Obama’s Economy A Mess
May 5, 2012 5 Comments
My family just returned from a lovely trip to Chicago. We spent three days eating some of the best food in the midwest and going to baseball games. As I write this I can hear my 5 and 3 year old screech out the Go Cubs Go song.
Being away for three days has put me three days behind in the news. The economic report doesn’t look hot at all. The administration will no doubt tout the 8.1% unemployment number. But does anyone really believe that number is accurate? Throughout April new unemployment claims topped 380,000. In fact, for the last 15 straight weeks the new unemployment number has been revised up. So what essentially happens is that each week we get a big headline about new unemployment claims and a week later, sometimes a month later the number is revised upward. Over 15 weeks the number has been revised up to a tune of over 92,000 new claims. The government claims 522,000 people left the workforce last month. Honestly, who believes the unemployment rate is 8.1%?
Only 115,000 jobs were created last month, a terrible number. We need job growth of 250,000 jobs every month for three years to have employment as high as we had before the recession. April’s numbers just aren’t acceptable. Romney rightfully wonders where the jobs are. The American people should be wondering that as well. Obama has been in office for three years. The economy isn’t any better today than it was when he took office. The unemployment rate is down over the last year, but when the government is removing people from the job market at the rate they did in April, it’s no wonder the unemployment number is down. We could simply say everyone without a job isn’t in the workforce and therefore the unemployment number is 0. That wouldn’t chance reality in the marketplace though.
The truth is Obama’s policies have been a failure. The Stimulus didn’t work. Obamacare has created market uncertainty which has stunted job growth. The regulatory environment created by Obama has created uncertainty. His tax policy has created uncertainty and has stunted job growth. There was a time just a few years ago when the Michigan Avenue stores in Chicago were full of people, even on weekdays in early May. It’s clear the economy hasn’t picked up, the stores weren’t full and people weren’t buying. Restaurant reservations were easy to come by, just a few years ago it could be a battle. True these are anecdotal examples but the economic numbers suggest that the economy is in shambles. Consumer confidence for example is down.
There are plenty of reasons to not have faith in Mitt Romney. But he has a real opening here because the economy isn’t picking up. A simple plan of lowering taxes, repealing Obamacare and backing off of regulations is all Romney needs. Romney has a tendency to complicate matters, just look at his 50+ point economic plan. He doesn’t need to complicate matters, the economy is a mess and he has the chance to convince us he can fix it. The fact though is the only way to fix the economy is to have government step back. No more Solyndra’s, no more economic advice from Jon Corzine, no more political donors reaping financial benefits at taxpayer expense. That’s what Romney must offer us if he wants to win. The only way out of this mess is to shrink the size of government and allow the market to work. The top down socialism of Obama has failed.
About Steven
A few problems here. Taxes are already at their lowest levels in decades, and contrary to a previous Romeny claim Obama has not raised taxes on corporations. Indeed, taxes on corporations and the wealthiest americans are at record, or near record lows- with the burden being shifted to the rest of us.
And let’s see- the stimulus started by Bush, and continued/expanded by Obama, not only stopped the massive wave of job losses, but have recovered a substantial portion of them. The elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss is that America has shifted- and many of the jobs lost aren’t coming back. Unless america can join together and reinvent itself, these numbers will not improve.
And let us not forget- over the past 5+/- years most of our allies- the UK, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands…have all seen conservatives take power and institute exactly the types of policies the gop and the conservatives are proposing- with disastrous results.
And Obamacare? Really? The individual mandate- which Obama opposed and which has for decades been a republican idea…one instituted by none other then Mitt Romney…
Let’s not confuse Euro and American conservatives. They’re two different animals.
Taxes are not at their lowest in decades. They’re higher than they were under Reagan, you’ll recall he lowered the highest rate to 28%. Today it’s 35%. Corporate taxes are the highest in the world percentage wise. While big companies like GE get tax breaks and other loopholes, it’s small businesses that often pay at or near the full amount. Obama has created tax uncertainty by only extending the Bush cuts for two years. At the end of this year, taxes are set to rise unless Congress and the President act. This is the sort of tax uncertainty that creates problems in the economy.
Bush was wrong to support TARP and Obama was wrong to support the Stimulus. Both of these actions created massive government debt while doing nothing for the economy. Had government done nothing, the economy would already be thriving again. It’s their actions, which created debt and rewarded bad businesses practices at the expense of taxpayers and those who engage in good business practices, which have prolonged the recession/downturn.
As for the individual mandate, it is hardly a Republican idea. It wasn’t even a Heritage Foundation original, they only got behind it in opposition to Hillarycare in 1993. Such was foolish on their part as it abandoned conservative principles. Having said that, what prominent Republican supported an individual mandate publicly or proposed one in Congress between 1994-2008? It’s not a Republican idea, being pushed by Republicans during the last six years of Clinton or any of the Bush years. Obama never cited Republicans or the bipartisan nature of the individual mandate until after it had already passed.
You raise a lot of good points. No, the economy is not better. Not for those of us who have to work for a living. No matter how Obama tries to spin the numbers, the economy is just as bad as when he took office.
Honestly, he is making this easier for Romney. It’s up to Mitt to take the opportunity he is being offered. He needs to be out there every day, pointing out how Obama’s economic policies have failed. I’m not sure he will do that.
If Romney wants the White House, he has a huge opening that he can exploit. I question whether it’s in him when I’m not questioning whether it matters. Republicans never seem to take it to the Democrats, we always seem to be on the defensive rather than the offensive. Romney needs to go on the offensive in this case.
Great minds think alike – and you and I are the same page, Steven. I just posted charts on my blog to prove what I’ve posted. —
Reported Unemployment Rates Do Not Reflect the Truth
posted by Donna Calvin – Watchwoman on the Wall
Watchwoman writes: I’m no financial expert. Not anywhere near close to one. However, I am not obtuse either. Please hear this!
Last month, they added 115,000 new jobs. That is not enough to keep up with new people entering the work force; therefore, as people enter the work force there’s fewer and fewer jobs available to each person who wants to work.
Also, as people’s unemployment compensation runs out after 99 weeks, they are no longer considered part of the unemployed work force. They just disappear from the unemployment government statistics. Viola, it looks like the unemployment is dropping, but it is actually increasing and the recession is, by that standard, getting much worse.
Go to http://www.shadowstats.com where you’ll note that the real unemployment rate is 22.3%. Also, check out there at http://www.shadowstats.com what the real inflation rate is.
If you want the truth and to learn what the government is not telling you, go to http://www.shadowstats.com.
The following is from another source revealing the same thing that the U.S. Government is fudging on the unemployment rates and feeding the American population a crop of happy talk.
If the government were being truly honest with you and me, my friend, they would be telling us how many of American citizens are working instead of what the percentage of how many of the people are unemployed. ▬ Donna Calvin
People Not In Labor Force Soar By 522,000, Labor Force Participation Rate Lowest Since 1981
SEE THE CHARTS…AND
Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/watchwomanonthewall/2012/05/reported-unemployment-rates-do-not-reflect-the-truth.html#ixzz1u2GpDBZl