In 1938, the economy shrunk by 3.4%, but in 1939 (well before the start of WWII), the economy grew by 8.1% and it grew by another 8.8% the following year. In contrast, the economy shrunk by 3.5% in 2009, but grew only 3.0% and 1.7% in the following two years, respectively.

Bloomberg News: Larry Silverstein is in discussions to cap 3 World Trade Center at seven floors if tenants aren’t found to take enough space for the building’s planned 80 stories, said two people familiar with the talks.

The discussions with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the lower Manhattan site, are based on a 2010 agreement that required the developer to have private financing and an anchor tenant in place, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Meeting those conditions would qualify the project for financial support from the agency, as well as the city and state.

Finding one or more anchor tenants for at least 400,000 square feet (37,000 square meters), as required, has proved tougher than anticipated as New York’s financial companies reduce staff and cut back on their space needs. The tower, designed by Richard Rogers, the Pritzker Prize-winning British architect, is designed to have 2.8 million square feet, according to Silverstein Properties Inc.’s website.

LoHud Reports: As Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to present his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, a state financial report shows the boomlet that appeared briefly in the spring has fizzled.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in his quarterly “cash report” that state tax revenues were up 8.6 percent. But that’s compared to a low 2010 figure, deeper in the recession, and revenues were much stronger earlier in the year compared to December.

In the first fiscal quarter, revenues were more than $700 million ahead of the same period in 2010, but DiNpaoli and Cuomo warned to expect a bumpy ride the rest of the 2011.

“A stronger recovery has slowed. It hasn’t stopped, but it’s slower than we’d like,” DiNapoli said in an interview. “We are still in a very sluggish period of recovery.”

Cuomo will present his 2012-13 budget Tuesday.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

When asked if his administration takes any personal responsibility for the current state of this economy where middle class families are struggling to keep their homes and put food on their tables, Obama says that he didn’t create the condition, but he knows what did:

Well we didn’t create the condition. We haven’t solved it fully yet because it was three decades in the making. I mean if you look at the trend lines, essentially what’s happened is that because of automation, because of globalization, you had a lot of manufacturing move out of the United States. Business got more efficient. They needed fewer workers. They had more leverage over workers. And all this added up to a tougher time for middle class families. …

Over the last decade, between 2000 and 2008, the wages and income were flatlined even though the costs from everything from energy, to food, to healthcare were going up. And that problem was being papered-over through consumer debt – home equity loans, credit cards. And then the bubble burst.

So now, I think we’re having to squarely address problems that had been building up over time.

Reuters Via Yahoo! Reports: Britain’s Conservatives have overtaken the Labour opposition in an opinion poll for the first time this year, enjoying a bounce on the back of Prime Minister David Cameron’s veto of a new European Union treaty, the latest Reuters/Ipsos MORI poll showed on Wednesday.

The rise in support for Cameron’s Conservatives is all the more remarkable given Britons’ increasing pessimism on the economy, with only 12 percent expecting it to improve in the next year, the lowest figure since the credit crunch began to bite in September 2008.

Support for the Conservatives rose by seven percentage points to 41 percent, while backing for centre-left Labour slipped two points to 39 percent.

From Senator Gillibrand: An estimate of nearly 300,000 upstate New Yorkers are currently out of work. Upstate New York lost an estimated total of more than 3,600 construction jobs in the last year, according to the New York State Department of Labor and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• In Western New York, there were 53,000 people unemployed in  September, and more than 380 construction jobs lost in the last year.
• In the Rochester-Finger Lakes Region, there were 44,800  people unemployed in September, and 175 construction jobs lost in the last  year.
• In Central New York, there were 40,900 people unemployed in  September, and just 22 construction jobs gained in the last year.
• In the Southern Tier, there were 20,400 people unemployed  in September, and just 51 construction jobs gained in the last year.
• In the Capital Region, there were 41,100 people unemployed  in September, and nearly 500 construction jobs lost in the last year.
• In the North Country, there were 19,000 people unemployed  in September, and more than 420 construction jobs lost in the last year.
• In the Hudson Valley, there were 77,900 people unemployed  in September, and more than 2,200 construction jobs lost in the last year.

