Posted on 01/22/2015 6:11:01 AM PST by LeoMcNeil
President Obama believes that “middle class economics” work. This meaningless tag line must have been popular in focus groups. What exactly qualifies as “middle class economics”? Based on the President’s State of the Union speech and the lead up to it, it apparently entails a bunch of big government programs provided to the middle class for “free.” Unlike the lower classes, who pay very little in taxes, the middle class likely isn’t fooled by the ruse of “free.” Most in the middle class understand that free means taxes are increased, likely on them. While the President offered a few middle class tax cuts, mostly in the form of tax credits for two parent working families, the fact is that all of his proposed programs will cost a fortune. The middle class isn’t so foolish as to believe that only the wealthy will pay for them.
If we look at Obama’s track record over the last six years we have to wonder what exactly he’s done to help the middle class. Real wages are down around $3,000 since he took office. Meanwhile healthcare costs have increased $4,000 per family. That’s a $7,000 hit for the middle class. Obviously, Obamacare isn’t working for us. Workforce participation hasn’t been as low as it is today since the stagflation 70’s. We currently have 27 million Americans between 18-65 who are not employed. Considering that compared to the 70’s substantially more women are working today, these numbers are horrible. This group of 27 million isn’t a bunch of housewives, they’re people who largely want to work but cannot find jobs. The Obama economy has left them behind.
When Obama took office around 32 million Americans were on food stamps. Today there are over 46 million eating off the taxpayer. In August 2008, the month prior to the beginning of the recession, there were just over 29 million people on food stamps. What about the Obama economy has helped people get off the dole? This President has overseen a substantial increase in the number of people receiving social security disability. SSD has been the place to go for the long term unemployed. People who cannot find a job are suddenly declared disabled. Depression and obesity have made thousands so disabled they cannot work according to the government. In reality, SSD is a dumping ground for middle class people who can no longer find work even though the great recession allegedly ended years ago.
You would think after all these years the economy would actually pick up steam, wages would increase and welfare recipients would decrease. Not under Obama. We lost millions of jobs during the first two years of his administration. The economy is now creating just a few more jobs than population increases. Keep in mind, the economy adds each month about 150,000 new people to the labor market thanks to population growth alone. When the government brags about 200,000 jobs created in a month, that only makes a dent of 50,000 in the number of unemployed. With millions of jobs lost in the recession, the miniscule job growth of the last year has barely made a dent. The number of people on food stamps suggest that the economy isn’t rolling for the middle class at all. The fact that wages haven’t increased for the middle class suggest that Obama has no idea what sort of middle class economics work.
While the President cynically offers welfare programs and tax increases that he knows won’t pass Congress, the middle class suffers. The truth is that Obama has never cared about the middle class or our problems. After all these years, he’s suddenly concerned about the middle class but not so much as to offer any realistic solutions. Wages are down thanks to Obama’s incompetent economic policies. Health care costs are up thanks to Obama’s fascist healthcare law. Taxes are up thanks to Obama’s love of tax increases. The national debt is up $7.5 trillion since Obama took office. It’s the middle class who will suffer when the national debt bubble bursts. Obama’s solution is to make the middle class just like the lower class: Slaves to the state. He wants us dependent on “free” college education, “free” food and tax credits that benefit only families where a wife works outside the home. Obama doesn’t know the first thing about economics, much less the middle class.
Exactly. They think the rich are like Scrooge McDuck, keeping their gold in private vaults so they can go play in it and slide down the huge piles of gold coins. Have these Libtards ever tried to get a job from a poor person? The Poor are poor for a reason...they make POOR decisions with their money. Split all this county's wealth up evenly among everyone and in six months the poor would be poor again.
Obama gives idiots a bad name.
Leo, your articles are much better posted in full, like this one. Thanks.
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