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Bang the Socialism Drum Loudly
by Charles Payne 
May  5, 2012 

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but with a whimper

-T.S. Eliot, 1925 

I’m not sure how the world will end, but more and more, it looks like the America I was born in could indeed end in a self-induced whimper. The last breath of greatness was forced out of our lifeless body after heading down a path that was always ridiculous but for some reason gathered the adulation of people too young to know better and too old to care anymore. 

Of course I’m looking ahead to a possible end of the road that would begin with gathering momentum with a second term for the current administration. Not only has the White House made its animosity for capitalism clear, but it’s confident enough to stop cloaking their agenda in false economic rhetoric. 

Whether that is our future remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, the decline is coming with little fanfare and even less outrage. What the heck is going on? 

I thought there would be riots around the nation of people demanding jobs and opportunity but instead we had a busted protest demanding freebies for those that have put no skin in the game from those that have made the sacrifices needed to clear hurdles to success. We are fading and yet we aren’t screaming. It’s like a drowning man in the middle of the ocean who would rather contemplate a life lived than spend energy flailing in vain. But we are not in an ocean and we aren’t even contemplating. Instead, we simply are sinking. 

Today, we stand prepared to celebrate another month of mediocrity capped off with job creation that would be disappointing in normal circumstances but more so considering all the pent up demand and greatness ready to be unleashed. At this rate, we will go out with a whimper.

The jobs number landed with a thud, and the stock market’s initial reaction was Dow down 50 points only to immediately reverse and peak into positive territory. I’m not sure why but it could be revisions of +53,000 for February and March, or the 8.1% unemployment rate, or maybe it’s simply more celebration of mediocrity that makes for a great component to an otherwise indifferent slide from greatness. 

Main Street media focuses on the 8.1% jobless rate, with idiots on many television channels knowingly lying to the public about what that number really means. People continue to drop out of the American Dream in all facets. In just the past month “not in labor force” rocketed up 522,000 to 88,419,000 an absolute all-time record as the participation rate of 63.6 is the lowest since 1981. 

When a Nation Falls through Indifference, Does it make a Noise? 

The market is grappling with this number and how to spin it positively from an economic point of view. Really, it can’t be done. We need to bang the drums loudly that the nation can cure itself and not with gimmicks but good old fashioned hard work. Just let the system work and create more entrepreneurs than couch potatoes. More job creators than welfare recipients.