It’s been a bad year for the Obama administration. Ebola, ISIS, and the IRS scandal are just some of the glaring failures of the White House, and there’s no doubt that voters are taking notice. In the midst of all this trouble, it’s only natural that Obama take full advantage of a jobs report that seems to say the economy is turning around. Unfortunately, using this report as proof of Obama’s economic recovery is shady at best.
At first glance, the news looks good. After all, September’s job creation numbers came in at 248,000. That was above even the most optimistic estimates. Not only that, but the national unemployment rate went down to 5.9%. Things are surely looking up for an America that has spent too much of the last decade wondering when the economy would turn around.
Well, not so fast. Because what the government doesn’t want to mention is that 315,000 people also left the labor force in September. Combine that with the 217,000 people who entered the population (legally), and you get a job creation statistic that is only barely keeping pace with population growth. That certainly takes a lot of the shine off the numbers, and that’s only the beginning of Obama’s deceit.
The truth of the matter is that when you factor in the low-paying, part-time work and those who have given up on the job market entirely, unemployment is closer to 23 percent. No one in an official capacity can acknowledge that number because it would be political suicide, but them’s the facts. This economy is quickly turning into one where people have to work twice as hard to make half as much. Overzealous federal regulations, Obamacare, and other bad liberal policies are making it impossible to create the kind of economy that can truly boom.
We don’t have an unlimited amount of time to put things right. The economy is circular by nature. There are recessions and there are booms. The key to growth is to make sure the latter are greater than the former. In this case, the opposite is happening. The recession was intense and the recovery is anemic. If we hit another crash before we experience any real growth, the consequences could be disastrous. With threats like terrorism and viral outbreaks hanging over our heads, the catalyst for the next crash could be just around the corner.
In the meantime, Obama supporters like Nancy Pelosi think the president should be crowing about the improved numbers. The only problem with doing that is it will make him sound utterly tone deaf. Even the majority of Democrat voters believe we’re on the “wrong track” when it comes to the economy. If Obama gets out on the campaign trail, ruminating over his mild successes, it’s going to play very badly with those who haven’t seen a difference. More part-time jobs, after all, does not a recovery make.
Can a Republican Senate turn things around? Maybe, maybe not. But if we can get someone in government to be honest about the economic challenges we’re currently facing, maybe we can start addressing them.
