Posted on 12/17/2014 5:38:51 AM PST by LeoMcNeil
If you listen to the Obama administration you might believe the economy is roaring. On some level jobs are being created. The problem of course is that they’re barely keeping up with population growth. Millions of jobs were lost when the recession took place in late 2008-2009. Very few of those jobs have been recovered, leaving millions in long term unemployment. The real unemployment rate, the Federal government’s U-6 number, is 11%. U-6 unemployment counts both the long term unemployed, which the official unemployment rate doesn’t do, as well as those who are underemployed. U-6 used to be the way unemployment was calculated, if you go back to the 70’s and 80’s unemployment rates were higher because the official rate was what we now call U-6. With an unemployment rate of 11%, the economy really isn’t very strong.
One in five millennials are living in poverty. This is a substantial increase in the poverty rate for people of this age group. Just thirty years ago it was one in seven living in poverty. Today, 13.5 million young adults live in poverty. Interestingly this was one of Obama’s biggest group of supporters in both 2008 and 2012. What exactly has Obama done for them? Finding a job and rising out of poverty is no easier today than it was in 2008. Unemployment rates for recent college graduates are shockingly high and have been for the entire Obama administration. In the recent midterm, millennial voters shifted away from the Democrats. This is the group that has suffered the most under the Obama economy. Nothing has improved for them.
For over three years there have been 46 million Americans on food stamps. According to the Census Bureau, 65% of children in this country are part of a family on some form of Federal welfare program. These numbers are staggering because they suggest that 2/3 of the children in America are living in poverty. On some level we have to take these numbers with a grain of salt. Welfare benefits are overly generous in many states. People who are not actually poor often qualify for food stamps, WIC or other welfare programs. In that regard, the government is creating a culture of dependency that will stick with children the rest of their lives. These days it isn’t just poor children who are affected, it’s middle class children as well.
Despite overly generous welfare benefits, the numbers suggest the economy isn’t improving. While it may be too easy to obtain welfare benefits, if people had better paying jobs they wouldn’t qualify for benefits. Either there aren’t better paying jobs available or people aren’t accepting better paying jobs because accepting them would mean giving up government freebies. No doubt there are examples of both problems out there. Unfortunately, it pays to work less and accept government handouts. There are, however, people out there who want a better paying job but they simply cannot find one. Incomes are down in this country in the last six years, the economy is not doing well. The average American feels it, even the average middle class family. Our incomes are down, especially compared to inflation. When costs rise and incomes don’t people are able to buy less with their money. This has the same affect as a decrease in wages.
Neither party appears very interested in trying to fix the economy. Obama and the Democrats are hellbent on making millions of illegal immigrants legal. How this helps the American job situation, especially those at the bottom of the economy, is anyone’s guess. The Republicans are no better. They’re funding Obama’s amnesty plans and the establishment wants to make these people legal in order to provide a bigger pool of cheap labor. Meanwhile the Republicans continue to fund Obamacare and any number of regulations promulgated by the Obama administration which cost jobs. Rather than arguing for fewer regulations and less government involvement in the economy, the Republicans make no arguments and fund Obama’s messes. Meanwhile 65% of children are living in families that are on the dole, 46 million Americans are on food stamps and 20% of young people are living in poverty. No one talks about the economy, no one talks about jobs, no one talks about the future.
I run across people on disability all the time. I’ve noticed an increase since Obama took office. Most of them could easily work but it’s easier and more lucrative not to.
Part of the problem is managed statistics such as inflation and unemployment. What is the perception? Do most Americans disbelieve the 5.8% figure or do they buy it? Wall Street obviously sees it all as good news. But what about voters? If unemployment has really fallen why didn’t we have a wave of Democratic victories in November?
I have no firm numbers but I agree with you. The number of people on disability seems to have swelled in the last few years. It also appears it is easier to get on disability now.
“businesses have become, on some level, dependent on welfare”
That’s the nub.
One of those businesses is the media which controls the ‘narrative’ and would, like other businesses, lose money from a cut in government debt subsidized consumer spending.
So ‘no one is talking’.
It will certainly be too late for talk after President Warren loots the wealth of the country and dismantles our military to pay for our un-unique Bread and Circuses.
“Interestingly this was one of Obama’s biggest group of supporters in both 2008 and 2012.”
No, he’s a Puppet for the Treasury Secretary and the Government Work-Camp: Arbeitsziehungslager Lobby
Watch for the attempted enforcement of coming body devices such as Night-Scout pushed by the “Insurance” Lobby, (along the lines of vehicle black boxes.)
Watch for the attempted enforcement of coming body devices such as Night-Scout pushed by the “Insurance” Lobby, (along the lines of vehicle black boxes.)
And probably first pushed on the public school children, then forced on all.
I saw numbers on disability around a year ago which suggest it’s up around 40%.
40%? That is both pathetic and frightening. Thank you.
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