This page was last updated on May 27, 2010.
Sobering up; Editorial; Beaver County Times; May 25, 2010.
In case you missed it, the purpose of the editorial was to adjust expectations downward regarding the economy so we won’t take out our frustration on President Obama and Democrats in Congress. If the Times really believes in the programs it supported, why the expectation adjustment? Perhaps the editorial board knows the real story of the Great Depression, not just the leftist myth. Testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee in May 1939, FDR’s Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau said, “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong … somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises … I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started … And an enormous debt to boot.” Unemployment never got below 9.9% before the U.S. entered World War II.
You may recall the Obama administration predicted unemployment would peak at 8% during 2009 if we passed the $787 billion so-called “stimulus” bill a year ago. In fact, unemployment hit 10.1% in October 2009 and has not been below 9.7% since July. As of April 2010 unemployment is 9.9%. Remember, these figures exclude the unemployed who gave up looking for a job. Add these people back in and real unemployment is about 17%.
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