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Bad News:

Cal

Well-known member
Bad News: The Economy is Good
By Rich Tucker
Friday, September 21, 2007

All we need to do is read the papers or watch the news to realize that we live in troubled economic times. It may even be time for desperate measures.

Consider the bleak picture drawn recently by Washington Post editorial cartoonist Tom Toles. “What does it mean that the housing market is ‘cooling off’?” Toles asks. He then draws a man living in a refrigerator box.

Of course this cartoon is ludicrous.

After all, with our national economy in such dire circumstances, there couldn’t possibly be any refrigerator boxes around. Who can even think of buying a new refrigerator these days? Most Americans have, presumably, been reduced to burying their perishable items (assuming they can afford milk and eggs for their starving families) in the cold, cold ground.

If, that is, they still have a home at all.

“There has been a dramatic increase in foreclosures,” warned CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Sept. 20. “People losing their homes. They’ve worked so hard for so long to get this house. And all of a sudden they can’t meet the mortgage payments.”

Blitzer didn’t mention refrigerator boxes. But his dire warnings stood in stark contrast to the facts as explained by the very reporter he was speaking to that day. As Ali Velshi explained, “For homebuyers with good credit, a 30-year fixed rate mortgage is 6.29 percent, not even a full percentage point higher than it was a year ago.” That’s an increase, but certainly one virtually all mortgage holders can afford.

But, Velshi went on, “there’s still the actual housing problem. The median price for an existing home in America is $218,000 -- $3,700 less than it was a year ago.” So wait: very few people are going to lose their homes. That sounds like good news. Yet “housing” is a “problem” because the price of homes is edging down? When it comes to housing, the news is bad when prices go up … and it’s bad when prices come down.

In many ways, this struggling economy is our own fault. During the 2004 presidential campaign, John Kerry warned us repeatedly that we were living in the “worst economy since Herbert Hoover.” But we didn’t listen, and re-elected President Bush.

Luckily, we’ll soon have another chance to improve things by electing another liberal senator. Recently, presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York announced some of her ideas to “fix” our economy.

For example, she’ll introduce a socialist health-care system. Under her plan, every American would be required to carry health insurance. And, she told reporters, she can even picture a day when “you have to show proof to your employer that you’re insured as a part of the job interview -- like when your kid goes to school and has to show proof of vaccination.”

Now, this would be a great idea if we applied it to illegal immigrants. By all means, let’s make sure everyone holding a job has a Social Security number and is here legally. But even though many of us have been demanding that for years, lawmakers haven’t take steps to make it a reality. Now we’re supposed to accept that Washington will, indeed, demand and determine that everyone has health insurance. Right.

Clinton also decried the “rising inequality and rising pessimism in our work force.” Now, why would our work force be pessimistic? Maybe because it’s been listening to our politicians or reading the mainstream media, where even good news is played as bad news.

“Unemployment Claims Make Surprise Drop,” read the Associated Press headline on Sept. 20. Who’s surprised? Reporters, certainly. And economists. “The labor market is being closely monitored for any signs that recent turmoil in financial markets and a deepening slump in housing are causing serious problems for the overall economy,” the story added. But it’s no surprise to most of us that the economy is doing well.

Unemployment has been at historic lows for years now. Consumer goods crowd the shelves in big box stores, and prices just keep tumbling. Recently, for example, Apple slashed the price of its iPhone from $599 to $399. That was spun, naturally, as bad news for those who bought it at full price. In reality, good news abounds, even though we seldom hear about it.

Sen. Clinton says that the problem with our economy is it features “trickle-down economics without the trickle.” But the problem is really simpler than that. It’s that bad news is trumpeted over and over, while good news never seems to trickle out. It’s a problem of perception, not performance.

Maybe it’s time to elect a liberal as president. Sure, that would probably damage the economy. But it may be the only way to convince the media to report any good economic news. As they say, desperate times may call for desperate measures.




Rich Tucker is an editor in Washington D.C. and a columnist for Townhall.com.
 

MoGal

Well-known member
That report is flawed. They fail to mention the 374,000 that fell off unemployment comp in August because they had exhausted their benefits or for whatever reason became ineligible.

You can search on the internet and read economist reports. They are predicting 35-50 percent unemployment within the next 30 months. I don't see that as good news and definitely not when Congress continues to try and pass amnesty for illegals.
 

Cal

Well-known member
MoGal said:
That report is flawed. They fail to mention the 374,000 that fell off unemployment comp in August because they had exhausted their benefits or for whatever reason became ineligible.

