I'd love, in prime time (but well after my dinner has settled) to replay Bush's final State of the Union...the one where he bragged about how low unemployment was under his regime, and how Strong the economy was thanks to his Tax Cuts for the Rich. Talk about Nero...W. could fiddle a bit, too.
Posted by T2 at April 29, 2009 02:13 PMLet's be mindful of the conservatives who love to rewrite history. While Obama has always said this recession will continue to get worse before it gets better... the teabaggers will accuse him of starting it.
Posted by Seven of Six at April 29, 2009 02:24 PMhey 7o6, I thought we weren't supposed to be using the term "teabaggers" anymore 'cause it is nasty?
Posted by T2 at April 29, 2009 02:35 PM"The worst unemployment rate since Reagan."
And in a few years we can say "the worst unemployment rate since Obama."
But I do hope not: if we ever have to utter such a statement, you can bet that it will be the result of (another) Democrat in the White House.
Posted by You Know Who at April 29, 2009 03:09 PMright on time. 100 days in, and the economy is obama's fault. uh huh.
Posted by Turkana at April 29, 2009 03:12 PMThe chameleon troll strikes again!
Drop the mindless talking points, now slowly raise your hands and back away from the computer.
Posted by TIKI AL at April 29, 2009 04:14 PMAnd in a few years we can say "the worst unemployment rate since Obama."
Kinda like saying the worst unemployment rate since FDR.
Hence my concern over real history... everyone knows Hoover created it. And everyone will know bu$h/cheney created this last nightmare.
Posted by Seven of Six at April 29, 2009 04:26 PMheh..thats just it 7of6.. hard core right wingers appear to now be believing their revisionist BS.
Remember when that bushie bragged that they were the "actors" that create reality so the rest of us could watch?
From listening to repuke congress critters and the likes of the crack, world renowned TLC troll patrol those assholes are so far out there on Planet Delusion they believe what they promulgate..they're still "creating their own reality"....
Posted by headxray at April 29, 2009 04:50 PMRight on, headx.
The Bushco delusion that they were "creating reality" was possibly the admission that most showed their absolute psychopathology. We literally had lunatics in charge of a nuclear-armed asylum. KKKarl Rover should be committed as criminally insane. He likely made that "creating reality" comment.
Fucking "conservatives".
Posted by euzoius at April 29, 2009 06:04 PMAnd if anyone sees the hilarious new Kos "Goposaur" logo on a bumper sticker, please inform us where to purchase....good evening all....
Posted by euzoius at April 29, 2009 06:44 PMConservatives always said Bush was Reagan's heir. They were right.
I was going to write that it's not fair to blame Reagan for the unemployment figures of 25 year ago, then I remembered that he did contribute to it, albeit in an unintended way.
Reagan inherited stagflation and a high unemployment rate. Reaganuts like to blame Carter, but the problems began under LBJ, got worse under Nixon's 4-phase wage and price freezes (can you imagine the reaction if Obama tried that kind of gov't intervention today?), more worse under Ford's "Whip Inflation Now" (WIN), and then continued under Carter.
Anyone with a grain of understanding of macroeconomics realizes that the key to solving stagflation was the appointment of Paul Volcker by Carter in the last year of Carter's term. Volcker's philosophy was to starve the inflation beast by causing a major recession -- necessary to get rid of all the COLA contracts and other symptoms of "expected inflation" that had become built into the economy. So he shut off the money supply and in the process killed Carter's reelection chances.
In comes Reagan. The one thing you don't want to do, Volcker told him, was create any economic stimulus until inflation is under control. No, replied the supply-side Reaganuts, tax cuts will fix everything and cure cancer too.
So Reagan gets shot, the Dems in the House roll over and play dead, and the budget is passed with a massive tax cut and a net increase in spending (more to the wealthy, less for the needy). Yes, huge deficits resulted, but this also was a massive economic stimulus.
Remember, this wasn't like cutting taxes on the rich is today -- then they were chopping the top rate from 70 to 50% -- which actually has some stimulus effect.
Volcker's response? I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT. So, Volcker tightened the money supply noose further. By summer 1981 CDs could be bought for nearly 20% interest rates. Mortgages rates were in the 20s.
For much of 1982 and 1983 jobs were almost impossible to find, even a McJob. The supply-side Reaganuts were furious. Just like the Labour party in the 1970s they wanted to solve everything by opening the money spigot wide open and hoping that the good fairy would keep inflation low.
But, guess what. By late 1983 inflation fell below 5% -- which at the time seemed equivalent to 0% after years in the double digits. Volcker open the money spigot. Wall Street went "yeee-haaa!" and decided that in fact this Volcker guy was pretty smart after all. Reagan was informed in no uncertain terms that he had to reappoint Volcker, and he did. And he then rode the 1984 boom to a landslide win, acting like it was his great idea all along.
Typical Republican.
So "pandemic" means "throughout America", does it?
Posted by Colin at May 5, 2009 11:32 AM