Then:
The average American is not looking at the newspaper and saying: Gee, the economy is great. They are sitting down at the dinner table Friday night and tearing out their hair about how they are going to pay their bills.
-- Senator Chucky "Schmucky" Schumer (D-NY), May 5, 2004
For the Administration to be out there saying things are great shows just how out of touch they are with the average American.
-- Senator Chucky "Schmucky" Schumer (D-NY), January 23, 2006
No one needs to remind the Senator that at those times, the economy was excellent. In 2004 the unemployment rate was a respectable 5.5%. In January, 2006, unemployment rate was 4.9%, 400,000 new jobs created in the two months prior, the GDP increased 4% in 3Q 2005 (during which, for whatever it's worth, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita occurred), and there had been a 3.5% annual productivity growth since George W. Bush took office. In other words, the economy was by all standards fantastic.
Now:
After three years of Obama's America, the unemployment rate has been higher than 8% for over two years. The GDP increased 3% over all of 2010 and only 1.7% in 2011. But what does Schmucky say:
The Republican speaker last night, Mitch Daniels, talked about Americans must talk about the state of the union as grave. So, we think we are in great shape. We are in good shape.
Gee, what a difference a president makes.
I'm certainly not the only one to notice the ludicrousness of Schumer's statement. An editorial at the Arkansas Republican Assembly website sums up the response to Schumer pretty well:
Currently, over 13 million Americans are unemployed. There are fewer jobs in America than when President Obama took office in 2009, and the unemployment rate is still more than 8%. And Sen. Schumer thinks “we are in great shape”?
Yesterday, the AP reported, “Fewer people bought new homes in December. The decline made 2011 the worst year for new -homes sales on records dating back nearly half a century. The Commerce Department said Thursday new-home sales fell 2.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 307,000. The pace is less than half the 700,000 that economists say must be sold in a healthy economy. About 302,000 new homes were sold last year. That's less than the 323,000 sold in 2010, making last year's sales the worst on records dating back to 1963. And it coincides with a report last week that said 2011 was the weakest year for single-family home construction on record.” In December, Standard & Poor’s announced, “The Fourth Quarter Starts with Broad-based Declines in Home Prices”. And there have been 7.7 million foreclosure filings since President Obama took office. But Sen. Schumer thinks “we are in great shape”?
Today, National Journal writes, “Real Gross Domestic Product rose by just 1.7 percent in 2011, the Commerce Department reported on Friday. That's not great news for President Obama, who oversaw 3 percent GDP growth in 2010 and cannot use the latest GDP data to support a narrative of economic turnaround.” The AP notes, “The Commerce Department said Friday that the economy grew just 1.7 percent last year, roughly half of the growth in 2010 and the worst since the recession.” And University of Pennsylvania economist Justin Wolfers tells The New York Times, “At this rate, we’ll never reduce unemployment. . . . The recovery has been postponed, again.” But Sen. Schumer says “we are in great shape”?
But we know Schmucky really doesn't believe his own lie. But why does he lie to begin with? And why, when the Bush economy was excellent, did he lie then? Easy: Because Schumer is a bitter partisan hack, that's why.
Not too long ago President Hope&Change waxed eloquent for the umpteenth time about howRepublicans need to stop putting party and ideology over the welfare of the country. He ought to look in the mirror. And when he's done, he should give his own warning to Schumer.
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