Will Europe’s problems become our problems?
Yikes.
In recent months, I’ve begun to feel just a wee bit more optimistic about the economy, and the weekend shopping figures seem to justify that sentiment. Hiring seems to be picking up a bit as well. The biggest remaining obstacle to continued recovery would seem to be the ongoing economic problems in the Eurozone. If that challenge could be managed, we might be alright heading into 2012.
Unfortunately, numbers released last week revealed that new manufacturing orders in Europe had fallen by 6.4 percent, a decline comparable to the collapse of 2008. And what does this mean for those of us on this side of the Atlantic? How much protection does thousands of miles of ocean provide?
Tim Duy at Fed Watch compares how U.S. output has historically tracked that of Europe and concludes that Europe’s decline could have a serious impact here, and none of it good:
Of course, since this is all Barney Frank’s fault and has nothing to do with an international debt crisis driven by an historic spree of irresponsible lending and borrowing, it’s all going to get better now that Frank has announced his retirement.
So we’ve got that going for us. Which is nice.
– Jay Bookman
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246 comments Add your comment
Kamchak
November 29th, 2011
11:26 am
Jay how about an article…
How about you go to blogspot.com and start your own blog, sport?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fresh sheets.
barking frog
November 29th, 2011
11:27 am
WOODSTOCK MIKE, 50 years ago I was 15 and it was different
but it was not better…
Butch Cassidy
November 29th, 2011
11:30 am
kayaker71 – “American Airlines stock down about 85% today. Ouch.”
No kidding, that’s almost as bad as what Delta was back in the 2000,s during their bankrputcy.
USMC
November 29th, 2011
11:31 am
“It’s all about jobs, give a man a paycheck and work for some dignity, then take a third of it back through taxes. When the economy picks up along with employment, then you can begin with the austerity measures, not the other way around. Geez, how many blows to the head did you sustain anyway?”–Mick
LOL! you are kidding, right???
You are trying to apply a 1930’s “ditch digging” solution to a 2011 runaway SPENDING problem.
What happened to Obama’s “shovel ready” jobs, Mick?
Did you fall on your head or smoke too much of that “medical” marijuana?
How long are you going to “tote water” for the DemocRAT Bolsheviks on the plantation?
USMC
November 29th, 2011
11:33 am
“You just seem to equate homosexuality with pedophilia. If you aren’t a bigot then your are ignorant. Which is it?”
All I said was it was a tough week for the Gay community.
First Jerry Sandusky, then Bernie Fine, now Barney Frank… that’s all, no hate.
Lord Help Us
November 29th, 2011
11:35 am
‘ If you aren’t a bigot then your are ignorant. Which is it?”’
False choice…he appears to be an ignorant bigot…
jewcowboy
November 29th, 2011
11:36 am
WOODSTOCK MIKE,
“I don’t feel bad for the guy that makes $50k/yr and can’t pay his mortgage on a $300K home and his new car, he doesn’t deserve to be in the house or have a brand new car.”
Of course the fact that he might have done everything right, but now finds himself out of work due to the economy, and can’t sell the house that he used to be able to afford because while he bought it for $300k it is now worth $175K and the car is a lease which he could afford but not now because he’s lost his job doesn’t enter into it all, huh?
jewcowboy
November 29th, 2011
11:37 am
USMC,
“First Jerry Sandusky, then Bernie Fine, now Barney Frank… that’s all, no hate.”
Then we will go with willful ignorance, I guess.
“Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.” ~ Lord Byron
Quantaviana
November 29th, 2011
11:41 am
“Of course, since this is all Barney Frank’s fault…”
In case anyone missed it Mr. Frank made what could be the most asanine remark of the century while he was announcing his retirement. According to him the disarray and dysfunction in Washington is not the politicians’ fault, it’s our fault…for electing them.
Goodbye Barney, and good riddance.
Joe Hussein Mama
November 29th, 2011
11:43 am
RB — “Joe, there is nothing wrong, erroneous, or dishonest about anything I posted.”
