Shills of the Democratic Party have been circulating this ridiculous meme for sometime - blue background, snarky comment below about "pesky facts" - talking about how much things have improved under President Obama in five years(at least as of 2013), as if this actually affects lives, positively, for everyday people across the country. Considering the fact that Democrats are looking virtually under figurative sofa cushions for some justification to make their party look a bit more relevant to a country desperately in need of political solutions, it seems only fitting to attack this, and pardon my usage, this colossally contrived bit of bullshit that, in so many words, is supposed to tell those still wanting from a rather mediocre president, to "be happy with what is here; it could be worse."
So let's start with the Dow Jones. According to this clever bit of shillwork, "The Dow" is up so nothing could be better. Right? Well let's pose this question to those still out of work, or working part-time. The fact that gambling on the stock market has, no doubt, put food in a lot of common mouths across the country is something that clearly those missing a meal should feel grateful for. The fact that the president bailed out the financial sector so that they could continue dealing in high risk derivatives has gone far to alleviate growing income inequality. The wealthy have never had it better to they are trading more - thus the increase in "The Dow" from 7,949 to over 16,400 - and who doesn't want to see the wealthy make more money.
But, it gets better. Unemployment, averaged between four sectors out of seven sectors, has improved from 7.8% in 2009, to 6.7% in 2013. For those sectors that is a reduction of 1.1% over five years. Such robust growth should have us all shouting from the hilltops, glorifying all things Obama, with the exception of the fact that one is dividing 1.1% up over five years. Taking that into account, one is also faced with the reality that the well meaning folks who put this together completely ignore U6 unemployment numbers - a total average of all sectors that put unemployment still well over 10%, and also available in the same Department of Labor figures - just so we can all look on the brightside. But hey, things have never been better.
But if the sketchy unemployment figures aren't enough to quell all the "nattering nabobs of negativity"(thanks Spiro Agnew for that one), one can take comfort in the fact the the Gross Domestic Product has improved from -5.4% to 4.1%. One has to wonder if they didn't mean the GDP has improved from -5.4% in 2009, to -1.3%, and, in the oft chance they did, and wanted to be completely honest, they might have simply opted to ignore this improvement. The fact that the service sector isn't improving, and we're not producing anything, really isn't anything anyone attempting to put a positive spin on things would want to brag about.
The "Deficit GDP": very little to quarrel about here; we know that this administration has attempted to save Corporatism without saddling the middle-class with some Socialist enterprise such as another "New Deal". The administration has been very careful in extending the benefits of Keynesianism to the private sector whilst, often times, practicing austerity with their friends in the GOP against the poor. The government is still borrowing from China and Social Security to pay for the expanses of the Military Industrial Complex and the National Security State while not upsetting the "tender balance" of tax breaks to corporations, and the 1% - because, of course, they're the job creators. So the fact that the GDP is "recovering", and we're still borrowing, while shaving what can be shaved from what is left of the social safety net should be a source of national pride. Right?
And finally, we get to consumer confidence. Despite the fact that there are so many folks out there still buying cars at inflated prices, cheap Chinese manufactured goods from Walmart, iPhones from, well, cellphone companies who have them manufactured overseas, Nike tennis shoes, manufactured by slave labor, food, and now that the biggest health insurance broker in the country for selling a still - largely - dysfunctional insurance product is the government, we should be glad someone is reaping the rewards. The people should be ecstatic that the government has taken the time to point that out to us: monopolistic capitalism have saved us; stop being so ungrateful.
Until Democrats grow a spine and start calling out their own party, for the constant offenses against collective intelligence, things will not change. There is no reason to suspect that things are going to get better under this president or one from the other side regardless of the amount of times shills, such as the person who created this meme, keep repeating the lie. This may have worked for Joseph Goerbels, but this is 2014, and it is hopeful that reasonable people across the country see this offering for what it is; an unmitigated fraud that only serves to misinform people into believing things that simply aren't true. Instead of creating garbage like this, people on the left need to start challenging the leadership of the Democratic party with dissenting voices, demanding that they stop insulting our intelligence and start getting this society working again. And they can start that process by looking inward starting with their own leadership in Washington.
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