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The Big Recession 

Compiled by Rebecca D. Whittaker 

Many worry about these times and the recession that we are experiencing. Many say they don’t know how they are going to make it. We have a great selection of books that helps with that in our library for sell, on our website in category The Big Recession. The recession is on all of our minds; it makes us want to hide, cry at times, and wonder how we’re going to cover the next month’s bills. It’s tough but we all will make it through, we just have to hang in there. There are a lot of wise words that are said at this time about this and I will discuss some of them here. I hope that they bring you hope during this time of depression and sadness. 

Going back in time The Great Depression according to Wikipedia “was a worldwide economic downturn starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries. It was the largest and most important economic depression in the 20^th century, and is used in the 21^st century, and is used in the 21^st century as an example of how far the world’s economy can fall. The Great Depression originated in the United Stated; historians most often used as a starting date the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday.”

 “Alan Greenspan born March 6, 1926 is an American economist and was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United Sates from 1987 to 2006. He currently works as a private advisor and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC.

After 2001, some congressional leaders and others criticized him, for certain statements they found to overstep the Fed’s traditional purview of monetary policy, and for other statements they saw as overly supportive of the policies of President George W. Bush.

In 2004 Business week Magazine criticized his keeping of low interest levels too long and his concurrent praise of prize winning economists Joseph E. Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, attribute a large degree of culpability for the devastating late 200s recession Greenspan, Greenspan, according to The New York Times, says he is nameless. He was also nicknamed “the maestro.””  

 Yesterday, Ben Bernanke, former head of the Princeton Economics Department and now head of the biggest central bank in the world – the US Federal Reserve – replacing the retired Alan Greenspan, explained that monetary policy wasn’t enough. Already, as we pointed out here in the Daily Reckoning, the yield on 10 year Treasury notes is lower than the rate of consumer price inflation.

This means that the most qualified borrowers can get money on very favorable  terms – it is practically free. But who wants to borrow? What would they do with the money? Buy stocks? The average stock market portfolio is down about 5% so far this year. Who wants a piece of that? Or maybe they could buy property? Forget it; not many speculators are eager to buy now. Or, maybe they could use the money to expand their business? But who expands before a recession? Only pawn shops.    

An article posted by CNN Money says: “According to the National Association of Business Economists, 90% of the 102 members responding were more pessimistic  about the economy than they had been in July. The economists indicated that a recession is likely to continue at least through the end of next year; with 79% saying the economy will grow less than 1% and 38% saying the economy will shrink next year.                                                                                     

"There has been a sharp decline in current and near-term expectations among economists," said Ken Simonson, a member of the NABE committee that conducted the survey. "This represents a big turnabout in attitude about the economy."

With the economy mired in a prolonged credit crisis, the Federal Reserve has slashed interest rates several times, most recently cutting them by a half-percentage point, to 1%, on October 29th. But just 36% of respondents to the survey said the rate cuts and other initiatives by the Fed to unfreeze the credit markets were having a positive impact and 58% said the programs were having little impact. The survey was completed on Oct. 23, before the Fed's last rate cut.

"Economists have a very pessimistic view of the Fed's programs," said Simonson. "The inability to get funding has lowered their near-term expectations for the economy."

Low consumer sentiment and poor economic conditions have sharply reduced demand for goods and services. According to the survey, 35% reported falling demand while just 30% said demand was rising. It was the first time since 2001 in which more respondents reported declining demand than rising demand.

By way of comparison, 44% of respondents reported rising demand in July and only 19% reported falling demand. The NABE said every time since 1982 when economists reported more declines than increases in demand, the economy has later proven to be in a recession.

As demand slumped, respondents said their firms' profit margins sagged as well. Just 15% of economists surveyed said their companies' profit margins were rising, compared to 44% who said margins were falling.

Continued job cuts are also likely, as 23% of respondents said their firms or industries were cutting jobs, compared to 16% who reported that they were  hiring.

"Over the next six months, far more firms expect to cut back on employment, which will likely make the recession deeper," Simonson said.”

 One of our books called Fight For Your Money by David Bach talks about \how you spend your hard-earned money, America’s favorite financial coach, David Bach, shows you how to save thousands of dollars every year by taking on the “corporate machines.” In these times when every dollar counts, big businesses are using clever tricks to rip you off, making themselves billions while they keep you living paycheck to paycheck. In Fight for Your Money, Bach gives you the tools to FIGHT BACK and WIN.

Fight for Your Money shows how you are being taken on your cell phone contract, cable bill, car purchase, credit card, life insurance, healthcare, 401(k) plan, airfare, hotel bills, and much more. When you know how the system is rigged–the extra points, the hidden fees, the late charges, the unused tax breaks, the escalating rates–you can fight back against the pickpockets and save literally thousands every year.

David Bach knows that when you are being taken financially, you work harder than you have to, for longer than you need to. This audio book helps you fight for your money so you can live your life doing what you really want to do. Another one of our books by Thomas E. Woods Jr. called Meltdown talks about how the media tells us that "deregulation" and "unfettered free markets" have wrecked our economy and will continue to make things worse without a heavy dose of federal regulation. But the real blame lies elsewhere. In Meltdown, bestselling author Thomas E. Woods, Jr., unearths the real causes behind the collapse of housing values and the stock market---and it turns out the culprits reside more in Washington than on Wall Street.

And the trillions of dollars in federal bailouts? Our politicians' ham-handed attempts to fix the problems they themselves created will only make things much worse.

Woods, a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and winner of the 2006 Templeton Enterprise Award, busts the media myths and government spin. He explains how government intervention in the economy---from the Democratic hobby horse called Fannie Mae to affirmative action programs like the Community Redevelopment Act---actually caused the housing bubble.

Most important, Woods, author of the New York Times bestseller The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, traces this most recent boom-and-bust---and all such booms and busts of the past century---back to one of the most revered government institutions of all: the Federal Reserve System, which allows busybody bureaucrats and ambitious politicians to pull the strings of our financial sector and manipulate the value of the very money we use.

Meltdown, which features a foreword by Congressman Ron Paul (R–Texas), also provides a timely history lesson to counter the current clamor for a new New Deal. The Great Depression, Woods demonstrates, was only as deep and as long as it was because of the government interventions by Herbert Hoover (no free-market capitalist, despite what your high school history teacher may have taught you) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (no savior of the American economy, in spite of what the mainstream media says). If you want to understand what caused the financial meltdown---and why none of the big-government solutions being tried today will work---Meltdown explains it all.

You can find these books and others on our website under the category The Big Recession and shop for the book you want. More will come soon.