U.S. Economy Worst since Depression

President Obama and his Cabinet have taken over
a U.S. Economy that is in such bad shape it is not only
worse than post World War but as bad as the economy
of the 1930's and, in some instances the worst EVER.

Indeed any recovery will be built from the ground up,
rebuilding from the ruins and wreckage of the Bush Administration.


The final quarter of 2008 was recorded as the worst 3 months for the U.S. economy since the 1930s.

If you look at each of the leading economic indicators, the big picture was the worst since the Depression.

Economic factors, including income and job growth , foreclosures and wealth building-- this fourth quarter was a disaster...

Every major sector of the economy shrunk during the final quarter, except the federal government. Consumer spending, business investment, residential investment and exports all fell "at a shocking pace".

Gross domestic income fell even faster than GDP quarter and the result was the worst numbers since 1980 and the second worst drop in the past 50 years.

Corporate profits from current operations plunged a record $250 billion, or 16.6% at a quarterly rate, the largest percentage drop since 1953 and does not factor in for the massive write-downs by the financial corporations on their bad debts.

Individual incomes dropped at a 2.3% annual pace, also one of the biggest declines in the past 50 years, however, falling prices boosted people's consumer purchasing power
but falling prices in the stock market and real estate markets were ruinous for households in the fourth quarter.

Households lost a total $5.1 trillion in wealth while the average household net worth plunged at a staggering 31% annual pace, about twice as fast as ever before recorded in the Federal Reserve's flow of funds data, which date back to 1952. See full story

Businesses were also hit hard, incorporated business net worth fell $572 billion while
credit lines of all types continued to be a challenge.

For non-incorporated businesses, the loss was $500 billion, or a 29% annualized decline, the worst ever.

The unprecedented loss of wealth is what truly separates the fourth quarter of 2008 from other post-war recessionary periods.

The people didn't just lose money; they also lost jobs and houses at a rapid pace.

About 1.28 million payroll jobs were lost in the fourth quarter, a number that has been exceeded only once since the 1930s: in 1945 when 1.35 million lost their jobs after the Allies defeated Japan in World War II. See full story.

The first quarter of this year is shaping up to be much, much worse, with nearly 2 million jobs expected to be lost.

New foreclosures of homes flattened out in the fourth quarter at about 1% of outstanding mortgages, largely due to moratoriums on new foreclosures, but the number of mortgages that were at least 30 days behind rose to a record 7.9%.
See full story.

More than 11% of mortgages were either in foreclosures or behind at least one payment. That's the highest ever on record.