Retool Manufacturers for Clean Energy Production

Once a manufacturing powerhouse, upstate New York has lost an estimated 71,500  manufacturing jobs since 2005. Senator Gillibrand knows New York’s manufacturers  stand ready to work and power our economy again, and the Upstate Works  Act would help retool and rejuvenate our manufacturers for clean technology  production, create new jobs, and help make New York the clean energy capital of
the world.

The legislation would invest $30 billion to establish a  Manufacturing Revolving Loan Fund – helping small and medium-sized manufacturing  businesses expand or establish a clean energy technology manufacturing
operation. It would also invest $1.5 billion over five years for the  Manufacturing Extension Partnership that helps manufacturers access clean energy  markets and transition to new, innovative, clean energy manufacturing  technologies.

The Alliance for Clean Energy New York estimates this investment could  create approximately 50,000 new jobs.

Tax Credits for Agricultural  Value-Added Investments

The Upstate Works Act includes a  provision to encourage New York farmers to develop value-added products that can  help farmers increase their income, expand their operations, and create more agriculture jobs for New York.

Specifically, the legislation would  offer farms a tax credit worth up to $30,000 for producing value-added products  to spur investments in packaging, chopping and cooking equipment,  waste-to-energy generators, and other local processing tools to grow New York’s  farming communities.

Retrain NY Workers for Jobs of the  Future

To make sure New York’s workforce is prepared for the jobs of  the future, the Upstate Works Act would create partnerships among  businesses, colleges and universities to provide worker training opportunities for New York’s students and working adults.

Expand Broadband Access Across New York

Less than one-third of rural Americans have access to broadband, including  large portions of upstate New York. Approximately 300,000 New Yorkers lack  access to wireline broadband, and 60,000 lack access to wireless broadband. The lack of broadband access cuts families off from services, cuts upstate  businesses off from markets, and holds our entire economy back from  growing.

Senator Gillibrand’s Upstate Works Act would reauthorize the  Rural Utility Service’s (RUS) rural broadband access loan and loan guarantee  program through 2017 as part of the next Farm Bill.

The program,  authorized through 2012 as part of the last Farm Bill, offers loans to  businesses, cooperatives or mutual organizations, Indian tribes, as well as  state and local governments to install broadband services. In 2010, New York  received over $12 million through the loan program, helping advance seven rural  broadband deployment projects throughout the state, creating or saving over  1,000 jobs and delivering high-speed Internet service to thousands of New York  households, hundreds of businesses and anchor institutions like schools and  libraries.

Increasing broadband access by just 7 percent nationally would  create 2.4 million new jobs across America, according to a study by Connected Nation. Broadband access is also the first step to implementing health care IT,  technology that can cut medical costs, reduce medical errors and save lives.

U.S. Equity Markets were mixed for the week with the Dow gaining 1.42%; S&P 500 rising 0.85%, and the NASDAQ losing .28%.

Year-to-Date (YTD), the Dow Jones Industrial Average, (DJIA) is up 4.98%; the S&P 500 is up 0.49%; and the NASDAQ is up by 0.98%.

In the mean time, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) closed one bankq this weekend, bringing to 88 the number of banks it closed this year through November 12, 2011. At the same time last year, the FDIC had already closed 146 banks, up from the 123 banks closed in the same period back in 2009. Only fifty banks were closed for all the eight years of the Bush Administration, including 25 in 2008.

Because the U.S. government is seeking more “aggressive fuel economy targets,” and because motorists are increasingly concerned about gas prices, some car manufactures, chief among them General Motors, think they’ve found the answer: replace spare tires with inflator kits.

Wait, what?

You read that right. Here’s the thinking: if manufacturers remove the spare tire and its tools, the car will be 25 pounds lighter and therefore more fuel-efficient.

However, industry analysts estimate that losing 25 pounds worth of spare tire and tools saves less than 1 mpg.

So why in the world would manufactures replace the spare with an inflator kit that is totally incapable of dealing with large cuts or a damaged sidewall?

The obvious problem that has sprung up from the spareless strategy is that dealers have been selling cars to customers who are unaware of the absence of a fifth wheel.

And it’s not just a few models. It’s a growing trend.

“20 percent of the 1.2 million sedans, compacts and other passenger cars sold in the United States this year through October came without spares as standard equipment,” claims the online buyer research group Edmunds.com.

Was there any other reasoning behind the decision to ditch the spare?

“Automakers believe safety advancements have made the spare tire less crucial,” reports Reuters.

