Unexpected trends again

I would like to find one of these supposed “experts” who continue to be baffled by the performance of the economy.  Maybe, just maybe it is because if you let your ideology overwhelm your common sense so you can’t figure these trends out.  The Washington Times covered a recent study that indicates liberals are generally uninformed about economic issues (See Liberals livid over economic enlightenment gauge).  So if you are a liberal, it appears that you can’t also be an “expert” on the economy.  So if you voted for Barack Obama for President and you are trying to figure out what is happening in the economy, you are going to continued to be surprised. 

As the Amateur-in-Chief and his merry band of socialists continue to savage our economy, is it any wonder that people and corporations aren’t spending?  As I watch the news roll out there are any number of troubling themes:

-          ABC News reports that Corporations are hording as much as $1.6 trillion because of the uncertainty caused by these knuckleheads in Washington. How high will taxes go?  What is in the Health Care bill?  What other damage will Democrats do?

-          Some believe that the economic activity that is occurring is being driven by the fear of what will happen as taxes go up and regulation comes crashing down next year.  Essentially, spend it now so the government doesn’t get it in 2011. 

-          Retail Sales are down – this is a catastrophe since 2/3 of the economy is driven by consumer spending.  I know I’m keeping what I have instead of making any major purchases.  Worse, some economic activity might be driven by government programs for cars, caulkers, and home buyers that have or will soon end.  That pulls in pent up demand and then whipsaws back to when the incentives are removed.    

-          Jobless rates remain stubbornly high and we had another “unexpected” rise in job losses.  If the government continues sucking money out of the economy, jobless rates will remain high expectedly or not. 

-          No one believes the lie about a recovery any more.  The most recent figures in May claimed the “economy” added 431,000 new jobs.  However under closer scrutiny it turns out that 411,000 of them were temporary census jobs.  Since we need at least 100,000 new jobs each month just to hire the new people who are entering the work force – this “good news” was actually a net loss of 80,000 jobs. 

-          Every problem is another excuse for another socialist program.  In Obama’s world, the oil leak requires an end to drilling (good bye jobs) and energizes the call for Cap and Trade (hello taxes).

-          Increasingly it is obvious that regardless of your political opinion, the Obama recovery is infinitely worse than the Bush recession.  This isn’t a surprise as the Great Depression of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was infinitely worse and much longer than the Depression suffered under Hebert Hoover.  Ending the FDR depression required World War II – we can end the Obama recession with a couple elections – I hope.   

Now President Obama has stated that we are at a “critical juncture” in the recovery – really?  You think that up all by yourself did you?  Well tripling down on the huge deficits that you have created isn’t going to get us relief.  Cutting a measly 5% from Federal spending (we don’t have a budget yet to corral spending) isn’t going to do it either when you are borrowing one out of every three dollars that you spend.  Listen Jimmy . . . . . . err . . . uh . . . . Barack, you better slash spending by at least 40% and cut taxes unless you want to join Jimmy Carter in building crappy houses for poor people to try and salvage your miserable reputation. 

Conservative Resistance – Day 586

The Long Road back begins in 142 days