The Economy Isn’t as Bad as We Think

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Don't kid yourself with any statistics. No president, whoever he is, is in control, God is. Have Americans lost sight of that?

Ruth of OH 11:16AM January 01, 2009

this was prescient...

John Doe of NV 12:35PM October 12, 2008

At any given moment people are losing jobs, gaining jobs, losing money, making money. This never changes. So, of course you can make a case at almost any given time how badly the economy is doing. It always bad for someone at any given time. What irritates me is how easily we tend to oversstate how bad the economy is when a Republican is President no matter how much the economic numbers dispute this. Likewise, the media showed a strong sense of "restraint" when reporting on the economy during the end of Bill Clinton's last year. This in fact turned into a recession for a lot of reasons, but there is no disputing that President Bush's actions lead to a strong recovery. Now we have a year and a half after Democrats took control of Congress with no desire to make Bush's tax cuts permanent, the economy is once again on shakey ground. Not as bad as some people like to portray, but with a good possibility it will get worse due to Democratic inaction. I'm sorry, but economic stimulus checks sound good to the voters (yes, buy some more votes), but ultimately will fail. We would have been much better off making the Bush tax cuts permanent a year ago. But, of course that would have improved the economic outlook and made it even more obvious that Democrats have no clue on how to stimulate an economy. People can figure this out for themselves, but many will not.

Jeff Ihde of WI 9:12PM June 22, 2008

I agree that we aren't entering a doomsday scenario. I think a main source of fear is American arrogance and exceptionalism which stemmed from a post-Cold War mentality and was fostered by the economic explosion of the 1990s.
With that said, I think there are better economists than a football writer who has temporarily fired for anti-Semitic comments.
http://pragmaticallypolitical.blogivists.com/

of IL 5:06PM June 20, 2008

For all of you hating on Gregg, don't forget he is the single best writer regarding professional football in America. The fact that he knows the NFL better than pretty much anyone gives him a ton of credibility in my book. Easily the most comprehensive analysis regarding football.
http://sports.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=Gregg_Easterbrook

LV GOP of NV 12:52PM June 19, 2008

Someone somewhere is always doing poorly. That is not of concern. Not too long ago, I was a full-time student for four months (read, unemployed for four months) and living off savings. I am now gainfully employed in a job that is paying more than my last job. I am now doing better. Can I attribute this to Bush? No, I attribute it to myself to want to be employed.
However, if you think that whether a President Obama or a President McCain is going to change your circumstance, then you are absolutely a fool. One thing I will say, Americans are very stupid to fall for the same prescriptions that Barack Obama is proposing. All of what he is proposing has been proposed before, and were Americans better off then? No. However, this is a lesson that I guess we must learn from time to time in order to see that Obama's proposals are a mistake.

Chris of AZ 6:40PM June 17, 2008

The Wall Street Journal writer says things are not so bad.
1. Compared to what?
2. For whom?
The author is either delusional or a propagandist.
The value of the dollar is 1/2 of its value in reference to the Euro, since Bush took over. For retired persons, that is a mighty blow.
Unemployment's official number is 5%. That's millions of people, out of work.
We have another several million that are not counted, because they are in the slammer.
But the powers that be, and WSJ, accept the 12 million illegals as too many to deal with.
The author should get a year in the TRADING PLACES movie and see how "WE" are doing, from the view on the street.

bruce becker of CA 2:34PM June 17, 2008

Yeah, Yeah, I've heard the argument -- Americans are just too stupid to know that they're actually prosperous.
Just remember that the next time a conservative fling the term "elitist."

Northern Pike of WI 3:15PM June 15, 2008