The thin red line

How many ways are there to say, "It's the jobs, stupid?" Krugman posts the chart to illustrate.

And Steve Benen explains what it means:

In case it’s a little hard to see, that red line is the unemployment rate; the blue line is the interest rate on 10-year bonds. I realize the phrase “interest rate on 10-year bonds” probably isn’t one of those phrases that gets bandied about around American dinner tables, but the more serious a problem the deficit becomes, the higher that blue line would appear.

And therein lies the point: the blue keeps going down. Indeed, it hasn’t been this low in many decades. If the deficit were a drag on the economy, and the United States were facing some sort of debt crisis, that blue line would be through the roof. But that’s not even close to what’s happening.

But The Village is apparently color blind. To hear them tell it, the invisible bond vigilantes are in the parking lot beating the confidence fairies to a pulp and they're going to kick that blue line into the stratosphere any minute now. The red line doesn't even register with our very serious and wise overlords.

We are truly ruled by deliberate idiots.


[Big thanks to Michael J.W. Stickings for so kindly linking in at Mike's Blog Roundup.]