(Rated by 5 Council Members)

(Rated by 3 Council Members)

Highlights:

1. On December 16, 2003, President Bush signed into law the American Dream Downpayment Act of 2003 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/rele…). It authorized up to $200 million in home-downpayment assistance for up to 40,000 low-income families ($5,000/family). Looking back, many people think that, in the words of one, "Congress authorized money to be given to people who couldn't pay their rent so they could buy a house with a mortgage they couldn't pay, either."

2. On 7/01/04, the U.S. prime rate rose to 4.25% from 4%, its lowest point since 5/17/1958. This was the first of 17 quarter-point increases that culminated in the prime hitting 8.25% on 6/29/2006. (Link: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred…).

3. In November 2004, George W. Bush was re-elected to a four-year term as President of the United States. The Republicans increased their majorities in both the House and the Senate.

4. During 2004, the U.S. unemployment rate ranged from a low of 5.4% (August, September, November, December) to a high of 5.8% (April). Link: http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/c….

5. Throughout 2005 and 2006, the bad news from the War in Iraq increased. It placed a heavy psychological weight on the U.S. economy because the U.S. public was increasingly distressed.

6. On October 25, 2005, the President nominated Ben Bernanke to succeed Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan when Greenspan stepped down on January 31, 2006, after 18 years heading the Fed.

7. The U.S. unemployment rate during 2005 varied from a low of 4.8% (December) to a high of 5.4% (February). http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/c…

8. On Feb. 1, 2006, Bernanke was sworn in as the new Fed chairman.

9. On November 7, 2006, the Democrats picked up six seats in the U.S. Senate and 31 in the House to take control of the legislative branch for the first time since 1994. The Democrats won over 53% of the popular vote. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United…

10. For 2006, U.S. unemployment ranged from 4.4% (March) to 5.0% (December). Link: http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/c…

11. January 2007 - Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama announce their candidacies for the Democrat nomination for President of the U.S. Eventually, 7 or 8 others did, too. For most of 2007, Sen. Clinton had a big lead over Sen. Obama.

12. Early in 2007, subprime "resets" began (link: http://www.housingwire.com/wp-conte…). Three-year adjustable-rate mortgages taken out by low-income families at the top of the housing boom in 2004 began to "reset" - in other words, they began to rise. The average subprime homeowner's monthly payments increased by as much as $350 (link: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newse…).

13. On 9/20/2007, Bernanke testified before the House Committee on Financial Services. A transcript of his remarks: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newse….

14. On September 18, 2007, the Fed reduced interest rates by 50 basis points, from 8.25% to 7.75%. This was the first of seven reductions in the prime rate over a seven-month period, taking the prime rate down to 5%. (http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred…).

15. However, a big gaffe by Sen. Clinton in a candidates' debate in Philadelphia on October 30, 2007, began to shrink her lead. (http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/…)

16. November 2007 - The number of subprime mortgage loans was 7.75 million, about 14% of the overall mortgage market (link: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newse…).

17. On January 3, 2008, Sen. Barack Obama won the Iowa Caucuses, the first Black American ever to win a primary or caucus outside the Deep South. (Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_c…).

18. On "Super Tuesday" (Feb. 5, 2008), Sen. Obama won 13 of the 22 states holding presidential primaries. Sen. Clinton won the bigger states that day--California, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts--and actually won more delegates. But Obama, who was supposed to be "counted out" on Super Tuesday, emerged stronger than every by exceeding expectations (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote…).

19. On March 4, 2008, Sen. Clinton rebounded from her Super Tuesday defeat by winning primaries in both Ohio and Texas. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/…)

20. Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns collapsed on March 14, 2008, and was taken over by commercial bank J.P. Morgan Chase. This represented the first time ever that the U.S. Federal Reserve had, in effect, provided financing from its "window" to the investment-banking sector. (http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/…...).

21. On April 22, 2008, Sen. Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary by a large margin (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/…).

22. On May 13, 2008, Sen. Clinton won the West Virginia primary by 41 percentage points over Sen. Obama (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote…).

23. On May 20, 2008, Sen. Clinton won the Kentucky primary by 35 percentage points (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/…).

24. On June 1, 2008, Clinton won the Puerto Rico primary.

25. On June 7, 2008, Clinton suspended her campaign for the Democrat nomination for president, in effect conceding the nomination to Sen. Barack Obama (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wire…).

26. On July 11, 2008, the stocks of the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae") and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac") plummeted, capping a week of steady declines. These two "government-sponsored enterprises" hold, between them, $5 trillion of mortgages. (Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddi…, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federa…, and http://network.nationalpost.com/np/…...).http://en.allexperts.com…

(Rated by 4 Council Members)

This gargantuan build-up of forex reserves by China has strangely received very little attention of economists, policy analysts, currency traders and, of course, geo-strategists around the world.

Economists in the US till recently believed that a weak yuan implicitly subsidises the Chinese exports leading to such huge trade imbalances between the two countries. Consequently, they have been pointing out to the imperative need for a substantial appreciation of the yuan by a minimum of 20-25 per cent vis-a-vis the US dollar to remedy the situation. In the alternative they have suggested a countervailing duty of a similar scale on imports from China.

Further, economists are of the opinion that by constant intervention in the forex market not only does the Chinese Central Bank ensure a weak yuan it also causes competitive devaluation of various currencies in Asia.

The net consequence is a domino effect with the result that the US dollar is artificially valued at higher-level vis-a-vis most Asian currencies. Experts believe that a significant yuan revaluation will ensure a more realistic exchange rate mechanism in Asia as it could force other countries to follow suit.

It is in this connection that C Fred Bergsten of the Peterson Institute, in a testimony before the hearing on the Treasury Department's Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policy in early 2007, states: "By keeping its own currency undervalued, China has also deterred a number of other Asian countries from letting their currencies rise very much against the for fear of losing competitive position against China."

Naturally, in anticipation of a significant revaluation of the yuan, most experts believe given the uncertainty associated with the global financial markets that hot money is flowing to a relatively safe destination. After all, China not only offers higher return but also is virtually insured against any downward movement against the US dollar.

The cause of our current economic problems in US goes back more than 4 or 8 years, it goes back at least a couple of decades to Reaganomics & even farther.

While Wall Street and the federal government try to keep the country's economy from a crash some say would be the worst since the Great Depression, we all go about our daily lives. the frantic chaos in the financial world hitting wallet somehow.

Perhaps it is time to rethink all the deregulation that happened in the last 25 or so years. In my opinion, that is what has lead us to this.

US citizens should terrify for their country's financial future.This is not a Stock Market Adjusting. It is an ECONOMY adjusting.

the productive sectors of the economy are contracting, and the rest are growing because of the weakness of the Dollar, or because the Government is overspending during a contraction.

And now that I think of it, the answer to why President Bush does not see a recession is obvious: the business of being the Federal Government is expanding, it is just its subjects who are suffering.

US is 147th ricest country in the world .this country is not the richest in the world.

if the US has the biggest government deficit, is the biggest debtor, and has one of the lowest saving levels in the world, how come it is still be a world power?”

the United States spends roughly 10 times more than the next country on the list to strong arm the rest of the countries of the world to finance its deficits. The funny thing is that the external debt of the US is $12,250,000,000,000, so all the military might of the US is on borrowed money.

You would say that, with such military might, the US should be able to solve the Iraq war.

With the large population, natural reserves and talents US without using the force could still be the economical power of the world however wrong political decisions. It’s a dream which will never come true.

(Rated by 1 Council Member)