"Other economies have dropped BECAUSE of our bad debts,"
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Other "investors" participated. Could those investors actions have an action on their own economy, yes. But that was through their actions not the US actions.

"You are correct on the investment crunch/fall via poor decisions on securities. It just amazes me how people can still think the "mighty" US is the cause of the world problems."

You just contradicted yourself. If the foreign investors had KNOWN the real risks, they wouldn't have purchased the debt. Kiowamohican spells it out. Other economies have dropped BECAUSE of our bad debts, however those debts were created, simply due to the size of our economy, and the number of countries that invest in the U.S.

No doubt RAF:
Nowadays, we want risk to be socialized so if you fail (ie: banks, autos), the government will be there to save you with bailouts, subsidies, ext. Where as if you succeed and God forbid make huge profit you are to be punished for the success (ie: oil companies).

kiowamohican --- You are correct on the investment crunch/fall via poor decisions on securities. It just amazes me how people can still think the "mighty" US is the cause of the world problems. Risk vs. reward is what investing is all about...if you can't take the risk you should not be part of the game!

The one very good result of the world recession has been the deflation that has drug down oil prices by about 80% (from it's $150/barrel peak). This is KILLING your thug dictator regimes like: Hugo Chavez (Venezuela), Putin/Medvedev (Russia), Ahmadinejad (Iran). All who were building their economies off minimal $80-100 oil prices. These governments are likely to see coups when their cash reserves run out, and riots hit the streets.

RAF:
You are correct in your comments that it can not be solely blamed on the US. However; many of the world economies who have fallen into deep recession were the result of them suckering into the $20+ TRILLION worth of CDO's that US banks packaged together in derivatives that they sold to investors all across the world. It possibly will go down as the biggest pyramid scheme ever conceived! Literally every major world economy bought into it, because there was supposedly so little risk involved when hundreds of thousands of mortgages were packaged together. When the real estate bubble that Greenspan created finally busted, and began the whole house of cards falling down, every major world economy was drug into it.
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It is nonsense to blame the US, because no one forced any country to buy into the derivatives. MANY warned that a collapse was inevitable, but like anything, when times are good, no one listened to those warning that it was all going to come crashing down. They just saw the easy $$$$, and bought into it being safe because so many "great economic minds" said it was all sound. Those same minds who now say they have the answer to fix all this!
Purely laughable!
The only real fix is to let the everything de-leverage itself, and let the pieces fall where they will. Unfortunately the "fixes" being offered up now, are going to make the problems that much worse then they are all ready.

Read this and maybe you will understand why we are where we are. It is, however, one of many reasons!

http://www.chiefengineer.org/content/con...

"The world economy has declined BECAUSE of a decline in the U.S. economy. The world buys the debt of U.S. companies and government, so when we fall, so does the rest of the world."
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You need more education in the world economy. The US GDP engine is less than 18% of the worlds GDP. The US GDP still grew at a 1.8% rate for 2008 (this includes the decline of the 4th qtr). Your conclusion that our "terrible" US economy with a growing GDP is the catalyst for all other nations’ ills is faulty logic. China, a nation that owns most of the US debt, has little if any decline in their enormous GDP gains of close to 10% -- this by itself disproves your assumption.

Little intelligent life here! The "blame game" is over, the gloating is over...what are the answers?

You people all really need to find something else to do besides spending all of your time on here. What the H&#* does Bill Clinton cheating on his wife have to do with United Alloy laying off workers?!?!??? There are things called "Chat Rooms" for you lonely people who just want someone to "talk" to. These blogs are supposed to be readers' reactions and thoughts to these newsstories.

I see the spelling police are done with their break! I was wondering if they were out on vacation or just mounting an assult for the joker....LOL sorry i have to leave now and take some more meds. as for the economy it is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better and i just hope everyone can hang on cause it is going to be a long and bummpy road ahead for everyone. STAY SAFE!!!!!!!!!

