George Will on the Economy: We're all Soft

George Will writes in this week's Washington Post that we are all soft on the economy. That our economic woes aren't that bad and that if you look at the problems we face today in a historical context, we aren't in bad shape at all.

Some of his arguments about the need for a housing price correction are dead on. However, he trots out a few examples of what our economic panic has led to. This is classic conservative deflection:

Declines in housing values and the stock market are causing some Americans to delay retirement. A Kansas City man had been eager to retire to Arizona but now, the Journal says, "figures he'll stay put for another couple of years." He is 59.

He uses this as a example of how American Paranoia is fanning a minor flame into a wild fire. Will's problem is that he takes the example of a relatively affluent American as an example of our ills. What Will fails to mention, of course, are the millions of Americans who had but one financial asset, their home. Their home equity was a failsafe in an economy that is factually, losing jobs. Will doesn't address the rising cost of fuel, food, healthcare and college education. All while wages for middle class Americans are flat.

The housing crisis, isn't simply a crisis in an of itself. If middle class Americans had other economic resources to draw on perhaps this wouldn't be the problem that it is. I would ask him not to parade out only examples that serve his purpose, but also to acknowledge the larger economic issues facing many Americans.