The recession is over? Or is the Fed Chair just saying that as payback for keeping his job?

Obama just gave a speech to Wall St. yesterday or the day before. He told them not to try and block the regulations he wants to pass. The FED coming out to say recession is over is to give the illusion that Obama knows what he is doing when it comes to finance's. Yet home forclosures are up 18% over this time last year.

http://www.foreclosureanddistressedproperties.com/...

August Foreclosures Up 18 Percent Over 2008

The latest monthly report from RealtyTrac, a foreclosure tracking firm, shows foreclosure filings - default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions - were reported on 358,471 U.S. properties during the month, a decrease of less than 1 percent from the previous month but still an increase of nearly 18 percent from August 2008. The report also shows one in every 357 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in August.

Consumer confidence is down.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_13337400?sou...

Poll: 80% say economy poor

Majority worry about making ends meet; half say cutting deficit a top priority

Even more — 80 percent — rate the condition of the economy as poor, and a majority worry about their ability to make ends meet. The pessimistic outlook sets the stage for President Barack Obama as he attempts to portray the financial sector as increasingly confident and stable and presses Congress to act on new banking regulations.

The public sentiment also poses a challenge to central elements of Obama's governing agenda. Half of those surveyed said deficit reduction should be a national priority over increased spending on health care, education or alternative energy.

Credit is harder to get and people aren't spending money.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090908/pl_mccl...

A year after financial crisis, a new world order emerges

Still, economists concur that a quarter-century of economic growth fueled by cheap credit is over. Many analysts also think that an extended period of slow job growth and suppressed wage growth will keep consumers — and the businesses that sell to them — in the dumps for years.

"Those things are likely to be subpar for a long period of time," said Martin Regalia, the chief economist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce . "I think it means that we probably see potential rates of growth that are in the 2-2.5 (percent) range, or maybe . . . 1.8-1.9 (percent)." A growth rate of 3 percent to 3.5 percent is considered average.

The unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent in August and is expected to peak above 10 percent in the months ahead. It's already there in at least 15 states. Regalia thinks that it could be five years before the U.S. economy generates enough jobs to overcome those lost and to employ the new workers entering the labor force.

All this is likely to keep consumers on the sidelines.

"I think this financial panic and Great Recession is an inflection point for the financial system and the economy," said Mark Zandi , the chief economist for forecaster Moody's Economy.com. "It means much less risk-taking, at least for a number of years to come — a decade or two. That will be evident in less credit and more costly credit. If you are a household or a business, it will cost you more, and it will be more difficult to get that credit."

The numbers bear him out. The Fed's most recent release of credit data showed that consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 5.2 percent from April to June, after falling by a 3.6 percent annual rate from January to March. Revolving lines of credit, which include credit cards, fell by an annualized 8.9 percent in the first quarter, followed by an 8.2 percent drop in the second quarter.

The Fed Chair is saying whatever Obama and the Democrats are telling him to say. Why would the recession be over? Are all those jobs coming back? No. It's not over and the public knows it's just another lie.

Either he's saying it as a pay pack for keeping his job, or to keep congress from auditing the Fed. One of two would be my guess. God bless.