It was nice to see Senators Smoot and Hawley Collins and Nelson on my tee-vee this morning, and then later that 14 kids octuplet lady who is on NBC every day.
Each one of them seems to have the same basic grasp of basic economics, although having 14 kids in the hopes that someone will pay for them is probably going to actually work in the end.
Meanwhile, in the real world, check out the truly frightening chart Barry Ritholtz has showing job losses for all postwar recessions.
Obama has so punked the Republicans:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/114.....Fight.aspx
He tried to reach out to them and they thought he’d cave to the same old bullshit they’ve peddled for years. What fools.
Now he’s gone over their heads. With speeches, an editorial in the WAPO and now a trip to where people are really truly hurting, deep into the heart of red-state Indiana.
He may even take the edge off a future rival in 2012: Gov Mitch Daniels.
This guy is a sharp player.
In a post yesterday, John was complaining about people talking about the woman with 14 kids. Now here he is, the very next day, talking about her again.
Bad comparison, comparing Smoot-Hawley to Collins and Nelson. One had to do with increasing tariffs, the other cutting education.
Keep in mind, when comparing numbers from one era to those in another era, that population sizes have changed radically. Charting absolute numbers like this can then lead to misinterpretation.
This is still a scary-bad global crash and depression, but a better comparison with other downturns compares with unemployment rates and not jobs lost, shown here.
Note to folks: Given that the Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight is no longer running the country, I do not expect the eventual economic recovery to be as weak and drawn-out as the SUPER-sluggish 2001-2005 recovery.
3 Either plotting of the data clearly shows one thing: The tailspin ain’t over yet. Not by a long shot, and regardless of how much money Barack manages to funnel into fixing antiquated bridges, or how many more hundreds of billions the Republicans hand to the crooked bankers.
@2 So which is worse, increasing tariffs or cutting education?
As @3 points out, that data is misleading. Here’s yet another chart showing “cumulative net job losses during all post-war recessions as a percentage of peak employment near the start of the recession”:
http://www.williampolley.com/b.....-loss.html
There were much steeper and greater declines, though troop de-enlistment was certainly a big factor in the Sept 48 and Aug 57 data. It would be interesting to see comparisons where so-called U6 data is factored in (those who are under-employed, or not looking, but want jobs). Also not factored in: the growing number of furloughed employees who are still counted as being fully employed (many King County employees are losing 10 days – one paycheck – for 2009).
Dave @ 6: Well, if the current rescession tracks the 1981 rescession (as the link claims), then it may take eight years for the local housing market to really recover. I remember condos in my neighborhood going up for auction as late as 1986 and selling for as little as $15,000. It wasn’t until 1989 that the housing market really took off, doubling in value in a few months as California transplants cashed in their equity to buy “cheap” housing here, “free and clear”. Of course, the 1991-93 rescession set things back a bit again.
Tiny detail — Smoot was a Utah Senator, Hawley was an Oregon Representative.