Damned If We Spend Ourselves Into Destitution, Damned If We Don't [ Anthony McCartny]

Ruth Calvo at Firedog Lake was listening to Washington Journal the other day and noticed something that neither Washington Post economics writer Ylan Mui nor Peter Slen, the C-Span fixture conducting the interview, noticed,

THAT YOU HAVE TO HAVE MONEY TO SPEND IT

Or, as she put it:

Dear CSpan,

Thank you for your continuing wide coverage.

Just heard Ms. Mui say; If you don’t come out and buy you might see an increase in unemployment.

So, it’s all back to consumer ‘confidence’ from the professional business reporter, which ignores that there cannot be consumption without disposable income. Making this a which is first, the chicken or the egg, and the professional chooses consumer/egg to crack open. However, for accuracy; business has prospered and should be the chance-taker, to open up the economy.

As Ruth points out, the idea is that people are to blame for unemployment because they don't spend themselves broke. Which apparently makes perfect sense to the DC echo chamber, odd, isn't it, that it's never those who really have money and the power to get more of it who are to blame in these things?

The answer is pretty much that we are chiselers because we won't spend the last of our money to stimulate the economy. But, as we've seen before, if you do spend yourself broke, and beyond, you're then to blame as well. Pretty much we're to blame for it all, according to the lackeys of oligarchy. Big surprise, huh?