OBAMAPHRENIA:
Shot: “We’ve recovered from the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.”
—Obama’s Twitter account today.
Chaser: “President Obama Explains How Surging Bartender Jobs Are Unequivocally Good.”
—Headline at Zero Hedge today.
The econo-bloggers there ask, “We wonder which ‘economy’ President Obama will discuss…The ‘Bartender’ Recovery,” which links to a chart showing the growth of waiter and bartender jobs versus manufacturing jobs since December of 2007. “Or the ‘Foreign Worker’ Recovery,” followed by a chart which shows the massive expansion of foreign-born workers since December of 2007.
Hangover: “Citi: World economy seems trapped in ‘death spiral.'”
As Ambrose Evans-Pritchard adds at the London Telegraph, Jaime Caruana, general manager of Europe’s Bank for International Settlements, “said an ‘illusion of sustainability’ has blinded borrowers and debtors, lulling them into a false of security when credit was easy and asset prices were rising. This illusion can die in the blink of an eye. ‘The turning of the financial cycle can be quite abrupt,’ he said.”
We’ve seen this movie before, haven’t we? Just ask President McCain:
Update: And speaking of shots, chasers, and hangovers, “‘Incredible’! Obama admits lingering ‘hangover’ in jobs report (but guess who’s to blame!).”
Presumably, all those bartenders he’s given jobs to? (Err, including me, as I’m duly licensed by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission…)