McCain Adviser Writes WaPo Editorial: The Economy is Fine
By: varealist
Published On: 9/14/2008 1:31:06 AM
Wow. I'm shaking my head while my jaw is dropping. Donald Luskin, a McCain adviser (he says so in the column), writes these jewels in a long op/ed piece in Sunday's Post:
Things today just aren't that bad. Sure, there are trouble spots in the economy, as the government takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and jitters about Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers, amply demonstrate. And unemployment figures are up a bit, too.
Patient zero in this epidemic is the Democratic candidate for president. As it would be for any challenger, it's in his interest to portray the incumbent party's economic performance in the grimmest possible terms.
McCain campaign adviser and former U.S. senator Phil Gramm was right in July when he said that our current state "is a mental recession." Maybe he was out of line when he added that the United States has become "a nation of whiners." But when it comes to the economy, we have surely become a nation of exaggerators.
Comments
Personal note (relawson - 9/14/2008 9:14:55 AM)
My mutuals are down 20% over the last 8 months. I got my annual raise a few days ago - not the standard 4% - just 2%. I shouldn't complain because many people probably won't get a raise this year.
Meanwhile, gas has risen nearly 400% since Bush took office. And the cost of everything else is also rising - much faster than our annual raises are.
So, I'm building my own pipeline of customers because the only way I remain in the six figure club is to work 70 hours a week. My goal is to work 40 hours a week and still be in that club.
I've got it good compared to most. If the people who "have it good" are concerned, imagine how those who didn't have it good to begin with are fairing?
The bottom of this economy is a miserable place to be right now. When I was at the bottom (going through college), somehow I managed. I honestly don't see how I could do it today.
no raise for me this year (thegools - 9/14/2008 3:53:30 PM)
I know (tx2vadem - 9/14/2008 6:54:05 PM)
The largest banking crisis since the Great Depression, and it is just another day at the office for McCain's crack team of economic advisers.
McCain should change his campaign motto to what his advisers are preaching: "What's that I hear, my friends? Why it's the smallest violin in the world?"
Guess Alan Greenspan's just an ignoramus (Catzmaw - 9/14/2008 10:40:25 PM)
who doesn't understand how well the economy is doing, because he told Stephanopolous today that a recession is inevitable. Maybe he just hates America and doesn't want to talk about all the good things happening here. Why does Alan Greenspan hate the United States?
Could you repeat that? (Quizzical - 9/14/2008 10:42:19 PM)
Hmmm. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac get takenover by the government, and I heard a panelist on Charlie Rose say that we are in a financial hurricane and that one levy after another is giving way. Everybody else on the panel agrees. The next day, on CSPAN radio I heard Larry Sommers' testimony before a Congressional budget committee. He said we are in a recession; it just hasn't been announced yet. The next day after that, on CSPAN radio I heard testimony of a guy from the Congressional Budget Office, who says that if we stay on our present course, we are going to add seven trillion dollars to the national debt within the next ten years. He managed to say it with a light, offhand tone to his voice, which I thought took some doing. On Saturday, I go to a cookout and everyone is talking about how AIG and Lehman Bros are in danger of failing. Today, I heard Alan Greenspan on one of the Sunday morning talk shows, saying that the economy is in a downturn and it is going to get worse, or words to that effect. Lehman Bros is reported to be headed into bankruptcy. What's that McCain adviser saying again? He's getting drowned out by reality.