Posted on 09/01/2009 3:16:05 AM PDT by Scanian
Barack Obama entered office proposing and then passing a Stimulus Plan that was breathtakingly ambitious. This legislation constituted "the greatest increase in government spending in world history". The explicit goal was to halt the serious and precipitous decline of the American economy. One of the central promises of this plan was to slow and then reverse the unemployment rate that had been creeping up at an increasingly alarming rate. Prior to the Stimulus' passage Obama assured a concerned nation that unemployment would go up to 8% and shortly begin a decline.
And then the American people, comforted by this assurance, stepped back and waited for the magic to happen. Seven months later they are still waiting.
Predicting a President's legacy in the seventh month of his first (and only?) forty-eight month term may seem a bit premature but the momentum of this President's economic policies seems inexorable. In January of this year when Obama entered office the unemployment rate was at a troubling 7.6%. Instead of climbing to 8% and then receding the unemployment rate has gone up every month until it now stands at 9.4%, an increase of almost 24%. According to Mortimer Zuckerman of the Wall Street Journal,
The cumulative job losses over the last six months have been greater than for any other half year period since World War II, including the military demobilization after the war.
As of this date the Administration and the Democratic Congress are now both saying they expect that unemployment will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. Many economists predict that it may not drop down to pre-recession levels for five years or longer.
Unemployment is usually dealt with in the media as a function of how it is affected by or how it affects the economy. But unemployment can't just be viewed as a dry statistical artifact. Job loss has very real effects on very real people. And as President Obama was largely elected on feelings it is reasonable to assume that his legacy will largely be based on how the American public feels when he leaves office.
Since the Great Depression a large body of research has been compiled on the psychological effects of unemployment. From the seminal works of Jahoda, Lazarsfeld, & Zeisel (1933), Bakke (1933) and Eisenberg & Lazarsfeld (1938) to the recent work of Arthur H. Goldsmith (2008) the deleterious effects joblessness has on the psychology of the unemployed has been well documented.
The recent work of Professor Goldsmith of Washington and Lee University supports and extends much of the previous research about the psychological effects of unemployment in finding that for those who are unemployed,
...even by five weeks you can see the changes. They begin to question themselves: ‘Why was I selected to be unemployed?' ‘Were my skills lacking?' ‘Is there something about me that's problematic?' And so begins the erosion of self esteem, which is such a very important part of our psychological well being.
In addition to a diminished sense of self, those exposed to a few months of unemployment begin to exhibit higher levels of anxiety, depression, and lack of sleep. If people face prolonged unemploy[ment], six to nine months or longer, the psychological effects often become chronic and have a long lasting effect.
Sounds like the voting troops all across the fruited plains are ´wee wee´d off´.
These are stark economic opposites. They're like saying that you want a safer skydiving experience, so you didn't use a parachute. Or that you wanted your car to run better, so you drained it of oil. Or that you wanted to eat more healthy, so you got your food from a garbage dump.
The economic ignorance in this country is so profound, those who want to destroy us don't even have to hide their lie anymore - they advertise it stark naked, and the liberal masses chant it as God's truth.
The Hope a Dope strategy is not working too well.
Most of us saw this coming. Even people reluctantly voting for him because they could not stand McCain and wanted to repudiate 8 years of Bush, certainly knew in the back of their minds.
All that will be left will be his psychotic extreme left followers, the 15% or so, who will follow him off to the vats of FlavourAide if necessary.
On the whole, Sensible America is waking up! Look to me like we can in fact turn it around next year. That is why he is rushing forward so fast, he knows his time is running out, on health care, controlling the internet, pulling talk radio off the airwaves, grabbing guns and emasculating the CIA. He has quite a rushed schedule and quite a full plate, wouldnt you say??!
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