The stock market floor on the day of the crash — October 29, 1929.

It was October 29, 1929 when a decade of extravagance came to a “crashing” halt. Living in luxury and investing in intangible money quickly became a thing of the past. Since Fox News wasn’t there to take you on the scene, we need your help.

From how they made money to what food they could manage to put on the table, we want to hear your family’s stories. Have any first-, second-, or third-hand accounts of that fateful day and the tough times that followed? Click “leave a comment” below to share!

from RedState:

BREAKING: Dems Blocking Public From Press Conference

Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

Thursday, October 29th at 11:19AM EDT

8 Comments

New home sales expected to rise 2.6 percent
October 28, 2009 by ALAN ZIBEL

WASHINGTON — Sales of new homes are expected to post their sixth consecutive monthly gain as builders reap the benefits of a tax credit for first-time owners that expires at the end of next month.

New home sales take surprise tumble
October 28, 2009

WASHINGTON – Sales of new homes dropped unexpectedly last month as the effects of a temporary tax credit for first-time owners started to wane.

economics, economy, gaffe, news media, recession

The Debt Death Spiral

By Steve McCann

America’s economy faces a miserable future, according to an important government report. The media collectively have yawned, and official Washington has barely blinked. The Government Accountability Office recently issued its report to the Congress on the long-term fiscal outlook for the United States.   It is a bleak picture.  The report opens:

Weakness in the economy and financial markets — and the government’s response to them — have contributed to near-term increases in federal deficits, which reached record level in fiscal year 2009.  While a lot of attention has been given to the recent fiscal deterioration, the federal government faces even larger fiscal challenges that will persist long after the return of financial stability and economic growth.

And:

…the federal government is on an unsustainable fiscal path.

Unfortunately few in Congress will ever read this memorandum, as their interest lies in a) getting their ideology and agenda passed; and b) letting others worry about tomorrow.   By the nature of economic reporting and the enormity of the numbers involved this work of the GAO will not be seen or understood by the vast majority of the population.

The projections by the GAO can best be understood if we were to use the underlying statistics and apply them to a family’s financial situation.

Assume a family has prosperous middle class assets of $500,000.00 and annual income of $105,000.00, but as with many families, they spend much more (a deficit) and charge it to their credit card. The family income is made up of salaries and revenue from an annuity owned by the grandparents that live in the same household.

The report focuses on four years:  2009, 2019, 2030 and 2040.  Using the GAO simulation and assumptions plus constant 2009 dollars this hypothetical family situation would be as follows:

2009:  The long term debt:  $199,000.00

Spending:                 Interest:             $        6,500.00

Grandparents             23,000.00

Other                       130,500.00

Deficit                     ( 55,000.00)

2019:  The long term debt:  $521,500.00

Spending:                 Interest:              $     25,000.00

Grandparents             55,000.00

Other                         73,500.00

Deficit                     ( 48,560.00)

2030:  The long term debt:  $911,500.00

Spending:                 Interest:               $     44,000.00

Grandparents              70,000.00

Other                           67,000.00

Deficit                      ( 76,000.00)

2040:  The long term debt: $1,466,000.00

Spending:                Interest:                 $     72,000.00

Grandparents                80,000.00

Other                             66,560.00

Deficit                       (113,560.00)

The borrowing begins to spiral out of control in order to meet the spending requirement which in turn increases interest costs until the entire house of cards collapses under its own weight.

In the case of the family example used above, bankruptcy is the inevitable result of this uncontrolled spending and borrowing.   For a country the options are not so clear cut.

It has been generally accepted that a country’s economy is a good credit risk as long as its debt remains in the 50% range of that nation’s annual Gross Domestic Product.  Per the GAO the prospects for the United States are as follows:

Debt Held by the Public as a Per Cent of GDP

There are three options a country has to avoid complete economic collapse:  1) raise taxes, 2) cut spending and 3) inflate the value of the currency.

Per the GAO: revenue would have to be increased by 47% and noninterest spending cut by 33% or a combination of the two over the next 75 years to keep debt at the same level as the end of 2008 (40.8% of GDP).  Waiting another ten years to address this issue would require a revenue increase of 58% and noninterest spending cuts of 39% or a combination of the two.

Yet the Congress is discussing a Health Care Reform bill that could add over 5 Trillion dollars in new spending over the next 30 years and a Carbon Cap and Tax bill which will hamstring the economy and reduce potential and much needed growth in revenue.  The only way for the government to increase revenue is for the economy to expand.

(It should be noted the impact of the various Health Care Reform bills in Congress were not included in the GAO study)

The option of hyper-inflating the currency, while having the effect of paying off the debt with near worthless dollars, will destroy the country’s economy and relegate the nation to a “banana republic’ status unable to compete in the world economy.

Nothing lays out the future better than this GAO report.   The alarm has been sounded.  Those in the Congress who will not pay heed must be replaced.  Do not leave a shell of a once magnificent country to your children and grandchildren.

