Recession? Where?

Remember back about 3 months ago when St. Barry of Honolulu was taking office? The country was in the greatest depression since the great depression. The little girl without a coat to wear, that John Edwards talked about, well she didn't even have a sweater anymire. That's how dire the situation was.

It was bullshit then and it is bullshit now. Except now, all of a sudden we're not in the greatest financial meltdown of all time. We're in your run of the mill recession, which may very well have ended already, so says the Teleprompter In Chief.

But Right Wing Extremist guy, how can you say that? Unemployment is at 8.5%!! Yeah and? It was at 11% in the early 1980s recession. And unemployment is almost meaningless when discussing the economy. It is a lagging indicator. Very lagging. Unemployment doesn't start heading up until well into a recession. And it doesn't start going down until well into a recovery. It's a great historical piece of data. It doesn't do much to get a current snapshot of what's happening.

I see almost no evidence of any economic slowdown in my every day life. Flights I take are full. Restaurants I go to are full. I went to the mall a couple of weeks ago, I was amazed at the number of people there. I recently went on a cruise, it was overflowing with people. Everywhere I go, I see nothing but active economic activity. In contrast, the first few months post 9-11 was the exact opposite. Restaurants were empty. Stores were empty. Flights (obviously) were empty. There was a sense of economic hardship out there as well as fear. But this time around I just don't see it.

Granted I don't live in the midwest where I'm sure things are not as rosy as I describe. But the midwest has been rotting for years. That's nothing new.

Face it folks, you were lied to. First by Bush as he got his $700B TARP bailout using fear of a financial system impolsion. Then by Obama, Pelosi, Reid and Specter using the fear of an economic collapse to get their $800B stimulus and $4T budget passed. Truth of the matter is and always has been, the economy slid into recession. Just like it did in 2001, 1990, 1982 and 1973. And just like those past 4 recessions where the economy rebounded on its own, it is rebounding on its own now.

TARP was nothing but a giveaway to Goldman Sachs and AIG. The vast majority of the stimulus will be spent in 2010 just in time for the mid-terms. It is nothing more than good old fashioned vote buying, Chicago style.

America, you was punked! And your great grandkids will be paying interest on the money that was spent in the last 6 months to perpetrate that joke.