Are we really economically "recovering"?

Regardless of who is in charge or what they do, we're still in for another 5 years of recession. The problems still haven't worked through the system.

One of the biggest factors is real estate prices, which haven't made a meaningful recovery. Until that happens the toxic assets on banks' books will continue to hold back the economy. Republicans don't have a plan for dealing with those toxic assets any more than the democrats do. Only time will cure that.

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Interest is "only" $1,458/yr per citizen, doubled of course to account for just "taxpayers"

That is only because we are paying record low interest rates of less than 3%. What happens when the interest goes up to 20-30% (or higher) like it was in the 80's

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I beg to differ, its alot more than real estate prices not recovering.
I'm sure glad we have "created" so many jobs.

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My DH said that furloughs are expected within government by March. Up to one month pay (22 days) off during the year. So we have already begun cutting back. Losing a month's pay is hard. Also no raise for me this year, not even a cola. All temps were let go where I work before the end of the year 2012 and no new ones will be hired for any foreseeable time. People who leave/retire/get fired are not being replaced and those of us that are left are doing more with less resources.

No one can tell me the economy is getting better and I live in one of the fastest growing areas of the south.

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Sidepasser- sorry for your husbands loss of hours but isn't this what many here want, a smaller govt. Cant have that without cutting people or hours.

So you plan is to help the economy recover by cutting government jobs?

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Actually government employment, especially Federal employment , is a sort of lagging indicator of the economy. When the economy is diving, the Federal government usually has more work to do with Federal programs to stimulate the economy and increased claims for benefits or financial markets wanting more, etc.
Then the pinch comes in a later budget year when taxes are down, especially the year when special tax breaks end, and reductions in personnel occur as programs are scaled back. The Defense Department is especially vunerable to these kind of cuts unless a military crisis occur.
So these seems to be part of that pattern. I'm not sure it really means "smaller government" in the end because the next step is pressure builds when programs that people and corporations use are understaffed while the mandates don't decrease, news stories start about some poor man who has suffered from the lack of government benefits and Congress starts getting letters from constituents about problems and staffing starts increasing.
There is only one way for smaller government to take hold and that is eliminate dependency on government services- both individual and corporate. And I think everyone knows how likely that is.

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For we used to ask when we were little, thinking that the old men knew all things which are on earth: yet forsooth they did not know; but we do not contradict them, for neither do we know.

It's all relative to me.

While Americans wallow in self pity, because our standard of living is much less lucrative, than it was in 1968, a half million Syrian citizens - who have lost everything, are starving and wading around, in knee deep freezing water, in ramshackle refugee camps, in countries, that don't even want them.

Regardless of any of our present financial situations, we could all be much worse off and we know it (or at least we should).

Speaking of jobs, some trucking companies are now guaranteeing minimum $950 week, for new drivers, and .50 mile for some experienced drivers, even with that, there is still a severe shortage of drivers, in both the US and Canada.

Apparently Americans are not interested, in hard work and sacrifice, for a $60K year (after 1st year) job, that requires about an 8th grade education and being able to pass a drug test.

If we "lose" the middle class, it's mainly because we are giving it away, since we are lost, now that the easy, high paying factory jobs, are gone for good.

Yeah, that's the problem. We just don't know how good we've got it.

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Your words, not mine, but really, you don't think you are better off than many?

Look around. Even the "middle class", in most other countries, are not doing so hot, these days, either. Who do they blame?

Personally I've struggled my entire life, to make a living. I do "all right" now, but work 50-60 hours/week and watch the money fly right back out the door, like everybody else does.

I really must be out of it, as for my entire life, the only one, I ever blamed for my financial situation, is me.

Yep, more workers for the workforce. With less taxes there will be more money in the private sector. More people needed to mow lawns,paint houses,start businesses,ect.

Would the country better benefit from increased production or more government workers?

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The percentage of small business employees has been dropping for several years now and that has traditionally been the source of most new jobs in the country. Excessive regulations play a major role in the decline and all these new regulations by Obama, including Obamacare, will only make it worse. Most new businesses don't survive the first year. It's easy to factor in the costs of supplies, products, wages, etc. but difficult to figure costs of regulations that keep changing.

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The recession is the cause of lost jobs in business of all sizes. Those jobs will not return by changes in regulations, taxes, or even spending cuts. The only thing that can get those jobs back is for the problems with the economy to resolve, which will take years -- regardless of government policy.

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That's absurd. Business have laid-off workers because there is no demand for their products. Demand has to return before they hire anyone back. You're putting the carriage in front of the horse.

In good economic times, supply-side economics can help by increasing production. In bad economic times, demand-side economics can help by increasing demand. Those are fundamental economic concepts no economist can ignore. Simply put, it's bad policy to promote supply-side economics in a recession.

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No, the percentage of small business jobs has been declining for decades.

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Here's your problem, your not looking at the entire picture, We're still importing about $2 Trillion/yr in goods that we could be producing here.

Imports are at an all time high.

Man, do you think that would create a few jobs?

Just to put that into perspective, We Import more than India's entire GDP!!!

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The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Your theory is flawed. You do not create demand by printing money out of thin air and piling on more regulations. Printing money devalues the dollar and causes inflation which decreases demand. Regulations also cause inflation.

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Hard to believe but you're both right. The trick is finding the proper balance. If economists knew the magic answer they'd all be billionaires. Conditions change, the answer changes. Govt spending is sometimes good, sometimes bad. Same with tightened monetary policies.

It's hardly my theory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_economics

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Regulations can also open up new opportunities for businesses to fill. Example- most commercial buildings require some sort of fire safety equipment that must be regularly inspected and maintained. Rather than checking the fire extinguishers in their building and personally taking them to be recharged or repackage they contract with an outside vendor to perform these functions for them. The regulation provides for increased safety and adds jobs. Not all new regulations are bad.