Yes, there is. Particularly the dishonest part.
“The problem is with your reading comprehension, dude. ”
No, the problem lies with your arrogance and combativeness.
“And apparently, nothing anybody posts is going to help you fix that.”
Well, attacks, willful misstatements and dishonest misrepresentations won’t, no. And if that’s all you have, then no, nothing you post is going to change my mind.
“It’s like your adament you’re going to remain clueless no matter what anybody posts.
I’m not nearly as clueless as you’d like to think, and if you knew much about my background, you’d sit down and shut up, young man. Now, if you’d like to act like an adult, I will gladly engage and educate you. However, I can’t help you if you’re going to be arrogant, combative and argumentative.
jewcowboy
November 29th, 2011
11:45 am
“According to him the disarray and dysfunction in Washington is not the politicians’ fault, it’s our fault…for electing them.”
That is asinine…it’s our fault for re-electing them.
Get Real
November 29th, 2011
11:46 am
We are all better off without Bwaney Fwank
Spendocrats do not understand how to cut back, complete and total goverment sugar daddies is always the easy answer….
jewcowboy
November 29th, 2011
11:52 am
“Spendocrats do not understand how to cut back, complete and total goverment sugar daddies is always the easy answer…”
Funny…Archer Daniels Midland and Exxon say the same thing about Republicans…I guess its all about who butters your bread.
WOODSTOCK MIKE
November 29th, 2011
11:55 am
Americans are spending more money this holiday season than ever before, but I thought we are on the brink of a depression? The left wing media is a joke…
WOODSTOCK MIKE
November 29th, 2011
11:59 am
“an international debt crisis driven by an historic spree of irresponsible lending and borrowing”
All governments borrow money to pay much of their expenses, in America we have China pay our bills for us. What Europe clearly shows is when a government is so large and so much of it’s population is dependant on it to live when the economy takes a turn for the worse (which happens in all economies) and revenues aren’t coming in guess what, the dependant people can’t survive. Maybe people shouldn’t look for the government for their own survival??
Victor Midtown
November 29th, 2011
12:10 pm
The economic disaster that is 21st Century Europe is a lesson for the USA, if we are not too late. The high-taxes, bloated bureaucracies & pensions, EU nanny state stifling growth, and – worse – the ever expanding dole is a formula for disaster. To find enough workers, the welcome mat is out and the borders left wide open for immigrants, with the resulting crises in education, housing, race and multi-culturalism. Good Times.
greg
November 29th, 2011
12:11 pm
This is all Wall Streets fault, all of these governments had to bail out the crooked banks that in turn sold all of these derivative’s to pension funds all over the world. Once the bubble broke they had to make good on funds so they took the taxpayers money everywhere and gave it to the banks. Now the stock market went down, 401’ks are bust, banks pay no interest on your money anymore, raises are all but gone and yet the 1% made more than ever, and who do you suppose all this money is owed to? It’s both parties that are at fault, they should never have deregulated. Notice gas is magically dropping, so the stupid people can buy presents, then right after x-mas, up it will go with some nonsense about middle east problems, hurricanes, oil refinery fires or a solar eclipse.
Welcome to the Occupation
November 29th, 2011
12:13 pm
Get Real: “Spendocrats do not understand how to cut back, complete and total goverment sugar daddies is always the easy answer”
Slack-jawed rubes sure love them some ‘Publicans. Whey they spend and play sugardaddy for the financiers and defense interests, it’s aye okay, cuz Mr. rube needs him some musculure fighting soldiers to believe in. .. yeahh.. …support our troops!
williebkind
November 29th, 2011
12:22 pm
Well if we drill for more oil and set aside all that liberal consensus about global warming, environmental impacts, and that it is all Bush’s fault we can get OUR economy spinning again. We are an oil based economy and we are earth conscientious. Which may help Europe jump start its economy or (to borrow a phrase from the liberals) stimulate, or encourage them to pay down their debt. I am tired of $3 plus a gallon of gas. But there is hope. Once businesses realize those 4yr degree in the arts are not worth much liberals will be out of work. No high paying jobs in a cozy environment. Of course there would be chaos again. hehe…Drill baby drill and build that pipeline.
