Posted on 02/19/2009 6:43:02 AM PST by BenLurkin
Yes, we're going through tough times, but President Obama has repeatedly invoked the Great Depression and it's scaring the heck out of consumers. Who's going to go buy anything if we're headed for an economic catastrophe? People will horde every penny they get and businesses will suffer and things will only get worse.
In a well-written op-ed piece in Friday's Wall Street Journal, University of Nevada-Reno economics professor Bradley R. Schiller takes Obama to task for spreading fear itself to win votes for his stimulus package.
In his article titled, "Obama's rhetoric is the real 'catastrophe,' " Schiller points out that Obama kept saying that the economy would fall into an abyss and possibly never recover without his stimulus package. Never recover?
"This fearmongering may be good politics, but it is bad history and bad economics," the professor writes. "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."
While the loss of 3.4 million jobs in 2008 is a grim statistic, it represents the same percentage - 2.2% - of the workforce that was cut in 1981-82.
Neither of those years remotely compares to the Great Depression. In 1930, the economy shed 4.8% of the workforce; followed by another 6.5% in 1931, and still another 7.1% in 1932.
The latest unemployment figures show the U.S. at 7.6%, well below the 10.8% of 1982; and again, not even in the ball park with 1932's mind-boggling 25.2%.
In terms of economic growth, believe it or not, the real gross domestic product, Schiller writes, "rose in 2008, despite a bad fourth quarter. The Congressional Budget Office projects a GDP decline of 2% in 2009. That compares to 1982, when GDP contracted by 1.9%."
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
Now that is scary.
Fear is the point ... when any signs of improvement occur, we are all supposed to be soooooo grateful for The One having saved us.
The only thing we have to fear is the Fear-Monger-In-Chief.........................
He used the word “Crisis” 25 times, maybe more in the speech in PHX yesterday. It’s called ‘propaganda’, and the sheeple are too dumb to know it, or care.
Everything’s a CRISIS.
The “crisis” is that if they don’t get these spending bills in place quickly,
the economy will recover on its own, showing no need for the spending.
Bingo. He’s simply taking us down to ground zero to create a save by Big Brother (the community organizer in chief).
“Everything’s a CRISIS.”
Crisis is the reason we need super dooper heroes like Obozo ... or so we are told.
If he stopped, then how would he scare-monger people into supporting his economy-killing policies?
“Yes, we’re going through tough times, but President Obama has repeatedly invoked the Great Depression and it’s scaring the heck out of consumers.”
That’s the point!
“The agitator’s job, according to Alinsky, is first to bring folks to the “realization” that they are indeed miserable, that their misery is the fault of unresponsive governments or greedy corporations, then help them to bond together to demand what they deserve, and to make such an almighty stink that the dastardly governments and corporations will see imminent “self-interest” in granting whatever it is that will cause the harassment to cease.”
Of course. These are totally manufactured crises. What currently exists must be razed in order to put the new system into place.
Can't have these evil republicans winning too many seats back in 2010
Then it will be a an Obama recovery.
A miracle by the miracle worker. Sing Hosanna!!!
The American people are truly blind
“The only thing we have to fear is the Fear-Monger-In-Chief.........................”
but..but..but..he said we must choose hope over fear...Zero sure doesn’t practice what he preaches.
One expression that needs to be used more often, especially in economics, is “And then what happens?”
Truthfully, the economy we have known for a long time is unsustainable, based in multi-leveraged schemes with no basis in reality. Obama and a whole bunch of economists are correct, we are heading into a depression, and a whopper of one.
As such, it is not a time for optimism, but for girding of loins, battening down hatches, and weathering the storm. The more of us that do this, the better off we all shall be.
The big questions that need to be asked now is how do we get from this unsustainable economy back to a stable economy, and what will that stable economy consist of?
The era of government largesse is at an end. How so ever we reach it, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are done.
The new age of anti-federalism is soon to be upon us. Ironically.
B-But, Dude..Where’s the Hope?
Yep.
This is all about instituting a whole new economic system...and a new ruling class.
Have to make the situation so dire that people will fall for anything, no questions asked. This is a Socialist Revolution. Even Tom Brokejaw said it was like the Velvet Revolution, this change that is being ushered in. Except he got it wrong; instead of the shackles of socialism being cast off, they are being locked ON our economy.
He comes to steal and to kill.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.