Biggest rise in construction spending in nearly a decade

[impik]

More bad news for some....



WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economic recovery is gaining strength from the biggest rise in construction spending in nearly a decade and the 10th straight month of expansion for manufacturers.

The two positive reports eased some fears that the debt crisis in Europe might be starting to stunt the U.S. economic rebound.

"The recovery is still on track," said Brian Bethune, a senior economist at IHS Global Insight. While Europe's troubles will put a drag on profits at U.S. companies that do business overseas, Bethune said, "it's not going to be a show-stopper."

The burst in April construction spending reported Tuesday by the Commerce Department sent a promising signal for an industry that was among the hardest hit during the recession. The 2.7 percent increase was spread across all major sectors. But temporary government incentives fueled gains in two of three major categories. The economy will eventually have to manage with less government support.

In a separate report, the Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said its manufacturing index dipped only slightly in May from a nearly six-year high in April. But the 59.7 reading for May was well above the 50 level that indicates expansion. Export orders rose despite Europe's troubles.



http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-06-01-15-59-17

[brentspeak]

1. Do the words "construction" and "bubble" mean anything to you?

[impik]

2. Heee. How sad.

[brentspeak]

3. You think the housing bubble and collapse is "funny"? Or maybe you're crying over it

But if you think the total economic devastation wrought by Obama's banker buddies was hysterical, you'll be busting a gut when http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/11/commercial-real-estate-wa_n_458092.html">the commercial real estate sector collapses.

[quaker bill]

12. One of two things is true

Either the oft promoted commercial real estate collapse has happened, or it is not going to happen. Commercial rents here have gotten pretty cheap, so I think it has already happened, and with not all that much of a bang.

The much discussed collapse will not happen in a growing economy, and despite the best hopes of the doom and gloom crowd, the economy is growing again.

Just to correct the record, they were Bush's banker buddies, and their bailout was a Bush administration feat. It was Bushie regulators who were watching porn on the job as opposed to regulating derivatives.

[Clio the Leo]

4. because consumer loans became super easy to get again?

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. K&R for good news, and to piss off the haters. (nt)

[Tarheel_Dem]

6. Well the unreccers wiped out my rec, but you can't wipe out the facts. (nt)

:rofl:

[mnhtnbb]

7. Well, the recovery hasn't hit my relatives in construction biz.

One 40ish nephew on my husband's side has been out of work for months and says everything is dead, dead, dead. He used to manage development of apartment complexes in growing areas of the southeast. His other two brothers own/operate a tree nursery--selling to developers--and they haven't had an order in months.

My cousin, who wields a hammer--and has for many years--was furloughed from his company in Seattle
earlier in the year. He has yet to be called back.

Take the everything's gaining strength reports with a grain of salt!

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. "Take the everything's gaining strength reports with a grain of salt!"

So because the recovery hasn't benefited you personally, it must not be true? That's some pretty f'd up logic. Can't you just be happy for those who have returned to work, or is this just about you and your family?

[John Q. Citizen]

10. All politics is local. I'm really glad for the Chinese that they are doing well, but I won't

cast my vote based on somebody else's prosperity. Even if that's what you do, which i seriously doubt.

The article doesn't say that a bunch of people have returned to work. It says "...the biggest rise in construction spending" which could mean that if last year a million was spent on construction and this year 2 million was spent, then the rise would be a whooping 100%.

But 2 million isn't going to cause 30 million unemployed people to rejoice.


My guess is that you want us to be happy for what you see as good political news for your personal hero.


The fact that the government pumped almost a trillion into the economy is of course going to show up when you gauge spending. I supported increased government spending since it helps employ more people than would otherwise be employed.

But until the unemployment rate comes down, I'm not going to celebrate. Until I get a job with a living wage, I'm not going to celebrate. I'm not going to celebrate "the biggest raise in construction spending" until that actually translates out as a drop in the unemployment rate, or a job.

You can if you want to, though. It doesn't bother me if you do.

[Tarheel_Dem]

11. If I were to follow the lead of the poster I originally responded to...

I could say that on a personal level, I could give a shit whether you ever work again. And I could also say that since you are a singularly objectionable human being, that I'd prefer you either put me on Ignore, or just refrain from responding to my posts in the future. I could say all that, but I'm such a nice person. ;-)

[John Q. Citizen]

15. You have a strange way of showing how nice of a person you perceive yourself to be.

IMHO.

I don't expect you to care on a personal level whether I work again or not. In fact, it would have surprised me (pleasantly)if you had cared whether I worked again or not.

I do, however, wish the best for the Chinese, and I also wish the best for all the newly unemployed. New unemployment claims just rose slightly for the month of May, according to NPR this AM, and I'm certainly not rejoicing about that

I have no one on ignore because I am not emotionally tied into whatever insults and name calling an anonymous poster might post. I figure if the other person gets angry because i disagree with them, or point something out that they don't like, then that signals that they are unable to interact on an intellectual level and their politics are instead largely emotionally driven. I also reserve the right to post where ever and when ever I want as per the official rules of DU.

I can't speak for the person you originally responded to, but my post to you was about your post to that person. You attempted to personalize their skepticism about a news report. You tried to say the person is selfish because in their own personal experience they hadn't seen an improvement in the construction sector.

Because the person was skeptical of the article, you attributed that to a personal defect in the poster, ie they have "...f'd up logic" and that the person is some how selfish for being skeptical of the story.

I was attempting to engage you in a discussion about politics and their relationship to the economy. I will do so again, right here and now;


What does the article mean? Who got a job? Who lost a job?

NPR said this AM 'there were 55,000 new jobs created last month and that there were 8 million lost in the recession.' At that rate, according to my math, it will take at least 12 years to get back just what was lost.

It would be unbelievable if people were going to rejoice about that, and I think the poster that you implied was somehow self centered and used "f'd up logic" was just calling it as they see it.

Now perhaps you and that poster have some kind of bad blood posting history, I don't know. But I don't see why you would personally attack them because they are skeptical of an article, and rightfully so.

I understand from reading your sig line that you are a strong supporter of Obama. That's fine. But you need to be a smart supporter as well. Attacking a person because they are skeptical of a "some good news" story doesn't help compel that story into the nation mind. It jusrt gies the skeptic more credibility because it makes the "good news" supporters appear more desperate.

A better tactic would be to acknowledge that it's going to be a long hard struggle, and at least some good news is better than no good news. That would both reinforce or catapult, the original article and let people know why they might not be seeing "the good news" occurring around them in their day to day lives. It's happening slowly, but it's happening in other words.

That's my 5 cents.

[mkultra]

16. politics is local, economics are not

DATA is what is used to determine the current state of the economy. Not random observations from the less fortunate.

[John Q. Citizen]

17. so based on the data, what's your take?

[KingFlorez]

9. That makes a lot of sense

"I can't see air, so it must not exist". Sometimes I wonder if some posters here actually want recovery.

[quaker bill]

13. The people want a recovery

Therefore there will be a recovery. There is no magic policy formula to this sort of thing. People just get a wad of cash from their "largest ever" tax refund, and start buying stuff with it. Presto, the economy recovers. One could call it "priming the pump" or "trickle up economics", but it always works.

[cornermouse]

14. Rise in new construction spending usually means increase in

urban sprawl. That used to be a republican position. Has the democratic party adopted it as well?