I figure we have about 260 more good years to party.

that is no lie and frankly one can only hope team Obama pays attention to Hillary's plans from the primary, which are pretty good. Obama's manufacturing policy was pretty much zero and it's bizarre, it's like manufacturing is some sort of dirty word. I just cannot even imagine the attitude when dealing with the auto industry...
it's kind of like this white collar snobbery thing in addition to the corporate lobbyist agenda.

Look at the US car manufacturers across the border in Canada. That was an economical decision due to health care.
My friends in the UK and Canada look in horror at my history with health care or lack of it in the US and I am still healthy in my 60's on medicare. Just being part of the system has been my largest bill for years. You will see age become a factor even if you are healthy when your company pays for your health care. If you are self-employed, it will be a larger factor as you age. Do not expect US health insurance companies to provide "change".

It is amazing how much China is buying up natural resources. They have been pouring money into Africa and now are doing the same in South America. And what are we doing - deleveraging.

In ten years China will own Mexico.

Here is a little play by play.

Last September the CA legislature signed a budget based on myth, voodoo and ritual sacrificing. By January all those phony numbers blew up and back to square one. Except this time they were negotiating a union contract.
As with every year the CA legislature, Governor, or some fringe wacko taxpayer group tries to use the state employees as a wedge device.

So this year it was the governor instituting furloughs. He found a sympathetic judge who couldn't be confined by laws and statutes and .... wahlah .... two day pay reduction (a month furloughs.) starting in February.

Could the union find a quick appeal? No that sat on their asses and awaited the vote for the new contract and ..... poof .... contract ratified and the union was absolved from all responsibility of negotiating a shitty contract.

Fast forward to end of March, and many may not know but the contract actually has to be submitted by a bill and passed by the legislature and governor.

The long drawn out battle over the budget came to a party line split and the Dem's in control still needed 3 Rethugs to cross the line. They eventually achieved the votes to submit the budget for voter approval. During that whole ordeal Legislator raises came up and automatically went into effect without a vote.

When the governor was questioned on cutting employee salaries but the legislature getting raises the governor spokesperson said something to the effect of "State employees are just going to have to suck it up".

Meanwhile the union contract has been sitting over thirty days waiting to be passed.

When these tax bills go down. Not only will you see CA go belly up but there will be massive layoffs of state employees.

Actually, Japan did make major inroads in the American markets due to the superiority of their products - although dumping did have an effect as well.

The difference with China - and a major difference it is - is that this situation is about Corporate America's labor arbitrage and has really little to do with Chinese industrial policy, as is the same situation with India, except the Chinese are far ahead of India, but from a mercantilist sense and from their educational mores.

Japan had, and probably still has, a far superior industrial policy as compared to the corrupt US, which essentially still has NO industrial policy. Also, Nipponese companies have far superior advertisements.

Yes, conservatives were in fact in charge during the last 8 years.

Sure, conservatives were in power, but not fiscal conservatives. There are a few fiscal conservatives in congress (Ron Paul represents one strain). But, we haven't had one in the Presidency in a long, long time.

If you think the Big Brother actions of recent conservatives precludes them from being conservatives then I suggest you take the blinders off.

The previous administration's Big Brother actions have nothing to do with their fiscal policy, which is what I thought this discussion was about.

in response to yours, that the recession couldn't be bottoming because "400k job losses is a negative."

Of course job losses in any amount, even in booms, stink. But your context was that job losses negative the end of a recession. So I was calling your attention to the fact that job losses always occur.

Calculated Risk has a very informative post shedding light on the second wave of foreclosures that are supposed to be coming.

There are two separate issues involved. There are "resets" and "recasts". CR cites a post by the late lamented Tanta who helpfully explained: "'Reset' refers to a rate change. 'Recast' refers to a payment change."

The difference is important, because mortgage rates are at multigenertional lows. In other words: 'resets' problably won't be an issue, as those rates may be reset far lower than originally believed.

'Recasts' will be the problem, if there is one. As CR says, "Resets are not a huge problem with low interest rates, but recasts could be significant."

With mortgage rates pushed to multigenerational lows by the Fed, there has been a wave of refinancings in the last few months. Many of the recasts may also have gone away in that process.