Been Down So Long …

Remember the 1960s counter culture novel by Richard Fari–a titled, “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me?”

No? Didn’t read it?

Neither did I, but I like the title. It seems especially fitting given the economic turmoil we’ve been going through over the past several years. (By the way, Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood performed a song with a similar title, and Richard Fari–a was married to Mimi Fari–a, the sister of Joan Baez, but enough of the obscure Kevin Bacon-type musical connections.)

Anyway, according to a recent U.S. Labor Department report, the unemployment rate in December 2011 fell to 8.5 percent, its lowest level in nearly three years. The report also showed employers added a net 200,000 jobs in December. So, the economy has had six consecutive months in which 100,000 or more jobs were generated each month, and economists forecast that job gains are expected to top 2 million in 2012.

Still, while it’s a positive trend the rose is obviously not yet in full bloom.

The Commerce Department reports that while retail sales grew for all of 2011, they grew at the weakest pace in seven months in December — .01 percent — much less than expected.

“Retail sales showed important strength last year, increasing 7.7 percent from 2010 to 2011,” Commerce Secretary John Bryson said in a statement released by his office. But the December “number is another reminder that our work is far from over. We need to build on the positive economic momentum in the New Year,” he said. “That means extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance, which will help create jobs, promote economic growth and sustain the recovery.”

Congress will soon be tackling the issue, again, of whether to extend the payroll tax cut. The news organization Politico reports that the bloodbath that occurred in December over the issue is unlikely to recur. That’s because both Republicans and Democrats have embraced the notion that it’s probably a good idea to extend for a full year the Social Security tax cut for 160 million Americans.

We’ll see. But even the fact that political pundits and people who pay close attention to these things report there may be agreement in Congress over at least one important issue seems like, well, an upswing. Of course, they still need to figure out how to pay for the cuts.

Finally, in the I-just-can’t-help-myself department, Fari–a’s book also influenced the songwriting of Jim Morrison of the Doors. (But you’ll have to look that up for yourself.)