For instance, GM claims that services such as  OnStar remove motorists’ worries about flats or being stranded by them.

And how did motorists react after they got a flat and found out they had no tools to deal with it?

John Nielsen, AAA’s director of auto repair, cited anecdotal evidence of drivers who were “surprised” by the lack of a spare tire.

“The number of examples are small and would seem statistically insignificant, but the motorists that find out they don’t have a spare in a moment of need consider the issue quite significant.”

Really? Wouldn’t have guessed.

Car manufacturers including Toyota, Nissan, Fiat, Chrysler, Hyundai, BMW, and Mercedes, have also replaced the spare with an inflator kit. However, the difference is that these manufacturers have not implemented the spareless strategy on as great level as GM.

A final thought: GM and other manufacturers are ditching spare tires to make the car lighter and therefore more “fuel efficient.” As The Consumerist points out, brakes and headlight are also heavy. They might as well get rid of one of each.

It’s all part of a larger strategy that responds to the Obama administration’s plan to double average fuel efficiency requirements to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, reports Reuters.

“For customers who want an extra wheel, they can get a compact spare as an option. That’s the way we try to package it,” said Dave Cowger, group manager of tire engineering at General Motors.

But at what extra cost?

“We’ll still offer one as long as the customer expects it,” said Vince Muniga, a spokesman for truck-heavy Chrysler.

And here is part of the problem: as recently as a few years ago, almost every car had a spare tire. It’s come to be an expected feature. Furthermore, dealerships aren’t exactly slapping bright, neon stickers on their cars saying, “All New Spareless Model!”

(Report by The Blaze)

Ok, ok Mr. President. The current economic mess is Bush’s fault. But funny is that the FDIC closed more banks this year, 2011 (and we are still in July) than all the banks closed during Bush’s eight year in office. Read here the details: bit.ly/nsqWJ0

Contact: Yossi Gestetner

Here are some headlines from today June First:

Horror for US Economy as Data Falls off Cliff;

Economists Cut May Job Growth Forecasts;

Job Market Has Long Way to Go says Fed’s Pianalto;

 As in the past, President Obama  will likely take a victory lap with the news today that General Motors racked up a year of profits in 2010 making it its best year since 2004.

Some say that but for the Stimulus and bailouts, things could have been worse. However by looking at Ford – a firm that did not have all the government intervention as GM did – we see that things could have been… better for GM had they gone into bankruptcy without Obama’s shtick.

Here are the numbers:

• For all of 2010, Ford’s after tax net profit was $6.56 billion, and GM’s was $4.7 billion, placing Ford at a 40% better gain for 2010 than the bailed out GM.
• Ford’s revenue in 2010 was $120.9 billion, and GM’s was $135.6 billion. This means that after tax, Ford had a 5.4% profit margin on its revenue, but GM’s was only 3.5%. With billions in play, each 0.1 of a percent difference means a lot, so Ford indeed did way better than GM in 2010.
• Ford’s profit for 2010 would have been even larger but for the company paying down $14.5 billion of debt in 2010, versus GM that is still sitting on billions of tax-payer money.

So again my friends: The line needs to be ‘things could have been better’ if not for the bailout… Maybe this explains why the GM stock price fell today below its IPO price of back mid-November 2010.

My following report was first posted at www.americanthinker.com

When the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) sees that a bank has financial troubles, it moves in Friday afternoon to seize the bank, and hands it over to another bank that runs it at the start of the next Monday.

Back in 2007, when the economy was doing well for most of the year and people were paying their loans, the FDIC closed only three banks. The number moved up to 25 for all of 2008. Then, with the Obama-era Stimulus economy of “things could have been worse,” things indeed got worse: The FDIC shuttered 140 banks in 2009, and it became only worse the following year with the closure of 157 banks.

In the first few weeks of the current year, the FDIC closed 22 banks, surpassing the twenty banks closed the same time last year. Indeed, 20 versus 22 is not much of a difference, but one would think that with ‘the Stimulus meetings its goals,’ we would see a reduction in the number of FDIC banks closing compared to last year. However, as of yet, things are worse than 2010, and indeed worse than 2009, when only fourteen banks were closed at this time of the year. (See here week-by-week bank closing info of the FDIC)

Contact: yossi@yossigestetner.com

Today, over at www.AmericanThinker.com they posted an article I wrote ‘The Clinton Tax Myth.’

