The Economy Isn't Recovering, And There's A Reason For That

Yep, it's time for more economic analysis.

Look, we all know that we're living in some really tough economic times.  Things haven't really gotten better for most people, and for many they keep getting worse.  There are no real signs of any recovery (other than in government and government-backed unions), and no real reason for optimism until the current policies are killed and rolled back.  Despite all this, Obama and the Democrats continue to claim to be leading while simultaneously not even bothering to pass a budget of their own.  Even Senate Democrats are unhappy about that.  I can understand that - it's gotta be tough to face your constituents when you haven't even done the most basic function you've been hired to do, especially when you've tanked the wealthiest nation in the history of the world while failing to do that basic function.

But the Obama administration is continuing to pursue its radical Leftist liberal agenda on all fronts. For example, they're pushing hard to pass even tough regulations that will have a direct impact on the prices:

The Obama administration wants cars and light trucks in the United States to average 56.2 miles per gallon of gasoline by 2025, a standard that will cut the nation's oil consumption and carbon output significantly while also raising each vehicle's cost by about $2,375.

And, every time we turn around, we hear of yet another Obama program that has far exceeded their estimated costs in return for little or no gain.

Our Founders were geniuses. They set up state governments to have the freedom to experiment with particular policies; the ones that worked could be adopted by other states, and the ones that didn't work could be dropped. The key point is that these policy experiments should be conducted on a state level so that the entire nation doesn't get affected in an adverse or hasty way. The federal government should be the last place where major sweeping changes take effect.  However, the last few years have seen more and more policy experiments taking place at the federal level, and that's hurting everyone across the board.  Looking at states where the most Leftist liberal policies have been in operation for the longest periods of time shows that they're the ones that are currently in the most dire financial straits.  In fact, the only places that are experiencing anything resembling a healthy economic picture are places like Texas, which has chosen to do essentially the opposite of Obama's policies.  Now, according to the Founders' design, other states should be looking at Texas and understanding why their policies are working and adopt them, thus improving their own health and that of the nation overall.  But liberals simply won't do that.

So Wall Street braces for more layoffs, the misery index is at its highest point since the Carter years, the fiscal crisis is looming closer and closer with U.S. financial ratings being threatened, the administration admits it's clueless and continues offering mixed messages and provoking class warfare, and the situation is little changed from a year ago when Obama declared the 'summer of recovery'.  Except that more people are out of work and life in America has become more expensive.  Most of the meager improvement in job numbers comes from people completely giving up even looking for work and thus not being counted as 'jobless', but that's hardly a feather in the cap.  The administration is so desperate that they're even considering raiding federal pension funds to pay for their reckless spending habits.  Obama's economic stimulus is a demonstrable failure for everything except tripling the deficit.  Is it any wonder Americans fear that government is choking the American economy to death?

But oh, don't trouble the President with such trivial matters.  No, when it comes to the serious discussions on the national debt and how to unbury the American economy, Obama is more than up to the task of scolding Congress for being undisciplined about getting things done.  Of course, when someone had the temerity to ask whether or not he should be more involved in those discussions, he dismissed that question as...amusing.  That's leadership??  I guess he can't be bothered take time out from his next vacation to deal with the economic future of this nation.

It's no coincidence that only 24% of the nation shares Obama's political views, and only 30% are committed to voting for him in 2012.  This could explain why Obama's team is showing distinct signs of nervousness and is having to work exceedingly hard to raise money for his increasingly difficult re-election bid.  In fact, his last fundraising e-mail pretty much lays out just how badly they're doing:

We're closing the books on the first fundraising quarter of the 2012 race at midnight tomorrow.

A lot of folks will be interpreting our numbers as a measure of this campaign's support.

They're not wrong, but they are wrong about why.

We measure our success not in dollars but in people ...

Right.  I'm sure you do.  Never fear, though.  I'm sure that George Soros and the hidden millions of dollars that he dumped into the 2008 campaign will be back in the form of thousands of undocumented, untraceable, and unreported credit card 'donations' when the election draws nearer.  Still, it's good to see them already struggling so mightily, and should give hope to those who desire change.

But here's the truly insane part.  In the midst of the mounting economic pressure, the continued failure of their own economic policies, and the obvious political headwind they've created for themselves...they keep pushing for more spending.  In a recent meeting, Obama claimed to have created over 2 million jobs and received hearty laughter.  This meeting wasn't stocked with conservatives or Republicans.  No, these people who so clearly understood the falsehood of the claim and found it funny were Democrat donors.

Barack Obama -- and liberals in general -- are disastrous for genuine economic leadership.  The longer their policies remain in effect, the worse off America will be.  It's a two-step process to achieve a real recovery and real economic growth.  First, liberals need to be thrown out of office at every possible opportunity.  Second, their policies need to be thrown out, as well.

Then there's hope for a real change.