More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
Americans are turning deeply pessimistic about the economy, and by extension about the future of the country. From CNBC:
Americans are growing increasingly doubtful about direction of the US economy, according to the latest survey from business-advisory firm AlixPartners.
In fact, an increasing number, some 61 percent, say they don't expect to return to their respective pre-recession lifestyles until the spring of 2014, if ever.
What's worse, a full 10 percent said they expect they will never return to pre-recession spending.
That's a more pessimistic view than last year, when those surveyed expected that they could be back to pre-recession spending levels by the middle of 2013.
Does this ring true for you? I think it does for me.
But my worry is a political one. The Republicans, especially with the leadership of Paul Ryan, have truly cornered the market on delivering bad news. That's not necessarily a bad thing, of course -- Paul Ryan is telling the truth, which just happens to be grim.
I wonder, though, if the Republicans aren't getting off-brand, as the marketers say. They're the party of optimism and growth. Conservatives -- even jaundice-eyed, flinty ones -- are deep down pretty optimistic characters. They tend to believe things will get better -- massively so -- if only the people's energy and entrepreneurial creativity is unshackled by government and economic oppression.
And the story of the past four hundred years has proved them right. Command economies are in the ash heap of history -- exactly where Ronald Reagan said they'd be -- and free market economies (even nascent ones) are growing. People are getting richer and healthier and happier. All thanks to free-market economics.
I guess what I'd like to hear from the Republicans is a little optimism about the future, a Reagan-esque sense that we're up to the task, that the future is limitless.
One of the things I find so off-putting about the Obama crowd is their parsimonious and grasping view of the future. It's all about managing decline -- both economic and medical. It's all about parceling out meager resources. It's all about -- to use Sarah Palin's great phrase -- "Death Panels" for the car industry, the oil industry, and grandma.
Pessimistic or not, how would you phrase the promise of America's future? And isn't that what's going to win the day in 2012? People don't vote for bad news, do they?
- Comment (27)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (3)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments :
Jun '10
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
I wish to God we had someone with Ronald Reagan's optimistic personality on the slate for 2012--to do for Obama what Reagan did for Carter.
But--as much as one would want to be optimistic, the realities of everyday life can't help but intrude. ( I was, of course, a lot younger in 1980, and it was easier to be optimistic then--with no children, no house payment, no cancer treatment, etc.)
Even the sunniest personality will have trouble piercing the gloomy clouds that surround many of us.
May '10
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
Hey, y'know Gingrich's book was titled Winning the Future! Yeah, OK, maybe we need a back-up plan. My two picks for the final battle, Pawlenty and Cain, seem to have that potential in them. Both have struck the theme it won't be easy, but we can do this, by jingo! As long as neither uses the phrase "long hard slog" we should be in the clear.
Feb '11
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
“People don't vote for bad news, do they?”
For me, it isn’t that I don’t want to vote for candidates because I’m pessimistic; it’s that I’m pessimistic because I don’t trust the politicians. I know that the economy could recover with sound governance. Of course it could. I’m pessimistic because I don’t see any on the horizon.
Jan '11
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
What we need is for someone to effectively and consistently label the Democrat party, or at least its leadership, as a death panel for America.
Oct '10
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
Remember those Army commercials, "An Army of One", showing how powerful a lone American soldier was? New Republican ad: "An Economy of One", showing an individual getting educated, getting training, starting a business, inventing something, investing in other companies, giving to charity, paying taxes, etc.
AKA Capitalism 101.
May '10
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
Watch Ryan "Path to Prosperity" videos. yea, he tells it as it is, but he's pretty good at laying out the route we need to take. I think, properly explained, the majority of Americans are willing to do the right things. One reason we are so cynical is because we expect them to pander to us some more...and look where that has gotten us.
ENOUGH ALREADY. Leadership WILL move the polls.
May '10
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
My big concern is that the big problems are structural, and are deeply intertwined with government. As far as I can tell, the biggest economic problems are:
Fixing any of these will require courage from our ruling class, and that phrase is almost a complete contradiction in terms.
May '10
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
tomjedrz: As far as I can tell, the biggest economic problems are:
I'd add cultural decay to that list. I might even put it at the top.
We urgently need what Wilberforce called "a reform of manners", which is really all about a national re-version to the faith of our fathers.
You can't have limited government if you have rampant personal irresponsibility.
May '11
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
Unfortunately, I think you're right on two things: (1) people don't vote for bad news; (2) the truth currently consists of bad news. But (again unfortunately) I think you're wrong to say that the future is "limitless." I'd like to say that it will get better, but we have no real evidence of that and a lot of evidence that we are on a crash course. We can be "up to the task" but probably not very optimistic about the results of our efforts.
I think we can say that one way to win elections right now is to lie profusely about the future. Another way is to make the present appear bleak and the way forward appear to be better, though not great. But the only truthful option here is the one that requires immediate results, something we can't and shouldn't offer.
"Up to the task" is the best message we have. Expertise. Loyalty. That sort of thing. Let's dispense with the optimism.
