Barack Obama gave his ecomony speech today. He painted a picture that would make Shirley Temple give up her smile. I realize these are challenging times economically, but I think we need a little perspective. According to Department of Labor statistics, things have been much worse at other times.<\/p>\n
The unemployment rate in November of 2008 across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was 5.5 per cent. In Attleboro, Massachusetts, it was 6.7 per cent. The national unemployment rate in 1980 was 7.1 per cent. In 1982 it peaked at 9.7 per cent. In 1980, inflation peaked at about 14 per cent annually. The cost of fuel rose 60.4 per cent. In January 2008, the cost of fuel rose 34.4 per cent.<\/p>\n
During the Jimmy Carter administration, a term was invented to measure the economic situation–the misery index. It was derived from some calculation of unemployment, interest rates, and inflation–all of which were climbing. We are not there yet, in fact we are coming out of the recession. The stock market is a leading indicator, and it has remained above 8,000. Increased government spending is going to weigh the economy down and slow down the recovery. I hope there are some members of Congress that can stop the runaway train that government spending has now become.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barack Obama gave his ecomony speech today. He painted a picture that would make Shirley Temple give up her smile. I realize these are challenging times economically, but I think we need a little perspective. According to Department of Labor … Continue reading