Posted on 04/26/2010 12:15:57 PM PDT by Tulsa Ramjet
Many extra times.....
Home sales are not up. That’s a lie. There is nothing holding Wall Street up but The Marxist Onada’s hot air. There is not one credible economic indicator that points to anything but more recession as far as the eye can see. It is simply impossible to have 15% unemployment—and continuing to rise—and have a recovery. I would like to know who it is that’s spending enough money to create the kind of demand it would take for inventories to be turned and cause manufacturing to ramp up. Oh, and given the unemployment situation who exactly is it whose buying all these homes? With foreclosure rates not diminishing one iota, how can anyone but an ideologically motivated partisan realy believe Onada’s crap numbers?
Oh, and looky what our benevolent Marxist has waiting in the wings for us: VAT, tax and trade, Onadacare, higher gasoline prices, soaring deficits to name a few. Upshot: Even people with jobs will have precious little left to spend after our Marxist Dear Leader gets done with us.
I disagree. The stimulus most definitely had an impact, albeit a negative one. Draining $800 billion from the private sector to fund the so-called 'stimulus' bill resulted in a $160 billion decrease in GDP.
“Let me preface my comments.I do not like Obama or his marxist policies. However, some parts did work. Cash for clunkers did sell a lot of cars. Maybe not the way they intended but dealers cleaned up lots of inventory.”
A large part of the sales are just stolen demand. The auto cash for clunkers was mostly sales from future demand. I have heard talk in the real estate industry about a slump after the tax credit expires. The appliance rebate also seems sales stolen from future demand.
I am not sure if the tax credits are refundable. If they are refundable, you can lower your tax liability below 0 with a refund.
There is also some evidence that these types of tax credits also encourage customers with weak finances to spend recklessly.
The stimulus goes beyond vote buying with tax credits. The stimulus includes rebates beyond the tax credits. In Colorado, the stimulus money provided rebates beginning on April 19. These rebates are available to anyone regardeless of tax liability and residency. Even illegal aliens can receive these rebates. These rebates are in addition to rebates provided by the local utility and federal tax credits.
Hey Jack Squat Barry, more economists, as with people in general, believe Elvis is still alive than the stimulus actually having worked. Perhaps you would be kind enough to give us your thoughts on that, Jack Squat and your merry goons of “expert” economists and Dem doglapping moronic idiots. FYI: I recall the majority of Americans polled were AGAINST the stimulus, but yeah......Elvis still lives, baby! =.=
Oh those economists are such fools.
Next thing, they’ll do a study in a year or so and will tell us that the extra spending has hurt our sovereign credit rating and that when all that money hits the economy, it has caused inflation.
Wait...the government spending money it didn’t have didn’t work?
NO WAY!
The stimulus might have helped some of those industries in the short term, but how does one assess the long-term impact of money taken from one sector to supposedly help another? The money not taken from taxpayers for those programs might have helped some other area of the economy. What we are trying to avoid is corporatism i.e. the government favoring some industries over others. I doubt government can do nearly as well by intention what the market can do unplanned.
“Home sales are not up. That’s a lie.”
I am a lumber broker. I know that home sales and business for retail lumber dealers is up from a year ago, because my customers are telling me their busines is up. It is up much more in the south, mid atlantic and northeast than other areas. However, it is up everywhere. Even in places like Detroit. Pulte homes has been buying land all over the southwest. They are buying land while it is cheap. They are selling houses(MORE THAN LAST YEAR). They are selling new construction homes CHEAPER than existing foreclosed homes. The tax credit stimulated people to buy. The average price of homes around the country is up by 4 %. There are less homes for sale in the town I live in than there were one year ago. Also, homes that are priced realistically are selling within 3 months according to my friend who owns a real estate company. However, most of what is selling is smaller single family homes. Nobody is building McMansions anymore. However, with the expiration of the tax credit on April 30, my industry is concerned that this could cause business to slow up again.
You need to remember with housing we need to build about 1.4 million units / year just to keep up with population growth. Houses only last on the average 75 years. They need to be replaced. They burn down, destroyed in floods,etc. We overbuilt in 2003-2005(2 million starts). We ONLY built 525,000 in 2009. IT HAD TO GO UP. Starts were the lowest 60+ years. This year we might be all the way up to 750,000. I remember a few years ago when we(limber brokers)thought it could never go below 1 million. I am not ideologically motivated. I HAVE NEVER VOTED FOR A DEM IN MY LIFE. OBAMA IS A MARXIST. I work on STRAIGHT COMMISION. Do you know what that means ? I only make what I trade /earn. My income is off 50% from 2 years ago. Last year I made about the same as I made in 1990.
As far as the stock market, I sold ALL my stock/mutual funds two months ago. The only regret I have is selling my Asian investments. Asia is the future. Especially India & Hong Kong. Their tax laws make it very attractive to locate there.
Thank you for the inside info.
I am sure cash for clunkers did steal sales from future demand. So did the appliance rebate.
According to my CPA you actually have to pay taxes,above all other yearly deductions, to get the money back. I have checked into this specifically because I am considering enclosing a screened in porch. I would buy 9 windows and 2 doors. I would also insulate. There is a 30% tax credit on the insulation up to $1500(not the installation). There is also a tax credit of 30% on specific energy star windows/doors up to $1500. These are also the most expensive windows in various manufactures lines. They cost about $450/window for the size I need. The tax credit is only on the cost of the window/door , not the installation.
Therefore, I would have to owe $3000 in FICA at the end of 2010 above all other deductions to get the entire credit. For example, if at the end of the year I only owe the govt. $859 in taxes , the most I could get back is $859.
Therefore, this type of credit is best taken advantage by upper middle class people that do not own their own business and their income is reported on a standard W2.
FYI, my wife operates a small business and we have lots of legitimate deductions. I paid $83 in FICA taxes this year.
This is also the case for pellet stoves and certain wood stoves. I already have one wood stove. I am considering buying a pellet stove. My furnace burns #2 heating oil. It just keeps get more expensive. The price of pellets has actually gone down in the last year because pellet production is up. If you figure in the credit for the stove it could pay itself off in about 2-3 years. Plus I would not have to worry about prebuying my oil ever again. Also, the pellets come from sawmills in the US and Canada. I would be sopporting our economy not those OPEC B#st#rds.
Wow! I do appreciate your taking the time to pass that info along to me.
IMHO, it doesn’t change the bottom line. I just read a report today, on the front page of my newspaper, that a bunch of economists who were polled say the recession is over. They provided no credible economic indicator that backs up the headline.
But down deep in the story is a comment about how we can expect total unemployment to continue rising. So who’s buying or gonna be buying these homes? My son works for the power generation industry. It is planning for at least a 20% demand drop for the coming year or 18 months. That’s on top of the approx. 15-20% drop since sbout 2 years ago.
In other words manufacturing will have all it can do to sustain its present production.
So what do we have: Continually rising unemployment, Onadacare, VAT, Tax and Trade, continuing housing slump, continuing intrusion by gov’t into our private lives, failing gov’t-controlled industries (car, banking and investing) and soaring deficits.
I mean you have to look at the whole picture, not just a sliver of it. There is no way we’re in recovery or enroute to recovery given the miasma that is America today.
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