The article debunks the decades old myth by – and talking point of – Dems that Clinton’s Tax Increases of 1993 gave us a solid economy in the following years. The fact is the economy was strong enough to withstand his 1993 Tax Increases, not that the new tax rates pushed the economy.

Democrats will hate this, but as I write in the piece, “Clinton walked into the White House with a solidly recovered economy and a victorious United States (following the Soviet collapse and Gulf War One), which was the best plate handed over to any U.S. president in recent memory.  Indeed, the smorgasbord was better than what Clinton left for his successor, George W. Bush, which included an economy one foot in a recession, a crashing stock market, corporate America cooking the books, and a corroding jobs market.”

To sum it up, the numbers show that “the economic boom of the 1990s started two years before Clinton took office, and it was kaput by the time he left.”

Read it in full at American Thinker

Ford Motor Co. plans to re-pay its net debt by mid-2011. The firm borrowed more than $23 billion back in 2006, and avoided bankruptcy and government bailout at a time when the two other large US Auto-makers GM and Chrysler, did need the above procedures in recent years.

The Ford 2011 Model proves once again, that the Capitalist Economy can help its self, and that the US Auto Industry did NOT need a Government bailout – if only firms were ready to take the ax to the unions, and run itself as a business rather than a Health-Care, Pension Fund.

I believe you know that a 2.4% number in a GDP report means “an annual growth rate” of that number,” i.e., if the economy will for twelve months grow as it did in the previous quarter, the economy will grow by a total of 2.4%.

I believe you also know that a 2.4% number is a 2.4% growth rate over a quarter earlier. Meaning, the economy in the Second Quarter grew on a rate of 2.4% over where the economy was in the First Quarter. This means, if the economy contracted sharply (steep recession) for a year or two, and then we have growth rates of 2-3 percent, it is much smaller in actual economic activity than if we have 2-3 percent growth rates following a strong or modest year of economic growth.

Once you know this, you ‘get’ a few things regarding the 2.4% of the recent quarter:

1)      Economic growth is still VERY bad, considering that we are coming off a VERY steep decline in economic activity yet the growth rates on average of the last four quarters were a mere 3.1% (quarter over quarter).

2)      The economic growth during the Clinton-Bush-Parrot election year of 1992 was doing just fine, considering that the average quarter-over-quarter growth rate was 4.3%, in addition to the fact that it followed a very light recession a year earlier.

3)      The average quarter-over-quarter growth rates of 1983, which followed shortly after most Reagan Tax Cuts kicked in, was 7.7%. This means, Reaganomics were WAY more affective and productive – in terms of GDP – compared to what the Stimulus has to show for itself, despite the fact that 60% of it is already out the door.

Next Time a Dem tells you “it could have been worse,” tell them “it could have been better.”

The following was accepted and posted this morning at the American Thinker.

While most political people foresee the Dems going through hell this coming November, in large part due to the weak economy, I think the Dems have a positive sign by looking back to the last midterm elections.

Back then, going into the November 2006 elections, the economy ended twelve months of gaining monthly almost 200,000 jobs; the Unemployment Rate was at a mere 4.5%; the three equity markets (DJIA, S&P, and Nasdaq) each gained 15 percent-plus in the twelve months ending November 1, 2006; the national average of a regular gallon gas in late October 2006 was $2.21; and the federal budget deficit of the previous fiscal year (2006) was $248 billion, which was almost half the size of the largest deficit that the 12-year Republican Congress ever produced. Despite all these positive numbers, Republicans lost thirty seats in the House, and six in the Senate.

Fast forward to the 2010 Midterms: The Private Sector economy lost on average 37,000 jobs in the twelve months ending/including June; the Unemployment Rate is at 9.5%; the equity indexes – while up year-over-year going into the July 4, 2010 weekend – are down for the last six months; gas prices are hovering close to $3 a gallon; and we are now in a federal deficit three times larger than the smallest Pelosi/Reid deficit (FY 2008, $455 Billion), which was larger than any annual deficit that the Republican Congress gave us (FY 2004, $412).

Just as good economic news in 2006 didn’t translate into Republican Congress gains; the current weak economic numbers will not necessarily mean spectacular losses for the Dems. This is the good news for the Dems.

The bad news for the Democrats however is that if Republicans get their PR act together by contrasting how the economy was when they last had Congress versus how bad things are when the Dems have larger control of Congress, few sane people will vote for a Dem in November.

