The Chicago Tribune’s Steve Chapman returns us to one of the oddest facts about America in 2007--we falsely believe the economy isn’t working. Chapman quotes “a recent Gallup poll” that found 66 percent of Americans think national economic conditions are "only fair" or "poor,” and that “fully 70 percent think the economy is getting worse.”Chapman’s facts:
• Unemployment stands at 4.5 percent, down from the peak rate of 6.3 percent four years ago.
• The stock market is near record levels.
• Economic growth, which slowed in the first quarter, has since rebounded.
• Inflation is running below 3 percent.
Chapman’s inference:
A major cause of the misperception. . . is President Bush's sagging popularity. It's clear that many people let their discontent with the president color their view of everything. . . some people won't acknowledge anything good here lest it suggest competence on the part of a president they can't stand. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, . . .79 percent of Democrats take that view. "People are giving partisan responses," says public opinion expert Karlyn Bowman of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
Chapman ends by writing, "When things eventually change, trust me: We may not miss Bush, but we will really miss the good times.”
1 comment:
If I am an ordinary middle class American (no investments outside my 401k), how does a rising stock market increase my economic security? And what do I care about low inflation, if my wages are also experiencing slow growth?
There is no need to invoke our President's dismal performance in office to explain the poll results. When people are asked about "the national economy", they think about their own personal situation. And for the most part, they are pessimistic.
The reason for their pessimism is their lack of dependable, affordable health care. Lack of insurance, or lack of coverage under the insurance they have, is bankrupting - not to mention sickening and killing - ordinary middle-class American families every day. And it will continue to do so, until health care is finally made a universal right in this country.
Aloha,
Derek
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