MOC0428 how do you get a pig in a barrel ?

No Cappyman, I am free to be critical anytime I want. I do not have to wait until 8 years. All the Bush bashers didn't wait. Why should I or anyone else?

Hey when he purchased the hooker he was just trying to help out the economy.

I'm sorry chsMkr your remark sounds so racist

And now we are officially being warned of the risk of deflation.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=2...
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People in the US have virtually no experience of deflation. We understand inflation all right, but deflation is much much worse. Though prices fall and consumers slightly benefit from that, economic confidence falls, driving demand lower, jobs vanish, and businesses close. Crucially, existing debt becomes more expensive to carry, just as it becomes impossible to pay down. And as befair pointedly noted below, eventually tax revenues collapse as well, bankrupting governments as well as businesses. I had high hopes for this stimulus, but it seems there is no real appetite for facing this beast.

like rob and laura petry, seperate beds.

Hilary forgives him though. Ya, right. Can you imagine what that household is like in the evenings. Yikes!

Clinton didn't cheat. Monica told him that she had a better cigar case then him.

spark: i agree with you 100%. it just gets old listening to people who do not want to and have no intention of working together to get things done. i was refering to the luisiana congressman who admitted to purchasing a hooker.

"If you take a look at the big picture you will see this is a global problem and I don't think he was in charge in any other country."

The world economy has declined BECAUSE of a decline in the U.S. economy. The world buys the debt of U.S. companies and government, so when we fall, so does the rest of the world.

The problem can't be placed on Bush alone. It is our government as a whole that is to blame. I like Bush, he is partly to blame, but to come right out and blame him for this is insane. Most of you people out there seem brainwashed by what you hear in the media or your lunchrooms at work so go ahead and blame away but that will not fix the issue at hand. Our government is too big, greedy and corrupt. We need to speak up to the people who do not represent our needs.

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I think I heard the stimulus plan is now almost a trillion dollars and half of it is pork barrel spending. This should not be tolerated. I can only hope that our newly elected president, that you all seem to think will fix this, will see that and cut the fat out. Not a single person on this blog should be given a cent, that will not help this economy because most of us will save it not spend as they would think.

cappyman - If we're going to get into this he said, she said, republican, democrat elementary school mockery. Just to clarify, that was Clinton that cheated on his wife. Last time I checked, he was a democrat. Either way, fighting amongst parties is going to get this Country nowhere. Look what it's already done.

It's always the easiest for people to blame the state of the economy or anything else for that matter on the one person that they so ignorantly think is in charge of everything. The President. Whether Democrat or Republican. They forget about congress that votes on issues and policies, global matters and everything else that has created these problems we're seeing. It's an easy out for people that can't see past the reality. Blame it on the President. It's all his fault. He's God and he has superpowers. Hello? Anyone out there? Welcome to reality and how things don't work that way. Did you not pay attention in school?

sorry: when you pull your lips off of bush's behind and stop drinking the rove kool-aid you will realize the righties lost the election based on performance in the U.S. not any other country. this chosen one stuff is nothing more than jealousy. it seems righties are the only ones saying he is the second coming i am sure all remaining republican elected officials are clean as a whistle. no tax problems just cheating on wives, bribery, kickbacks etc.

How can be so dumb to blame the economy on Bush. If you take a look at the big picture you will see this is a global problem and I don't think he was in charge in any other country. Oh by the way The chosen one hasn't fixed it yet why not. You all have been saying he is the next coming. Probably to busy trying to find someone he knows that doesn't have tax problems.

Joker: as usual a little simplistic in your logic. 3 weeks vs. 8 years. once again you have cloudy thoughts. if his policies don't work then by all means blame away.

At this point placing blame isn't productive. We're in a big economic mess, some of which could have been avoided and some of which would have happened anyway. We've been living on borrowed money as a country for decades it was bound to catch up with us eventually. Nonetheless, we all need to do our best to come up with alternatives for our community. The goal at this point would be to position Janesville properly for the economic rebound so businesses locate here.

