Poor Democrats: Responsibility

As we are beginning quarter 4, 2009, it is becoming clear that what we already knew was going to happen is, ahem, going to happen. That is, we are most certainly going to see the end of the recession between April and September of this year. Further, the unemployment rate is going to continue to rise and rise for quite some time.

As I mentioned, this is not surprising or new information.  What IS surprising, however, is that there is a group of people who find themselves in an uncomfortable position; the Democrats.

Job losses are expected to continue at least into the middle of next year, likely driving the unemployment rate above 10 percent from 9.8 percent last month. It could take three or four more years for it to fall to normal levels.

The longest and deepest downturn since the Great Depression has claimed 7.2 million jobs since it began in December 2007. Analysts figure 750,000 more jobs could disappear over the next six months.

And why is this?  It’s a perfect storm of sorts for the Democrats.  They are dealing with both long term and short term trends.  On the one hand, we are now paying the piper for the incentives given to banks, lenders and individuals to buy/sell houses to people who couldn’t afford them.  That’s the long term.  The short term?  The whole stimulus package including, to be fair, the Republican led TARP disaster.  And the medium term?  The rise of the minimum wage, which, by the way, is coinciding with a very bad labor market.  Right when we should be trying to incent people to hire other people, we instead are raising the cost of labor; even beyond what that labor is worth.

And what are the Democrats going to do to try to help us through this period of adjustment?  Why, a second stimulus perhaps?  Some are even considering raising that minimum wage even higher.  And the doubly whammy?  Cap and Trade along with Universal Health Care.

If you wanna implement policies that promise to rise the people up but in reality strip those same people of economic health and vibrancy?  Hire a Democrat; just remember that when their policies fail, it’ll get harder and harder to hire them in the next election.

8 responses to “Poor Democrats: Responsibility

  1. So now the recession is the fault of the Democrats? Okay…

  2. So now the recession is the fault of the Democrats?

    The fault of the recession is the bubble caused by the housing crisis.

    It depends on who you feel created the housing crisis. If it was the fault of liberal economic policies or of something else. Either way, members of both parties had their hand in the mix. But said policies are the darling children of the Democrats.

    • Deregulation caused the housing crisis — deregulation authored by Republicans. Low interest rates were also a factor in creating the housing bubble.

      We had record high gas prices as a result of commodities speculators running up the price of oil. Before deregulation, commodities weren’t traded by speculators. The high price of fuel caused inflation, since trucking costs went way up. And then you had Bush promoting an “ownership society,” encouraging reckless loans. We also had lack of oversight by the SEC, allowing ponzi schemes to go on unabated.

      This is a Republican recession.

      • Deregulation caused the housing crisis

        Actually, I feel it’s the increase in regulation that caused the mess. The regulation that forced banks and lenders to give money to people that had no ability to repay it.

        Yes, Bush was guilty of the ownership society as well as other people in power; that doesn’t change the fact that it was government, government and the incentives created by them that contributed to this.

      • [The regulation that forced banks and lenders to give money to people that had no ability to repay it.]

        What regulation was that? One that you made up?

      • What regulation was that? One that you made up?

        Good interview. Get’s really interesting at 6:20 through 10:00. Take some time and llisten.

      • Actually, just listen to the whole thing….

      • I don’t have time to watch the video. I just asked you a simple question, to which you obviously don’t have an answer.

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