and asked them why - the response - "because we can"!!!! My home that I built 3 years ago, is now worth $50,000 less than the day I closed on it. My household income has gone from over $90,000 a year to less than $45,000 a year. The "unemployment is down"? - heck yes it is, most of the people laid off over a year ago, 2 years ago, and longer are no longer eligible for Unemployment of course the numbers are down - but they aren't down because people are finding jobs! Yep things are really looking great, Thanks Washington - great job! so instead of letting the people who created his fiasco fall on their butts, you are kicking us and forcing us fall on ours!

There is no good news. Every day it's something else going wrong, now the banks need billions more. I get more upset at the administration lying about how well things are going when you go to any town and see the numbers of American citizens being turned away from food banks and then to know that the politicans are padding their wallets even as we live through the worst economy of our lifetimes, the worst in American history. I realize fake it until you make it, but seeing the rich get richer and everyone else losing jobs, losing pay, it stinks. Nevada Govenor gave his personal staff raises but expects to furlough all the OTHER state employees. I don't understand why we don't have an Attorney General that files charges and makes the politicans that commit felonies like not paying their taxes go to jail, lose their benefits. This double standard has to stop. America is bleeding and the politicans keep up the bull. Get out and vote and make a difference if you really want this to change.

When comparing economic statistics past and present, there are only three possibilities : they are getting better, worse, or staying exactly the same. Every measure of the economy and economic activity I have seen lately is "less bad" then the last time it was released. That IS improvement and there is no doubt at all about it. That doesn't mean things are as good as they should be, not by a long shot, but it DOES mean they are better than they would have been otherwise.

The bottom line is, we are at least headed in the direction of recovery, which is far better than the alternatives.

From CNN article about how the stock market is being manipulated:

"Euphoria returns! Who could have guessed that Bank of America stock would rally 70 percent the week it learns the Feds are demanding new capital equal to nearly half the bank's market capitalization?

The ongoing grim news -- on rising unemployment, continued (albeit slower) economic decline, and ordinary working Americans being hammered on all sides -- is being ignored by stock and commodity markets. Is America now back on track for growth?

The answer to that is almost surely no."

If you see "positive signs" in the economic news you are either very naive or read nothing but the PR-spun headlines.

It's all Political Smoke and Mirrors. Wait until the taxes hit to pay off the Obama debt. The recession will continue for years.

Less people applying for unemployment benefits. Housing starts increasing. Real estate prices stabilizing, even in the worst hit areas. Home sales up. Manufacturing inventories down. Stock market doing well, generally speaking. Banks not as bad off as many people thought. Credit starting to flow again. I'm telling you, it is ALL relatively good news these days. I'm not singing "Happy Days Are Here Again", I'm telling you things look better than they did 30 days ago. It doesn't mean you are now doing well. It means you're doing better than you would be if there HADN'T BEEN ANY IMPROVEMENT IN THE ECONOMY.

I sympathize with Carolyn, Connie, and others.  Unfortunately we are a "Capitalistic" economy/society which is designed to protect businesses and the powerful & wealthy, not us "sheep" working class. Has been that way from the beginning and will never change. The best we can do is try to lift ourselves up and improve our own lives without depending on anyone else. I use my credit card less (saves interest) and don't care if Credit Card company makes less profit. They don't care about me, so I don't care about them. Stopped buying new cars too. Although saves me money, less profit for car maker. Again, I am only "profit" to them, so i really don't care about them either. The point is, do what is in your best interests because they will certainly do what's best for them. As far as Politicians, let's be honest, they care about us only at election time. The rest of the time we are the "sheep" to them and they protect their own interests first, not ours. Wasn't always this bad, but society changed. Most Politicians leave office far wealthier than when they started & wasn't because of the salary. It was the opportunities the office provided. Power= money which is what most of them care about the most. Cynical ? Is reality. All we can realistically expect is that some laws are passed to offer some regulation & consumer protection, but we will have to look out for ourselves for the most part. Good luck to you all thru this recession.

the capitalists want to get things moving, its washington that is keeping this economy down. stocks are cheap, real estate is cheap. the banks will not lend right now, mainly because the government is trying to keep a grip on them. if banks are borrowing at 0% and lending at 5%, hell ya they can make money. but the government does these stress tests, and now wants them to boost capital? and they will not allow banks to repay TARP! that is why banks are not lending. and until that happens, we are going to be stuck in neutral, or slight reverse. it is turning into a game of tug of war. and why obama and his band of thieves want to keep things going like this, i have no idea. this economy would be rebounding right now, except for the fact that the government thinks they know how to run companies. i agree, that some of the idiots running the companies now are morons and do not deserve to havethe jobs they have, but obama is only experienced in organizing craft fairs, not running a multi-billion dollar company. i feel bad for bankers that are getting the wrath of this. remember: most of the bankers, not all of them, were playing by the rules, which are set by congress. of course congress will tell you that it was "rogue" bankers, but hey, if you were doing business per the rules in place, its not your fault. and we all know how some rules that congress writes and passes, are a little "vague" with plenty of shady areas. so when the media is going on a witch hunt for the people who caused this mess, why don't they just walk up to the capital building. this is where you would find them all. so next time you want to vilify a bankers or investor, just remember, he did not write these rules. problem is, they way congress writes these rules and laws, they do not even understand them.

I suppor the new president, because he is doing exactly what any american family will do when we have an Ecomic crisis at home. We all get together and work hard with no recognition for a while..., until we get enough money to go back in our feet, but only if the family has a positive attitude, work together with great determination will survive any crisis in the family!!!