Adam
November 29th, 2011
12:24 pm
I do have to say I laugh right at the folks who turn “We shouldn’t do austerity” into “Oh so you want to SPEND SPEND SPEND MORE MORE MORE!”
That is definitely on the top ten of stupid when it comes to discussing economic matters. Probably in the top two of stupid counter-arguments. Also known as a straw man.
williebkind
November 29th, 2011
12:25 pm
I do agree with Jay every now and then! Barney Frank leaving is definetly a plus.
nelsonh
November 29th, 2011
12:27 pm
no Europes problems are not ours> sometime ago the powers of the U’S’[not you or I] decided that the there should be a Global financial society. Money would move effortlessly around the world, much like Chinas pollution floats effortlessly towards the U.S.. One global market is one gigantic loser for everyone. the sooner we depend solely on ourselves the better[Monroe Doctrine]
Jms
November 29th, 2011
12:31 pm
I’ll play along…
It took years for Frank to get us into this mess. We aren’t going to get out of it in a day.
HarryJudge
November 29th, 2011
12:39 pm
I stubbed my toe last night walking to the bathroom. I blame George Bush.
JKL2
November 29th, 2011
1:02 pm
mary elizabeth- Those who cannot see why Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize will probably never see.
Was it for his record of doing nothing as a state senator or his record for doing nothing as a US senator? It must have been all he got done in those first two weeks as President. Getting a Noble for being an articulate balck man on the campaign trail was a joke. If you can’t see that, you probably never will…
RambleOn84
November 29th, 2011
1:03 pm
All by design…
JKL2
November 29th, 2011
1:05 pm
USMC- What happened to Obama’s “shovel ready” jobs
They worked perfectly. Shoveled all of our money into the pockets of his friends for nothing in return. I can’t wait until we get to do that again…
joe
November 29th, 2011
1:16 pm
If Obama wins in 2012, the answer is YES. Reason is, his spending is worse than any country in Europe. We are basically turning into Greece, with all the entitlements, bailouts, etc. Obama is taking us closer to true Socialism than anyone ever thought of. For this reason alone, Obama must be voted out. If you need a job or a better job, you must vote GOP. Case closed.
Joe Hussein Mama
November 29th, 2011
1:33 pm
joe — “you must vote GOP. Case closed.”
Make me.
williebkind
November 29th, 2011
2:02 pm
Joe–I will!
williebkind
November 29th, 2011
2:08 pm
greg
November 29th, 2011
12:11 pm
I agree with most of what you said. If you keep shouting drill baby drill maybe others will began to understand the importance of oil not windpower, solar power or any so called green energy has on our economy. Those labeled 1% make me wonder how many are liberals who used green energy scare tactics to make those millions..i.e. Al Gore and Bill Clinton.
A dad
November 29th, 2011
2:55 pm
Other than Bookie’s little barney frank snippet at the end of his article, how did this blog inquiring whether the US will inherent Europe’s problems (as long as Obama is POTUS and strives to install Keynesian-based economic policies and re-distribute the wealth, I think yes) to a discussion on homosexuality? Oh well, might join in the fray. Let’s look at it scientifically, shall we? Since male-male and female-female cannot precreate and reproduce the species, which at its basic level is what sex is all about, then one can say, from a scientific/biological standpoint, that yes, homsexuality is abnormal. Then again, is half of what is said about all these celeb sex tapes is true, een the hetero stuff can be pretty abnormal too.
Bottom line. Who here wants to see gays beaten, cast out, denied basic rights, etc? And to amp it up a bit more, I follow the Tea Party, and conservative, and religious. And while there are some things I’m not comfortable with which pertain to homosexuality, my Christian upbringing is such that what a person does will be judged by God, not me. In other words, I don’t walk around with a pocket full of stones. Let the debates begin anew!
