Meanwhile, In Your Sucky Economy

The economy gained a pathetic 18,000 jobs in December, and unemployment is at a two-year high. There's a reason that domestic issues outweigh Iraq in opinion polls nowadays, and it's not because Iraq is doing so well. It's because the economy is in the toilet for those working people struggling to keep afloat. Oil's over a hundred dollars a barrel, too.

This year could be bleak.

UPDATE: Worth a thousand words is this picture of the employment-population ratio. That big dip is the entire Bush Administration.



By the way, Bush wants to cut taxes again (they call it a "stimulus package") to deal with this. Because that's literally the only economic option he can possibly think of. If the economy soars, cut taxes to continue the boom. If it tanks, cut taxes to relieve pressure. If suddenly we become a barter society, cut taxes so people will have more wampum to trade.