Today we saw that the Private Sector economy in June gained 85,000 jobs, which is less than the 110k-120k that economists expected, and less than the 150,000 that Prez Obama said afew months ago that we need to gain monthly to keep up with this country.

The 600,000 people that stopped looking for work, pushed down the U-R to 9.5%, which is still higher than before the Stimulus Bill.

By passing the Stimulus and other “jobs” bills with no Republican votes, the Dems own now this job market 18 months after Obama took office; 16 months after the Stimulus; and 42 motns after Dems took control of Capital Hill when the economy under Republicans gained monthly 200,000 jobs; Unemploymant Rate at 4.5%; and that year’s (FY 2007) TOTAL deficit was less than $170 billion.

People are asking if the Debt Crisis out of Europe is as bad as the Lehman Collapse era of September 2008.

The short and long answer is: No, it is not.

In 2008 we were two months before an election, therefore a national party and a media-loved candidate and later President Elect did everything they could to talk-down the economy and scare everyone to death for political gains, and then to get the Stimulus passed. Killing confidence made things worse by the day.

Now however, we don’t have these political factors, and Republicans sure don’t have a powerful mouth piece with the ear of the country to his/her mouth scaring everyone into a second depression. Therefore, the markets are not Tanking so fast as they did in late 2008 and early 2009.

If you follow some Business News, you are aware that Greece has too much debt, and in order to avoid a Euro-Zone Crisis, other EU countries have pledged to lend money to/for Greece – on a low interest – to help that country pay it’s debt. This has world markets going crazy today.

What is sad about this bailout, is this: Some of the other ‘helping’ countries are also deep in debt, and… Need to borrow now money on their own in order to have money to lend for Greece to pay off its own debt.

To get a better sense how crazy this is, read the following, which I saw Monday early morning on a Blog from Reuters:

“Under the agreement… Italy may be called upon to disburse about 5 billion [Euros], a figure proportional to its economic weight in the euro zone. Germany, the European Union’s biggest economy, would have to provide a little over 8 billion euros.

“If Italy, which already has national debts in excess of 100 percent of GDP, issues more debt to raise money to help Greece get over its debt problems (Greece has a debt-to-GDP ratio of 120 percent),  then, in theory, the yield [I.e. The interest paid] on Italian bonds is likely to rise as investors factor in the increased risk. And since almost all members of the euro zone have severe budget deficits (and therefore little free cash), potentially all of them are going to have to issue more debt to raise the funds to pay Greece to overcome its even more serious deficit problems.

“It’s spreading the risk around.”

The Reuters Blog piece continues:

“By the same token, if Greece asks for and gets the help it needs, its bond yields can be expected to fall if investors (or speculators) believe that the worst of the crisis is over and that the risk of a Greek default has now passed. Multiply that scenario across the 16 members of the euro zone and what you get — again, in theory — is the risk profile of 15 member states increasing slightly in order to allow the 16th member, Greece, to lower its profile.”

So… Is it a 50-50 chance that things may work-out the ‘better way?’ Well, no. As Reuters continues. The second theory of what may happen is “like the water in a vast dam being released to save the one village next to the lake, with the result that all the villages in the valley get flooded equally.”

Things are really messed up!

I know this headline will make Democrats explode because they want to credit Obama’s Stimulus with the improving economy, and Republicans probably don’t like it that an economy with an Unemployment Rate of 9.7%, record foreclosures, and trillions in deficits is being called an “improving” thing. But regardless where you fit in, please continue reading.

The economy in some areas is now better than a year ago. A main reason is, that businesses and people in general have confidence that the Democrats will lose their working majorities in Congress or perhaps be pushed into the minority. In turn, Democrats won’t be able to inflict more damage on business. This is good news for the public  turns into better spending and investment moods, thus turning the economy in the right direction.

For the same reason, but with an opposite results, did the economy slip into a long recession less than a year after the Democrats in 2006 won control of Congress for the first time in twelve years. This also explains why the failure of a few firms in September of 2008 sent the economy into a tail spin: more saw an Obama victory on the horizon in addition to expanded Democratic majorities in Congress, thus increasing worries what leftist policies will hurt the economy.

