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February 17, 2009
Obama's Rhetoric Is the Real 'Catastrophe'
Obama's Rhetoric Is the Real 'Catastrophe'
By BRADLEY R. SCHILLER
President Barack Obama has turned fearmongering into an art form. He has repeatedly raised the specter of another Great Depression. First, he did so to win votes in the November election. He has done so again recently to sway congressional votes for his stimulus package.
In his remarks, every gloomy statistic on the economy becomes a harbinger of doom. As he tells it, today's economy is the worst since the Great Depression. Without his Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he says, the economy will fall back into that abyss and may never recover.
This fearmongering may be good politics, but it is bad history and bad economics. It is bad history because our current economic woes don't come close to those of the 1930s. At worst, a comparison to the 1981-82 recession might be appropriate. Consider the job losses that Mr. Obama always cites. In the last year, the U.S. economy shed 3.4 million jobs. That's a grim statistic for sure, but represents just 2.2% of the labor force. From November 1981 to October 1982, 2.4 million jobs were lost -- fewer in number than today, but the labor force was smaller. So 1981-82 job losses totaled 2.2% of the labor force, the same as now.
Job losses in the Great Depression were of an entirely different magnitude. In 1930, the economy shed 4.8% of the labor force. In 1931, 6.5%. And then in 1932, another 7.1%. Jobs were being lost at double or triple the rate of 2008-09 or 1981-82.
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Mr. Obama's analogies to the Great Depression are not only historically inaccurate, they're also dangerous. Repeated warnings from the White House about a coming economic apocalypse aren't likely to raise consumer and investor expectations for the future. In fact, they have contributed to the continuing decline in consumer confidence that is restraining a spending pickup. Beyond that, fearmongering can trigger a political stampede to embrace a "recovery" package that delivers a lot less than it promises. A more cool-headed assessment of the economy's woes might produce better policies.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Better policies are not his goal. He's collapsing our system -- and doing it better than anyone could have imagined!
Saul Alinsky on "Change"...
From Rules for Radicals, Alinsky outlines his strategy in organizing, writing:
"There's another reason for working inside the system. Dostoevsky said that taking a new step is what people fear most. Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future. This acceptance is the reformation essential to any revolution."
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at February 17, 2009 05:45 AM
Comments
Dr. ZhiCago $pent a Valentine's Day three day weekend in the Windy City, da Baracksheviks?
Bamboozled 2008 - 2012!
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at February 17, 2009 10:20 AM
Yep, O'Vomit flew to the Land of Oprah for a haircut and to shoot some hoops to relax. Jeez, the asshole maggot is in office less than a month and he's already so stressed that he's taking R&R. Stay tuned, this is going to be fun watching from the side lines.
Posted by: cuchieddie at February 17, 2009 07:10 PM
Darth, that was so wrong. Bamboozled is so right Darth.
I was thinking about how he voted "present" more then anyone else. He is behaving like that as well when it comes to actually wanting to be at the desk in the Oval Office. He would rather just call in his presence there.
Posted by: Wild Thing at February 17, 2009 07:58 PM
cuchieddie, LOL good one...."O'Vomit flew to the Land of Oprah "
He is all you said too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at February 17, 2009 08:00 PM