Truth
November 29th, 2011
3:00 pm
Jay:
Just raise taxes and all will be solved. Sounds to me like there really is a debt problem. Are you ready to admit it?
#occupy my desk...
November 29th, 2011
3:02 pm
I look at it from the other direction – if we don’t allow ourselves to get into this mess in the first place with immense social programs we have no idea how to fund and let debt exceed GDP by the margin the troubled EU countries have, we won’t have to cut austerity programs and cause the doom that most of you are forecasting. How about…we don’t follow them down the socialized everything path that got them in this position in the first place?
joe suggs
November 29th, 2011
3:03 pm
Let us send U. S. taxpayer money to Europe.That is what Obama/Clinton would do !!!!!!!!!!!!
A dad
November 29th, 2011
3:06 pm
Truth – of course there’s a debt pro0blem. It’s casued by all those evil rich nor being willing to give away all their hard earned money to those who execpt everything to be handed to them without having to work a lick for it. Jeez, haven’t you been reading Bookie’s columns for long?
A dad
November 29th, 2011
3:09 pm
Man do my typing skills suck!
luangtom
November 29th, 2011
3:28 pm
Yes, we can blame the EU for ills here in the USA. Or, we can ‘fess up and admit that throwing money at our problems did not alleviate them. Running the deficit up to such unfathomable numbers can do nothing but add to the world’s ills and impact the EU just as much as it impacts the USA. Nice job, Washington DC…………….let’s not re-elect any of them.
GT/MIT
November 29th, 2011
3:58 pm
Slow news day huh bookman? That is the most inane oped pos I’ve read, even by the standards set by this bird cage liner you work for. We all know that barney had nothing to do with Europe’s problems. He was busy killing the housing market in the good old USA.
TruthBe
November 29th, 2011
4:07 pm
Send No taxpayers money to Europe, Africa, Asia, or the Middleast period. We need to fix our own Country first than we can help others. Why doesn’t Obama ask his mentors the Communist Red China to bail Europe out since they have all the money? What about that my liberal friends. Why does America which is flat broke have to be the worlds savior? It’s about time some of these Countries reap what they sow. We need an AMERICAN President not a wouldbe part-time world leader like Obama. And get us out of All of these wars Bush’s and Obama’s. Bring our People Home and defend our own borders.
John Galt
November 29th, 2011
4:19 pm
Haven’t been here in a while but I see Granny still lives here in lieu of having a real life.
Not only are Europe’s problems our problems but their problems are a future vision of our own. They are simply further down the road of borrowing and spending on a socialistic society than we are, but the Community Organizer gets aroused just thinking about European Style Socialism within our own shores. We don’t have to predict the consequences, just look at Europe and see into our future.
John Galt
November 29th, 2011
4:26 pm
And Jay-
instead of silly remarks about Frank, how about an article about his defense of Fannie Mae at thesame time he was playing hide the winkie with a Fannie Mae executive? I’d love your take on that situation-
Corey
November 29th, 2011
4:26 pm
Jay, do you write these columns to enlighten us, provoke conversation or entertain us via absurd retorts posted on here by the right out there in your reading audience? I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say to enlighten us and provoke conversation, but the ridiculous retorts from the right are entertaining byproducts.
GT/MIT
November 29th, 2011
4:37 pm
Corey
November 29th, 2011
4:26 pm
“Jay, do you write these columns to enlighten us, provoke conversation or entertain us via absurd retorts posted on here by the right out there in your reading audience? I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say to enlighten us and provoke conversation, but the ridiculous retorts from the right are entertaining byproducts.”
Do you actually feel “enlightened” and “provoked” to conversation, or are you
making an addition to the ridiculous byproducts?
Joe Hussein Mama
November 29th, 2011
4:43 pm
williebkind — “Joe–I will!”
I’d like to see you try.
Joel Edge
November 30th, 2011
5:34 am
“How much protection does thousands of miles of ocean provide?”
Hopefully enough.