Rosy assessments vs. the facts

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, told the Somerset-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce earlier this week:

“Kentucky, overall, has come through the recession very, very well. In the end, if we continue on the same course, I think we will come out of this.”

Really?

Kentucky’s unemployment rate has been rising and is now at the highest in a quarter-century – 11.1 percent, nearly double what it was last year.

This is similar to President Barack Obama's recent statement that “we’re putting Americans back to work" just before the Department of Labor announced another 263,000 jobs were lost in September, raising the national unemployment rate to 9.8 percent.

I wonder how the nation's President – and Kentucky's Speaker – reconcile their rosy economic assessments with the facts. More important, what is the plan to change the economic realities -- beyond the easy answers of higher taxes, bailouts, stimulus spending ... and more smooth talk?