@kingmanic: Yes Canada was more stable but it is also more costly to live in. Just got back from the Great White North and the prices are quite a bit higher BEFORE you figure in the PST/GST!

Gas is over $3.50 a gallon. McDonalds was almost $17CDN for what is $12US. Love the Country but not sure I could afford to live there.

With the US Dollar and the Canadian Dollar almost in parity I might have to buy some Canadian Dollars as an investment.

That or all the Canadians need to come south for the Winter and help out their American cousins!

the only real progress seems to come from gov't subsidized programs (stimulus checks, bank bailout, cash for clunkers).

the recession may be over for the number crunchers, but the average middle income american has a long, hard fight ahead.

The Great Depression actually ended in 1932 as well, but by then people were enjoying such a sense of feel good solidarity with one another that the government allowed it to go on for another seven years...

DOWn, baby, DOWn!

@ARP:As long as the new formula includes the number of I will work for food signs counted on a given day and the number of foreclosures in the paper it might be accurate .

Hey, it could happen.

I'll join the circus!

The one that defines a recession as two quarters of decline int he markets. In this regard he seems to be technically correct. The markets have perked up. The rest are 'lagging indicators'.

@snowburnt:
Canada opted for stability and thus had a banking system that neither flew as high as the US system in the 2000's but also didn't implode last January. We have a slight bit of growth int he last quarter to show for our restraint.

@vastrightwing: Yes we are. 20+ Trillion in debt IS bankrupt. And Obama goes on national TV and says we are the wealthiest country in the world. F'kin lier.

@econobiker: The Federal Reserve is not part of our government. It is a private corporation.

But your right about the rest.

@vorpal_hamster: A+

If ederal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gives up his gov't paid healthcare and pension, and used the same options that the great unwashed have, I would believe him much more. Instead he is just a gov't paperpusher with better benefits than most people will ever get...

I was talking with a friend last night who just managed to get a temp job after being un/underemployed for 9 months. He works with a yahoo who managed to get a temp job after his unemployment ran out.

This nincompoop accused my friend of being "morally bankrupt" because he is stingy and saves a lot of money rather than spending everything he has. Like my friend is personally responsible for sinking the economy.

Some people are hanging on every word our pablum-puking govt is saying. Personally, I'm stocking up on canned goods and ammunition because I think this is the calm before the storm.

presumably, quite a few of these people have a mortgage that they won't be able to pay when the checks stop coming.

Sorry folks, but this isn't sustainable. Go look at the history of Rome for things to come - it's all already happened (but without flat screen TVs).

YAY the recession is over!!!!!!!!

Oh Dang... it's now a depression.

You see how they word things? They are telling the truth! The recession IS over it's been over... we're in a depression. A depression is a long drawn out recession. This is a depression and it's getting worse.

@Hoss: Wait for it. They have only delayed the ineviable by stealing from the poor and giving it to the rich (bank bailouts). We are now 20+ trillion in debt because of the bailouts. Don't fool yourself into thinking it's over. Because it's not.

it depends on what you want out of it. You want stability, we can over regulate and stifle growth...but you know what to expect and what you get will be constant. You want massive growth, we can include loop-holes and let you do what you want, but you have to know that there will be massive losses as well.

There's definitely a happy medium to every situation, your prognostication perhaps will not come to pass. Additionally the fact that it's now the 21st century calls the question whether you should take investment advice from a philosopher.

The way that I look at it: if your summary of the economy isn't the size of a book, it's too simplistic. If it is the size of a book, I can't be bothered to read it. I'll continue working my job, getting my raises and keep a stash for later.

There needs to be a new way to discuss the health of the economy and what a recession is. Both political parties use their quasi-political economists spin isolated bits of data to misrepresent the true state of the economy. Bush did it when we technically has positive GDP, but all other indicators were negative and Obama will use a similar tactic.

We need a meta-indicator. Something that can somehow weigh: GDP, Stocks, employment, average and class based salaries, inflation, cost of living, poverty rates, cost of certain staples (bread, milk, gas, etc.).

