economic turmoil

Signs are pointing to us entering the dreaded double-dip recession:

Friday's news on GDP shows the double dip has arrived — an expansion of only 1.3 percent and consumer spending up 0.1 percent in the second quarter. Astonishingly low by any account. The debt ceiling trouble and lack of a longer term resolution to the deficit will make it worse.

The U.S. has entered a second recession. It may not be as bad as the first. Economists say that the Great Recession began in December 2007 and lasted until July 2009. That may be the way that the economy was seen through the eyes of experts, but many Americans do not believe that the 2008-2009 downturn ever ended. A Gallup poll released in April found that 29 percent of those queried thought the economy was in a “depression” and 26 percent said that the original recession had persisted into 2011.

And with unemployment inching higher again, the economic future of this country is in peril.

Sounds pretty bad - huh? Well it doesn't get any better. There was only one other point in time when the government cut spending during such economic turmoil was during the great depression. Those cuts made the depression far worse and things didn't turn around until the government started pumping out more money. The new debt deal promises to revisit this horrible mistake in our history. From Greg Sargent:

One way to understand the debt ceiling deal that passed the House last night and will almost certainly pass the Senate today is this: It represents the current bipartisan capitulation on the idea that government can do anything to create jobs and fix the economy taken to its logical and ultimate conclusion.

The Democrats are starting to seize on the Republican’s cheering against America:

Many Democrats saw the outbursts following the IOC decision – the merry Tweets, videos of cheering conservatives and chest-thumping by party leaders like Newt Gingrich — as part of larger pattern that includes the flirtation of right-wing Texans like Gov. Rick Perry with secession and the caustic tone of right-wing talk radio, embodied by Rush Limbaugh’s “I want him to fail” comment about Obama in January.

“Some of these people are starting to put politics first and country second,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, taking particular issue with Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

“The American people are starting to wonder if they are rooting against America,” he added.

If Chicago would have won the bid then we would have seen work stat this week for preparations. Not only would venues be built for the Olympics, but hotels would be upgraded. The economic boom that comes with hosting the Olympics would not have been limited to Chicago, but would have spread out to neighboring states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and even as far as Ohio. All of these states are in hard times and could have used a little good news for their future, but the Republicans didn’t want that.

That's what the McCain campaign has been doing and the proof is in their ads. The AP has done a study on this:

MADISON, Wis. - Nearly every TV ad Republican John McCain ran last week was negative, compared to just 34 percent of those by Democrat Barack Obama, according to an analysis released Wednesday.

The harsher tone in McCain's ads mirrors the sharper attacks he and his running mate Sarah Palin have been making on the campaign trail as polls show Obama opening up a lead.

During a week of economic turmoil and American's seeing trillions in their retirement dissolve into the abyss, John McCain could not muster what it takes to be a leader. Instead he had to resort to the tactic Americans have come to despise - attacking your opponent. If that's "change you can believe in" then I don't think we need it.