Obama's Rhetoric Is the Real 'Catastrophe'

"President Barack Obama has turned fearmongering into an art form...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." [link]

I might also like to point out that Obama loves to compare himself with FDR, as far as being able to handle the recession that we are end and bring it to a close. In fact Obama is following almost the exact "strategy" that FDR did, that is to say massive government spending, creating jobs via infrastructure projects (WPA), and provide welfare benefits to the poor.

More opinions on what this "stimulus" will do for welfare reform can be found here.

You may also read an interesting paper on whether the New Deal helped or not here. Interestingly enough this article cites and gives a link to a paper by Christina Romer (heard of her, she is Obama's chairperson on the Council of Economic Adviser's), who in this paper give empirical evidence that government spending did not in any way help end the depression. However now that she has a top spot in the administration she is all for government spending.

Just read all the information contained here and enjoy.