About the Economy...

The release of the unemployment figures today and the soaring foreclosure rates have drawn attention to the state of the economy. Although the bread lines some political oratory would seem to paint have yet to materialize, our economy is not particularly robust, and it looks like things are probably going to worsen before they get better.

Here is what no politician is going to say. "We are suffering from a national hangover after a Real Estate bender, one fueled by our profligate habits. The greed and excesses of lenders and individuals have brought this on us. Now although there are ways to stimulate the economy and stave off utter disaster, there is no magic remedy government can administer. The economy will work itself out eventually, but in the interim people will suffer, families will suffer. That is the way of economies."

Instead Obama is going to tax us out of an economic slowdown and McCain is going to tax cut us out of it. Of the two, the tax cut would seem to be the more stimulative. One of the perks of getting older* is living through things, so that you realize that the best government can do is make a recession shallower and possibly shorter.

* That is to say that I have no particular expertise in this matter, but having grown up in a small business, I've had a certain exposure to the ups and downs of the American economy.