The Obama "Recovery"

According to the White House, they "saved" the economy back in February 2009 with their stimulus package that was "just right" and everything has been tickety-boo ever since. Not once has Obama stepped forth to say "oops! we under-estimated the recession, we need more stimulus!"

But the following graph of cumulative bank failures over the last three years shows that 2010 is the worst year yet. If this is "recovery", I wonder what a real depression would look like...

Click to Enlarge
What makes this even worse is that the Republicans are working hard to undermine both Obama and the economy. They figure if they throw enough people out of work and out of their houses, they will be "fighting mad" in 2012 and will give them an even bigger majority than they did in 2010. The Republicans are convinced that American voters are so stupid they won't "catch on" that the economy is being sabotaged purely for political gain. They think voters are dumb as doornobs and they won't notice that the part that always waves the flag and talks about "values" and proclaims its "love of America" is actually trashing the country simply to win an election.

... and what is utterly tragic... they are probably right.

I'm about to throw in the towel and admit that the electorate is just as stupid as the Republicans believe them to be. It is becoming ever more evident to me that short of a complete collapse of the economy, the "average voter" in the US won't notice that the Republican party is doing everything it can to destroy the economy, throw people out of work, force more foreclosures, etc. in the hopes that economic grief will deliver them a landslide in the 2012 polls.