(Melchizedek Communique, MC012910) News broke about three weeks ago that there had been zero net job creation in the Aughts. The entire past decade "was indeed a lost decade for job creation. We're beginning 2010 with just about 131 million jobs, only 129,000 more than at the beginning of the decade. This is despite the fact that the U.S. population has grown by roughly 25 million people since 2000." [1]

(Do not get sidetracked by the punctilio, "Did the Aughts begin in 2000, or in 2001?" By convention the Aughts are considered to be 2000 - 2009. "Aught" means "zero." 00 through 09 begin with aught. 10 does not begin with aught.)

People's Daily, China reiterates that "The American economy had been growing steadily every decade since World War II, but in 2000 it took a sudden turn for the worse." [2]

It is agreed that President Barack Obama is a strange visitor from another planet. Nonetheless, he is absolutely accurate in referring to the Aughts as a "lost decade."

"We can't afford another so-called economic 'expansion' like the one from the last decade -- what some call the 'lost decade,'" Obama reportedly said during Wednesday evening's State of the Union speech. [3] Then, yesterday, during a speech in Tampa, Florida, the President reportedly again referred to "what some call a lost decade -- because what happened between 2000 and now, it was a decade in which paychecks shrank and jobs barely grew, and the costs of everything from health care to college education went up." [4]

The mainstream sanitation news media has not noticed nearly enough the significance of Neil Irwin's original report dated January 2, 2010: "Aughts were a lost decade for U.S. economy, workers" (in the Washington Post). It is on the level of a previous breakthrough report which revealed the income gap had been widening for 25 years. Sadly, unless you rub their noses in it, many Americans are unable to grasp the significance of zero net job creation accompanied by a rise of 25 million people in the labor pool.

The Aughts, presided over almost entirely by George W. Bush, were generally a worse time economically for most Americans. The grim situation was papered over with a usury bonanza, but the underlying situation was hollow.

The Democratic Party has its hack writers, generally considered to be the mainstream sanitation news media. But the Republican Party has hack writers too, as well as (notably) radio talk show hosts. (Think of a "hack", slang for a taxicab for hire.)

One of the Republican Party hacks is your old buddy Rush Limbaugh. When George W. Bush was the so-called president, a few timid callers to the Limbaugh program would dare to criticize Bush. (Most callers to the show just suck up to Limbaugh.):

TIMID CALLER: Um, I'm not so sure about this war in Iraq...

RUSH LIMBAUGH: Do you support our troops?

TIMID CALLER: Sure, sure I support our troops...

RUSH LIMBAUGH: Then how can you not support their mission!? President Bush is our Commander-in-Chief! Sir, are you a True American, or are you not?

But now, isn't it amazing how, with Barack Obama the Commander-in-Chief, Rush Limbaugh keeps stabbing him in the back, daily, on his radio show? Isn't that the same as stabbing our troops in the back? What happened to "True American"???

As Dr. Samuel Johnson once said, false patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Beware of hacks, be they Democrat hacks or Republican hacks.

And beware of hacks trying to confuse you about the Aughts and trying to say they were not a lost decade.

------- Notes -------
[1] "Zero Net Job Creation in the Aughts", Melchizedek Communique, Jan. 9, 2010
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/mc010910.html
[2] "'Giant Sucking Sound' Verified", Melchizedek Communique, Jan. 11, 2010
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/mc011110.html
[3] "Our 'So-Called' Leader", by David Harsanyi. townhall.com, Jan. 29, 2010
[4] "The I's Have It: Obama Hits 96 I's in Tampa, Fla.", FOXNews.com, Jan. 28, 2010