You can search on the internet and read economist reports. They are predicting 35-50 percent unemployment within the next 30 months. I don't see that as good news and definitely not when Congress continues to try and pass amnesty for illegals.
You were turned down for a handgun permit, weren't you.
 

Cal

Well-known member
Goodpasture said:
Rich Tucker is a moron and has no clues as to what micro or macro economics are about.
Think I'll put together a list of anyone that's written anything positive economically of conditions during any modern day Republican Administration that the Democrats haven't similarily condemned:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Damn, can't think of any.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Cal said:
Goodpasture said:
Rich Tucker is a moron and has no clues as to what micro or macro economics are about.
Think I'll put together a list of anyone that's written anything positive economically of conditions during any modern day Republican Administration that the Democrats haven't similarily condemned:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Damn, can't think of any.

How about all the Repubs and Independents that are now condemning many of THIS Republican administrations policies....Newt-Romney- Greenspan, etc. etc. etc. :wink: :lol:
 

Goodpasture

Well-known member
Cal said:
Goodpasture said:
Rich Tucker is a moron and has no clues as to what micro or macro economics are about.
Think I'll put together a list of anyone that's written anything positive economically of conditions during any modern day Republican Administration that the Democrats haven't similarily condemned:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Damn, can't think of any.
There hasn't BEEN any positive economic conditions during modern day Republican administrations. The last thing they did that was half way intelligent was Newt compromising with Clinton/Gore.
 

Larrry

Well-known member
GP, so you call me names, must make you feel good. So sad you have nothing to fall back on than name calling. Take for instance when I call you a liar I am only emphasizibg your actions and character.
So you little liar try to come up with something better.
Kola I said I was leaving but would be checking back in. Is that something you can comprehend? Oh I guess the answer to that is NO isn't it. Nuff saiid.
 

Texan

Well-known member
kolanuraven said:
Texan said:
Goodpasture said:
There hasn't BEEN any positive economic conditions during modern day Republican administrations.
Horseshit.


Well... "x" baby... I see you're back to your sweet self!!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :wink: :wink:
Hey, Nappy-head. :wink: Howya been? I thought about you when I saw your ad in the latest WR. Nice ad and pretty impressive - no spelling mistakes. :lol:

Glad you remembered my 'sweet' side. It's probably gonna get worse before it gets better. I'm getting sick and tired of all the America-bashing that goes on around here. I didn't like it when the conservatives did it just because a klinton was president and I don't like it now...

The sky is NOT falling and this country does NOT suck. :???:
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Texan said:
kolanuraven said:
Texan said:
Horseshit.


Well... "x" baby... I see you're back to your sweet self!!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :wink: :wink:
Hey, Nappy-head. :wink: Howya been? I thought about you when I saw your ad in the latest WR. Nice ad and pretty impressive - no spelling mistakes. :lol:

Glad you remembered my 'sweet' side. It's probably gonna get worse before it gets better. I'm getting sick and tired of all the America-bashing that goes on around here. I didn't like it when the conservatives did it just because a klinton was president and I don't like it now...

The sky is NOT falling and this country does NOT suck. :???:


Well...come over across the river in October and spend some of that money you've made during this Rep admin.!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 

hopalong

Well-known member
kolanuraven said:
[
Well...come over across the river in October and spend some of that money you've made during this Rep admin.!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

No thanks I spent my money and bought another 100 head of bred cows! : :D :D :D :D :D
Couldn't do that when Billery was prez! :roll: :roll: :roll:
If you haven't made money from this adminstration then you are even a bigger fool than I took you for.
You claim you have made money from Google which adminstration was responsible for that ?
Kolauraven what planet are you really from??
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
hopalong said:
kolanuraven said:
[
Well...come over across the river in October and spend some of that money you've made during this Rep admin.!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

No thanks I spent my money and bought another 100 head of bred cows! : :D :D :D :D :D
Couldn't do that when Billery was prez! :roll: :roll: :roll:
If you haven't made money from this adminstration then you are even a bigger fool than I took you for.
You claim you have made money from Google which adminstration was responsible for that ?
Kolauraven what planet are you really from??


Pretty ballsy ...I didn't invite YOU! :roll: :roll:
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
hopalong said:
You claim you have made money from Google which adminstration was responsible for that ?
Kolauraven what planet are you really from??

Don't you know that Al Gore invented the internet :???: :roll: :wink: :lol:
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
hopalong said:
You claim you have made money from Google which adminstration was responsible for that ?
Kolauraven what planet are you really from??

Don't you know that Al Gore invented the internet :???: :roll: :wink: :lol:


SMACK!!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
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