recent comments about the economic slowdown. Here's what he said:
"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," he
said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the
publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing
and credit problems and record oil prices. "We may have a recession;
we haven't had one yet."
"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," he said. "You just hear
this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness,
America in decline" despite a major export boom that is the primary
reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.
Of course the housing crisis and the weak dollar are real economic problems and
not psychological. These are things that are not definitely not good for the economy.
However, what I think Gramm was trying to communicate is that the stagnant
economy is being overplayed by the news media (who've compared our current
compared economic crisis to the Great Depression repeatedly) and also by Democrats.
I don't think it's a stretch of the imagination to say they've painted a picture that's
more gloomy than the situation exactly is. Gramm chose an inartful (to borrow a
phrase from Sen. Obama) way to convey this sentiment. It just goes to show that in
this political environment one has to be very careful with the words you use.