Earnings offset weak confidence report

Lots of luck in educating the American public much beyond a high school diploma.  Good luck at cranking out a bunch of high-tech wizards who will crank out high tech marvels.

Technical wizards (technically proficient folks) are scarce in any society.  Always have been and always will be.  With the level of education going down the tubes in the USA; the probability is very low that there will be any kind of American come-back in the high=tech arena.  Lets not forget the competition in the future from the growing middle class in the BRIC countries...

Without a strong manufacturing base, you will NOT have a strong middle class!  Therefore you will probably not get much in the way of educated or college bound people.

2 Sick to Type --- I'll bet you were also always too sick to go to school or work. You haven't got a clue. If you expect results from less than a full year of a new President's attempts to solve the Bush crisis, you're also too sick to understand. The economy doesn't react that fast --- things have to settle and filter through the infrastructure. Gov't spending in times of recession is a proven method around the world. Yes, debt does get incurred --- that's kind of a no brainer, isn't it? The U.S. was already in debt by the trillions. However, if spending can over time stimulate an anemic economy, create jobs, keep businesses in business and basically live to fight another day, then it will prove worthwhile. Of course the debt will have to be repaid amortized over generations. But the country will survive and you standard of living will basically survive. The alternative being no gov't spending, which was the approach in the early years of the Great Depression, would have been far worse --- and debt still would have had to have been incurred. Just after the pain.

Go have another beer.

Without manufacturing the USA is like a poker game with no new money coming to the table.

I remember the 1950s and 1960s, I was alive then and had hope for the future...

Sorry wake but if you understand economics like I do, Oh by the way I teach economics at a local college, you will find that globally, manufacturing labor is declining as a percentage of total jobs. I also work in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. We produce 10X in the number of semiconductors then we did 10 years ago with half the manufacturing plants all due to technologies and improved manufacturing tools and we are relentless in reducing more and more expenses i.e. headcount while producing more and more product. What this means is that productivity and efficiency in production is faster in producing units out the door than the ability of consumers consumption of this material. Its the reality of the world.

I guess Clinton with all the brightest economic minds in the country just don't know anything about economics as opposed to this bulletin board post Hmmmm...

Lambo8525, you sound like a stuck record from the mid-90's left over from the Clinton error (mis-spelled on purpose)

Clinton used the "We're a Service Nation" to justify the UN-Free Trade Agreements that have and continue to cost this country.

And by the way, when is the last time you had "service" here in the US. Evertime you call a service center half have been outsourced to India or somewhere else. SO goes for your human factor element.

I guess there are more humans elsewhere to pick-up the labor costs as well.

Did you have any formal education on economies and Facts??

The US does have to develop more High-tech mfg here and keep the security of patent and trademarks protected. How is easy, but no one wants to address this either.

No, the main reason for these issues is "profitability" and "fiduciary" responsibilty. Buzz words used at Wall Street and big business to continue to profit too much. DId you ever see Wall Street?

Watch it and learn. It's pretty close to the truth. Or at least more so than you'll ever hear or see on the Networks anymore.

WAKE-UP to REALITY!

well, continue to bask in your glory, like Joe Scarborough " we have the best University", but not the brightest students, " we have Intel, Boeing, etc" but not the engineers, and the capital to buy this firms still lies in China, pay more attention to turn more MBA and less scientist, at the end you are going t end up in the trash bin, It is always has being "who with the manufacturing power is the one with the real power" this country was led to believe that the more we got in debt by buying stuff from other countries, the better for this country.

Truth is all this madness,was every American fault, look at the mirror, the Banker giving the easy loan, the consumer buying the big Hummer, etc etc, it is now time to pay the piper it is all folks, Best higher education, what good it is, if most of American kids are thinking of buying the latest AE game or PSP or Ipod instead of getting the Math and tech knowledge to propel this country in the future, the captain of industries always thought that the talent of international student was going to stay in America forever, as the BRIC economies develop, we see more and more that this talent is going back to their countries, because of better prospect of development and life, take a look at the Large Hadron Collider, America does not have the money for big science project anymore, so it has to sit in the 3 rd or 4 row and watch and beg to be a part of the greatest scientific experiment mankind have ever done.

It is sad , but it is what it is.

Now we have what 17% unemployment about 30 to 40 million people, but the GDP is growing, who are we kidding? ourselves?

70% of this economy is spending, unless the other 100 million people pick up the slack of this 40 million unemployed, will this be truth, numbers can be very deceiving, and shame on the American people if they are buying this crap.