Mushroom Cloud Politics... Obama style!

First... an example of bad journalism:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02152009/news/nationalnews/whats_the_rush__155255.htm

There is no such thing as an actual day off for a President. Chicago or Crawford or Oval Office, the Presidency is always with you.

Now, Good Journalism.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123457303244386495.html
* FEBRUARY 13, 2009, 11:43 P.M. ET

Obama's Rhetoric Is the Real 'Catastrophe'
In 1932, automobile production shriveled by 90%.



By BRADLEY R. SCHILLER

President Barack Obama has turned fearmongering into an art form. He has repeatedly raised the specter of another Great Depression. First, he did so to win votes in the November election. He has done so again recently to sway congressional votes for his stimulus package.
[Commentary] AP

In his remarks, every gloomy statistic on the economy becomes a harbinger of doom. As he tells it, today's economy is the worst since the Great Depression. Without his Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he says, the economy will fall back into that abyss and may never recover.

This fearmongering may be good politics, but it is bad history and bad economics. It is bad history because our current economic woes don't come close to those of the 1930s. At worst, a comparison to the 1981-82 recession might be appropriate. Consider the job losses that Mr. Obama always cites. In the last year, the U.S. economy shed 3.4 million jobs. That's a grim statistic for sure, but represents just 2.2% of the labor force. From November 1981 to October 1982, 2.4 million jobs were lost -- fewer in number than today, but the labor force was smaller. So 1981-82 job losses totaled 2.2% of the labor force, the same as now.

Job losses in the Great Depression were of an entirely different magnitude...

The rest @ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123457303244386495.html