Main Street

Why So Glum? Well, for Starters…

The New York Times’ Floyd Norris spends more than 1,200 words wondering why on earth people aren’t more cheerful about the economy. Well, not people. Specifically, President Obama. Norris thinks that since economists say that the recession is over, Obama should take up that message and go forth with it, talking it up in his speeches. Since Obama is not doing that, Norris is looking for explanations. Or, as he puts it:

But there are, I think, a number of reasons for the glum outlook that are unrelated to the actual economic data.

So his explanations for this mysteriously “glum” decision to ignore “actual economic data”?

First, the experts didn’t see the recession coming, and

Having been embarrassed by missing impending disaster, there is an understandable hesitation to appear foolishly optimistic again.

Second,

Both Republicans and Democrats have good reasons to be negative. Republicans are loath to give President Obama credit for anything, and no doubt grate when he points to his administration’s stimulus program as a cause of the good economic news, as he did in North Carolina.

Democrats would love to give the president credit. But much of the Democratic Party wants another stimulus bill to be passed, notwithstanding worries about budget deficits. Chances for that are not enhanced by the perception the economy is getting better.

Dear Mr. Norris: Without getting into the partisan slant of those two paragraphs, I would propose a third reason people are not optimistic.

THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS 9.7% Fifteen million people are unemployed. More than 9 million people are working part-time when they want to be working full time. More than 6.5 million people have been jobless for six months or more.

Basically, the issue is that Floyd Norris doesn’t give a damn about working people, and he’s bewildered by the things President Obama is saying…because he doesn’t get that at least some of the time, that’s who Obama is talking to. And when people are barely keeping their heads above water, unemployed or without the full-time work they need in many cases for more than half a year, and the Treasury Secretary has said that unemployment is going to be “unacceptably high for a long period of time,” you don’t go to them and say “well, economists tell me that the recession is over! Problem solved!” The problem is not solved for tens of millions of people. So unless you just don’t think those people matter, the question “why so glum” is not one that really needs to be asked. The answer is obvious.

Tags: economy, recession, unemployment