Image Matters - Recession Over?

Michelle Obama's dress for the State of the Union Address cost just under $8,000. I can only imagine what she spent on her shoes. She seems to like the expensive ones. She was seen wearing a $700 pair on her $4,000/day Hawaiian vacation.



Personally, I could care less how much money she spends on her clothes. The issue is the image that it gives. The President talked about how the recession is over; in technical terms it is. But, in technical terms it didn't start until much later than was being reported. There are very specific things that have to happen before we are considered to be in a recession and when we get out of them. The problem with those indicators is the fact that unemployment is not one of them; as it is a lagging indicator.


More than 3,000,000 Americans are out of work. That number does not include the people who have given up, who are under-employed, nor does it count the people who have taken pay cuts. People are still in danger of losing their homes, nor has our retirement accounts gotten back to where they were before the recession hit.

If you want to stand up in front of the nation and talk about how you feel the pain of the middle class, you may want to re-think having your wife in a dress that costs double what many people make in a month or two. Image does matter, Mr. President.