The President is giving us the state of the nation, as he sees it. Whether he sees it the way the rest of us see it, I got my doubts.

While the President may mention the lower unemployment rate, the folks who have given up finding work won’t be impressed. The extra 20 million people receiving food stamps will thank him for a full stomach, but would prefer to earn it themselves.

If he points out that Dow Jones has doubled since he became president, stockholders will smile in agreement. But the ones who don’t own stocks will feel cheated because the “rich got richer” and income inequality got worse.

Because income inequality is gaining so much attention, it got me to wondering: If the stock market had dropped by half instead of doubling, would that have increased the income of the middle class and poverty-stricken? Would the economic well being of the vast majority be better than it is compared to five years ago? Not a chance. Not a chance.

Naturally, we want those folks to have more opportunities to increase their income. Maybe the President could offer some assurances that would encourage businesses to hire more people and work ‘em longer. We’ve got millions of young people with hardly any skills; they need a job, any job, where they can show up on time, do what they’re told, work hard, and earn enough respect to get promoted.

Do you suppose our vast supply of natural gas, oil and coal could help put more people to work? And the Keystone pipeline from Canada could add even more oil to boost our economy, and theirs. Canada has been waiting several years for President Obama to make a decision. Canada is patient, but will they wait ‘til 2017? Not a chance.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“The rest of the country knows the condition of the country, for they live in it… but (Congress) has no idea what is going on in America. So the President has to tell ‘em.” WA #371, Feb. 2, 1930

 “There is not a single person that knows any more about what (this year) has in store for us than a billy goat. Ten million people have gone without work for three years just listening to ‘big men’ solve their problems.” DT #2000, Jan. 1, 1933

“There is nobody we would rather be partners with in something than Canada.” DT #2376, March 15, 1934