Finally, I find someone who agrees with me... our elected saviour needs to be in a 'timeout'!

Obama's Rhetoric Is the Real 'Catastrophe'

In 1932, automobile production shriveled by 90%.

By BRADLEY R. SCHILLER

President Barack Obama has turned fearmongering into an art form. He has repeatedly raised the specter of another Great Depression. First, he did so to win votes in the November election. He has done so again recently to sway congressional votes for his stimulus package.

In his remarks, every gloomy statistic on the economy becomes a harbinger of doom. As he tells it, today's economy is the worst since the Great Depression. Without his Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he says, the economy will fall back into that abyss and may never recover.

This fearmongering may be good politics, but it is bad history and bad economics. It is bad history because our current economic woes don't come close to those of the 1930s. At worst, a comparison to the 1981-82 recession might be appropriate. Consider the job losses that Mr. Obama always cites. In the last year, the U.S. economy shed 3.4 million jobs. That's a grim statistic for sure, but represents just 2.2% of the labor force. From November 1981 to October 1982, 2.4 million jobs were lost -- fewer in number than today, but the labor force was smaller. So 1981-82 job losses totaled 2.2% of the labor force, the same as now.

Job losses in the Great Depression were of an entirely different magnitude. In 1930, the economy shed 4.8% of the labor force. In 1931, 6.5%. And then in 1932, another 7.1%. Jobs were being lost at double or triple the rate of 2008-09 or 1981-82.

This was reflected in unemployment rates. The latest survey pegs U.S. unemployment at 7.6%. That's more than three percentage points below the 1982 peak (10.8%) and not even a third of the peak in 1932 (25.2%). You simply can't equate 7.6% unemployment with the Great Depression.

Other economic statistics also dispel any analogy between today's economic woes and the Great Depression. Real gross domestic product (GDP) rose in 2008, despite a bad fourth quarter. The Congressional Budget Office projects a GDP decline of 2% in 2009. That's comparable to 1982, when GDP contracted by 1.9%. It is nothing like 1930, when GDP fell by 9%, or 1931, when GDP contracted by another 8%, or 1932, when it fell yet another 13%.

Auto production last year declined by roughly 25%. That looks good compared to 1932, when production shriveled by 90%. The failure of a couple of dozen banks in 2008 just doesn't compare to over 10,000 bank failures in 1933, or even the 3,000-plus bank (Savings & Loan) failures in 1987-88. Stockholders can take some solace from the fact that the recent stock market debacle doesn't come close to the 90% devaluation of the early 1930s.

Mr. Obama's analogies to the Great Depression are not only historically inaccurate, they're also dangerous. Repeated warnings from the White House about a coming economic apocalypse aren't likely to raise consumer and investor expectations for the future. In fact, they have contributed to the continuing decline in consumer confidence that is restraining a spending pickup. Beyond that, fearmongering can trigger a political stampede to embrace a "recovery" package that delivers a lot less than it promises. A more cool-headed assessment of the economy's woes might produce better policies.

Mr. Schiller, an economics professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, is the author of "The Economy Today" (McGraw-Hill, 2007).

Ed's Note: Have you ever seen such a poor start for an elected official and his administration? I can report honestly I have not in 62 years! Man, the mistakes this newly elected administration are making are so elementary, it is unbelievable...  my favorite now .. well there are really two out of the many... We now have a bonifided tax cheat as head of our treasury and IRS (so if you don't want to pay your taxes you don't have to, unless you are being picked to be a public official, or so his appointment teaches us)... (talk about having the fox guard the hen house!) and the President who will not quit campaigning and tend to business. wow... and I swear, I hear many times during the campaign how he may not have wisdom from experience, but was the greatest person ever to make a decision.. his were the best and most sound... and yet I have not seen one, yet, that was sound, let alone the best ever! Why on earth would one fill all the chairs at the table with folks who are inept or tax cheats, or have a history of running off at the mouth, or those who worked against you for years (now expecting them to embrace your platform, sigh) or have proven to their own party, let alone the American people, how unelectable they are (since no one wanted them when they ran for President, this Biden VP choice should have been our first indication of how poor this man was at making decisions... wow.. talk about .......)...  I can remember thinking how embarrased I was regarding the Presidency of Carter, Nixon, Johnson, and Clinton... wow, this might end up being the worst yet.  sorry... off my soapbox again... but it might not be my last time, either.. haha...  and the President this country could not get rid of fast enough, just might end up in the years that come, as history looks back, as one of the best leaders for his honesty, his intergrity, his decision making, his ability to surround himself with good men with sound advice, and his tanacity. 

I think term limits are AWESOME! 

(Oklahoma can be proud of one thing however. We have all our elected officials reflecting our core values except one, and he is there due to his name only, not his work, nor ability!)

I must stop this ranting, right Ann?

smiling, ............  have a great day!