The country is not as bad economically as critics portray it to be

“Gloom, despair and agony on me, deep dark depression, excessive misery — if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.” A refrain from the 1969-1992 “Hee Haw” TV show appears to have infected the psyche and prognostications of the majority of political commentators, candidates for elected office, columnists — both syndicated and local — and much of the general public with a malaise not seen since the Carter administration. If you are unfamiliar with “Hee Haw,” it was entertainment appealing largely to those today identified as embittered rednecks and yokels “clinging to religion and guns” as solace from a government that has failed them.