Gunpowder Chronicle posted on April 9, 2008 7:48 PM | Rating:
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Microphone and camera whore Sen. Charles Schumer, the senior senator for the very unfortunate state of New York (and the only senior politician in that state who hasn't been embroiled in a sex scandal recently), is truly a pedantic ass clown.
From his office on March 7, 2008: "The bottom line is that this administration is the owner of the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover."
Facts are funny things. here is a quick comparison chart that I found over on National Review Online:
| Key Labor Market Statistics in 1996 and 2008 |
| |
March 1996 |
March 2008 |
| 1. U.S. Unemployment Rate |
5.5% |
5.1% |
| 2. Number of Long-Term Unemployed |
1.33 million |
1.28 million |
| 3. Average Weeks Unemployed |
17.3 weeks |
16.2 weeks |
| 4. Median Weeks Unemployed |
8.3 weeks |
8.1 weeks |
| 5. Not in Labor Force because discouraged over job prospects |
451,000 |
401,000 |
| 6. Democrats calling for Extended Unemployment Benefits? |
No |
Yes |
| 7. President’s Party Affiliation |
Democrat |
Republican |
See the problem there? Unemployment is actually one of the great indicators of economic performance, because it represents tangible impacts to the economy at all levels. And, according to the FACTS, 1996 was a worse year economically than 2008 (so far).
Oh, and before people start screaming about the housing crisis, please keep this in mind:
- There are 36 million Americans who have had a mortgage and paid it off.
- There are 46 million Americans with mortgages currently being paid ON TIME.
- There are but a mere 900,000 mortgages currently in default.
So where is the panic? That is a 1% rate of default across all Americans who have had a mortgage or do have a mortgage. The panic is that politicians like Senator Schumer not only allowed, but encouraged banks and Wall Street to work together to create investment arbitrage vehicles to make sub-prime loans possible. Smaller banks would never have offered loans to people on the completely assinine terms and under those completely assinine conditions like "no doc" and 100% financing, if they could not upsell those loans to companies like Bear Stearns.
But they could and they did.
Maybe Senator Schumer should check with junior intern researcher before engaging mouth. This isn't the worse economy since Herbert Hoover. But if his gal pal Hillary or "Mr. Hope" Obama get elected, it may very well be.