What Was So Bad About What Phil Gramm Said?
I, personally, think the former Senator was exactly right. Here’s his statement that has everyone all in a tizzy:
“You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession,” he said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. “We may have a recession; we haven’t had one yet.”
“We have sort of become a nation of whiners,” he said. “You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline” despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.
“We’ve never been more dominant; we’ve never had more natural advantages than we have today,” he said. “We have benefited greatly” from the globalization of the economy in the last 30 years.
Mr. Gramm said the constant drubbing of the media on the economy’s problems is one reason people have lost confidence.
It’s not surprising to me that the liberals and the media (I repeat myself) would react with shock, scorn and derision at anyone expressing optimism about the economy. After all, it is an election year, and the liberal recipe for electoral success lays with convincing voters that they’re a bunch of acted-upon victims toiling in circumstances near economic collapse.
After all, how else can a voter justify supporting a big-government politician who wants to raise taxes and increase the size and scope of government unless they’re convinced that they’re a victim and need a big-government politician to save them?
The truth is that we are in one of the most prosperous periods in our nation’s history. The media won’t report it because good, optimistic news doesn’t sell. And liberals won’t talk about it because it’s contrary to political agenda. But it is true none-the-less, and Republicans (I’m looking at you, Senator McCain) would do well to mimic Gramm and talk about it more.
