I guess it’s a good thing that our politicians are immune, for the most part, from lawsuits. Some of the things they do (or say) can be proven to have resulted in some real damages.
One of the themes of this year’s presidential election is “The Economy”. The economy is sliding into recession here, the economy is tanking there. The problem is, Wall Street seeks positive outlooks. Any talk of negativity plays havoc with portfolios.
Many people have lost huge amounts of their retirement nest eggs over the last few months, primarily because of the prognostications of the Democrat presidential candidates. If you remember, as recently as last fall, our economy was rolling along like a freight train. But in order to be able to bribe the American people, the economy had to be targeted so the candidates could offer us their benevolent assistance.
Remember, you can’t offer relief to people who don’t need it.
Things do happen that create market uncertainty. The whole sub-prime mortgage fiasco has become a looming financial mushroom cloud that has claimed a few corporate victims. An oil refinery fire didn’t help either, but our economy has always been the envy of the world. We’ve managed to grow, despite natural and manmade calamities. We’ve also shown we can grow the economy no matter how much federal and state government forcibly extracts from the family and business bottom line.
But if someone running for president badmouths something (or someone) enough, it starts to stick.
To understand the sophistry of the Democrat presidential talk-down, if the economy was so bad, how could Obama and Clinton raise over $70 million combined in campaign monies (from “ordinary people”) this month alone? Disposable money seems to be coming from somewhere….
But here’s where the rubber meets the road.
Should Barack Obama and/or Hillary Clinton move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue next January, will they still be talking the economy down? For the first couple of months, they’ll surely blame the economic woes as a George W. Bush residual, but at some point the economy will belong to that next president.
It won’t take long for these same politicians to start talking up the economy, attempting to undo the damage their campaign words of pessimism have caused. Will it be that easy, and what will be their remedy?
Of course, when the economy slows, less revenue comes into the government, thus less of our money for politicians to spend. The knee-jerk Democrat solution would be to raise taxes to meet their “obligations”. However, that never works. Just ask Jimmy Carter and pre-Republican Revolution Bill Clinton.
So be ready for some post-election optimism from Democrats. They couldn’t talk down the war, despite the grand efforts of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. General Petraeus isn’t running the war on speculation. The Army produces results independent of the negativity of election year politics. Wall Street plays by different rules.
Obama and/or Clinton will be heralding the strength of America’s economy because it will be preceded by their last name. The Obama Economy or the Clinton Economy will depend on how well they can sell it. Their legacy will depend on how quickly they can undo the pessimism they created to get them elected.
We’ll soon see just how “great” these politicians really are.
