For all of you out there who might not yet have been made aware, to make sure that you all do become aware, "Slow Joe" Biden, and even Barry "Almighty" himself, continue to trumpet that the country, economically speaking, is now moving in the right direction. But I'm puzzled, as I think most of you probably are as well. This all sounds more like that old TV program, "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction". Because the numbers one uses from all of the available economic data as a reference, even those of us not schooled in economics can plainly see, just don't seem to back up any of the claims being so enthusiastically made. This is all nothing more than some bizarre fairytale and it just doesn't make much sense for anybody, least of all the president and vice president, to even make such unsubstantiated claims in the first place. Because that would mean that they see the fact that things seem to be spiraling downward, and very rapidly so, as us being headed in the "right" direction. Can this possibly be right? I think that even the most novice of economic experts would have to come to the conclusion that what has been coming out of Washington in the form of economic "stimulus", can only be described as something which has been specifically designed to do just the opposite. The intent here has not been to enact measures that would actually assist in economic growth or recovery, it has been to create an environment ripe for the expansion of governmental power and the destabilization, or the destruction, of our capitalist system. Because as the recent series of disappointing economic reports have made so abundantly clear to just about everybody but these two, the economic picture isn't getting any better. Many Americans say they are very much underwhelmed by the "supposed" economic recovery, a recovery that should be accelerating after the long and deep recession that has instead, downshifted into a period of even slower growth. If there is any sense of urgency present here, it is not one that's driven by any concern for the suffering being encountered by the millions of unemployed Americans, but centers instead around the concern of Democrats in they're being able to improve their election chances. So as I say, I'm puzzled by the degree of enthusiasm.
Let's face it, in the first six months of this year, consumer credit averaged $2.4 billion LESS than it did a year ago. Retail sales are up a meager average of 0.15% while the orders of durable goods are up an equally meager 0.86%. And the fact that consumer confidence, a broad gauge of future consumer spending, hovers in the low 50’s, considering that spending drives 67% of this country’s economy, does not bode well for any recovery happening any time soon. The fact that the gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic output, grew at a 1.6% annual rate, down from an initial estimate of 2.4% economic growth rate is especially disappointing coming after the previous two quarters of 5% and 3.7% growth. The report also contained the government's annual historic GDP revisions, and growth was revised downward for the last three years. This means the U.S. is $130 billion, or 1%, poorer than previously thought and that growth will have to be that much faster to catch up. The "right" direction? I think not! Oh, that's right, it's BUSH'S fault. How lame!! The continuing string of bad news about housing, employment and economic growth seem to have little if any impact on the level of cheerful propaganda that continues to spew from the administration's cheerleaders in the state-run media. It has, however, led some Democrats to a rather inescapable conclusion: the economy is not likely to improve enough to be of any help in time for the fall elections. But that hasn't stopped, or even substantially lessened, the attempts being made by the Congressional Democrats and the White House in continuing their efforts to enact policies they believe will "boost" the economy. Polices which are also aimed at attempting to persuade, or con, enough voters into thinking that they are working to make things better. But even some Democrat officials acknowledge it is too late for these initiatives to make much of a change in the economic situation before the Nov. 2 elections. "We begin early voting in about 33 days. It would be hugely unrealistic to anticipate some kind of monumental economic turnaround between now and when people start casting our votes," said Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who faces a tough re-election race. "I'm having to deal with the reality of what is. You can't wish it away. What is, is." Really? And people wonder why things haven't improved. Go figure!
Democrats won big in 2008, partly because they were able to blame Republicans for the country's economic woes. And while the economic situation remained dire when Barry "Almighty" took office in January 2009, most Democrats assumed that the economy would rebound by the time they stood for office this year. Although quite honestly, when one looks at the policies that they have worked so hard to put into place you can't help but wonder how it is that they could have ever imagined that the economy would make any kind of a recovery, even a modest one. So now it is the Republicans saying that it is the Democratic agenda that is now to blame for the bad economic news. "Today's disappointing GDP report caps off another week's worth of evidence that President Obama must change course and abandon his job-killing policies to end the uncertainty that is keeping people out of work," House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) said on Friday. Amid the continuing economic weakness, there are now some nonpartisan political analysts who believe that there is a good chance that the Democrats may very well lose their majority in the House. Last week, the Rothenberg Political report made the move of downgrading the re-election chances of five House Democrats, and the Cook Political Report did the same thing for 10 House Democrats. And the Cook report may yet move to downgrade the ratings of an additional 10 Democratic candidates, said Mr. David Wasserman, the report's editor for House races. If that in fact does happen, the Cook report would then be listing nearly 80 seats as at "substantial risk," Mr. Wasserman said. Republicans need to capture a net 39 seats to take control of the House. These trends are driven almost completely by the bad economy, Mr. Wasserman said. "As the window of opportunity for recovery before the election closes, more Democrats are entering the danger zone," he said. He added, "Most voters don't believe there is any recovery under way." Gee, I can't imagine why that might be. Ya know, the very ones who were constantly talking "down" the economy when Bush was in the White House are now doing their damndest to talk it up. The only thing is that now it seems more and more people are no longer buying the garbage they're being sold by the Democrats.
In Washington, Democrats continue to hope that they will get at least some credit for legislation aimed at helping small businesses, which they plan to consider in September. Which is pretty ironic really since the man that we presently have in the White House as well as a very substantial number of members of the current Congress, are quite possibly, the most anti-small business people to come along in quite some time. A Democratic House leadership aide said some lawmakers in the party would push for another spending bill to stimulate the economy, though he said other Democrats are likely to oppose such a move. Well of course, since the first "stimulus" bill did such a bang up job, let's do another. And of course, as always we have those Democrats who argue that they have known all along that the economy would not have rebounded by now. DUH! Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), who leads the committee working to elect Democrats to the Senate, said there was no way Democrats could completely turn around the economy in two years. "I would have loved to have a better economic picture, but it is what it is," he said. "I didn't have great expectations." And you have to ask yourself, did these clowns honestly think that what they have done was going to stimulate any realistic economic growth? With all the pork and waste that was in their bogus "stimulus" legislation, I wouldn't have had any great expectations either there, Mr. Menendez. Always quick to place blame but ever the reluctant ones to accept any, the Democrats now find themselves in somewhat of a rather sticky wicket. I suppose they can make an attempt to blame the Republicans for not voting for the bogus stimulus package that has failed to work as advertised, but I'm not sure how that tactic will play with those voters who possess any amount of brain power. I'm sure among those who make up the die hard dimwitted Democrat base, it will play pretty well, but outside of that I'm not quite so sure. It would seem that the Democrats are very comfortable in their assumption that a majority of Americans are just as brain-dead as those who comprise the very same dimwits who vote Democrat no matter what. But we all know what happens when you assume.
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