I was originally attracted to the Republican Party because they were the party of rational thought, the party of logic. Back in the late 1970's the Democrats were the party of ill-logic. Union work rule restrictions that made no sense, crazy environmental laws (snail darter), harmful social policies (welfare as a way of life), high tax rates that took away all incentive and a defeatist national defense policy. It was a bubble in Democrat power that caused these excesses.
Today the worm has turned. It is the Republicans who are in a power bubble. They are the ones who have become illogical and irrational. Other ill-logical by-products of this Republican power bubble include: the encouragement of illegal immigration. I have never heard as many illogical arguments on why our immigration laws should be broken and the selfish justifications for undermining the poorest citizens of our country. Another illogical argument is for unfettered free trade. With new technology, most jobs can now be outsourced: accounting, medical research, editing etc. How can workers compete if their cost of living is 5 times higher than someone in Asia? It is not that they are overpaid; it is that their basic living costs are way higher. Originally under Reagan free trade was promoted as a way to move Americans into higher skilled, higher paying jobs. At the time that made sense, but now these higher skilled jobs can be outsourced, driving down wages and opportunity. This does not make sense.
There are many other areas were Republican policies have become ill-logical. I suspect most Republicans will not get it, as it is difficult to understand when you are inside the bubble. Power corrupts absolutely. Once again it is time for a change. Obama will become the new Reagan for the Democrats. Logic wins out in the end. Too bad parties cannot learn to moderate their actions. But, I guess it is human nature that leads to excess and bubbles and that cannot be changed.
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The employment numbers were worse than the already weak 5.8% jobless rate and the loss of 75,000 jobs economists were expecting.
Friday's report comes in the wake of a brutal trading day Thursday, fueled by the ADP jobs report that employers pulled the plug on 33,000 jobs in August, which was 3,000 more than the expected figure and much worse than July's revised figure of a 1,000 job increase.
The numbers reinforce the widespread notion that the economy is weakening, with the now debate turning to "how much" it will slow before seeing a turnaround.
Riccadonna described the outlook as "bleak" for growth, particularly with consumer spending unlikely to recover in the second half of the year. "The pullback in consumer spending is due to a whole host of factors such as income growth not keeping pace with inflation, [the] rising cost of household goods, tight credit and falling household and stock equity," said Riccodonna. "It's basically a perfect storm, and add on top of that a labor market falling apart faster than most economists and even the Fed were expecting."
Since it constitutes about two-thirds of economic activity in the United States, consumer spending ultimately defines the country's economic health. "Exports are helping, to be sure," Riccadonna noted, "but as go consumers, so goes the broader economy."
© 2008
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