It seems to me that it is in the Democrats and their supporting media’s interest to paint as awful an economic picture as possible now while they can pin it on the previous administration. That way, whatever progress is made can be ballyhooed as even more awesome than anybody ever imagined because they overcame the horrible conditions they were describing earlier.

And of course it’s much easier to get people to accept the need for silly programs packed into the stimulus package when they think the sky is falling.