Edited on Jun 7, 2011 at 8:13amJun '10
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
Forget all the analysis. People vote for a vision. If the news is bad, sell the way to a bright future. In other words sell the plan!
Jan '11
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
The optimistic message comes down to something simple: the key to the future, as always, is in growth. And lucky for us, growth happens all by itself. The American economy is an engine that runs by itself, and all it needs is regular maintenance and minimal adjustments. In fact, it's so powerful that you have to go out of your way to stop growth.
Unfortunately, our Democratic friends can't help themselves. They keep going out of their way to stop growth.
Growth starts in investment, but two things kill investment.
Right now, our Democrat friends accelerate every vicious circle, with economic theories that have been proven wrong, and are being disproved yet again.
That's about to change. We started that change in 2010, and we'll move it forward in 2012.
May '10
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
I think Thaddeus McCotter has a good outline of how to reverse our current decline in his book Seize Freedom. He identifies four current challenges: globalization with all that entails, war with others that mean us real harm, the Chinese threat, and the problem of moral relativism to our national character.
His solution? Expand liberty and self-government, honor our legacy of faith, family and community, encourage economic freedom, and peace through strength.
I think an outline like this could be very appealing, if presented properly - soberly but optimistically. Of course such a message would be mercilessly picked apart in our cynical media age but, I imagine such attacks can be countered if presented as a choice between free people governing themselves or being ruled by say, the likes of Anthony Weiner, forever.
Mar '11
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
I’d like to see more optimism too, but it’s not clear how that message would be received. Two and a half years of the hope and change presidency has soured many voters on optimistic pronouncements. Given how bad things have gotten, the simple message that it doesn’t have to be this way should be enough to put Republicans over the top, if we find a credible messenger.
Few places are such bastions of calcified liberal opinion as NYC. Yet when crime and runaway spending got bad enough, the Democratic Party faithful turned to Republican Rudy Giuliani to fix the mess. Even for lefties, reality sometimes becomes too much to ignore. If you or yours have been out of work for a year with no prospects in sight, you know your best hope is change.
Edited on Jun 7, 2011 at 3:39pmNov '10
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
You are exactly right. Especially after all the fakery of “hope and change” that turned out to be more like “Hype and Chains."
There is a 2-minute video by the Heritage Foundation to commemorate Renauldus Magnus’s 100th birthday that shows the way for any Republican candidate to deliver a message of optimism. If you have seen it you know how good it is. If you haven’t seen it, do treat yourself by watching it. It’s available many places on the internet, such as here.
Jun '10
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
Corrupt politicians reward corrupt teachers unions and their members for creating the ignorant anti-capitalist voters that will elect the next generation of corrupt politicians who'll get campaign money from the corrupt teachers unions who'll continue to create ignorant anti-capitalist voters. The money just goes around in a big circle, skimmed off at every step, until there's nothing left. And meanwhile, the only thing growing is the size of government. Is that too cynical? It's pretty much true.
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
But surely, Lindsavid, we're not in worse shape than we were during the Civil War, or the Depression, right? I mean, we conservatives aren't saying we have to do something entirely new, or be people entirely different. We just have to do what katievs says above -- remember who we are and what this country was founded on. Why can't that be part of our message to the 12% of voters who decide elections?
Oct '10
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
Righteousness is not a political message. It is an act of the will, based on a heart longing after godliness. In our earlier days, even during the civil war and the depression, we were still, as a people, publicly pledged to God our Savior. Our hypocrisy paid tribute to righteousness by pretending publicly that we believed.
We have proudly dispensed with the public pretense of belief to the point that our lack of it is now a badge to be publicly paraded around.
And for this, God will continue to pour out His blessings on America? Katievs cited William Wilberforce above. The man who, through a demonstration of godly righteousness overcame slavery in England, as a precursor to the later success of abolitionists in America, bringing that same righteous living to the cause here.
Want to reform America? Then RE-FORM America as when she was originally founded. How? Only if the American people commit themselves to that same righteous cause.
For political messaging, commit yourself to prayerful righteousness and we will once again have America back.
Or, let's see how successful the Chinese are at their form of un-free capitalism. Maybe God really is irrelevant.
Aug '10
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
Dennis Miller has lately been speaking of the American economy as "driving with the emergency brake on." Part of me thinks that's right. (The other part is rather apocalyptic.) I'd like to see our candidates pick up on that image. All we have to do is take the brake off and our economy will speed off, as it should.
May '11
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
This is the right message. But the conservative message, even when surrounded by hope-y language, is a message that people will lose entitlements and can expect less from their government. Its also an acknowledgement that "who we are and what this country was founded on" is the best we can do, meaning that our fallen world is a permanent fixture. This is not the sort of good news that wins elections because it is not a promise of immediate results (though we certainly believe it produces better long-term results than liberalism) or a limitless future.
May '11
Re: More and More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
I'll quote one of your recent postings in which you provided a litmus test of the true conservative. It sounds like a litmus test for a pessimist: "Liberals think that if they spend enough money, or fine tune the right social program, they can teach five year-olds how to sit still. And conservatives know that no amount of money or social engineering or child counseling will ever be able to make a five year-old sit still."