[durasell]

I don't know. What something "looks like" no longer matters to a lot of people. Even the deficits seem to be distant abstractions.

Having to pay for gas with a credit card is not an abstraction. A bunch of illegal aliens hanging dry wall at a construction site is not an abstraction.

To quote that eminent philosopher, Mr. Warren Zevon:

Everybody's desperate trying to make ends meet
Work all day, still can't pay the price of gasoline and meat

Alas, their lives are incomplete

[HitmanLV]

I agree with you, but I think public perception is always important. It complements the things you are raising, nt replaces them.

Of course he doesn't cactually take August off - it's a working vacation and I suspect his routine doesn't change much, just his geography. Still, I think it looks bad.

[gondramB]

>>I don't know. What something "looks like" no longer matters to a lot of people. Even the deficits seem to be distant abstractions.<<

I heard a nice CNBC journalist put the deficit in perspective and minimize it all at the same time today -

He said that oil and gas prices are so high that oil companies are making so much money that the extra income tax they will pay will lower the deficit by 20%.