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Unemployment: Obama’s *fantasy* v. *reality*

July 8, 2011 By Carol Greenberg Leave a Comment

Today’s news has been dominated about *jobs.* Or should I say the lack thereof. Obama has apparently not been living in the White House for the last couple of years but on Fantasy Island.

Unemployment numbers today increased to 9.2%. This is simply an unacceptable number and only indicates more the turnaround we need in this economy. As we trudge through this battle, let’s do some examination, both present and past.

Below is a look at employment today versus what it was in January of 2009.

Unemployment charts

Quite a difference here.

Jobs report analysis from Heritage:

  • The unemployment rate increased 0.1 percent to 9.2 percent while the labor force participation rate declined to 64.1 percent.
  • The report shows a staggering reduction of 445,000 in employed workers.
  • The labor force participation rate fell to 64.1 percent, the lowest level since 1984.
  • For women 20 or older, the participation rate fell to its lowest level since 1996.
  • There was also a surge in the number of unemployed individuals who have been unemployed for less than five weeks.

Most of the key items on the President’s agenda raise business costs and discourage expansion, such as…

  • The health care reform legislation raises the costs of employer-sponsored health insurance;
  • The new financial regulations make accessing capital difficult for smaller businesses;
  • The pending Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations of carbon dioxide and coal-fired power plants will raise the cost of energy;
  • The promised tax increases on successful businesses discourage entrepreneurs from taking risks on new ventures; and
  • Obama’s activist National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeks to foist unions on employers and employees, despite the fact that unionized businesses create fewer jobs.

But apparently Jay Carney, Obama’s White House spokesperson feels the American public doesn’t “analyze those numbers.” Maybe not everyone but this writer is confident those who are out of work most certainly do.

From the House Oversight and Reform Committee, these are a few of Obama’s tweets from his Twitter Town Hall yesterday:

Flashback to April 2010, Obama at a Celgard plant in Charlotte, N.C. which makes parts for batteries where he said “we are turning the corner” on jobs.

“Today is an encouraging day. We learned that the economy actually produced a substantial number of jobs instead of losing a substantial number of jobs,” he said. “We are turning the corner.”

And Biden drank the kool-aid in 2010 and said:

“All in all we’re going to be creating somewhere between 100[,000] and 200,000 jobs next month, I predict,” Biden said, according to a pool report, adding that he “got in trouble” for a job growth prediction last month. “Even some in the White House said, ‘Hey, don’t get ahead of yourself.’ Well, I’m here to tell you, some time in the next couple of months, we’re going to be creating between 250,000 jobs a month and 500,000 jobs a month.”

Americans aren’t buying your “recovery summer” Mr. Obama. Put them back to work. Allow drilling in the Gulf and elsewhere. Allow Boeing to build their aircraft unimpeded in South Carolina without any nooses around their necks. Embrace capitalism, the tenet this country was founded on. Don’t punish the entrepreneurs and send them overseas with your unrealistic and choking regulations.

The weather is *hot* Mr. Obama, but you’re the only person who can take the *heat* for this.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots

Filed Under unemployment Tagged With Biden, Heritage, Jobs, Obama, unemployment

Obama releases 30 million barrels of oil from our SPR

June 23, 2011 By Carol Greenberg Leave a Comment

Resourceful information

In a what is for certain a political and campaign  move to mitigate consumers’ anger over rising gasoline prices, President Obama today ordered the release of 30 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Via an email from House Natural Resources Committee Chair Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) this is his response:

Obama Admin. Taps SPR in Short-term Political Reaction, Ignores Job Creating Potential of New American Energy Production

In a blatant admission that increasing the world oil supply will affect prices, the Obama Administration today released 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).  However, the SPR is not a political tool; it is intended for emergency situations when there is a dramatic shortfall in world oil supplies – which is not currently the case.  The question must be asked—why is the Obama Administration tapping the SPR now? What has suddenly changed in Libya to make this an emergency situation?

Unfortunately, the damage caused by Obama Administration policies that lock-up our American energy resources greatly exceeds any gain from releasing just 30 million barrels from the SPR.  Instead of the tapping the SPR, President Obama should support House Republican legislation to expand American energy production, put people back to work and lower energy costs.

