A USA Today / Gallup poll released yesterday says the following:
- 3 in 4 Americans agree that we are in an economic recession
- 59% say it is likely that we will be in a depression that will last several years
- 79% are worried about a depression
I have few money concerns compared to most of the country, but even I am beginning to feel the squeeze and notice how my dollars don’t go as far as they did just last year.
It’s still early, but this could very well be one of the biggest threats to our country’s future. It makes me wonder about the presidential campaigns right now – if a depression is looming, we need smart people in charge who can make the right decisions to get us back on our feet, free of liberal or conservative agendas.
I honestly don’t know which candidate is the strongest on the economy (Edwards comes to mind, but he’s out), and even an economically weak president could still put very smart people in their administration to right-side the economy.
President Bush’s first campaign was about compassionate conservativism and domestic policy reform. Then 9/11 happened and we had a president with zero foreign policy experience spending most of their time on global affairs. I would hate to see the same happen with the economy, but right now most of what I hear from each candidate has more to do with yesterday’s problems – how to reverse the Bush administrations mistakes, how to deal with the war in Iraq, what to do about healthcare and immigration. These are all important issues, but I am starting to think that the economy really isn’t getting the attention it deserves.