Our economic woes aren't exaggerations

Randy Rossi's letter, entitled "Dems exaggerating economic woes" does not contain one single shred of verifiable fact.

While I realize "opinions" are what is expressed in Fence Post, I find it irresponsible journalism policy to choose to print letters that merely reflect Daily Herald opinion without properly labeling them as editorial comment, or to at least verify facts prior to publishing this type of misinformation.

While I realize the Daily Herald motto is to "make money", I thought somewhere in there was something about "to inform", not to misinform.

Under the Bush administration, U.S. unemployment has risen from 4.2 percent in January 2001 to the present 6.1 percent in August 2008. Poverty has risen from 11.7 percent to 12.5 percent.

Overall real GDP has grown at an average annual rate of 2.5 percent. Between 2001 and 2005, GDP growth was clocked at 2.8 percent, 1.6 percent below the average of 3.4 percent, while Gross Domestic Income growth was 36 percent below average.

Then we have the current financial-real estate-foreclosure crisis, a problem the Bush administration wants to solve by having the American taxpayer bail out the most corrupt banks and financial institutions that created the crisis by their own unsound lending and investment practices.

Rossi further states, "Our gas and energy price increases have been self-inflicted," when in fact the Bush administration has funded the entire war solely to protect the interests of oil companies and done nothing to create policies encouraging development of alternative energy.

Rossi attributes spending to big homes, cars or TV's we can't afford instead of more accurately stating we are the only industrialized nation which does not provide universal health care, when medical bills are one of the leading causes of bankruptcy.

We have inflation, rising unemployment, stagnant economy, the definition of a recession under Bush, yet we have "exaggerated" economic woes?

Nancy Schneck

Hanover Park