Strange how this isn't talked about very much lately! Somebody must be trying to keep it quiet.


George Bush has been in office for 7 1/2 years. The first six years the economy was fine. A little over a year and a half ago:

1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high!

2) Regular gasoline sold for ** $2.19 ** a gallon!

3) The unemployment rate was 4.5%!

4) The DOW JONES hit a record high--14,000+

5) American's were buying new c ars, taking cruises, vacations overseas, living large!

But Americans wanted 'CHANGE'! So, in 2006 they voted in a Democratic Congress and, yep - - we got 'CHANGE' all right!

1) Consumer confidence has plummeted!

2) Gasoline is now over $4.00 a gallon!

3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase)!

4) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $12 TRILLION DOLLARS & prices still dropping!

5) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure!

6) As I write, THE DOW is probing another low - - 11,300 - - $2.5 TRILLION DOLLARS HAS EVAPORATED FROM THEIR STOCKS, BONDS & MUTUAL FUNDS INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS!

YEP, IN 2006 AMERICA VOTED FOR CHANGE! ..... AND WE GOT IT!!!

NOW 'BO' (Barack Obama), the DEM'S CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT, CLAIMS HE'S GONNA REALLY GIVE US CHANGE!!

JUST HOW MUCH MORE 'CHANGE' DO YA THINK YOU CAN STAND?

From http://www.factcheck.org/askf...

Most of the figures in a widely-circulated e-mail are made up. In fact, the entire premise of the e-mail is a logical fallacy.
Like most of the chain e-mails making the rounds, this one is inaccurate. Some claims are outright false while others are grossly out of context. Overall, the e-mail commits the logical fallacy known as post hoc ergo propter hoc (or after the fact, therefore because of the fact).

Here's what we found:

Consumer confidence has fallen since October 2006, but it was not at a 2 1/2 year high prior to the elections. In fact, consumer confidence varies less with elections than it does with general economic conditions, many of which have little to do with the actions of politicians.

Gas prices were not at $2.19 per gallon before the election, but did reach that point nearly a year before the election and again (briefly) two months afterward.

The e-mail actually understates the equity drop by $500 billion. In fact, the stock market lost $2.8 trillion in equity from its most recent high point. But the e-mail fails to make clear that the high point happened nearly a full year after the election. It also neglects to mention that the market is higher now than it was in November 2006. (this was before the recent crash brough on by Republican-led deregulation)

There's no clear figure on how much home equity has been lost since 2006 (the two most widely used measures give vastly different sums). But home equity loss and higher foreclosures have more to do with some unsavory lending practices and some bad decisions by homebuyers than they do with congressional activities.

The e-mail commits a whole series of post-hoc fallacies. That is, it assumes, without offering any evidence, that because one thing preceded another, the first must have caused the second.

We did find one accurate assertion, though. The unemployment rate really did increase from 4.5 to 5 percent.