DR. SANITY'S THEORY OF LEARNED ECONOMIC HELPLESSNESS

Larry Kudlow takes on the "doom and gloom" talk of an economic slowdown (it's all we ever hear reported by the MSM):

Just take a look at today's factory orders report for May. It shows that order backlogs are surging at a 13 percent rate. This is yet another indicator of the business boom.

Moreover, the ADP jobs report hints at a much stronger than expected jobs gain in Friday's report--368,000 new jobs in June, compared to street consensus of only 160,000. (This is the largest monthly increase in employment since the ADP index was created five years ago.)

Yet, the demand-siders continue their doom and gloom. They've predicted four or five growth pauses in the last three years, as the economy shrugged off their pessimism and roared ahead. They have been wrong over and over again. And all signs suggest they will continue to be wrong.

Low tax rates work. Just look at the economy.

But apparently actually looking at the economy is the last thing they want to do. Then they might have to admit there is a Bush Boom, and that is simply not possible in their worldview.

I have written before about the command hallucinations coming from the left--insisting that the economy is tanking and we are all doomed. This is all a part of what I call "learned economic helplessness":

Seligman's theory states very simply that when a person is placed in a situation where there is no way to avoid inflicted pain, it leads to a profound fatalism and resignation to one's situation; and thus presumably to depression and hopelessness. Even when there may be a possiblity of improving the situation; the belief remains intact that there is nothing one can do to stop the pain.

The Santy variant of the theory is purely hypothetical, but is based on empirical observation, and goes like this: When a person is bombarded with unrelenting news reports and news analyses that insist that conditions are bad bad bad; and that people (somewhere) are suffering --even when such assertions are completely untrue-- and that as long as certain people are running the country and remain in power, it is hopeless to imagine that things could change and get better.

In other words, "Dr. Sanity's Theory of Learned Economic Hopelessness" works like a mindless political lesson drilled into the mind over and over again--e.g., Republicans hate the poor; Bush hates Blacks; Capitalism oppresses everyone etc. etc.--until facts, reality and truth are completely irrelevant.

The best treatment for this disorder? Stop the Pain! Stop Listening to the auditory hallucinations of the MSM and the left. They will just make you crazy.

UPDATE: Bizzyblog has a lot more information on the current economic situation.