Celebrating Labor Day With President Hopey-Changey

Now, let's go over all this again, a bit more slowly, so my Democrat friends can understand it.

Mr. Obama told us in January that if Congress didn't pass his 'stimulus package' (i.e. The Mother of All Pork-barrel Bills) that the unemployment rate would exceed 8%, but that if it did, then 'millions of jobs will be created and saved', 'cuz He said so, and He's always right.

So, now here we are: He got His bill, and the interstate highways are shut down coast-to-coast with construction projects of one sort or another(like fences installed in the medians--truly a necessity!), and the unemployment rate is officially 9.7%.

Mish Shedlock shared this graph from the Bureau of Labor Statistics--and the most telling bit is on the bottom row, on the right-hand side. The true unemployment/dropped-out/working part-time out of necessity rate is now approaches 17%.

Wow, that really worked out great!

In defense of Our Fearless Leader, perhaps all this was baked-in before He ascended the throne. But His assertions that everything will just get better if we just spend-spend-spend and trust Him for the outcome erode the basic confidence needed to put a recovery together.

And He wonders why there is such trepidation about handing the country's health care system over to Him?

People have a hard time feeling confident about future risk if they sense they are not being told the truth in the present tense.

In a way, OldSouth hopes The One is lying, 'cuz that means He knows the truth and cynically chooses not to convey it. In that scenario, there is a glimmer of hope.

After all, Saul of Tarsus was struck down on the road to Damascus, and Change We Can Believe in occurred in that instance.

The really scary bit is that He may really really believe His own version of reality...

To Begin the Week

1. The Julia Project continues with 'Nun Lob, mein Seel, den Herren', a setting of a hymn tune common in Bach's day. I'm struck by how tolerant Bach was of dissonance, how creatively he moved in and out of those dissonant moments.

The theory texts I endured in school had totally sanitized the dissonances out of the process of learning how to harmonize, while still presenting the material as if it were based upon Bach. No wonder I slept through class!

I browsed through the theory text of a college freshman last week, and nothing has changed about the American approach to theory teaching. Dry, pedantic, and unconnected to the rich realities of Western music. Your tax dollars, once again, at work on campus. Multiply this example by a few thousand, across other disciplines, and understand the task ahead.

2. Two Green Shoots Awards candidates: Chicagoland's Brookhaven Market, and New Harmony Indiana's The White House Restaurant. Both are small operations, and fabulous experiences on last week's travels. It is businesses like these, that understand profits are made by truly serving customers(as opposed to raping them!), that will create the next American Renaissance. Three loud cheers for each establishment.

By the way, New Harmony Indiana was an inspiring visit...too long a task to detail now.

3. Speaking of awards--stumbled over an hour of sheer hilarity on CMT--the annual 'Here's Your Sign' Award, honoring the absolutely most stupid moments caught on video this year. My favorite was the guy who sawed off a tree limb while sitting on the part destined to fall...where have we seen that lately?

4. Walked nine holes from the blues, always kept the ball in play, started and ended on the same ball...6 over my goal of 'bogies from the blues'(carrying the bag, persimmon woods). But what fun!