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4 Reasons to Be Optimistic About 2011
The Atlantic ^ | 12/03/2010 | Derek Thompson

Posted on 12/03/2010 7:04:21 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Large corporations have the means and motive to hire. Small companies are starting to see credit thaw to help them buy new machines and new workers. Consumers are opening their wallets, and leading indicators are looking up. Heck, Goldman Sachs is getting excited about the next two years, shouldn't you?

Yes, you should!

But if the recovery is ready to fly, there are some important strings holding it down. We still don't know what taxes will look like in 2011. We still don't know if the Euro zone will implode in 2011. We still don't know what the US housing market will do in 2011. Yes, there's enough cold water to douse our optimism with harsh reality. But let's count the reasons to be hopeful for the new year.

1. Big Corporations Are Ready To Hire

We added more jobs in October -- 160,000 net gain -- than any month in half a year. And there's reason to think healthy hiring will continue into 2011. Why?

SNIP

2. Small Companies Are Ready to Invest

Economists see glimmers of hope in the struggling small business scene, with warming credit conditions feeding pent-up demand for capital goods (machines used to build other goods) and workers.

SNIP

3. Consumers Are Ready to Consume

The holiday season is make-or-break in retail, and 2011 is off to a roaring start. Holiday hiring in retail is the best in four years. Black Friday online and in-store shoppers increased 9 percent over 2009, according to two reports. Web spending in November rose 14 percent on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, and Monday was a record day for online sales.

SNIP

4. Green Shoots Everywhere! (If You Ignore Housing)

Across the board, monthly indicators for companies and consumers are looking up.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2011; optimism

1 posted on 12/03/2010 7:04:31 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind


2 posted on 12/03/2010 7:05:24 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Green Shoots? When did I hear that before?


3 posted on 12/03/2010 7:09:30 AM PST by MNDude (And we were SO close to acheiving utopia)
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To: SeekAndFind

4 posted on 12/03/2010 7:09:55 AM PST by TSgt (Colonel Allen West & Michele Bachman - 2012 POTUS Dream Team Ticket!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Maybe the economy will pick up just enough to get Obama re-elected.


5 posted on 12/03/2010 7:10:57 AM PST by Iron Munro (This is our culture; fight for it. This is our flag; pick it up. This is our country; take it back.)
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To: MNDude

Pea soup.


6 posted on 12/03/2010 7:12:15 AM PST by WestwardHo (Whom the gods would destroy, they first drive mad.)
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To: SeekAndFind

it seems pretty obvious that the Drug Testing programs for journalists is an abject failure. Either share the drugs with the rest of us so we can see what you see, or stop Taking them so you will see what we see.


7 posted on 12/03/2010 7:13:10 AM PST by eyeamok
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To: SeekAndFind

Ummm, jobs numbers were out this morning... NOT good.


8 posted on 12/03/2010 7:13:45 AM PST by GOPJ (Christianity: arm of Judaism bringing pagans and heathens to knowledge of the Hebrew God via Christ.)
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To: Iron Munro

RE: Maybe the economy will pick up just enough to get Obama re-elected.


That worked quite well for Clinton in the 1990’s. The main difference I see is this -— Clinton learned is lesson from the 1994 shellacking. He listened to Dick Morris and TRIANGULATED.... talking liberal while actually signing off on many of the Gingrich congress’ bills ( remember Welfare Reform? The Capital gains tax cuts? Those were not his initiatives).

Obama is too much of an ideologue to do that.


9 posted on 12/03/2010 7:15:29 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: eyeamok
...it seems pretty obvious that the Drug Testing programs for journalists is an abject failure. Either share the drugs with the rest of us so we can see what you see, or stop Taking them so you will see what we see.

It would be nice if they would share but my fear is it's just liberal kool aid...

10 posted on 12/03/2010 7:17:57 AM PST by GOPJ (Christianity: arm of Judaism bringing pagans and heathens to knowledge of the Hebrew God via Christ.)
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To: GOPJ
Ummm, jobs numbers were out this morning... NOT good.

They'll be a LOT better soon.

600,000 people just fell off the end of their unemployment benefits, instantly converting them from unemployed U-3s to non-person U-6s.

nully, who has been a non-person since mid 2008...

11 posted on 12/03/2010 7:23:54 AM PST by null and void (We are now in day 681 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
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To: SeekAndFind

the optimists scare me.


12 posted on 12/03/2010 7:24:21 AM PST by Beowulf9
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To: SeekAndFind

They’re all smoking crack.


13 posted on 12/03/2010 7:25:41 AM PST by Carley (ISRAEL.......NOT SO ALONE!!!)
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To: SeekAndFind

What the Federal Reserve is up to, and how we got here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-k

Quantitative Easing Explained


14 posted on 12/03/2010 7:29:32 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: SeekAndFind
But if the recovery is ready to fly, there are some important strings holding it down.

Strings?! More like suspension bridge cables with this administration running things!

15 posted on 12/03/2010 7:41:17 AM PST by mellow velo
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To: null and void
They'll be a LOT better soon. 600,000 people just fell off the end of their unemployment benefits, instantly converting them from unemployed U-3s to non-person U-6s.

Good one null - looks like dems who feed The Atlantic, jumped the gun by a month. What a hoot.

16 posted on 12/03/2010 8:32:44 AM PST by GOPJ (Christianity: arm of Judaism bringing pagans and heathens to knowledge of the Hebrew God via Christ.)
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