Economic Report Doesn't Factor in Obama

CNNMoney.com reports that a long, painful recession appears to be in the works with a growth rate in the economy for 2008 at 0.2% and 0.7% for 2009. A panel of top economists was surveyed and their responses indicated that they expect this recession because of a severe cutback in consumer spending due to rising joblessness. All this is happening because of the tight credit markets and companies' inability to borrow to sustain their operations.

For the month of October, retail sales suffered the worst monthly drop ever recorded at 2.8%, including automobiles. The drop in retail sales was 2.2% even without auto sales.

Home prices have fallen 6% so far in 2008 and are expected to fall another 3.5% in 2009. One bright spot in the economic outlook is after that, economists expect home values to level off sometime in 2009.

The economists expect tight credit market conditions to remain during the first half of 2009.

These predictions are made without knowing the impact the Obama administration is going to have on the economic situation in the U.S. If Obama can get a jobs program underway, that will certainly help the unemployment situation. His economic stimulus package is not considered along with many other ideas he would like to implement. I am hoping that, after January 20, we start to see some Obama initiatives put into place that will mitigate the economic situation.