Am I just lucky, or is fear mongering out of control?

I still have a job.
I still have a roof over my family's heads and clothes on our backs.
My family is not going hungry.

I am very thankful for everything that I have and certainly do not take any of it for granted.

However, if you listen to current political rhetoric, you'd think that I'm an exception to the rule and one lucky son-of-a-bitch. But if I stop and take a look around, the eye-ball test suggests that I'm more the rule than the exception, and the political rhetoric is simply overblown fear-mongering.

So which is it?

I'm in the same boat, I have a federal job, my family is doing okay. I think you are correct, especially when I see welfare recipients buying T-bones at the store the first week of the month when I "The working man' cannot afford such a thing most times.
 
What fear mongering exactly are you referring to?

Unemployment is high and prices are rising. The dollar is losing value at a fast pace, and government is greatly expanding its control over every aspect of our lives (Patriot Act, for example, all the foreign wars, and the massive government spending programs). Such statements are statements of fact, not fear mongering.

For educational purposes, I highlighted the bits of non-factual editorialization.

I'm not saying I disagree with said editorials, merely distilling them from the facts.
Care to explain why you believe those are non-factual?

I consider 9% unemployment or the more accurate 16-18% underemployment (U6 unemployment) to be high. We have not seen levels this high since the early 1980s. U6 unemployment has never been as high as it is currently since it started being recorded in 1994. Please explain how claiming unemployment is "high" is contrary to fact.

According to CPI numbers (which I argue understate inflation significantly) from 2000-present the dollar has lost 25% of its value. Since 1987, the dollar has lost 50% of its value. In 24 years, the value of the dollar has decreased by half. Since 1971, it has decreased by 80%. Since 2007 alone, the dollar has lost nearly 10% of its value. So yes, the dollar is losing value at a fast pace.

You think a government that can wiretap our phones and monitor communication of its own citizens is not greatly expanding its control? That unprecedented spending programs are somehow not unprecedented enough to be called massive? Please.

You offered zero explanation for your claim that such facts are not facts. I just backed them up. To say they do not exist as facts is to live in a dream world. WAKE UP.
 
What fear mongering exactly are you referring to?

Unemployment is high and prices are rising. The dollar is losing value at a fast pace, and government is greatly expanding its control over every aspect of our lives (Patriot Act, for example, all the foreign wars, and the massive government spending programs). Such statements are statements of fact, not fear mongering.

For educational purposes, I highlighted the bits of non-factual editorialization.

I'm not saying I disagree with said editorials, merely distilling them from the facts.
Care to explain why you believe those are non-factual?

I consider 9% unemployment or the more accurate 16-18% underemployment (U6 unemployment) to be high. We have not seen levels this high since the early 1980s. U6 unemployment has never been as high as it is currently since it started being recorded in 1994. Please explain how claiming unemployment is "high" is contrary to fact.

According to CPI numbers (which I argue understate inflation significantly) from 2000-present the dollar has lost 25% of its value. Since 1987, the dollar has lost 50% of its value. In 24 years, the value of the dollar has decreased by half. Since 1971, it has decreased by 80%. Since 2007 alone, the dollar has lost nearly 10% of its value. So yes, the dollar is losing value at a fast pace.

You think a government that can wiretap our phones and monitor communication of its own citizens is not greatly expanding its control? That unprecedented spending programs are somehow not unprecedented enough to be called massive? Please.

You offered zero explanation for your claim that such facts are not facts. I just backed them up. To say they do not exist as facts is to live in a dream world. WAKE UP.

You make a compelling case to defend your positions.

But it's like saying Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time, and then laying out all the stats that support that conclusion. Still doesn't make him in fact, the greatest quarterback of all time.
 
For educational purposes, I highlighted the bits of non-factual editorialization.

I'm not saying I disagree with said editorials, merely distilling them from the facts.
Care to explain why you believe those are non-factual?

I consider 9% unemployment or the more accurate 16-18% underemployment (U6 unemployment) to be high. We have not seen levels this high since the early 1980s. U6 unemployment has never been as high as it is currently since it started being recorded in 1994. Please explain how claiming unemployment is "high" is contrary to fact.

According to CPI numbers (which I argue understate inflation significantly) from 2000-present the dollar has lost 25% of its value. Since 1987, the dollar has lost 50% of its value. In 24 years, the value of the dollar has decreased by half. Since 1971, it has decreased by 80%. Since 2007 alone, the dollar has lost nearly 10% of its value. So yes, the dollar is losing value at a fast pace.

You think a government that can wiretap our phones and monitor communication of its own citizens is not greatly expanding its control? That unprecedented spending programs are somehow not unprecedented enough to be called massive? Please.

You offered zero explanation for your claim that such facts are not facts. I just backed them up. To say they do not exist as facts is to live in a dream world. WAKE UP.

You make a compelling case to defend your positions.

But it's like saying Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time, and then laying out all the stats that support that conclusion. Still doesn't make him in fact, the greatest quarterback of all time.
The difference between your analogy and my statement: I never said that this is the highest unemployment of all time. I am stating the fact that unemployment is simply high. It is a fact that Tom Brady is a great quarterback, his statistics prove it, just as it is a fact that unemployment is high. There is an important difference between "great" and "greatest", "high" and "highest."

The analogy doesn't work because I never said "This is the highest unemployment ever, the worst conditions ever, etc." That would not be fact. What is fact is that unemployment is high, and the other statements I made also hold true. That is not fear mongering, it is fact. If the facts strike fear in you, listing them is not fear mongering. Listing them is waking people up to reality that needs to be dealt with.
 
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