(from addair)

Today I’m feeling underestimated and underappreciated.  I say this not to inspire pity.  Please, don’t pity me.  Rather, I’m saying to that emotion, “Thank you for the alert, I’ve taken notice.  Now will you kindly leave so that I can go about growing”.

Though it isn’t pleasant to feel this way, it is a good warning signal.  I feel this way because I got out my measuring cup and let them measure my brain (recall the Andrew Bird song).  This was my first mistake.  My second was to use a state-issued cup; I forgot that “it is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”(Jiddu Krishnamurt)

I get frustrated that market demand and broken infrastructure drives so much of our output and the way we spend our time.  This morning I was thinking about the limitations of artists and feeling angry and then I remembered that we don’t have to use their measuring cups.  A human life is too precious to be squandered on meeting the arbitrary standards of a society.

this is a picture of me and my mom when she came to visit in new york. today is her birthday (happy birthday, mom). she taught and teaches me that there's no such thing as being too idealistic

We need to make art (I’m using this term in its broadest sense), even if no one recognizes it as valuable.  Even if no one buys it, ever.  We need to do this and to fight for this right with all the fervor of a revolution.  Our greatest energy should be allowed to move toward making meaning,  to work for justice, and enjoy the fruit of being.

At this point, most people pat me on the head, “Okay, little idealist bunny.  You’ll grow up and see that there are bills to pay.”  And there are.   There are too many, and that is problem.  We have created a system that rejects simplicity and the freedom that entails for a tangle of commerce.  We’ve created it, but we don’t control it; and now we are trapped.

a painting on the matter. this one is a reflection back to new york. i think it was there that many of these thoughts were solidified.

But only  if we play by its rules.   And this is why we can’t wait for society to deem us artists.  We must claim our legitimacy to make art with our first energy whether or not the larger society agrees to its value.

Be grassroots, do direct action, and when you feel underappreciated– break your measuring cup and make a mosaic out the shards.

Economy returns to growth after a year of declines
On 9:51 am EDT, Thursday October 29, 2009
By Lucia Mutikani
Yahoo Finance

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy grew in the third quarter for the first time in a year, beating market expectations, as consumer spending and new home-building rebounded, signaling the end of the worst recession in 70 years.

The Commerce Department, in its first estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday, said the economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate, the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2007, after contracting 0.7 percent in the April-June period.

The growth pace in GDP, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, was above market expectations for a 3.3 percent rate. The economy last grew in the second quarter of 2008.

Economy returns to growth after a year of declines

Not so fast. The recession is not over yet. Unemployment is climbing still. I don’t see this recession being over yet. I don’t think it will be over until 2010 at earliest. Even in the Great Depression, th GDP went up, while unemployment was high in the neighbor of 25%.

John Mauldin:

Today I give you a video about Russia and how a plan to fix the economy might throw off the political balance of power. I regard Moscow’s situation as a valuable lesson for our country – also in the throes of an economic crisis – and for investors affected by global markets. Click here to watch this great video by my friends at STRATFOR, a global intelligence company

CBS Markwatch story:

“WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The U.S. economy expanded at a 3.5% annual pace in the third quarter, as massive government stimulus helped drag the economy out of the longest and deepest recession since the 1930s, the Commerce Department estimated Thursday.”

full story at:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-gdp-rises-35-as-stimulus-kicks-in-2009-10-29

According to the article:

“as massive government stimulus “

That’s almost analogous of feeling great thanks to a bottle of Jack Daniels spiking a punchbowl.

Lets see what happens when the Feds take away the super-spiked punchbowl.

Nouriel Roubini | Oct 28, 2009 From the International Herald Tribune:

Global imbalances — roughly defined, the different emphasis the world’s leading economies place on savings, spending and debt — is a phrase much used and little acted upon.

Well before the current financial crisis began, world leaders pledged to address this disconnect. At an International Monetary Fund meeting in 2007, for instance, representatives of the United States and the European Union agreed they should change economic incentives to encourage more savings and less spending; officials speaking for China, Japan and Germany, meanwhile, pledged to take steps to encourage spending. At the end of the day, nothing much happened, and these imbalances helped grease the skids for the global descent toward the economic abyss.

This might not be readily apparent from current numbers; in fact, the financial crisis has contributed to a significant narrowing of global economic imbalances. Consumers in so-called “deficit countries” — states like the U.S., Britain, Spain and the countries of Eastern Europe that have huge trade deficits — are saving more as the crisis has exposed the dangerous extent of their indebtedness. Meanwhile, in China and other large export-driven economies, fiscal stimulus spending and some other policy moves have encouraged more domestic consumption.  Read the rest of this entry »

….. with the public option.. or at least a version of it… Let’s get this done..

Click here for the whole story =====> Read the rest of this entry »