George W. Bush in Wonderland

[MSgt213]

If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?

– Alice, "Alice in Wonderland"

Listening to recent conservative interpretations of economic reports probably makes you think we are living in Alice's world. In this alternate universe, black is white, up is down and bad economic news is good economic news. Millions of people are still waiting for the jobs they were promised when President Bush pushed through massive tax cuts. Despite a surge in economic growth and profits, those who have jobs have seen minimal increases in their wages, while costs – especially for education, housing, and health care – have gone up. Yet the president and his conservative allies, by consistently lowering the bar on what constitutes economic progress, keep trying to convince the public that everything is hunky-dory in the U.S. economy.

For example, the Heritage Foundation claims that "there are more Americans working today than ever before." This specious argument is based on a survey of households, a much less reliable indicator than the more commonly used survey of firms (which shows that the economy had 1.9 million fewer jobs than when the recession started). Aside from this factual inconsistency, the claim in itself is largely irrelevant. Obviously, an economy with an expanding population (like the United States') should have more jobs. Saying that this is good is like arguing that the past year has been extremely successful for our personal maturity because we grew a year older. The real labor market issue is whether new entrants can find a job. Undoubtedly this is more difficult, as the share of the employed population is lower and the unemployment rate is higher than when the recession began.

Another recent example of turning bad economic news into good occurred this February when the president said things were looking better because, among other things, the inflation rate is low. Bush seemed to be saying it is too bad that people have lost their jobs, but at least the goods they cannot afford are not getting more expensive. The two issues are not unrelated. Inflation is low because increases in demand for goods and services have been slow. And because demand is not growing as fast as it typically does in a recovery, fewer people can find jobs, which keeps demand growth low. Car prices, for instance, are low because fewer people can afford to buy cars. How is this good news? In 2003, the inflation rate was actually slowing enough for the Federal Reserve to warn about the threats of disinflation as a precursor to deflation, something that would have a devastating effect on growth and employment.

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=49986

[The empressof all]

1. Yes

The trick is to just repeat the same old lie over and over and over again. If you say it enough it must be true.

I should know because I'm a little tea pot! Maybe we can get Babs to teach him that song and dance. If someone has the time that's a flash I'd like to see.