As Dr. Thomas Sowell points out in a recent column, Obama is turning the nation into a version of Detroit with generous handouts to people likely to vote for him. The handouts include "compassionate" policies like extended unemployment benefits, more food stamps, ways to save home buyers from mortgage foreclosures, etc.
As he writes, "The 'smart money' inside the Beltway says that a high unemployment rate spells doom at the polls for a president. But history says that people who are getting government handouts tend to vote for whoever is doing the handing out.
Historical fact: Handout-happy FDR "won his biggest landslide victory after his first term in office during which the unemployment rate was never less than twice what it has been under Barack Obama."
I understand that if you rob Peter to pay Paul, you will always have the support of Paul. On the other hand, haven’t people already run out of unemployment benefits? I know some that have here in NJ. Also, when those handouts buy less & less at the grocery store, how can people be content with that?
As for FDR, I think people could see a difference between 1932 and 1936; many of the trails I hike on were built via the CCC and WPA starting in 1933 (so something was visibly improving). The desperation that helped FDR also elected Obama; I believe the difference is that nobody can see improvement (now or 5 years from now).
“Historical fact: Handout-happy FDR “won his biggest landslide victory after his first term in office during which the unemployment rate was never less than twice what it has been under Barack Obama.”
I have read that if unemployment were calculated the same way it was in the 1930s, it would be over 25%.