Guess which of these statements made the mainstream media headlines:
A.) US April tax receipts hit all-time record
B.) Record low unemployment rate offers new challenges to military recruiters
C.) Inflation is down to 3.0% from 4.1% in 2007
D.) Horses Abandoned Over Bad Economy
Although, each of these statements is true, the correct answer is C.
With an unemployment rate at 5.0%, continued GDP growth, Inflation down to 3.0%,... The people are so broke they're abandoning their horses(?)
Maybe they should eat them instead?
Goodness... What will people do if unemployment reaches 6.0%?
In related news... The cause of much of the economic hardship is the current price of gas.
Democrats blocked domestic oil development this week.
UPDATE: Don Surber compares today's economy with the Jimmy Carter economy, via Instapundit:
It was 22 in June 1980 when Jimmy Carter was president. Inflation was 14.38% that month and unemployment was 7.6%.
What America pays for gas at the pump is so much cheaper than other countries, and that is just for starters - Americans have it pretty good and don't even know it.
ReplyDeleteThat seems to be the theme these days, people cutting and running, abandoning their livestock and pets. Wonder what they're going
ReplyDeleteto do when things really do get
rough.
When you read the story you find out that the people who are buying the horses don't know how to take care of them or the horses are discipline problems. No examples were given of people having to give up their land or hay being too high except for her place.
ReplyDeletePhony journalism. Misdirection.
BTW the only recent story that I've heard about people abandoning their pets is a story about graduation at a western university where the dogs and cats were just dropped on the street.
ReplyDeleteI have no sympathy for these people. I also have no respect for them because the way a person treats an animal is the way they also treat people. These poor animals are going to pay for the stupidity of their owners.
ReplyDeleteFor the last decade people have gone stupid and lived way beyond their means. They buy $400k houses when a $100k one would be more then enough. In those houses they have spent thousands on "toys" like big screen TV's, marble bathrooms, granite counter tops, etc. that they did not need. They have bought $30-40k vehicles when a $15k one would do and they did not care about the economics of owning those vehicles, either. They have bought toys galore like iPods, computers, jetskis, etc. They have spoiled their children with expensive clothing, activities and toys-kids just do not "play" anymore. When those children hit high school these people have bought them new cars, spent thousands on things like prom dresses and the like. Instead of economical vacations these people have spent thousands on cruises, ski holidays, fancy resorts and the like.
They have no one to blame but themselves. They have acted foolishly by spending way more then they can afford. They should have known better. Of course I do understand that the majority of them never learned how to budget and they were too absorbed in themselves to pay attention to the world around them but that is no excuse for their actions. Now they are going to learn the harsh realities of life.
Morons. The horses are abandoned because Congress in its infinite wisdom and tyranny decreed that horses may no longer be slaughtered for food (to be exported) in the US. It is too expensive to cart them to Canada or Mexico.
ReplyDeleteThis is the great propaganda machine of the left.
ReplyDeleteWhere 5% unemployment is disaster. Imagine if Obama wins. Within a month he'll be delcared the Almighty for keeping it 5%.
We are fighting a truly "evil" machine in today's media. They will not stop until they defeat McCain and usher in their socialist agenda.
Someone needs to go undercover into the leftist media, into Daily Kos, Soros built empires and get the low down on media reporters and outfits like the 527s which are shoveling Horse manure into the public minds. Brainwashing, confusing and twisting every little nugget of information to fearmongor everyone into thinking the world is about to end due to Bush and Republicans.
Fox is unfortunately not enough to fight against these Media giants. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Times, NYT, MTV, VH1, and just about every other media outlet controlled by GE, Viacom and Time Warner, and Disney.
The power now resides in the Media Conglomerates. They hold more power than our government. They need to be taken down, split apart. They have a monopoly on everything we see and hear.
I'd love to hear any of the meetings between Soros, Kos Komrades, Obama elites and Hillary Hacks. The kind of meetings when they believe all is safe and nary a normal American loving person is around.
When all the mask are taken off.
Like when Obama in SanFran speaking to a bunch of rich billionaires and millionaires played the bitter, dumb religious, gun toten people remark.
The horse article is a load of BS.
ReplyDeleteI manage a thoroughbred horse farm in southern Indiana.
Last spring there was a drought followed by an extended rainy period which severly damaged hay production throughout the midwest and which affected the entire country.
Horse owners had to scramble to find hay, often unsucessfully, and had to compete with cattle farmers
for it. I personally had to send as far away as South Dakota and Wisconsin for hay at triple the usual price and we were some of the fortunate few to find enough hay to last through the winter.
It was the worst hay shortage I have ever experienced since I've been in the horse business and had absolutely nothing to do with the overall economy of the country. Most had to resort to alfalfa cubes and other supplements to get by.
Many horse owners have very small pastures and have to rely on hay even in the warmer months. Many people in Indiana were giving their horses away to people who could afford to feed them or owned pastures in order to keep them from going hungry.
It wasn't about "irresponsible" pet owners, quite the opposite. It was a heartbreaking choice to have to make.
Notice that the article's meme that horses "are being abandoned because of the bad economy" is based solely on the opinion of the farm manager quoted who herself admits that it is the "high cost of hay" that is causing it.
Horses are being given away (abandoned) because people can't afford to pay three and four times the usual cost of hay or even higher prices for supplements not because of a bad economy but because of a devastating crop shortage in 2007. Period.
The spike in hay prices was nationwide, even in places like California, where there was no crop shortage (as far as I know) as hay growers took advantage of the higher prices in the midwest and shipped their hay to other states.
And, assuming a normal growing season, that shortage will be largely corrected this year. Unfortunately, for many horse owners, it will be too late.
This attempt to drag politics into what has been a devastating situation for horse owners and horse lovers over the last year sickens and disgusts me personally.
I might add that the ethanol- production- fueled rise in the cost of grains is not helping horse owners, either, another situation for which the "Bush economy" is not to blame.