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Some things remain a mystery though, so it's hard to tell what's really going on. The economy has been "recovering" much slower than historically. Why is that? Job growth has been very anemic, and the only reason the unemployment rate isn't worse is because so many people have left the labor force altogether. Is that natural for this moment in history, or is it a result of the weak economy or government policy? During the Reagan recovery of the 80's, they'd have like 800,000 new jobs created a month. Nowadays we're lucky to break, even though the population of workers and jobs is substantially larger by now.Meanwhile the continued fiscal deficits since took office are huge and unprecedented, and there's no sign of them ending. (And you also have to put blame on the tail end of the Bush administration if we blame presidents, but the problem continues after 4 years of.). RIGHT NOW the debt is manageable, but if we don't contain it someday that will become a problem. Little remembered fact is that Bush NEARLY had achieved a balanced budget by the end of 2007 ... so how come just a few years later we're unable to reduce the deficit below $1 trillion, year after year?There is an old saying that begins with a question: How do you tell if what is going on is a recession or a depression? Easy. When the other guy is unemployed, it is a recession. When you are unemployed, it is a depression. At this moment in time, whether we are in good or bad times is in the eye of the beholder. To an auto worker, it is boom times. The industry is having a great year. To a home builder, it is a depression. The market is stagnant. As for the rest of us, it goes to the question I asked. Are you employed or unemployed. The answer will be directly related to personal status.Optimism is rising. Check the graphs for that. Buying is beginning to increase in major areas of the economy. Only for the Tea Party are things terrible even while they sit in their mansions in relative comfort. They want out of office and no matter how good things get, they will see the world as a mess until the get their goal or get dumped by the tides of history.

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