NEW TIME POLL: Americans Believe Country Heading In Wrong Direction … A majority of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, according to a new TIME poll, with President Barack Obama's approval and disapproval ratings essentially tied. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed said the United States is on the wrong track, with only 33 percent saying it is heading in the right direction. Obama's approval rating stands at 48 percent—a statistical tie with the 44 percent who disapprove of his handling of his job as president. – TIME

Dominant Social Theme: We've had worse times and better ones. We'll get by …

Free-Market Analysis: Those who run TIME magazine are virtual card-carrying members of a globalist elite that constantly seeks a more internationalist business and economic environment.

This "poll" can surely be seen as just another "limited hangout" designed to protect the agenda of those who own and run TIME. No, things in the US and the West generally are not good today.

The EU in particular is struggling with all sorts of problems having to do with failing economies, a dysfunctional euro and ever-expanding unemployment.

In the US, the mainstream media meme is that the country is "rebounding" and that the economy, long trending down, is now becoming more favorable and productive. More people are being employed and monetary velocity is even picking up a little.

But what is not mentioned is the US's two to three trillion dollar black market, the vast numbers of people who have given up looking for formal work and what amounts either to a continuing Great Recession or depression, especially in the Rust Belt where whole cities like Detroit are gradually emerging as broken … and broke.

For TIME magazine, however, the situation in the US is not nearly so dire. Here's more on the latest poll:

On the issues, regard for Obama's foreign policy performance is bolstering his approval rating, while the president scores poorly on his handling of the economy. Forty two percent of Americans approve of Obama's handling of the economy, while 53 percent disapprove.

Obama earns top marks for reducing the threat of terrorism to the United States, with 56 percent of Americans approving, as 36 percent disapprove. On, foreign policy, 49 percent of Americans approve, while 41 percent disapprove, and Americans approve of Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan 50 percent to 42 percent.

On immigration, an issue where Obama has purposefully been hands-off so as not to jeopardize the Senate's efforts to pass immigration reform, 44 percent of Americans approve of Obama's performance, while 45 percent disapprove.

Okay, US citizens are in many cases having a lot of trouble putting food on the table. Some 40-million-plus are on food stamps. But somehow, this poll manages to focus such people – along with others to be sure – on issues of foreign affairs, the war in Afghanistan and immigration reform.

The total number of people polled amounts to about 800 with a sampling error of four percentage points. Can this possibly be accurate? The Internet – what we call the Internet Reformation – shows us clearly how many citizens feel about the current economic and sociopolitical environment, not just in the US but throughout the West. And the Internet surely isn't telling us what this poll does.

In fact, it really tells us nothing. It is perhaps designed to pro-offer the idea that it's business-as-usual in the US and that despite certain troubles nothing has really changed in terms of people's larger attitudes. Some are content with the administration and some are not. Some are happy; some are not.

By a thin majority, US citizens believe the country is "on the wrong track," whatever that means. But without knowing the makeup, intellectual background and predilections of those polled, it is impossible to come to a rational conclusion about the meaning of the information that has been gathered.

We simply don't think 800 people can tell us about the mood of a 300 million-strong nation. And if the intent of the poll is to signal that US citizens generally are split – as they always are – about the "state of the union" it fails miserably.

The editors of TIME, more than most, are skilled observers of the social scene. They must know that it is not the attitudes of the majority that determine the fates of nations and cultures but the intellectual class that is skilled with symbols and communication. If these individuals – many of them powerful and modestly wealthy in their own right – grow disaffected then trouble looms.

Complex societies in the modern era are kept afloat by the ability of those at the top to generate credibility with idea facilitators and manipulators. These technologists and communicators are very important to the larger power structure, and it is our distinct impression that this class is becoming unmoored from the dominant social themes that used to influence them. When Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union lost these people, those societies began to die.

It certainly takes a while but we see signs that this is occurring. One only has to read the Internet to see it. And no amount of polling, especially polls comprised of 800 people, can provide insights into this larger disaffection.

TIME polls, like other mainstream polls, were never very believable; but these days they are almost entirely missing the plot … in our humble opinion, anyway.