Jobs

  • Releasing oil from the SPR doesn’t create one single job.
  • The Obama Administration’s energy policies have cost thousands of American jobs.  The offshore drilling moratorium in the Gulf cost 12,000 jobs according to the Administration’s own estimates and could cause a loss of over 36,000 jobs nationwide in the long term.
  • Bipartisan legislation passed by the House (H.R. 1229, 1230 and 1231) to expand offshore drilling could create 250,000 jobs short-term and 1.2 million jobs long-term.

Energy Production

  • 30 million barrels (the amount being released from the SPR) is less than two days of American oil consumption.
  • The Obama Administration SPR release is equal to one-half of the production that has been blocked in the Gulf of Mexico due to the de facto moratorium and ongoing permitting delays since May of 2010.
  • There is an estimated 85 billion barrels of American energy we cannot develop in our nation’s OCS due to the Administration’s energy policies.
  • In total, the Obama Administration is blocking access to 162.9 billion barrels of recoverable American oil for production, including in the NPR-A.

·         Bipartisan legislation passed by the House (H.R. 1231) would lift President Obama’s ban on new offshore drilling and set a goal of producing 3 million barrels of oil per day, which could reduce foreign imports by one-third.

Filed Under Strategic Petroleum Reserve Tagged With gasoline, House Natural Resources Committee, Jobs, Obama, oil, Rep. Doc Hastings, SPR, Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Kasich living up to promises, creating jobs in Ohio

April 19, 2011 By Carol Greenberg Leave a Comment

John Kasich promised during his campaign he would create jobs in Ohio and he has been living up to those promises. Several examples are below:

Diebold a Fortune 1000 company will be staying in Ohio:

With Gov. Kasich’s leadership and a strong effort to retain jobs, the announcement came recently that Diebold would be staying in Ohio.

Kasich signed over job creation activities to a non-profit company, JobsOhio a public-nonprofit company.

The bill sets up a framework for JobsOhio, a private-public partnership that would lead the state’s economic development efforts. The measure directs the Department of Development’s interim director, Mark Kvamme, to review the duties that his state agency performs and what could be transferred to the new entity.

Kasich offers budget-balancing reform:

The $55.5 billion budget, which covers the next two fiscal years and fills an $8.6 billion shortfall, cuts $1.4 billion from Medicaid funding, sells five prisons to private operators, and slashes the money sent to local governments by 25 percent next year and an additional 25 percent in the following year. That last decision has proven to be controversial already, with critics charging that Kasich is passing the deficit problems to local governments, forcing them to raise taxes or severely restrict services. Kasich sees the cuts as an opportunity — and says it would be a “huge mistake” for local government to raise taxes, thus “providing disincentives for companies to locate in their communities.”

Kasich has been under fire for signing into law SB5 the Collective Bargaining Act similar to what Scott Walker signed into law in Wisconsin.

What Senate Bill 5 addresses is a serious imbalance in power over the public purse in Ohio that evolved over the 30 years since the collective-bargaining law was passed. The law gave unions the ability to make virtually all aspects of their employment subject to bargaining. And political expedience led many school boards, city councils and other local governments to acquiesce to unions’ demands.

ANALYSIS

Being from the state of Ohio John Kasich is making tough decisions that former governor Strickland failed to make. This is why Ohio finds herself in dire circumstances right now. With the leadership of Governor Kasich I am confident that things will turn around quickly in Ohio.

Filed Under Kasich Tagged With collective bargaining, Jobs, Kasich, Ohio, SB5, Strickland

Dems still living on “Fantasy Island” on jobs & economy

August 14, 2010 By Carol Greenberg Leave a Comment

“[The stimulus bill] is a crucial first step in a concerted effort that we have to jumpstart the economy. It will create jobs immediately, and it will also lay the foundation for economic stability as we go forward.” –Speaker Nancy Pelosi 1/22/09

However Lady Nan,

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics on August 6, 2010 they reported the economy lost 131,000 jobs in the month of July, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent.
More jobs have been lost. On August 12, 2010, the AP reported:

“The economy is looking bleaker as new applications for jobless benefits rose last week to the highest level in almost six months…First-time claims for jobless benefits edged up by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 484,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s the highest total since February.”

Analysts had expected claims to fall. Initial claims have now risen in three of the last four weeks and are close to their high point for the year of 490,000, reached in late January. The four-week average, which smooths volatility, soared by 14,250 to 473,500, also the highest since late February.”

