The Recession's Over? Really?

Image via WikipediaA government panel has concluded that the recession we thought we were currently under is really over and done with.  According to them, the recession lasted from December 2007 to June 2009.

But happy days aren't here again.  Nearly ten percent of Americans are out of work.  Foreclosures are rampant.  Corporations are sitting on billions of dollars in profits, but won't spend a dime on creating new jobs.  Retailers are struggling because consumers can't spend what they don't have.

Technically, this was George W. Bush's recession, with the duration lasting through the final 14 months of his presidency.  He stood by as Wall Street melted down, auto companies and brokerage firms went bankrupt, and two wars were raging.  The President responded by bailing out the banks that had caused the meltdown in the first place.

President Barack Obama has been doing his best to clean up the mess bush left behind since taking office.  There have been stimulus packages, health care reform, and new laws regulating credit cards and financial institutions.  Detroit's automakers have recovered to the point where, after closing a few plants and dropping a few brands, no one needs to call them "Government Motors" any more.

The President, in an effort to prove that he "gets it" when it comes to the economy, has made it his number one priority.  He's winding down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He's appointed Elizabeth Warren to help set up a new consumer financial protection bureau (which will almost certainly disappear if a GOP president is elected).  And then there's a decision to be made on whether to keep the Bush tax cuts for the rich, which could determine whether the economy recovers or not.

But all this doesn't seem to be enough, as Obama's sagging poll numbers will attest.  To many Americans, the more things change, the more things remain the same.  Having faced a Congress full of balky Republicans and weak-willed Democrats, things might be getting worse for the president after the midterm elections.  And some of Obama's ardent supporters, who say they're not seeing the 'change' their man has promised, are left wondering why they voted for him to begin with.

Meanwhile, we're told that the economy will be slowly getting back up to speed if we just hang in there.  As long as unemployment remains high, homes sit idle and retailers twiddle their thumbs, there'll come a point when people can no longer afford to wait.  That could spell trouble for President Obama and the Democrats in this election, and possibly the next one.