Posted on 08/01/2011 8:33:43 AM PDT by Kartographer
Americans are so pessimistic about the economy now ... . And the level of public pessimism is actually higher than the deep 1981-82 recession overall," due to grim personal outlooks on a number of issues like jobs, retirement and health care, says Karlyn Bowman, a senior fellow at AEI who co-authored the report. "Their negative sentiments are affecting the way they feel about their family's future, and interestingly, the way they feel about their state governments. Usually negative attitudes about the national government don't seep into attitudes about the state government, but this time it is really different. This negative, gloomy mood is pervasive.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Huh? Wait a minute. Obama just gave you free healthcare last year, and the Dems just "saved" social security from the nasty Republicans. Why is everyone so grim????? Could it be that people are finally waking up and understanding that an ever-expanding state doesn't mean that they are taken care of?
I’m seeing this personally on two fronts: in publishing, the closing of Borders and its affiliates HAMMERED us and we’ve seen massive returns of stock from those closed stores. In terms of financing our films, the money market for risk capital has really tightened up just over last year. A hard candy Christmas.
Think about the past ten years...
It's been "crisis after crisis"
...some legit (9/11 and the wars)...
...some fabricated (health care, spending bills, debt limit, the never-ending recession)...
I think most Americans are pretty much numb to any new "crisis" and I think part of the reason for their - not frustration - but FURY
...at Washington for never being able to do "business as usual" so their lives could just go on...
If government would DO the job they were elected instead of waiting until it becomes a "crisis" so they can make their headlines...
That is because we are in a depression: The Obama Depression and the sycophants in the media insist that we are in a recovery.
Obama the great orator has become not even a distraction to most these days - I witnessed that last week with a speech while eating out - and NO ONE watched the whole thing...it was more of a "meh!" reaction (which I believe is a good thing for 2012).
I started to write twice that the takers may be figuring out that the payers well is running dry.
The payers are surely figuring out that the takers will never stop willingly.
Some are figuring out that you can’t pay bills on promises, smoke and mirrors and you can’t eat hope and change.
They’ll keep on insisting that we’re in a recovery right up thru Nov 2012. Then watch all hell break loose.
What took so long. I am in Real Estate. I have been seeing dour faces for years.
Every economic downturn in the US occurred while the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives. The House is the most powerful branch of govt. The House originates the spending bills and approves all tax and regulatory issues. One of the cleverest ruses the Rats and Pubes ever pulled off is this penchant for blaming the President of either Party for the criminal excesses of the House.
To call the Metro Atlanta economy moribund is an understatement. I sense ZERO green shoots and I know. The consumer is in critical condition with a self inflicted wound and the federal government serves as both instigator an immovable obstacle. This is getting bad, but the guy in DC is cheering! I am convinced this is exactly what he wanted!!
Entwined with economic gloom, I think people are finally realize that the government is just taking away our freedom inch by inch. Toilets, light bulbs, cars, bank account fees - you name and the government makes everything harder and more expensive.
I am very pessimistic and it has less to do with unemployment and interest rates and more to do with federal overreach and eroding of my liberty. But that’s just me.
Maybe people are finally beginning to realize that a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.
I’m not surprised, Larry. I know of a number of families, myself included, who are struggling in this economy. It’s not easy out there at all, yet I feel lucky as there are far more out there who are less fortunate than I. Hang in there, Bud, as we all must. We need and appreciate your knowledge and expertise, and good work.
Jim
We the people have two choices:
One is a third party and hope there’s time.
The other is to simply “retire”. If nobody works there is no money coming in at all. I think that would get their attention. I’d bet than in about two days they’d be asking people to come in off the street to write the bills. Because when the money stops coming in THEY lose THEIR gravy train.
Plus, advocating people not go to work is not advocating the overthrow of the government SO IT’S LEGAL.
>> The House is the most powerful branch of govt.
I’m not convinced of that — it depends on how you care to define “power”. But it’s not unreasonable to argue that it is the most powerful.
However, I would definitely agree that the House is the fastest way to apply voter feedback to federal government; therefore the House is the fastest and most potent *agent of change* in Federal government.
FRegards
My post on that thread focuses on the underlying cause of such pessimism and why a return to America's founding ideas would be a cause for optimism.
Thank you, LS, for your work to restore those ideas. May you find new opportunities for publishing and expanding that work.
As I posted on the other thread:
At its heart, does the political philosophy embraced by the president not, by its very reliance on the coercive power of government, engender pessimism?
A collectivist/redistributionist/powerful government idea presents a sharp contrast to the ideas of Creator-endowed individual liberty, opportunity, creativity, and prosperity concept underlying America's Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
America's first 200 years provided the world with a unique example of what could be achieved when a "People" proved themselves capable of self-government under a written Constitution. Millions of oppressed individuals fled other countries and flocked to America to participate in that glorious experiment.
The following excerpt questions:
"Thomas Jefferson, in his First Inaugural Address, enumerated what he called 'the essential principles of our government. . . which ought to shape its Administration.'
"He then stated:
"These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civil instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety."
Background
"When asked by a curious citizen after the adjournment of the Constitutional Convention what kind of government had been structured by the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin is said to have answered: "...A REPUBLIC, IF YOU CAN KEEP IT."
"The extensive Constitutional republic they envisioned, in reality, became a place of liberty and opportunity for countless millions of people from all over the world. Their ideas worked, because they were based on enduring principles which recognized human imperfection and the need to structure a limited government of laws, dependent upon the consent of a people who, themselves, understood the principles.
"The Distinctiveness of the American Experiment as Laid Down by the Founding Fathers:
"It acknowledged that individual rights are derived from a Creator.
"It was based on enduring principles compatible with "the laws of nature and of nature's God."
"It recognized human imperfection and that a tendency to abuse power is ever present in the human heart.
"It restrained those in power through a written Constitution which carefully divided, balanced, and separated the powers of government and then intricately knitted them back together again through a system of checks and balances.
"It left all powers with the people, except those which, by their consent, the people delegated to government and then made provision for their withdrawing that power, if it was abused.
"What Has Happened to the Philosophy and Principles Held by the Founding Fathers?
"Have we kept faith with their ideas of republican (representative) government and of the virtue which must underlie such an institution? As Andrew Jackson observed: 'It is well known that there have always been those amongst us who wish to enlarge the powers of the general government...and...to overstep the boundaries marked out for it by the Constitution.' Such is certainly true in 21st Century America! Not only do the various branches of government seek ways to expand their power by changing the Constitution, but there are well - organized and heavily-funded organuzations actively at work to make serious changes in the Founders' system.
"Can America Lose Her Freedom?
"An examination of the history of civilization reveals that nations have risen, and they have fallen. Governments have been formed, and they have been dissolved. People have become free, and they have fallen into slavery again. Toynbee observed that 19 of the world's 21 significant civilizations disappeared from the face of the earth - not from assault by outside forces, but from deterioration within the society."
To read more, visit, and click to download essays from "Our Ageless Constitution."
The philosophy of America's Founders is one which inspires and uplifts. The philosophy of Mao/Marx/Lenin is one which has failed to provide "hope" and positive "change" in every society where it has been tried.
Can anyone wonder why a spirit of pessimism might be detected?
It’s all ‘investment’ you see....
Americans are so pessimistic about the economy now?....
Why in hell are they not pessimistic about the giant a-hole in the White House causing all this grief? Jeez!
Wow, I looked at your profile page—great work! I’d like to read your books.
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