Ok...so you meant PE ratio...you're still wrong. Go look up the numbers yourself...historically its around 15, right now its over 20.
It has nothing to do with oversees earnings and everything to do with a) borrowing on the REALLY cheap and b) borrowing to incur debt to lower their taxes.
The OP didn't make any FS statement about booming in 2010...he said "Makes you wonder where EPS would be if we didn't have record LBB's since interest rates have been artificially frozen at zero, doesn't it, Honda." And as both he did and I did in a previous link (
here again)...if interest rates weren't so artificially low to the point that companies wouldn't be issuing debt just to buy back shares the EPS numbers would have been horrible the last couple of years. You are the one that ran into lala land from that comment. Sad part is companies should be spending that money on actually growing their businesses, but they don't trust the current policy and economy enough to do so and they instead plow their money into buying back shares. Which is part of the reason why the stock market has been going up while the broader economy still blows. Scary part is one of the main sectors where huge capital investments have been going on is oil/shale gas, and that's grinding to a stop right now.
The economy blows. The stock market is doing great so those of us with experience in specialized fields are fine, but for the US as a whole it blows. I know you think everyone who doesn't have a 4 year degree, 401K and other money in the stock market are "meth heads that made $15 an hour under the table framing homes", but that ain't true. Even for the newly educated its not true...hell, only 65% of college grads are employed, and only 36% of them are in full-time, permanent jobs. Median income and household net worth is actually down under Obama...as damning a stat as there should be. I love how liberals look down on the majority of Americans as being awful people and something they aren't all while trying to "help" them.
Yet another stat to be proud of in this economy...more people have left the work force under Obama than found new jobs. The employment numbers reported now are lies...if you think unemployment is under 6% I've got some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you.
This recession was much stronger than previous? More FS statements...go look at the economy under Jimmy Carter 1 and get back to me...it blew monkey balls and was way worse than '07. Inflation alone was something like 12% his last two years.
An for the last...recoveries haven't gotten progressively milder:
Maybe you meant to say your expectations in the economy got milder with O in charge?
Now we are getting somewhere. Someone is actually attempting to post facts. Congrats.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States
You were quoting GDP, so here are the recessions:
2008 - 18 months - 4.3% decline
2001 - 8 months - .3%
1990 - 8 months - 1.4%
1982 - 16 months - 2.7%
1980 - 6 months - 2.2%
1974 - 16 months - 3.2%
1970 - 11 months - .6%
For the OPs statements, read the fucking title to the thread. Yes he clearly made reference to the economy.
Nice reaching by saying I'm talking down on others. If you can read, I was pointing out the fact that SOME people with college degrees are doing well. Others not so much. And the typical blue collar job that built this country is hard to find right now. Mostly because we are transitioning to a technology based economy. My buddy who used to work at Microsoft said they are hiring people right out of college for $100k a year because they need people.
Yes if you look at chart of the recoveries in your first post, recoveries have gotten progressively slower, it's right there in the charts. But it all depends on what stats you want to use.
Is the economy great? No. Is it good? Yes. Unemployment is using the exact same formula under Reagan. So yes those stats are comparable. There are many positive aspects to this economy and many negative parts. But to say the economy is shitty is just plain dumb.