Democrats privately fear House prospects worsening

[Denny Crane]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41469.html

Democrats privately fear House prospects worsening

Top Democrats are growing markedly more pessimistic about holding the House, privately conceding that the summertime economic and political recovery they were banking on will not likely materialize by Election Day.

In conversations with more than two dozen party insiders, most of whom requested anonymity to speak candidly about the state of play, Democrats in and out of Washington say they are increasingly alarmed about the economic and polling data they have seen in recent weeks.

They no longer believe the jobs and housing markets will recover – or that anything resembling the White House’s promise of a “recovery summer” is under way. They are even more concerned by indications that House Democrats once considered safe – such as Rep. Betty Sutton, who occupies an Ohio seat that President Barack Obama won with 57 percent of the vote in 2008 – are in real trouble.

 

[Denny Crane]

While I post these stories often enough, I'd really prefer that the stories were good news.

I don't want to see "summer of recovery is failing" at all. Quite the contrary, I want to see "the recovery is gaining steam."

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

While I post these stories often enough, I'd really prefer that the stories were good news.

I don't want to see "summer of recovery is failing" at all. Quite the contrary, I want to see "the recovery is gaining steam."

So long as the stories are honest and from decent sources, I'm fine with them. The fact of the matter is our usual recovery never materialized. We can speculate as to why not, but this prolonged economic slump is deeply concerning. It's news.

 

[maxiep]

What? You mean we can't spend our way out of a recession? Alchemy is a myth? Shocking!

Our problems are structural. Personally, we carry too much debt. There needs to be a legitimate path to paying off the national debt. As a society, our politicians have made promises that revenue from taxes can't keep. We don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.

The only solution is for EVERYONE to make sacrifices. The wealthy need to lose some loopholes that allow them to avoid taxes. The poor need to accept fewer social services. The middle class need to make do with less--older cars, smaller houses, fewer gadgets. The retirement age needs to go up by a significant amount (70-72). We need reduced entitlements. Public workers need to move to a defined benefit program. Public unions need to be outlawed. Education needs to focus on the basics (English, Social Studies, History, Math, Science) and also have trades component for those for whom college is not the goal.

Until the structural problems are addressed, we're not going to get out of it.

 

[maxiep]

So long as the stories are honest and from decent sources, I'm fine with them. The fact of the matter is our usual recovery never materialized. We can speculate as to why not, but this prolonged economic slump is deeply concerning. It's news.

What constitutes "honest and...decent sources"?

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

What constitutes "honest and...decent sources"?

The usual suspects.

 

[maxiep]

The usual suspects.

Who are the "usual suspects" and why are they "honest and decent"?

 

[Denny Crane]

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/trust_on_issues

Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 of the important issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports.

The GOP has consistently been trusted on most issues for months now, but in July they held the lead on only nine of the key issues.

Republicans lead Democrats 47% to 39% on the economy, which remains the most important issue to voters. Those numbers are nearly identical to those found in June. Republicans have held the advantage on the economy since May of last year.

But for the first time in months, Republicans now hold a slight edge on the issues of government ethics and corruption, 40% to 38%. Voters have been mostly undecided for the past several months on which party to trust more on this issue, but Democrats have held small leads since February.

Still, more than one-in-five voters (22%) are still not sure which party to trust more on ethics issues.

Government ethics and corruption have been second only to the economy in terms of importance to voters over the past year.