H
Harry Hope
Guest
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-tepper-marlin/survey-19-say-usa-on-righ_b_95243.html
April 5, 2008
By John Tepper Marlin
The lead NY Times story yesterday is headlined:
"81 Percent in Poll Say Nation Is Headed on Wrong Track" and the first
paragraph tells us this is the highest number since 1992 poll (this
Times/CBS News poll was first conducted in 1991) and way up from the
35 percent figure in 2002.
Hmmm...
1. The last time four-fifths of the nation was so negative about the
future of the United States was in the last year of the presidency of
Bush 41.
2. The percentage of people generally happy with the direction of the
country has been steadily declining during the presidency of Bush 43.
The surprising thing to me is not that 81 percent are depressed and
say that "things in the country have pretty seriously gotten off on
the wrong track" but that 19 percent are not.
It means that out of 233 million noninstitutionalized American adults,
44 million believe the country is "generally going in the right
direction."
Think about it - 44 million noninstitutionalized adult Americans with
continuing faith that our ship of state is sailing on the right
course.
A puzzler is that 28 percent of those surveyed think Dubya is doing a
great job, i.e., 65 million Americans.
So 21 million Americans (65 million minus 44 million) think the United
States is on the wrong track but Dubya does a great job.
The ship is heading in the wrong direction, but the captain is a
heckuva helmsman.
In fairness, the poll was taken before the BLS released the news that
in the first three months of 2008 the U.S. economy had shed 232,000
jobs, which includes not only a job loss of 80,000 in March - the
largest monthly decline in five years - but also major upward
revisions of job losses in the previous two months.
The last time we had three consecutive months of job loss was in the
second quarter of 2003.
If we need 100,000 new jobs a month to keep pace with population
growth, the economy has a cumulative shortfall of more than half a
million jobs so far this year.
The unemployment data were also ominous, with the unemployment rate
resuming its upward climb, rising to 5.1 percent from 4.8 percent in
February.
_____________________________________________________
19%, eh? You know them as members of the Limbaugh DUH! tribe.
Harry
April 5, 2008
By John Tepper Marlin
The lead NY Times story yesterday is headlined:
"81 Percent in Poll Say Nation Is Headed on Wrong Track" and the first
paragraph tells us this is the highest number since 1992 poll (this
Times/CBS News poll was first conducted in 1991) and way up from the
35 percent figure in 2002.
Hmmm...
1. The last time four-fifths of the nation was so negative about the
future of the United States was in the last year of the presidency of
Bush 41.
2. The percentage of people generally happy with the direction of the
country has been steadily declining during the presidency of Bush 43.
The surprising thing to me is not that 81 percent are depressed and
say that "things in the country have pretty seriously gotten off on
the wrong track" but that 19 percent are not.
It means that out of 233 million noninstitutionalized American adults,
44 million believe the country is "generally going in the right
direction."
Think about it - 44 million noninstitutionalized adult Americans with
continuing faith that our ship of state is sailing on the right
course.
A puzzler is that 28 percent of those surveyed think Dubya is doing a
great job, i.e., 65 million Americans.
So 21 million Americans (65 million minus 44 million) think the United
States is on the wrong track but Dubya does a great job.
The ship is heading in the wrong direction, but the captain is a
heckuva helmsman.
In fairness, the poll was taken before the BLS released the news that
in the first three months of 2008 the U.S. economy had shed 232,000
jobs, which includes not only a job loss of 80,000 in March - the
largest monthly decline in five years - but also major upward
revisions of job losses in the previous two months.
The last time we had three consecutive months of job loss was in the
second quarter of 2003.
If we need 100,000 new jobs a month to keep pace with population
growth, the economy has a cumulative shortfall of more than half a
million jobs so far this year.
The unemployment data were also ominous, with the unemployment rate
resuming its upward climb, rising to 5.1 percent from 4.8 percent in
February.
_____________________________________________________
19%, eh? You know them as members of the Limbaugh DUH! tribe.
Harry
