THOUGHT OF THE DAY - AT 8:30 A.M. ET:  From Mike Gerson, formerly President Bush's chief speechwriter, writing in the Washington Post about the Obama administration's huge spending plans, as contrasted with our actual economic condition:

Obama's spending ambitions would have been jaw-dropping even in the best of economic times. Federal spending this year is about 28 percent of gross domestic product -- a figure exceeded only when Franklin Roosevelt was fighting a global war against Germany and Japan. Along the fiscal path Obama has chosen (according to the Congressional Budget Office) our national debt will more than double in 10 years and will amount to 82 percent of the entire economy.

Initially, Obama counted on an atmosphere of economic crisis to grease the passage of any legislation he pronounced an economic need. But it hasn't worked out that way. Whatever their virtues, restricting carbon emissions and expanding the health entitlement do not constitute a direct response to America's financial and economic failures. No economic theory suggests that a round of new federal regulations and entitlements would result in a burst of economic growth.

COMMENT:  And that is the key.  The measures taken thus far don't seem to be working.  The economic downturn is steeper and deeper than many Obamans had thought.  The unemployment statistic, a cold 9.5%, hides many other ailments - people not losing their jobs but having salaries cut, employees forced to take unpaid days off, the lack of incentive to spend on things like cars and clothes.  This translates into lower corporate earnings, and that dulls the entire economy. 

We are in trouble, both domestically and in a foreign policy that goes nowhere, but with noble speeches.  Already, moderate Democrats in Congress are in revolt against the coastal elites, realizing that their constituents are catching on to the impact of the spending craze.  These moderates dread going back to their law practices after the 2010 elections.  They are likely to team with the Republicans to stand in the way of more nutty ideas.

Do you sense that problems are just building and building?  I do too.

July 8, 2009