Washington Post: You Stupid Citizens Are Dragging Down Obama’s Awesome Economy By Not Spending

by William Teach | May 9, 2016 8:26 am

There’s nothing more amusing than seeing the Obama Media Lapdogs spin things to protect Dear Leader. Obama will be the first president to never see a year of 3% GDP growth[1]. And guess whose fault it is? The Washington Post’s Fred Hiatt tells blames us

The economy’s real drag: Us[2]

American consumers aren’t what they used to be — and that helps explain the plodding economic recovery. It gets no respect despite creating 14 million jobs and lasting almost seven years. The great gripe is that economic growth has been held to about 2 percent a year, well below historical standards. This sluggishness reflects a profound psychological transformation of American shoppers, who have dampened their consumption spending, affecting about two-thirds of the economy. To be blunt: We have sobered up.

Hiatt throws out lots of reasons, such as people saving more now than pre-recession, as well as people working to clear up old debt. Not mentioned is the reality of the jobs being created, which are low wage and often part time. These are the jobs that Democrats called “bad jobs” during the Bush presidency, and blamed him directly. People just don’t have the money to spend like they used to in the Obama economy.

The surge in saving is the real drag on the economy. It has many causes. “People got a cruel lesson about [the dangers] of debt,” says economist Matthew Shapiro of the University of Michigan. Households also save more to replace the losses suffered on homes and stocks. But much saving is precautionary: Having once assumed that a financial crisis of the 2008-2009 variety could never happen, people now save to protect themselves against the unknown. Research by economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics finds higher saving at all income levels.

In theory, it’s easy to replace lost consumer demand. In practice, it’s not so easy. Businesses could build more factories and shopping malls. But with weaker consumer spending, do we need them? More exports would help, but economies abroad are weak.

People also see the weakness in the Obama economy. They see the weak underpinnings. They know that record numbers of people have dropped out of the workforce in despair. They put money away because they know things could crash easily, since many of the same policies that helped cause the great recession have not been addressed, or are being re-implemented again. There’s unease in the jobs market by citizens.

But to blame the citizens avoids blaming the people who implement the policies that lead to the weak economy and jobs market. Can’t blame Obama though. That’s probably racist.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove[3]. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach[4].

Endnotes:
  1. never see a year of 3% GDP growth: http://www.glennbeck.com/2016/04/28/obama-first-president-ever-not-see-single-year-of-3-gdp-growth/
  2. The economy’s real drag: Us: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-economys-real-drag-us/2016/05/08/c3b6c936-13bc-11e6-93ae-50921721165d_story.html
  3. Pirate’s Cove: http://www.thepiratescove.us/
  4. @WilliamTeach: http://twitter.com/WilliamTeach

Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/economy/washington-post-stupid-citizens-dragging-obamas-awesome-economy-not-spending/