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I assume folks have seen Phil Gramm's comment about America being a nation of whiners:
Notwithstanding his attempt to distance himself from this comment and ultimately throw Gramm under the bus, McCain evidently shares the sentiment that the economic issues in this nation are psychological.
Setting aside the question of whether it matters if a nation is technically in recession when its citizens think it is, I think this is actually significant on a couple of fronts. For one thing, it seriously cuts into the mileage that McCain is going to get out of that "bitter" comment, because there's a ready response to that now -- true, this didn't come directly out of McCain's mouth, but there are lots of comments like his "psychological" comment linked above that effectively agree with this sentiment (heard a montage of them on the way in to the office) that will drop it squarely on his doorstep.
The other thing is more troubling, though. Regardless of whether it is technically a recession or not, Americans are looking for answers to the economic issues that they are facing -- skyrocketing gas prices, foreclosure, diminishing property values, increased costs for everything. How is McCain going to fix problems he doesn't even seem to think are real?
"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," he said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. "We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet."
"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," he said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline" despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.
"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," he said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline" despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.
Setting aside the question of whether it matters if a nation is technically in recession when its citizens think it is, I think this is actually significant on a couple of fronts. For one thing, it seriously cuts into the mileage that McCain is going to get out of that "bitter" comment, because there's a ready response to that now -- true, this didn't come directly out of McCain's mouth, but there are lots of comments like his "psychological" comment linked above that effectively agree with this sentiment (heard a montage of them on the way in to the office) that will drop it squarely on his doorstep.
The other thing is more troubling, though. Regardless of whether it is technically a recession or not, Americans are looking for answers to the economic issues that they are facing -- skyrocketing gas prices, foreclosure, diminishing property values, increased costs for everything. How is McCain going to fix problems he doesn't even seem to think are real?
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