Obama says the economy is getting better. The MSM is telling us the economy is getting better:
“The economy seems to be rumbling back to life”
“Can we exhale, is this the comeback everyone’s been waiting for”
“What you’re hearing is the sound of a comeback”
“It is getting exciting, psychologically, that’s gonna be important”
“I think people forgot to know what it’s like to feel good about the economy”
While the media and the administration portray the most recent jobs number — 8.3% unemployment — as good economic news, more sober minds understand what’s really going on. The facts show a jobs slump that should not get an incumbent president re-elected.
Sure, the jobless rate is falling. But according to the Congressional Budget Office, we are going through the longest stretch of high unemployment since the Depression. The rate has been higher than 8% since February 2009, the month after Obama took office.
And, says the CBO, it is expected to stay above 8% through 2014.
Even worse for an administration straining to make the case that it deserves to be around for another four years is the real unemployment rate. It’s not 8.3%, but closer to 15%, a figure that reflects those who “would like to work but have not searched for a job in the past four weeks as well as those who are working part time but would prefer full-time work,” says the CBO.
Another White House problem comes from this in the CBO report: “The share of unemployed people looking for work for more than six months — referred to as the long-term unemployed — topped 40% in December 2009 for the first time since 1948, when such data began to be collected; it has remained above that level ever since.”
It doesn’t stop there. The CBO reported that the:
“United States is experiencing the longest stretch of high unemployment since the Great Depression”
And as Obama always does, he makes the situation worse by overregulating small business while trying to put their best spin on it:
“The Obama Administration, girding for election-year attacks on its record, is trying to highlight the upside of government rules.”
How’s that working out for everyone?
U.S. small-business owners who aren’t hiring — 85% of those surveyed — are most likely to say the reasons they are not doing so include not needing additional employees; worries about weak business conditions, including revenues; cash flow; and the overall U.S. economy. Additionally, nearly half of small-business owners point to potential healthcare costs (48%) and government regulations (46%) as reasons. One in four are not hiring because they worry they may not be in business in 12 months.
But eh…why worry. The MSM and the administration are telling us its all getting better so it must be true
Sigh…
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