Shrinking economy: On August 10, 2010, Federal Reserve officials met and expressed concern about the lack of growth in the economy. According to an August 11, 2010 a Wall Street Journal article:

“The Fed noted that high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth and tight credit were holding back household spending. Meanwhile, lending by banks ‘has continued to contract,’ the Fed said, while construction remains weak and employers remain reluctant to increase payrolls.”

Record Foreclosures: On August 12, 2010, the AP reported:

“The number of U.S. homes lost to foreclosure surged in July…Lenders repossessed 92,858 properties last month, up 9 percent from June and an increase of 6 percent from July 2009, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.”

Creating jobs, not dependents: On August 11, 2010, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported:

“Thirty thousand people turned out in East Point on Wednesday seeking applications for government-subsidized housing, and their confusion and frustration, combined with the summer heat, led to a chaotic mob scene that left 62 people injured.”

The federal assistance program is a Section 8 voucher program that assists tenants who cannot afford to pay rent at the fair market value. According to a local official, the demand for low cost housing has increased due to job loss.

More deficit spending: On August 11, 2010, the Obama administration announced that it would spend an additional $3 billion to help unemployment homeowners through two foreclosure-prevention programs. Also, on August 11, the Wall Street Journal reported,

“The U.S. government spent itself deeper into the red last month, paying nearly $20 billion in interest on debt and an additional $9.8 billion to help unemployed Americans:

The $165.04 billion deficit, while a bit smaller than the $169.5 billion shortfall expected by economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires, was the second highest for the month on record. The highest was $180.68 billion in July 2009.”

Filed Under Jobs, deficit, economy Tagged With deficit, economy, Jobs, Nancy Pelosi, spending, Stimulus

Obama’s fake “Road to Recovery” jobs chart

July 5, 2010 By Carol Greenberg 3 Comments

Does anyone looking at the chart below believe it? Didn’t think so. It’s called manipulation of data at the least. It even has the signature Obama blue and red coloring. How cute. Where did you get this chart, Mr. Obama?  Fantasy Island?

If you are telling us that you, the Democratic Congress and the Stimulus have created 600,000 jobs, how come unemployment is hovering at 10% nationwide and 15% in Michigan? Why are all the states hollering because they are running out of unemployment funds, and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) is yelping (I’ll show the video below) on Capitol Hill about why unemployment benefits haven’t been passed? Anyone wishing to see the link to the chart below it is here.

Mr. Obama, your little chart is pretty much alluding that as usual you are again playing the blame it on Bush game. And frankly, sir, we are tired of hearing that excuse.

OFA Road to Recovery-jobs-june10

Let’s face it, Mr. Obama. Most of the “jobs” you’ve created are temporary census workers, about 225,000 of them, and roadwork. If you weren’t paying up to $10,000 for ARRA signs, like the one below at Dulles Airport, maybe, just maybe, there would be some dollars for unemployment.
dulles-sign-ARRA-199x300

Rep. Darrell Issa of the House Oversight Committee is reportedly investigating why these signs cost so much. And Rep. Dave Camp of the Republican House Ways & Means Committee has his own little chart that tells us 48 out of 50 states have lost jobs. Only North Dakota, Alaska & DC have created jobs since the Stimulus. Yep, DC. Sure can believe that one. But how are you gonna explain Rep. Camp’s chart, Mr. Obama? It’s in direct contradiction to yours.

And here’s a quote from your White House website which is titled A Positive Six Months:

This morning, we received the June employment report. It reflected the planned phase out of 225,000 temporary Census jobs. But it also showed the sixth straight month of job growth in the private sector. All told, our economy has created nearly 600,000 private sector jobs this year. That’s a stark turnaround from the first six months of last year, when we lost 3.7 million jobs at the height of the recession.

And as promised, here is Ryan’s little diatribe:

For once, Mr. Obama, please don’t treat us like we are sheep who are know-nothings. We are educated on the facts and deserve that amount of respect. We know the facts.

H/t to Alden Weiss who left a comment with the link to the following morphing video of the states and unemployment growth so I’ve decided to add it:

Who do you think we are gonna believe, Mr. Obama?

Crossposted

Filed Under Stimulus, unemployment Tagged With ARRA, Darrell Issa, Dave Camp, Jobs, Obama, Stimulus, Tim Ryan, unemployment