Sunday, November 29, 2009

The Big Issues: Unemployment and the National Debt

While President Obama fritters away his time entertaining Hollywood celebrities, the real problems of the American economy get worse and worse.

Unemployment is a severe as any time in US history except for the decade of the 1930s. There are no guarantees that we won't reach the levels reached in the 1930s. Certainly, if Obama continues his war on business, we have a good chance of repeating the disastrous 1930s on his watch. He (and his advisors) seem to have no clue about the weakness in the economy. Worse, they don't even seem to care.

The national debt nightmare is historic. This is a crisis of immense proportions. Health care and (what is left of) climate change are relatively minor issues compared to the growing prospect of a US fiscal bankruptcy. Such a bankruptcy within the next twenty years is now an odds-on outcome. What are the Obama people saying? Nothing. On the matter of the exploding national debt, the Obama Administration is curiously silent. Does Obama care about the national debt problem. Does he understand it?

Sadly, this is an Adminstration that seems completely out of touch with the real problems that Americans face. There are no polls showing health care and climate change among the top two concerns of Americans -- none. Unemployment and the rising deficits are at the top of all public opinion polls.

I guess unemployment and the national debt were not topics that came up in the coffee shops at Harvard.