Jay McDonough of Examiner.Com www.examiner.com and Swimming Freestyle www.swimmingfreestyle.net has sound advice for the Obama campaign and Democrats this year:
As noted in the last post, the Barack Obama folks would do well to concentrate on a campaign reminding voters of the performance of the Bush Administration for the last eight years and the resultant economic mess. More of the same, economy, more of the same, economy. Hit it hard....and often.
As a primer:
- Inflation is rising. The U.S. economy is currently experiencing “the worst 12 months of inflation in almost three decades.” http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-fi-economy20-2008aug20,0,3636868.story
- Real wages are declining. Americans are experiencing a “de facto pay cut.” “Almost everything costs more, even as [Americans] have less money to pay for it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/business/economy/15econ.html?_r=1&bl&ex=1219032000&en=1bd6be8f0fed5637&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin
- Unemployment is increasing. Americans have experienced “seven consecutive monthly declines in employment.”
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-jobless2-2008aug02,0,7707884.story
- Cost of food is rising. Food prices are quickly increasing and even school lunches across the country will be more expensive in the coming year.
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/08/norfolk-school-board-vote-increasing-lunch-prices
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080819/NEWS02/808190327/1004
- Optimism about economy is declining. “Optimism in the U.S. economy among CEOs of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies” is at a 16-year low. Americans are similarly pessimistic.
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/08/economy_weighs_on_voters_minds.html
- Foreclosures are still increasing. Home foreclosures were up 55 percent over last year in July and “17 [percent] of all homes for sale in the U.S. are repossessed properties.”
http://thinkprogress.org/search/search.php?q=foreclosure&x=20&y=11
http://www.examiner.com/x-243-Progressive-Politics-Examiner~y2008m8d20-Obama-should-use-the-mantra
And in addition to Jay's economic mantra, here's a link to a site that will provide Obama with the data for dozens of Ross Perot-like charts documenting the decline of a broad based prosperity in America. http://www.stateofworkingamerica.org/
Economic fairness for America's workers is issue number one in '08.
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