Denninger:

Now here’s the challenge: The American People have had it with the job loss and with the vast and fast deterioration of their personal balance sheets and, more importantly, their cash-flow statements.

But these problems were two decades in the making with both Democrat and Republican governments.  They are to a large degree the consequence of bogus and even fraudulent credit creation – practices that were not intended to help the economy along at all, but rather were designed to siphon off the wealth of ordinary Americans and hand it to a fistful of oligarchs.

Vox:

It’s amazing how quickly they forget the $145 billion Bush stimulus plan of 2008. And, of course, the mere fact that more stimulus is being discussed despite the loud trumpeting of the “recovery” indicates that it is employment that is the true measure of economic growth rather than GDP.

So what to make of the two losses and a win for Obama’s lot?  The GOP has little to crow about – their man in NY couldn’t cross the line and let’s face it, a lot of this is about personalities – Corzine is not the type of person you’d vote for.

Elsewhere, Maine has seen sense and California seems to be following the lead.

Meanwhile, the oligarchs have made their killing, the new rules ensuring they can’t be touched are in place and so it’s OK for the economy to move out of recession and for the sheeple to do as they wish.

However:

The [unemployment] rate is widely forecast to top 10 percent before going down. Analysts say a double-digit jobless rate on Election Day in November 2010 could help cost Democrats upward of two dozen seats in the House of Representatives, which they now hold, 256-177, with two vacancies. It could also cost them in the Senate, which they control, 60-40.

“The election is going to be about three issues: Jobs. Jobs. Jobs,” said Ethan Siegal of The Washington Exchange, a private firm that tracks Congress and the White House for institutional investors.

When unemployment hits those heights, there are always many other things wrong in the economy as well.  The Fed is criminally negligent and economists have shown they don’t have a clue.

Filed under: Politics & economics