Exactly.
Posted on 06/13/2008 5:04:17 AM PDT by shrinkermd
...The case that things are basically pretty good? Unemployment is 5.5%, low by historical standards; income is rising slightly ahead of inflation; housing prices are down, but the typical house is still worth a third more than in 2000; 94% of Americans do not have threatened mortgages...most that do will keep homes.
...Inflation was up in 2007, but this stands out because the 16 previous years were close to inflation-free; living standards are the highest they have ever been, including living standards for the middle class and for the poor.
All forms of pollution other than greenhouse gases are in decline; cancer, heart disease and stroke incidence are declining; crime is in a long-term cycle of significant decline; education levels are at all-time highs.
Sure, gas prices are up, the dollar is weak and credit is tight – but these are complaints at the margin of a mainly healthy society.
Yet the mood of public discourse is four-alarm panic. A recent CBS News/New York Times poll showed "Americans' views on the economy and the general state of the country have hit an all-time low," with 81% saying the nation is on the "wrong track" – the worst-ever number for this barometer. Some 78% told pollsters the U.S. is worse off today than five years ago, the highest percentage to say this since the CBS News/New York Times survey began tracking the question in 1986. Watch any news channel, listen to any political debate, read any pundit. The consensus is we're headed to hell in a handbasket.
Increasing pessimism from the news media is surely a factor – and the media grow ever-better at giving negative impressions. Now we don't just hear about threats or natural disasters, we see immediate live footage, creating the impression that threats and disasters are everywhere.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
They can..it’s free - and it makes life much easier to bear.
You've got that nailed partner. Even my eldery pappy told me he's never seen things so bad. Pappy grew up during the Great Depression and is currently living in a house ten times better than the one he grew up in. But I know a lot of other people who've echoed my father's sentiments. These people have more than I do, and I'm living pretty good right now. I grew up in the fifties, and I know what not having much means. Americans have just become too spoiled.
Once I get them home to OUR house, my life will, once again, be idyllic.
Exactly.
Good news for a Dem prez: Front page above the fold - Bad news buried elsewhere.
Good news for Repub prez: Buried elsewhere - Bad news on front page above the fold.
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