Gramm’s statement was stupid. He’s already been a thorn in the campaign, because of his work to pass the Enron loophole, which is being used to cloud up what should be an easy path to drilling.
Does Gramm really believe that nobody’s house has dropped in value, that the stock market is NOT down 20%, that gasoline does NOT cost over twice what it did a couple of years ago, that heating oil is NOT through the roof, that our food costs aren’t soaring, or that a million more people are out of work?
We are not in a recession. But the economy isn’t hunky-dory either, and Gramm’s comments that we are whining did a disservice to the candidate he is claiming to support, as well as showing a callous indifference to the many people who HAVE suffered over the past two years of Democrat rule.
Which of course is the reason Gramm should be booted now — while the official message is that the Democrats have screwed things up and made everything worse, it doesn’t help to have an advisor saying that everything is great and the Democrats haven’t messed things up at all.
Home prices falling from stratospheric to merely ridiculous is not a recession. It's a correction, and one that was badly needed.
Other than those two things, there really isn't much wrong with this economy.
Fox reporting now, Gramm stands by his comments.