The democrats and mass media keep saying how bad the economy is but I just don’t get it. Maybe because 20+ years ago the economy really was awful. In comparison to today’s prices, gas was a bargain back then at $1.19 on average in 1980. But just two years earlier it had been fifty-nine cents. So gas doubled in price in only a couple of years and crossed the psychologically important barrier of $1.00. During the same two-year time period the unemployment rate jumped from 5.8% to 7.1% and by 1983 was at a high of 9.7%. Recently the unemployment rate has been increasing but it still has a way to go before it reaches the highs of 20 plus years ago.
The major economic indicator that I remember was the interest rate. Pretty hard to forget it when the year-end 1980 Federal Reserve interest rate was a whopping 21.50%! On the other hand, the prime rate was recently lowered to just 2.0%. That’s nearly a 20 percentage point difference. You can imagine the interest payments on houses and cars not to mention the rates on credit cards back then!
I graduated from college in 1980 just when the unemployment rate was heading toward nearly 10%, gas had doubled and my credit card company was charging me unfathomable rates. So when the politicians today get all upset over the economy I simply have to laugh.
I think that the media is making a mountain out of a molehill and handing the Democratic politicians a topic to use against the Republicans. Yes, I know that voters said that the economy was a major factor when they voted. But if you are told over and over again that the economy is tanking by people who are supposed to be reliable and trustworthy then you. too, will eventually believe that the economy is down. I just wonder how many people would say that yes the economy is bad for other people, but they are doing just fine.
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