[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=pKWsnx1E26A[/youtube]

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A stumbling US economy lost 63,000 jobs in February, according to a shockingly weak report released Friday as a top White House adviser offered a grim outlook for growth.

The Federal Reserve meanwhile took fresh steps to pump liquidity into the stressed banking system, making up to 200 billion dollars available to fight a credit crunch related to the worst housing slump in decades.

Friday's Labor Department report showed the second straight month of losses in nonfarm payrolls, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum. Revised data showed a loss of 22,000 positions in January, compared with a prior estimate of 17,000.

February's loss was the biggest since March 2003, at the start of the war in Iraq, and a major disappointment for analysts expecting a gain of 25,000 jobs. "The payrolls report had recession written all over it," said Avery Shenfeld, senior economist at CIBC World Markets.

"It's nearly unheard of to see these numbers outside of recession."

President George W. Bush's top economic adviser, Ed Lazear, did not rule out shrinking economic activity for the current quarter.

"We don't really know whether it will be negative or not," Lazear told reporters.

"This quarter will probably be our weakest quarter ... Whether you call that 'a recession' or not is something that we won't know for many months."

Bush warned Americans they would soon be feeling the pinch.

"I know this is a difficult time for our economy," Bush said in a brief statement.

"We will begin to see the impact over the coming months. And in the long run, we can have confidence that so long as we pursue pro-growth, low-tax policies that put faith in the American people, our economy will prosper."

The Labor Department said the unemployment rate, which is based on a separate survey, fell to 4.8 percent from 4.9 percent a month earlier. This is attributed to people dropping out of the workforce, after being unable to find jobs, according to officials.

The labor force available for work fell by 450,000 and the participation rate slipped 0.2 percentage points.

The payrolls report showed an economy quickly losing steam. Private sector payrolls fell 101,000, in a third month of decline, including a loss of 52,000 jobs in manufacturing and 39,000 in construction.

Overall, the report signaled a sharply weaker-than-expected performance for the US economy, which according to analysts needs to add at least 100,000 jobs per month to keep pace with new labor market entrants.

"The weakness in housing is starting to catch up to the rest of the economy," said Shenfeld.

The US economy expanded at an anemic 0.6 percent pace in the fourth quarter of 2007 and many analysts say they expect the first quarter to show declining activity for the first time since the recession of 2001.

"The question appears no longer to be are we going into a recession but how long and deep it will be," said Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors.

In a sign of continuing inflation pressures, the report said average hourly earnings rose 0.3 percent in February and 3.7 percent year-over-year.

The Fed has been cutting interest rates aggressively since September in an effort to reignite growth.

Minutes ahead of the Labor Department announcement, the Fed unveiled two initiatives to inject cash into the strapped financial market. It raised the amounts available in its Term Auction Facility program in which banks bid for loans to a combined 100 billion dollars this month.

It also launched a series of term repurchase transactions expected to reach 100 billion dollars to pump more liquidity into the banking system.

"This was a good news-bad news story," said Scott Brown, economist at Raymond James & Co. "It's good the Fed is coming to the rescue, the bad news is that they have to."

A number of economists say the rate cuts by the Fed and a 168-billion-dollar stimulus package approved by Congress will help stabilize the economy by mid-year.

"We're looking for a first-half recession followed by a recovery in the third quarter," Shenfeld said.

ur1nonly wrote: que significa recession? in ur own words, so i can understand better

A recession is when the country experiences no job growth or has job losses for 2 consecutive fiscal quarters....which could be translated into higher unemployment #'s and people putting less money into the ecomony (retail,housing) which in turn leads to more job lost and inflation which causes the value of the dollar to drop.

Here's a small bit of information you might not know:

**oil is globally traded in dollars & when the value of the dollar is down like it is now it makes it cheaper for other countries to buy oil which leads to a higher global demand...You may ask what does all that mean? It means that the price on a barrel of oil goes up because the demand on oil + the deminished value of the dollar which='s higher gas prices for us<a href="http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z223/mystava/?action=view&current=gasprices.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z223/mystava/gasprices.jpg" border="0" alt="Gas Prices"></a>

Tx_2_Id wrote:<a href="http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z223/mystava/?action=view&current=gasprices.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z223/mystava/gasprices.jpg" border="0" alt="Gas Prices"></a>

LMAO, THATS FUNNY BUT SAD...

Gas is hella expensive!! 3.35!!

Times are tuff, we have the GM workes striking right now and if you know me i am NO fan of the union, they weaken the economy. Also, citi financial the largest lowning back in the world is facing record quarter lost.

Michigan is in a slump! the last thing we need is having GM stop to a hault... agian.

The state is in the works of bringing a casino to Battle Creek... that will bring some more jobs in the local area. probably the best news I heard in 5 years.

Tx_2_Id wrote:

ur1nonly wrote: que significa recession? in ur own words, so i can understand better

A recession is when the country experiences no job growth or has job losses for 2 consecutive fiscal quarters....which could be translated into higher unemployment #'s and people putting less money into the ecomony (retail,housing) which in turn leads to more job lost and inflation which causes the value of the dollar to drop.

Here's a small bit of information you might not know:

**oil is globally traded in dollars & when the value of the dollar is down like it is now it makes it cheaper for other countries to buy oil which leads to a higher global demand...You may ask what does all that mean? It means that the price on a barrel of oil goes up because the demand on oil and the deminished value of the dollar which='s higher gas prices for us<a href="http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z223/mystava/?action=view&current=gasprices.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z223/mystava/gasprices.jpg" border="0" alt="Gas Prices"></a>

ok, so could we say then that michigan is in its own recession? or something like it

^^Um I'd be more inclined to say that the country is in a recession. I know all these people in finances are saying we are not-but face it we are! People have been losing their houses like crazy, now they are facing job losses, they have no money, and at the same time others are having to spend their money on other things i.e. rising cost of food, mortgage pymts., gas, etc., instead of on things that would help boost our economy and help keep thousands of people employed like on entertainment, houses (construction), vehicles, and other goods. We have a high demand for some goods and the demand for other goods is diminishing-rapidly! With the amount of money being pumped into the economy decreasing as the months pass and our future uncertain (war, oil, gas, presidency, stock markets) our economy could very well spin out of control, many of you don't remember but ask your parents or grandparents I know they remember when 25-30 years gas got so expensive people were lining up, meat was more of a luxury we faced a similar problem with the S&L scandal, it all reminds me of what we are facing now.

Financial experts are predicting that gas prices could go up by as much as $.30 by the end of this month...

China and India have a huge population and guess what? They dont want to ride bikes anymore! Its inevitable, its the simple fundementals of supply and demand.

The only reason i have a lasting steady strong job is because my company is non Michigan base. All of our business is Canada, Wisconsin and Indiana. I thank God. thats for sure. Michigan is a black hole and its only going to get worse....

^Yep and we choose to be a capitalist, materialistic nation. We want those goods but choose to get them from anywhere-namely other countries. We in so many ways have put ourselves in this position. Have you thought about leaving Michigan? Curious.