Cause of the recession?

[Zombie]

housing market taking a dip then artificially trying to inflate to boost everything. dumping money more into the hands that don't need it than into the ones that do - bailing out the banks from bad business decisions, greed, morons elected into government.

 

[tntrex]

I'll take "Banks" for 1,000 Alex.

 

[RickN]

There are many issues that have contributed to the recession, most notably;

1. An era of entitlements -- Everyone should own their own home, everyone should go to college, everyone should have health care, etc.
2. Greed -- Wall St. was strong armed into making bad home loans to those who shouldn't be buying homes. Then they chose to buy and sell risky mortgage backed securities because they could not because they should. This is only one example of their greed and dishonesty but it was one of the biggest recently.
3. Irresponsibility -- This mentality goes from the President's office (notably for the last 18 years) to the person working the drive thru at your local fast food restaurant. Everyone spends more than they have and thinks they will somehow, eventually catch up, even though they have less of their paycheck every week because more and more of it is going to cover things they've already spent their money on. Buying houses you can't afford is just one example. It contributed to inflated home prices, a false housing boom and set us up for the current correction.
4. Disintegration of the American work ethic -- We used to take pride in our work. We now take pride in not working. A 40 hour week is now the max instead of the baseline, blue collar jobs are regarded as a consequence for not being "over educated" instead of noble professions, factory unions reduced efficiency while increasing wages and put our manufacturing facilities at a disadvantage. Their are still people who take pride in their work, but sadly there are fewer and fewer of them.

I find myself thinking our economic recession is the result of a moral recession. I don't believe our society holds dear the same values that made us great in the first place. I am not just being a moralist here. I am talking about basic things we should all agree on like individual responsibility, a strong work ethic and honesty. These issues are not unique to America.

When I heard this talk when I was younger, I always thought it was just older people over reacting, not keeping up with the times, etc. Maybe that is what I'm doing now. It just frustrates me because I don't think this train can be stopped or slowed and that it will lead to our eventual demise. It likely won't happen in my lifetime or my kids' lifetimes but I think it is inevitable.

This and a lot more, mainly political types messing around in things they have no clue about.

 

[Dale00]

Obviously we have a corrupt Congress or there would be some Representatives and Senators doing hard time over the banking scandal etc. The corruption is widespread and reflects the corruption that exists throughout the country. People want something for nothing. But there is no such thing as a free lunch and now we are paying the price.

 

[LightningCrash]

GDP is up this quarter.

This thread delivered, though.

 

[Biggsly]

Obviously we have a corrupt Congress or there would be some Representatives and Senators doing hard time over the banking scandal etc. The corruption is widespread and reflects the corruption that exists throughout the country. People want something for nothing. But there is no such thing as a free lunch and now we are paying the price.

They are all corrupt. Look at how rich these people get, and no one ask how. Obama will go from a couple of million to a 100 million, and no one will ask how. We have a group of guys that gave hundreds of millions to Solyndra, "that is now gone". Now we are going to give 737 million to SolarReserve. "They call this a job bill" Funny how the number 2 man in charge is Ronald Pelosi. Like I have said before. All that money makes a big circle. They will get super rich while damning the rich, and the sheeple will love them for it.

 

[dutchwrangler]

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard96.html

 

[Isha's Pa Pa]

obama !

 

[Poke78]

I tried to pull this guy aside and talk to him, but he acts like he does not care. He told me that the last place let him go, because he missed to much work. He told me that it was BS, and that if his wife needed him, he was leaving.

I'd suggest you try temp to hire when you replace this person. As soon as they don't show up or quit early or whatever, they can be down the road and the agency can send another.

As to the theme of the thread, many culprits have been named and each of them are certainly a part of the equation. However, any time you try to name just one cause, it becomes an exercise of trying to nail Jello to the wall or like the five blind men trying to determine what an elephant is by touch: it is an exercise in futility because it all depends upon your perspective.

 

[andrsnsm]

There are many issues that have contributed to the recession, most notably;

1. An era of entitlements -- Everyone should own their own home, everyone should go to college, everyone should have health care, etc.
2. Greed -- Wall St. was strong armed into making bad home loans to those who shouldn't be buying homes. Then they chose to buy and sell risky mortgage backed securities because they could not because they should. This is only one example of their greed and dishonesty but it was one of the biggest recently.
3. Irresponsibility -- This mentality goes from the President's office (notably for the last 18 years) to the person working the drive thru at your local fast food restaurant. Everyone spends more than they have and thinks they will somehow, eventually catch up, even though they have less of their paycheck every week because more and more of it is going to cover things they've already spent their money on. Buying houses you can't afford is just one example. It contributed to inflated home prices, a false housing boom and set us up for the current correction.
4. Disintegration of the American work ethic -- We used to take pride in our work. We now take pride in not working. A 40 hour week is now the max instead of the baseline, blue collar jobs are regarded as a consequence for not being "over educated" instead of noble professions, factory unions reduced efficiency while increasing wages and put our manufacturing facilities at a disadvantage. Their are still people who take pride in their work, but sadly there are fewer and fewer of them.

I find myself thinking our economic recession is the result of a moral recession. I don't believe our society holds dear the same values that made us great in the first place. I am not just being a moralist here. I am talking about basic things we should all agree on like individual responsibility, a strong work ethic and honesty. These issues are not unique to America.

When I heard this talk when I was younger, I always thought it was just older people over reacting, not keeping up with the times, etc. Maybe that is what I'm doing now. It just frustrates me because I don't think this train can be stopped or slowed and that it will lead to our eventual demise. It likely won't happen in my lifetime or my kids' lifetimes but I think it is inevitable.

This this this!!! But you forgot to mention loss of American manufacturing (which the cause could be debated forever), the ever rising cost of healthcare and the fact that Americans are living much longer than originally expected when the entitlement programs were conceived. Without addressing these issues we will never recover. There is going to have to be some pain and sacrifice and, unfortunately, nobody seems willing to feel that pain or make these sacrifices.