Paul Krugman, The New York Times, November 26, 2007
“Americans’ Economic Pessimism Reaches Record High.” That’s the headline on a recent Gallup report, which shows a nation deeply unhappy with the state of the economy. Right now, “27% of Americans rate current economic conditions as either ‘excellent’ or ‘good,’ while 44% say they are ‘only fair’ and 28% say they are poor.” Moreover, “an extraordinary 78% of Americans now say the economy is getting worse, while a scant 13% say it is getting better.”
What’s really remarkable about this dismal outlook is that the economy isn’t (yet?) in recession, and consumers haven’t yet felt the full effects of $98 oil (wait until they see this winter’s heating bills) or the plunging dollar, which will raise the prices of imported goods.
The response of those who support the Bush administration’s economic policies is to complain about the unfairness of it all. They rattle off statistics that supposedly show how wonderful the economy really is. Many of these statistics are misleading or irrelevant, but it’s true that the official unemployment rate is fairly low by historical standards. So why are people so unhappy?
The answer from Bush supporters — who are, on this and other matters, a strikingly whiny bunch — is to blame the “liberal media” for failing to report the good news. But the real explanation for the public’s pessimism is that whatever good economic news there is hasn’t translated into gains for most working Americans.
One way to drive this point home is to compare the situation for workers today with that in the late 1990s, when the country’s economic optimism was almost as remarkable as its pessimism today. For example, in the fall of 1998 almost two-thirds of Americans thought the economy was excellent or good.
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The Tattlesnake — Hole Lott A-Shakin’ Loose and What Iran Plan? Edition
NBC is reporting that Sen. Trent Lott, White Citizen’s Council soft-shoe racist and a nitwit who thought the bigoted Strom Thurmond would have been a good president, is resigning from the Senate by the end of this year. The 66-year-old Republican prick with ears who defended Nixon when he was in the House in the 1970s, made the official announcement Monday, Nov. 26th. Call me crazy (“You’re crazy!”), but, what with the devastation Hurricane Katrina visited upon much of southern Mississippi, and Bush’s inept response, plus the drought that has led to a short crop this year that the state’s GOP rulers have failed to address, I think the door is open here for a Democrat to take the seat in 2008. No, not a Kucinich Dem, but a southerner cut from the Heath Shuler or Jim Webb mold, which would be a vast improvement over Trent-mouth.
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