The Current Economic Misery Index reflects the GOP and its wrong war
It’s so obvious that we’re in one that even the Republican presidential nominee is providing his Eugene Debs impression in his latest stand-up comedy routine. The lag time provided before the government declares one usually means we’re past one before it gets officially declared, but most Americans don’t need a tardy weatherman to know the wind’s blowing down their doors.
Such recessions have become a regular feature of Republican administrations. Record homelessness was the legacy of the elder Bush’s administration. And Reagan presided over the worst recession since the Great Depression. With the US dollars sunk now to record lows, more than a few economists are signaling that this one could surpass the depth and misery of that Reagan recession.
And the clearest first step to ending it is to end the Iraq War which remains the chief instigator of the excessive speculation driving up oil prices. The claim that it’s driven by irreversible global demand exceeds all logical reasoning and amounts to nothing more than a convenient and lame excuse.
