Obama’s socialistic polices are sending us all to the mattresses! What that means is that we are afraid to hire, to spend or to invest. We prefer the safety of (figuratively) doing what our grand or great grand parents did in the 1930’s, stuffing our money into the mattress (actually we are leaving it in a 1% interest bearing savings account which is almost the same thing as stuffing it into a mattress) because even though it earns zero interest, it is safe and the government cannot get at it. Why would an employer want to hire a teen when the Democrats want to pay a 17 year old kid in High School “a livable wage” (maybe $25 an hour to flip burgers at Wendy’s)? We are all hunkering down waiting for the storm to pass (which might take years).
by Michael Barone
Home mortgage interest rates are the lowest in history, but house sales are plunging. Banks can make money easily because of the Federal Reserve’s low interest rates, but they’re not making many loans. Major corporations are sitting on something like $2 trillion in cash, but they’re not investing.
Unemployment is running at 10 percent, rounded off, for the 11th straight month, but few employers are hiring and a million people have stopped looking for work in the last year. Small-business hiring is at a nine-month low, and retail sales are tailing off.
Government policies designed to stimulate the economy seem to be having the opposite effect. Consumers aren’t buying, businesses aren’t hiring, and those fortunate enough to have some cash on hand don’t seem to be investing.
I call it the mattress economy. People seem to be following this investment strategy: 1) Go to Mattress Discounters and buy the biggest mattress you can find. 2) Take it home, and stuff all your money in it. 3) Lie down, and get some rest.
This hurts the economy, but it’s a rational response to the Obama Democrats’ public policies. And that’s not just the view of their political opponents.
[..]
Instead of stimulating the economy, the Democrats’ policies have shocked it into immobility. People are lying on their mattresses, waiting for the next shock. At least one is definitely coming: The Bush tax cuts expire at the end of the year, which means that high earners can be sure they’ll soon keep less of what they make.
[…]
America has seen this before. In the late 1930s, when Franklin Roosevelt raised taxes on high earners, encouraged lawless sit-in strikes by labor unions and took over utility businesses, the response was a “capital strike.”
Instead of creating jobs, businesses and investors put their money in mattresses. The result was a stagnant economy and double-digit unemployment — and a 75-seat Republican gain in the 1938 off-year elections.
Back then, the economy eventually perked up thanks to mobilization for World War II. No such mobilization appears on the horizon today. You may need to get a bigger mattress.
Tags: Michael Barone
