Yawn. More Republican disinformation. I might as well be watching Fox News — but I have to thank Mr. Hirsch since I don’t have a television and don’t know from day to day the current Republican talking points.
Actually, the recession ended in June 2009, helped in part by Obama’s policies. The economy had shrunk by an incredible 16% in real terms over the preceding year and a half. (So much for the effectiveness of the Bush tax cuts.) Private sector employment increased last month for the tenth month in a row.
But conservatives have made it impossible for the President to continue his polices. Just this week, they cut millions off of unemployment insurance. And state and local governments are laying off police officers, firefighters, teachers, and social workers even though they had nothing to do with the economic troubles. One of the most important parts of the 2009 stimulus package was that it helped cash-strapped state and local governments to avoid this.
A major problem is that in much of the country, asset values (such as housing prices) have plummeted back to sane levels. But that means that many people owe far more on their homes than the homes are worth. Again, conservatives have refused to allow the continuation of Obama’s policies to stimulate the real estate market or of Democratic proposals to allow restructuring of home mortgages. Some even have suggested that we should allow foreclosures without proper documentation — when it was partly loans without proper documentation that got us into this mess in the first place!
Conservatives think that if they can continue to keep the economy down, it will help defeat President Obama in 2012. And they value tax cuts to millionaires more than relief to those who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. They are totaly hypocrites when they call for extensions of unemployment to be paid for when they are willing to spend far more on tax cuts without paying for them! And they want to obstruct all other government business in order to get their way.
Unfortunately, they might succeed.