The American people are poorly informed about major policy issues, as shown in public opinion polls, and many of them tend to vote, therefore, on emotion and instinct, rather than knowledge and reality.
That is certainly true about the economy. Of course, economic conditions are terrible, with growing numbers of foreclosures, and slow job creation. So people listen to propaganda that if nothing had been done by government in the past 21 months, that somehow, magically, the economy would have recovered!
That is totally preposterous, of course! The belief of many is that the government bailing out the banks, insurance companies and the auto industry is a major ripoff, that will cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, which is totally wrong, as much of it has been repaid, and the government will actually make a profit on it, despite all the propaganda!
The belief that the economic stimulus package is a failure is also a myth, as it has clearly prevented a horrible economy from becoming an even worse situation, known as the Great Depression Number Two, with much higher unemployment than the nearly ten percent we have now!
The belief that taxes have gone up is another myth, as everyone received a tax cut on their withholding, instead of an actual check from the government, but it is still a tax cut!
The fact that unemployment compensation and food stamps exist to help those in trouble is blamed for higher deficits, but is the alternative to have people starving and homeless without any income or food at all? The use of such safety nets is expected when unemployment surges!
The economic reality is that you cannot reverse damage done by the Republicans overnight! It will take YEARS, no matter if the Republicans or the Democrats control the national government, but the threat is that it will become much worse if the stated intentions of the Tea Party Movement and the Republican Party are actually put into play!
It is a certainty that if they follow through and somehow are able to overcome President Obama’s veto, which fortunately seems unlikely, that the economy will be FAR WORSE than it is now, by the time of the 2012 Presidential Election!
If that is so, the GOP will be thrown out, and again we will be on the merry go round of blame–and Barack Obama will be able to make the GOP the enemy as Harry Truman did in 1948 and Bill Clinton did in 1996!
But meanwhile, because of the refusal of the American people to understand economic reality, and to allow emotion and lack of knowledge to overcome rationality, more and more people of all backgrounds will suffer under the collapsed economy that was on its way to recovery BEFORE the midterm elections of 2010! 🙁