But now that things are looking up again for Republicans, it automatically improves the economy, just as last time around the Republicans had control of Congress the economy was very good: an Unemployment Rate close to 4%, just to mention one statistic.

The United States has now an Unemployment Rate (UR) of 10% and yearly deficits in the trillions. Dems like to rationalize it by saying that following the collapse of Lehman on 9/15 2008 “we had the worst economy since the great depression, therefore we have these deficits and high unemployment.”

This excuse if junk and needs to be shot down once and for all: The 9/11 attacks which happened during a recession, was initially more devastating to the economy than was the financial meltdown (you remember how much the Dow lost when the markets opened almost a week after the attacks?). Yet back then, the unemployment rate rose only one and a half percent to peak at 6.3%, not like the current rate which rose a few percent to be at 10%. In addition, the deficits in the two years following 9/11 totaled a few hundred billion dollars, not TRILLIONS like we have now. You know why? Because the tax-cutting policies of the Republicans back then did its job to save the economy, vs. the policies of the Dem majority following the meltdown did NOT do its job. The Dems were and still are more focused on wasteful spending and ideological agendas than to actually save the economy.

Does this sound like a talking-point for Republicans? It sure does, but it spells the truth.

A few days ago, I saw a had-line from a well-known economic writer which read: “First the Good News.” The article focused on a lot economic news that became good (or shall I say, less bad) in recent months. Let me now focus on the bad news, which will paint a realistic picture of the economy:

•To keep up with a healthy recovery, the economy needs to have a net gain of 150,000 jobs each month. We are not close to that. (Losing ‘only’ 11,000 jobs in November was largely due to thousands of part-time jobs that people got for the shopping season. Wait until the season ends to get a clearer picture of the job market).

•A big junk of ‘new jobs’ in recent months, don’t pay as good as jobs did in the past. With weaker pay, more people have less to spend and less to pay off mortgage and credit card debt. Both are demaging to the economy.

•The highest the unemployment rate went following the last recession, was 6.3%; few people liked it. Now it is at 10% and IS still rising. It pulled back in November cuz it jumped too fast in October. But all in all, the UR is still on the rise, too high for this economy to keep on growing strong.

•Consumer Sentiment indexes rose in early December, which was good news. However, it happened because people got fooled with the Unemployment Rate “going down.” Wait a month or two when the UR will rise again, and consumer’s sentiments will tank again, and with it their appetite to keep this economy going.

•Despite some general retail sales statistics that appear good, retailers claim that the current shopping season is weaker than last year. Plus, to those who it DOES match last year’s numbers, it is still a mess considering that any statistic of 12 months ago was in the midst of the crisis, hardly an era that one would measure success against it.

•Credit is still difficult to get these days. This keeps the economy, and consumers’ moods, down.

•The 2009 federal deficit was $1.4 trillion, triple the $455 billion of a year earlier, which in itself was three times larger than the 2007 deficit of $163 billion. These deficits kill the US dollar, which in turn keeps oil prices higher than it should be, and it also increases the interest people need to pay when they want to borrow money. Both kill the economy.

All in all, in a year from now, the US will still be in trouble
Economically speaking, (yet one should now decide what the word ‘trouble’ means). Politically speaking, the economy will bring trouble for the Dems next November. The only thing that can really help the economy and the Dems, is more tax cuts. The Republicans’ idea of putting into the Stimulus tax credits for home buyers, helped stabilize the Housing Market, and thus helped the economy in general. More tax cuts will do even more to kick the economy into a lasting recovery.

I don’t know where the US markets will close today, but one thing is certain: closing on the plus side or being down just a little, will continue to reflect a new type bull market.

Some weekly and monthly economic statistics are not as bad as they were 10 months ago, yet that era is hardly one to measure success against it. In fact, most economic reports are still as bad as they were last year summer or before, which means: better than prior to the crisis, yet still recession-type figures. Therefore one sure wonders, why are the markets continuing to climb?

Something I heard and read about it, appears to hold truth: Investors, small or big, do not have where to place their money with a chance of good returns but the stock market. The way I “get this” is, having gains through the market is your best bet these days; it is easy money, and it takes just minutes to get in or out of it. Therefore, the markets keep rising endlessly, and as a result, the long-anticipated “correction” has yet to arrive. Why? Because the rise in the markets since March, 9, 2009, are not the same type of increases the markets had in the past, thus a regular correction didn’t hit the markets, yet.