Some of these seem redundant, but politics has infected even the basic measures. For example, when gas prices went through the roof, Bush just cut that out of certain economic measures and added an asterick.

About two years ago he insisted that credit losses were safely contained. There will be no spill over. He is just trying to avoid a panic. Alt-a and option arm mortgages are going to start to come due very soon. Many of which will likely default causing further economic distress and deep financial losses for lenders. It is like we are in the eye of the hurricane right now.

No matter how bad the economy is, he always has some positive comment such as "green shoots." I wish he would just knock it off already.

Massive inflation followed by civil unrest if we're lucky.

My apologies. In denigrating Geithner, I accidentally implied that Bernanke was somehow more believable, and he is not. They're all a bunch of lieing scumbags.

1) Pay it back
2) There are programs like teaching for X amount of years which the government will then forgive your debt
3) Like #2, but more rare and in a government field.

@flamincheney: No, student loan debt is permanent. Even after you stop making payments for a year, when it goes to court they will likely just put you on a "pay what you can" system until you get a job. At which point you continue paying the full amount back.

@MrDo: Ummmm... I make WELL under 250k and have managed to double my rainy day fund over the last year. Sure, I can't buy a new flat screen or Hummer, but it can be done.

i'm not saying i believe geithner - i just don't believe bernanke either.

or to fill the income gap between what their old (higher paying) job paid & what their new (lower paying) job now pays.

@wgrune: Regardless of what either political party tells you, Social Security WILL NOT be around that long.

@Cameraman: Shotguns and water purifiers FTW.

I'll be sure to tell all my unemployed friends that it's over, they'll be quite relieved!

@MrDo:

By pension disaster do you mean the fact that almost no one in the private sector gets one anymore but nobody saves any money anyway? Because that TERRIFIES me.

My aunt is 55 years old, has a grand total of $26k saved up, and is planning on retiring in 5 years. On what money, I don't know.

Then, there's my neighbor who cashed in his 401k to get a good deal on a truck.

Will we let these poor people stave to death in the gutters because they didn't save for their retirement? Doubtfull. We will end up bailing them out.

@theblackdog_VerifiesHisEmail:

I suppose he could always lower the fed funds rate again. It's currently .25% abover 0 so he's still got that hand to play.

Geithner can't even figure out how to use TurboTax. Discount everything he says.

wish these do-nothings would get on the same page already.

No jobs for grads=Inability and lack of desire to pay back loans.

Things on the ground floor are just going to keep getting worse, as the rich will keep getting more rich. If that's the end of a recession I guess he's right.

as for reforms, yeah that's going to happen. the SEC is incompetent (madoff) and corrupt (BoFA/ML), HFT's are co-lo with the exchanges, and market volume is in the gutter yet we keep seeing gains. essentially the market is being gamed by the Fed and its propping up of banks that are fundamentally bankrupt. anyone with an ounce of sense can see that they are not even bothering to enforce current laws and restrictions, why would they enact new ones?

just have to keep this circus going till 2010 elections, then they can let it all turn to shit till 2012.

Just because you keep saying it, does not necessarily make it more true, mmkay?

Sincerely,

Pecan

Good news: the recession may be just about over. Bad news: economy will never again be at the level it was just two years ago, because as it turns out the economy was running on lies, hopes, dreams, and bullspit.

Worse news: due to generations of mismanagement by both Corporate America and idiot politicians from both sides of the aisle, a far, far worse depression is on the horizon. Just to pick the most recent example, the government is gonna spend truckloads on money to stimulate the economy, forgetting that the government doesn't actually make money or produce anything, so they will have to raise taxes to ridonculous levels to pay for it all.

To paraphrase 20th century philosopher Fr. Guido Sarducci, the time to invest in gold is over. Now is the time to invest in shovels (and canned goods too, probably).

There's a growing disconnect between what Bernanke and Wall Street say and what's happening on the streets. This thing is NOT over.