Only 16% of Americans Believe the Economy is in Good Shape
CNN hired Opinion Research Corporation to conduct a poll of Americans concerning their views on the economy. Take a look at the results. Americans are now more pessimistic about their economic future than at any time since this polling began — in 1997. This includes the Y2K scare, the attacks on America on 9/11, and the real estate recession of 2008.
The poll asked “How would you rate the economic conditions in the country today — as very good, somewhat good, somewhat poor, or very poor?” Less than 1% of Americans responded “Very good” — something which has never happened before. Only 16% had a positive view of the current economy, while 84% stated that the current economy was poor.
Looking forward to next year, and Barack Obama’s hopes for a second term, an amazing 40% of those polled believe that the economy will be good, while 59% believe it will be poor. 59% completely blows away the previous record of 50%. These are the worst results on record, but still far too optimistic.
The truth is that the economy is in bad shape and will not improve unless we make the right decisions and follow then with the right actions. In WorldBank rankings, the United States has fallen to below Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom as a desirable nation to do business. A large portion of the problem is our federal tax code, which ranks #62 in the world — below nations like Tunisia and Djibouti. The total real tax rate for American businesses is 46.8% — which is directly responsible for the current 9.2% unemployment rate. Moreover, it takes an average of 187 hours for a business to complete and file the tax forms — more than four weeks every year which could be spent on improving operational efficiency, providing customer service, or seeking out new markets.
The economy is built on business — on investors and business people getting together and trying to earn money by meeting a customers desire. Government over-regulation makes it difficult for investors and businesspeople to get together, it makes it difficult for business to start up and to hire individuals, it makes it difficult to bring new products and services to market, and it makes it difficult to do all of this at a price which is competitive with companies which are based in more freedom-oriented nations.
There is no question of whom to blame for our current economic woes — it’s us. It is our fault, the American voters. We continue to vote for more government, more regulations, more giveaways, more taxes, more of everything from an institution with a history of doing almost nothing well. This is the “change” we voted for. If we wanted a different world, we should have voted differently.
