Nearly every day there are new signs that the country may topple into recession. Today we read that retail sales fell 0.5 percent in June – the third consecutive monthly downturn. That hasn’t occurred since the fall of 2008, when the country was paralyzed with fear over the financial crisis. Think of that; consumers are reacting today just as they did when it looked like the world was coming to an end. That says volumes – about the tone set by the White House, the confidence this president has inspired in our citizenry, and about his inability to lead the country forward.

President Obama is playing with fire – fire that can consume our economy and our well being. We are not going to be bailed out by China, or the other countries that have acted as stimulants over the past few years. The OECD recently reported that leading indicators worldwide point to “an easing of economic activity in most major OECD economies and a more marked slowdown in most major non-OECD economies.” That includes China, where in the second quarter GDP growth was 7.6 percent which compares to 9.6 percent a year earlier and 8.1 percent in the first three months of the year. …

The truly frustrating aspect of President Obama’s tax campaign is that it isn’t even popular. A new McClatchy-Marist poll reports that 52 percent of Americans want all the Bush tax cuts extended, not just those on the middle class. What that tells us is that President Obama’s effort to incite class warfare is not working. Americans know that our economic outlook is perilous and that many small businesses might be caught up in the tax hike.