Feeling Better?

Ted McLaughlin, at his Jobsanger blog, has a post today about how “Most People See The Economy As Improving,” in which he refers to a Pew Research poll. I’m sure Ted is reading the poll correctly, but all it does for me is point out the idiocy of the media’s fantasy of having “man on the street” interviews on matters of importance.

The stock market is up, corporate profits are up and interest rates are still near zero. That is pretty much the extent of good news, none of which in any way benefits the middle class or the poor in our society.

During this year, including during the last two months in which time the “man on the street” is becoming more optimistic, the middle class has shrunk, the average income of the middle class has dropped, the number of people living in poverty has increased, the percentage of the population in the labor force has declined dramatically, the number of new jobs being created has declined, the number of people being laid off has increased, the number of people unemployed with no unemployment benefits has skyrocketed, inflation in food and energy has increased, the nation’s trade deficit has increased, exports have fallen, consumer debt has begun to rise again, and severe drought across the nation has taken a deeper and deeper toll with no end in sight.

None of these things are generalities or demagoguery, they are all facts reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economics Administration, and the Energy Department. These are not about how people feel, they are accumulations of fact.

“Most people,” in itself a vague and meaningless term, don’t “feel better” about the economy because they know a damned thing about it. The “man on the street” is typically a complete idiot. They feel better because they are listening to politicians in campaign mode who are telling them what they want to hear. Obama is painting a rosy picture about a “slow path the recovery,” and both candidates are making promises which they cannot keep, and which they would not keep after elected even if they could.

The chart which Ted presents shows 60% of Republicans hearing bad news and only 15% of Democrats doing likewise, which is proof that "feelings" about the economy are not based on facts but are the result of listening to the prating of politicians. Republicans are listening to Romney trying to gain the presidency while Democrats are listening to Obama defending his past performance and trying to retain the presidency. It never occurs to “the man on the street” that both candidates are lying their asses off, which is why we have the disastrous government that we do.