Free Republic

Here’s an interesting plot twister; Republicans made the assumption, incorrectly as it turns out, that voters in states with high-unemployment would kick the bums out. That is, that they’d vote Obama out of office and try to find someone who could solve the jobs problem in this country. Turns out, the opposite has happened. Voters in high-unemployment states actually like the president, and the reason is obvious; the Federal Government is paying the jobless, extending unemployment benefits, food stamps, and even underwriting disability payments from Social Security. Think we’re different from the Europeans? Think again. The proportion of Greek men...

The University of Michigan Survey of Consumer Sentiment rose to its highest point since the beginning of Q4 2007. But bear in mind that Q4 2007 is where the housing market fell off a cliff. So, I wouldn’t place too much confidence in this index. After all, US recession probability (blue line) is up. Still, declining mortgage rates, declining gas prices, 171,000 jobs created and a stabilizing housing market led to rising consumer confidence. And the government’s food stamp program (SNAP) rose to 47,102,780 persons as of the end of August, an all-time high! And the increase from July to...