“Pointed in the Right Direction”

Picture if you will a large ship being sucked backwards towards a vortex astern, a whirling oceanic anomaly that no one knew was there, that no one figured could happen, but that one that is inhaling hapless vessels by the thousands. The ship is struggling to move forward, rudder amidships, pointing toward home. Are we in the Bermuda Triangle? A science fiction film? Or the U.S. economy? Is our ship in good shape because of the direction of her bow – homeward?

We lost more jobs in July, 247,000 according to the government, but our national unemployment rate went from 9.5% to 9.4%, an adjustment that has more to do with the ways statistics are measured than with the reality of job loss. Do I think all this shall pass? Yes, but on the government’s timeline. Do I think we are “pointed in the right direction,” as the President said on August 7^th? Perhaps.

Do I think that the ship is pulling away from danger? One of the dangers perhaps, but other oceanic anomalies are still out there. Big ones! We still have to figure out exactly what unemployed Americans will do for a living, what happens to our banking system that is anything but stable (the commercial real estate failure and destroyed home values continue to test the system), AIG is hardly safe from collapse, the impact an inflation-threatening massive deficit looms, we don’t even know if the new GM and Chrysler will survive, Social Security is slowly running out of money, and no one really knows what healthcare proposal is actually on the table.

The President tells us, “We’re losing jobs at less than half the rate we were when I took office.” Yes, Mister President, you did not cause this mess, and we understand that you didn’t even begin the solution. The collapse did not start on your watch, and TARP did come from the last guy. The solutions that followed are yours, however, and while we all need a cheerleader, Americans probably need to believe the numbers released by private standard-setting organizations and the U.S. government. I’ve blogged that horse more than once. Consumer confidence must be based on numbers ordinary Americans can believe.

Obama continued: “Now, as we begin to put an end to this recession, we have to consider what comes next, because we can’t afford to return to an economy based on inflated profits and maxed-out credit cards, an economy where we depend on dirty and outdated sources of energy, an economy where we’re burdened by soaring health care costs that serve on the special interests.” How do unemployed and underemployed people pay those credit cards? Is alternative energy where the new jobs are coming from? Is that enough? Come on! Where do all those folks whose subprime mortgage brokering services get work… or do they just go into a massive new prison (an infrastructure project!) that so many Americans would like to see them endure? Where is that business bank credit that is so desperately linked to small business jobs? What’s the plan? Exactly?

The August 7^th New York Times: “Mr. Obama said, ‘We won’t rest until every American that is looking for work can find a job.’ … In a coincidence that was probably not intended, the president was quoting his predecessor almost verbatim: In the summer of 2004, the Republican Policy Committee said: ‘Improving the quantity and quality of jobs remains a top priority for Republicans. In the words of President Bush, ‘We won’t rest until everybody who wants to work can find a job.’” We must not be resting much!

I’m Peter Dekom, and I would really like some answers.