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 ...
because its an election year and the newsmedia want people to feel bad.
Serious fiat money inflation on the horizon. We’re not there — YET!
“Blood running in the streets. Mobs of rioters and demonstrators threatening banks and legislatures. Looting of shop and home. Strikes and unemployment. Trade and distribution paralyzed. Shortages of food. Bankruptcies everywhere. Court dockets overloaded. Kidnappings for heavy ransom. Sexual perversion, drunkenness, lawlessness rampant. The wheels of government are clogged, and we are descending into the vale of confusion and darkness. No day was ever more clouded than the present. We are fast verging on anarchy and confusion. (George Washington in a 1786 letter to James Madison, describing the effects of fiat paper money inflation then ravaging America in the pre Constitutional period.)
“The annihilation (of the paper money) was so complete that barber shops were papered in jest with the bills; and sailors, on returning from cruises, being paid off in bundles of this worthless money, had suits made of it, and with characteristic lightheartedness, turned their loss into frolic by parading through the streets in decayed finery which in its better days had passed for thousands of dollars.” (Contemporary writer, Breck, 1786)
“Paper money polluted the equity of our laws, turned them into engines of oppression, corrupted the justice of our public administration, destroyed the fortunes of thousands who had confidence in it, enervated the trade and husbandry, and the manufactures of our country, and went far to destroy the morality of out people.” (Peletiah Webster, 1786)
The equally serious prospect of Barack and Mickey Obamalamadingdong in the White House come next January.
$4.00 a gallon gasoline.
24/7 attacks by the media have finally beat down the American public. I have a feeling that the American people with someday soon long for these days because they were so good in retrospect.
About three years ago or so I was at a conference in Atlanta with a friend a coworker. Our was in the hotel attached to CNN Center. She is a Dem by party ID, but open minded and loves to hear my thoughts on things. We were dining the food court at CNN, so naturally Headline News was on. I said, ‘watch’ while we sit here they do nothing but criticize Bush and the GOP. In that next 45 minutes, they did stories on Abu Garib (even though the event was only news about two years earlier, attack on the middle class, failed war, etc, etc, etc. The entire news cast was anti-Bush. This was at a time where the economy was doing quite well and opinions on the war were still in our favor, but you would never know it from the news.
Long story not so short, the American people were eventually worn down by the non-stop attacks. It is no wonder that public opinion polls reflect the exact agenda that the Dems and media were pushing relentlessly for 5-6 years. Tell a lie enough times, it becomes truth.
That presumes that the inflation rate is being accurately calculated and reported. The price changes I've seen are a lot more than the official rate.
That, and we’re spoiled. Any little blip in our life style, and we go to pieces.
Spin spin spin. I look at my particular situation. I got a raise this year that came nowhere near the rate of inflation. My company also eliminated bonuses, even though our division is quite profitable. So I've seen about a $5,000 loss in effective purchasing power this year. I imagine a lot of other middle-class people are in a similar situation. Pretending otherwise is just going to get a lot of conservative candidates a hammering in November.
Why do we feel so blue?
Two reasons, and here they are: 1) $4.00 a gallon gasoline; 2) The War in Iraq. Americans hate long wars.
There you go!
I suspect it is because many Americans feel that things are out of control in very subtle ways. Immigration is not being controlled (despite cosmetic enforcement), unelected judges can make laws by fiat, inflation is up more than the stats indicate, and some groups are more equal than others (increasingly, white America is on the short end of the stick). Our fiscal house is also way out of wack—we are spending too much. Most people know that, but still want their goodies. There is also a crisis of identity, which PC has robbed us of—are we sure who we are anymore? Lastly, in the face of all this, Government seems powerless to halt these trends; in fact, in most cases, the Government actually promotes them. It increasingly bows to the will of the UN and other unaccountable organizations.
Basically, it is a feeling of unease that the pillars of our society are eroding despite the outward signs of health. Without sounding too much like Cassandara, every generation goes through this, but the center seems to hold. Of course, the Roman empire took 200 years to fall.
Everything has been a Bush bash for the past 8 years since he stole the election from the high priest of green Al Gore.
And Bush was silent and let the lies perpetuate when he could have gone on the domestic offensive to wipe out liberal idiocy. We all kept wondering why he didn’t hit back at the Dems and libs. We all wondered why Bush had a GOP majority in congress and failed to push through anything on his table, instead settling for bi-partisan appeasement of the loud left.
Does anyone else see the weakness of the Bush Administration beyond the WOT? Even the Supreme Court has rebuked the detention of terrorists.
Bush has allowed this to happen and the country is getting ready to go down to a real mess if the Rat NObama gets elected. People have no clue about how bad and hard times can get because they want their cake and want to eat it too, without paying for the flour and sugar.
Oh I don’t know. Maybe it due to $4.00 a gallon gas, no will to drill for our own oil, skyrocketing food prices, terrorists, illegals and polar bears having more rights than we do, and 2 of the biggest @ssholes running for the highest office in the land whos only previous job experience is being part of the worst rated Senates in US history!
Pretty much every responsibility our government has assumed to protect us, enforce our laws, defend the border, inspect food or whatever has been defaulted on.
People are so ignorant because they keep asking government to fix all the problems, when our government is unable to handle the current load. A lot of stuff is broken.
But as long as we have a house in the burbs with two cars and a middle class job, we shouldn’t complain, right?
A lot of Americans feel bad because of the presstitutes in the screaming media spend their time reading everything without humor or beauty. Their minds are dark hallways where doom and gloom reside.
“That, and we’re spoiled. Any little blip in our life style, and we go to pieces.”
We have a winner. People take for granted how blessed we are in this country. We complain when gas prices go up, yet there are many in the world who are wondering if they’re going to get to eat today.
God Bless America...I am so lucky!
The MSM makes a deliberate effort to bum everybody out, and they succeed. So much so that I don’t watch them anymore lol
Many here are falling for the media hype, as well. ;)
As for me and my house? Nope. We’re making more money and paying less in taxes (due to smart investing and self-employment and tax cuts), we have health insurance that we pay for, a full pantry and freezer, three paid-for vehicles, available fuel for said vehicles and a small. manageable mortgage on our farm. We have kids in college that are paying their own way. We have a little water in the basement due to our terrible flooding, but the walls aren’t caving in or anything.
You know how Rush always says people aren’t worried about themselves, but they worry about their neighbors not making it? I look at my neighbors as dopes if they’re not making it here in America. Roll up your sleeves and get busy!
These are HARDLY Hard Times. I know Hard Times, and these are not them! :)
If Americans hate long wars, what were our troops doing in Germany, Italy, Spain, England for 60 years and what are our troops doing in Japan and Korea all these years after armed conflict? HMMM?
because its another Bush year and the newsmedia want people to feel bad.
Sorry Perdogg I had to fix it!
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6182865
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