Not News To Me Or My Boss

I saw this today on the Fox News web site. I can tell you it is not news for us here at Autoworx LLC. How many of you that know me have heard me say we saw our first declines in early 2007 April as a matter of fact. The report says the recession started in December of 2007 but we saw signs as early as April....

The U.S. economy has been in a recession since December 2007, the National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday.

The NBER -- a private, nonprofit research organization -- said its group of academic economists who determine business cycles met and decided that the U.S. recession began last December.

The White House commented on the news that a second downturn has officially begun on President George W. Bush's watch without ever actually using the word "recession," a term the president and his aides have repeatedly avoided. Instead, spokesman Tony Fratto remarked upon the fact that NBER "determines the start and end dates of business cycles."

"What's important is what is being done about it," Fratto said. "The most important things we can do for the economy right now are to return the financial and credit markets to normal, and to continue to make progress in housing, and that's where we'll continue to focus."

Many economists believe the current downturn will last until the middle of 2009, and will be the most severe slump since the 1981-82 recession.

By one benchmark, a recession occurs whenever the gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, declines for two consecutive quarters. However, the NBER's dating committee uses broader and more precise measures.

The GDP did contract by 0.2% at an annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2007. However, that drop was followed by a 0.9% rate of increase in the first quarter and a 2.8% spurt in the second quarter, when the economy was boosted by the distribution of millions of economic stimulus payments.

However, employment, one of the measurements tracked by the NBER, has been falling since January.

The GDP turned negative again in the July-September quarter of this year, falling at an annual rate of 0.5%. Many economists believe the GDP is falling in the current quarter at an even sharper rate of 4%, and that the economy won't begin to rebound until late 2009.

In a news release, the NBER said its cycle dating committee held a telephone conference call on Friday and made the determination on when the recession began. Founded in 1920, the NBER has more than 1,000 university professors and researchers who act as bureau associates, studying how the economy works

The NBER decision means that the economic expansion lasted from November 2001 until December 2007. Economic expansions peak and recessions begin in the same month, according to the NBER's dating methods.

The decision on the recession means that during the eight years that Bush has been in office, the U.S. has seen two recessions. The first downturn lasted from March 2001 until November of that year.

Look at the price of gas this way

You know I was thinking this morning about the price of gas and where it might go and where it has been. And in relationship to the cost of some other things.

When I first started driving about 21 years ago I lived in Florida....... Gas was around .99 a gal. back then. As of this morning the national avg. is still under 4.25/gal. But I will used $4.25 for the resting point for now. Using .99/gal then and 4.25/gal now....... That ONLY works out to an increase of about .15/gal per year for the last 21 years. The percentage of increase over that time frame is high. But is it really that much higher then what everything else around us has gone up? I think not. I mean in some housing markets even now with the housing down turn you have people that have seen those kinds of increases in their housing values. The only reason that it seems so bad at this point is because the gas price increase has for the most part taken place with in the last two years. I mean it was only about 2 years ago I remember being able to by gas for around $1.35 /gal. Those days are for sure long gone LOL.

YES GAS PRCES ARE HIGH BUT HEAR ME OUT

I thought the picture to the left was funny. But all kidding aside, gas prices are high and the oil companies are getting rich and so on.

But it still no matter how you cut it comes down to consumption. What am I talking about well its plain and simple cut down on our consumption of gas and the price may not fall but it will at least stabilize. We are a nation of glutens. No body wants to face that fact but we are. How many of you combine your trips? ie. do you stop at the store on the way home from work or do you drive home then go back out? And on the weekends do you make 10 or 15 trips to here and there or do you consolidate your travels? Also what are you using for your commuting vehicle. I drive 60 miles round trip to get to and from work everyday. I see it all the time ONE (1) person going up and down the highway in a Ford Expedition or something like that. Also my Favorite thing I some time stop at this store on the way to work in the morning to get coffee. What do I see there? 5 or 6 cars in the parking lot sitting there running while their owners are inside getting there morning coffee or what not. You think I'm kidding? check it yourself goto ANY convenience store early in the morning and you will find the same thing. I myself did my part over a year ago I traded the comfort of a big Cadillac that got 15 -20 MPG to a much smaller Honda that gets almost 40 MPG. By doing this with out even cutting back on my driving I cut my gas consumption in over half.

The oil companies won't keep jacking the price for something that isn't selling the situation we are in in this country is our fault we all had to have the big SUV's and the big gas drinking cars. And now we are crying cause we have to pay the price.

Just some food for thought for the day.

~Dan