I hate it when they use the “D” word:
From Australia, to Asia and Europe and the United States on Wednesday, the message in the latest economic reports was clear: manufacturing continued to slump amid the worst slowdown since the Great Depression.
In the United States on Friday, a crucial measure of manufacturing activity fell to the lowest level in 28 years in December. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said its manufacturing index was 32.4 in December down from 36.2 in November.
“Manufacturing activity continued to decline at a rapid rate during the month of December,” said Norbert J. Ore, chairman of the Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. This index was at the lowest reading since June 1980 when it was 30.3 percent.
“This report indicates that the U.S. economy was on even weaker footing than commonly believed as 2008 came to a close,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief United States economist at MFR. “Moreover, the signal from the export orders index is that the rest of the world is right there with us. Hardly a signal for economic recovery anytime soon.”
As expected, the dow is… up 200 points.
Dreggas
Somehow this is all the fault of the I/P conflict…
Krista
"December"?
They use that one twice. What the hell do you have against the last month of the year, Cole?
mapaghimagsik
The D word…’December’ ;)
And conflict does impact the world economy, but I’m hoping we can keep this from being another I/P slog
MBunge
"As expected, the dow is… up 200 points."
This is the sort of thing that kept me out of the market for the last several years. This is beyond the whole "buy the rumor/sell the fact" stuff you regularly see. For years, stocks have been responding positively to bad news for the underlying economy and negatively to good news on the economic fundamentals. That this disconnect is continuing through the current meltdown is beyond troubling.
Mike
Zifnab
In before "This can only be good for Hillary / McCain!"
The Other Steve
Victor Davis Hansen is on the case…
Whenever I read VDH I just want to shout "WE ARE SPARTANS!"
Dreggas
@mapaghimagsik:
oh I know, I hope it doesn’t become another I/P conflict pissing contest either, but the rat bastard in me had to get that out.
Shinobi
I am trying to find a way to think it is funny that the news media can’t stop comparing this recession to The Depression, but I think I’m too afraid of starving to death for that to work.
I look forward to the realization that this is just because the media is a bunch of whiners causing a mental great depression. Surely then, it will be funny.
bago
@Dreggas: Dude, they just need to talk to the DNS again. Simple way of resolving IP conflict.
gbear
To heck with December. That’s last year’s news. The incredibly short-term good news for the economy is that January has five fridays, and therefore many of us are going to see an extra paycheck this month. Mortgage and credit companies are going to have a less crappy month, and their CEO’s will be able to give themselves nice bonuses with the windfall. February? Too far off to worry about.
Sam Simple
Stay tuned – sure to get a lot worse before it gets better. Those dumb fucks’ on Wall St. got us into this mess. You expect them to lead the way out???
demimondian
@bago: As long as it isn’t any of the MS DNS stacks. You know they are buggy, and leak information to the Reds.
Reverend Dennis
@bago:
Or update your router tables.
Conservatively Liberal
I opened a command window and typed in:
ipconfig /flushconflict /peace
but they are still fighting. Oh well, I tried.
Markus
In other lousy economy news, even Microsoft may be laying off 17% of their employees soon.
mey
I like the "D" word, as in Deflation!
mapaghimagsik
Don’t you guys mean DHCP for IP issues? DNS is for name issues.
Geek +2
kommrade reproductive vigor
Don’t worry. Once Yellowstone goes Kablooie we’ll be too busy choking to death in a thick cloud of dust to worry about the economy.
mapaghimagsik
ipconfig /renew /peace didn’t work either?
jcricket
D is for Depression, that’s all that I can see. D is for Depression, it’s good enough for me.
Sing along everybody.
jcricket
> nslookup bush’s brain
address not found
RPh
Do not trust what you have seen over the last week or so in the market!
As the man who first trained me said: " Never trust the market when the adults are away".
For the last 10 days or so the boys & girls who hold the power were off in their ski chalets or their other retreats.
Just sit back and watch what happens when they come back to work over the next few weeks.
Me = yipe!
(*sign Wile E. Coyote is holding up over the ravine before he starts falling*)
demimondian
@Markus: I live in Redmond, on Ed hill (where many of the Microsofties live). I’ve heard nothing of this, and I think I would have.
Comrade Desert Hussein Rat
I’ve been using the word depression to describe this for nearly a year now.
If the New Deal were still operative, this would have never happened, but let’s face it, every economic precondition that was there in 1929 was there in late 2007 (when this depression started, though nobody realized it):
Macroeconomic and tax policy structured broadly to reward the rich, and punish the middle class: Check.
Eroded or non-existent safety net: Check.
Stagnant or declining real wages of the middle class: Check.
Excessive spending by said middle class in anticipation of wage and/or investment gains that haven’t happened and won’t happen: Check
Excessive speculation in investments by a general public generally ignorant of their risks: Check.
Corrupt, fraudulent sales practices in selling such investments to the general public, as well as institutional investors: Check.
Fraudulent accounting to cover for excessive amount of risk carried on the books of banks and/or brokerages in such securities check: Check.
Negligent or nonexistent risk management by said banks and/or brokerages to minimize risk of said securities, and to understand said risks: Check.
Negligent or nonexistent attempt by government regulators to understand risks of systemic problems in the banking and brokerage industries: Check.
Negligent or nonexistent action by government regulators to prevent banks and/or brokerages from exposing the economic to broad financial risk: Check.
In 1929, it was margin risk and securities speculation on Wall Street. In 2007, it was mortgage speculation, and speculation in the derivative securities built upon them. Other than that, there is no difference.
Then it was the Hoover Administration, now its Bush’s watch. Let’s just pray Obama is another FDR, or this could get a lot uglier than it is already.
Personally, I believe it’s going to be a brutal 2009. It will still be a hard 2010, with a few signs of life in the periphery. I really don’t expect a broad recovery that people will really feel until 2011.
There’s just too much shit to work through the system, and believe it or not, the bloodletting in the broader economy has really just begun.
TenguPhule
We never fucking learn. Never.
Kat
Journal of a Plague Year: Faith in Markets Cracks Under Losses
Like I said about a year ago, it all went tits up.
Wonder where all those naysayers got off to?