Une horrible journée de plus dans la vie de la crise

Une horrible journée de plus dans la vie de la crise

Le 16 juillet 2010 fut un très mauvais jour dans la vie de la crise générale, section USA, sous-section économie et finance. Un analyste de Guggeheim Partners, Tom di Galoma, déclara : «L’indice de satisfaction des consommateurs ce matin dans le Michigan est catastrophique. Ce qui se passe est que les gens sont en train de se préparer à un nouvel effondrement économique. Les statistiques que nous voyons ce matin sont absolument ceux d’une récession.»

Le site WSWS.org fait un bon compte-rendu d’une “horrible journée” de la situation économique aux USA, ce 17 juillet 2010. Le sombre pronostic de Paul Krugmen de la marche vers une véritable Dépression, la troisième de l’histoire des USA, ne fait plus sourire personne. Obama est couramment désigné comme un “nouveau Hoover”, l’homme de la Grande Dépression.

«US stocks plunged Friday after a spate of negative economic reports fueled fears of a sharp slowdown in economic growth. Stock prices were broadly lower in Asia and Europe, mainly in response to signs of renewed recession in the US, but American markets fell more dramatically.

»The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 261 points (-2.5 percent), the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed with a loss of 31.6 points (-2.9 percent), and the Nasdaq was down 70 points (-3.11 percent). The selloff brought to a crashing halt a weeklong rally that had driven the Dow well above the 10,000 mark.

»Friday capped off a week of ominous economic data with a new consumer confidence report from the University of Michigan showing that its consumer sentiment index had fallen from 76 in June to 66.5 in July--the survey’s lowest level in eleven months.

»This followed a downwardly revised forecast by the Federal Reserve for US economic growth this year combined with an upwardly revised forecast for unemployment; government reports showed a fall in retail sales in June and a rise in business inventories in May; other reports showed declines in factory output and figures revealing a fall in wholesale prices for the third straight month.

»Taken together, these indices point to a dramatic slowdown and the danger of a downward spiral into deflation, with even higher unemployment, a further rise in bankruptcies and a sharp contraction of credit markets.

»The grim economic data comes in the midst of what is already a social catastrophe in the US. With nearly half of the 15 million people officially counted as unemployed without work for more than six months, the refusal of the Obama administration and the Democratic leadership in Congress to seriously press for an extension of federal unemployment benefits is depriving millions of any source of income. Some 2.5 million people have already been cut off of benefits since the federal program for extending compensation beyond 26 weeks expired on June 1, and the number will rise to 3 million by the end of this month.

»One stark measure of the resulting social disaster is the report this week that the number of homes repossessed by banks through foreclosures hit a record high in the second quarter. US banks seized homes at a rate 38 percent higher than the same period a year earlier, for a record total of 250,000, according to the real estate consulting firm RealtyTrac.

»Overall, the number of US properties subject to a foreclosure filing in the first six months of 2010 rose 8 percent from the same period in 2009. RealtyTrac said the figures indicate that banks are likely to repossess more than 1 million properties this year.

»This social tragedy is also an economic disaster, since it further weakens the housing market, driving down home prices even further and undercutting new construction. Reports released last week showed a sharp decline in home sales and home building. This week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that overall home loan applications decreased nearly 3 percent from a week earlier, even though mortgage rates are the lowest in decades.

»In the face of this crisis, President Obama continues to stage public relations events where he touts the supposed success of his economic policies. On Thursday, he made an appearance at a new advanced battery plant in Holland, Michigan, which has been subsidized in part with federal stimulus funds. He once again made no mention of Congress’ failure to extend jobless benefits, and repeated his Herbert Hoover-like mantra that “we are headed in the right direction.”

»Obama boasted that the new plant will eventually employ 300 workers. This, however, will barely make a dent in the jobs crisis in Holland and Michigan as a whole. The city and surrounding region have lost thousands of jobs over the past several years. Holland has an official unemployment rate of 11.8 percent.»

dedefensa.org