Hey lets put the blame on them overpaid GM workers, Yeah Right

ctr1: You have faith in Him, or Obama? Your post was not clear.

Cappyman, if we follow your logic, than are we allowed to blame Obama for the economy? Ok, then I blame him for the state of the economy.

He has been in power for about 3 weeks, he is in charge and I do not give him a pass either.

The blame for bad economic times comes from many different directions, but the thing about FORMER President Bush is He had the power to do something about it, but didnt. Wasnt it the span of a week or so that He went from saying "theres nothing wrong with the economy" to "We are in a recession" according to experts the recession had started in 2007. Obama sure Has a mess to clean up, but I have faith in Him.

Barney Frank is the popular scape-goat currently being used on conservative radio shows. The bottom line though is that the amount of loans given to inner-city folks and minorities that failed due to Frank's policies pails in comparison (<5%) to the total amount of foreclosures over the past year.

Wow, Barney Frank was President for the last eight years. Who knew?

Barney Frank and friends were the root cause to the problems we face today. The current demise is who was elected. So now we have to give him a chance for CHANGE.

We all can work together by joining the INTELLIGENT THINKERS MOVEMENT, look at this webiste http://www.hermancain.com/hitm.asp.
It is the taxpeyers who pay the salaries of those who are supposed to help us, lets fire the ones who are not working for US and the US.

Another depressing story. For those that bush President Bush, - What Joker??? Please check your spelling before posting to avoid making yourself look foolish.

went4milk: all i hear from righties is about the do nothing congress of the last few years. what about the republican run congress that held the majority for the first bush administration. did they not exist or do you choose not to look at history past 4 years ago.

joker: are you kidding or just blind. it may not ALL be his fault but he gets no pass on the current situation. He was in power for 8 years. i know he spent alot of time in crawford but he was in charge.

I'm sorry for the people but long term it's better to move on now before United burns them out and kicks them to the curb.

There's a looming reality in all of the layoffs and business turmoil: Unemployed workers and unprofitable businesses are very poor sources of tax revenue. Government at all levels is in for a big drop in "income." Then what?

Another depressing story. For those that bush President Bush, please show me one ounce of proof that the bad economy is all his fault. I doubt you will be bashing Obama in the upcoming months.

thieves in the money system trigered this deep recession. take that to the bank, or grocery store. we were in a cyclical recession for sure but it never would have ended up where we are now without the greedy banks and the other thieves in the system that are in the bahamas now spending our tax and bailout cash.

Good God, can't people leave the whole Bush blaming out of this for once.

I posted what is written below on another blog today but it fits just fine here as well.

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For you to think that Bush caused all of this is dead wrong. These things are cyclical and have been happening for years. Your commment is ignorant and only divides this country. Right now our government both republican and democrat is not working. They only seem to be able to see the short term solutions and not long term. Quit giving me a tax break that I will not spend. I like most other Americans will save it because of all the uncertainty we live in. The tax breaks are a short sighted move. Invest that money into our future, public education and higher education. Invest it in the infrastructure of our nation. Over half of the new 800 billion dollar stimulus package is full of pork barrel spending. The other half is trying to solve short term goals that won't get us anywhere in 5 years, or sooner.

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Stop the bashing and look for solutions, demand more from our government. Write to Sheridan and let him know you are not happy that he took his pay raise, that you and I are paying for. In a time like this his decision was irresponsible at best.

Progressive6: The blame for this mess is at the foot of both parties and not just "Bush". You can thank Barney Frank and his coharts for letting Fannie & Freddie make bad loans to people who can not or could not afford to pay back the loans. The do nothing Congress for the past four years need to earn their money. If We could find a way for these people to pay their Taxes may we would not nees a recovery plan.

Good luck to all those affected.

And The Chosen One will have them back to work before we know it.

sad to see this happen to yet another business in the community...

And the Bush legacy continues to march on.