Don't Go There

Republicans hit hard at two themes during last week's RNC convention: "We Built It" and "Are You Better Off Now Than 4 Years Ago?"   The "We Built It" signs may actually be more in synch with President Obama's points relating to the public sector and individual enterprise.   His opponents lie when they take that speech out of context.  

 

With a stubbornly high 8.2% U.S. unemployment rate, you may think the Democrats would want to avoid the question over how we're doing now versus four years ago.   That would be a mistake.   Let's meet the question head on and take a snapshot of September 2008.   According to the Center for American Progress, the United States lost a total of 605,000 jobs in the first eight months of 2008, including 84,000 in August 2008.    In August 2008, the unemployment rate was 6.1%—the highest level since September 2003. Factoring in inflation, hourly wages were only 0.2% higher, and weekly wages were actually 0.8% lower in July 2008 than in March 2001.    The share of people with employer-provided health insurance dropped from 64.2% in 2000 to 59.3% in 2007.    Household debt averaged 132.4% of disposable income in the first quarter of 2008.   New home sales in July 2008 were 35.3% lower than a year earlier.   All prices rose by 24.5% from March 2001 to July 2008.   One in 11 mortgages was delinquent or in foreclosure.  Since March 2001, foreigners had bought 82.6% of all new treasury debt.  In the first 11 months of the fiscal year 2008, which runs through September 30, the deficit amounted to $486 billion, up from $212 billion a year earlier.     

 

Keep in mind that this was just the beginning of a downward slide that culminated in the next six months with millions more job losses and massive bailouts aimed at staving off a replay of the Great Depression.   I remember some very good times leading up to September 2008, when MGM Grand at Foxwoods opened with great fanfare.   Only months later, my radio employer told us cutbacks could be coming and the revenue from my direct mail advertising sales plunged 50%.   That radio company is thriving today and I've recouped much of the advertising losses since then.   There's plenty of room for improvement as public sector jobs targeted by the Tea Party have inflated today's unemployment numbers, but the GOP really doesn't want to paint 2008 as the good old days.   That would NOT make Clint Eastwood's or Mitt Romney's day!