Hype And Blame: Jobs

Obamanomics Failed To Live Up To The President’s Promises, So Now He Resorts To Blaming Everyone But Himself

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL IN 2008, CANDIDATE OBAMA PROMISED MILLIONS OF NEW JOBS

Obama Promised Virginians He Would Put Two Million Americans To Work Rebuilding American Infrastructure. OBAMA: “I’ll also put two million more Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling roads, schools, and bridges – because it is time to build an American infrastructure for the 21st century. And if people ask how we’re going to pay for this, you tell them that if we can spend $10 billion a month in Iraq, we can spend some money to rebuild America.” (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks, Richmond, VA, 10/22/08)

Obama Promised Ohioans He Would Create Five Million Green Energy Jobs. OBAMA: “We’ll create two million new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, and schools. And I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade – jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced.” (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks, Columbus, OH, 11/2/08)

BUT MORE THAN THREE YEARS LATER, THE ECONOMY REMAINS IN SHAMBLES AND THE PROMISED JOBS ARE NOWHERE TO BE FOUND

“Rising Layoffs, Falling Home Sales And Slowing Manufacturing Activity Are Sparking Fears That The Economic Recovery Is Headed For A Springtime Stall For The Third Year In A Row.” (Ben Casselman and Nick Timiraos, “Economic Reports Fan Fears,” The Wall Street Journal , 4/19/12)

• “‘It’s Been The Weakest Recovery In The Post-World War II Period, And That Hasn’t Changed,’ Said David Rosenberg, Chief Economist For Investment Firm Gluskin Sheff.” (Ben Casselman and Nick Timiraos, “Economic Reports Fan Fears,” The Wall Street Journal , 4/19/12)

Since President Obama Took Office, The Nation Has Lost 740,000 Jobs And The Unemployment Rate Has Increased From 7.8 Percent To 8.2 Percent. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 5/2/12)

The Unemployment Rate Has Remained Above Eight Percent For A Record 38 Straight Months. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 5/2/12)

• Congressional Budget Office: Unemployment Has Remained Above Eight Percent For The Longest Stretch Since The Great Depression. “The rate of unemployment in the United States has exceeded 8 percent since February 2009, making the past three years the longest stretch of high unemployment in this country since the Great Depression.”(“Understanding And Responding To Persistently High Unemployment,” Congressional Budget Office, 2/16/12)

The Labor Force Participation Rate Dropped To 63.8 Percent In March. “The labor force participation rate-or the share of the civilian population that is working-also dropped again to 63.8%.” ( Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 5/2/12)

• In March, Female Workers Accounted For The Entire Drop In The Labor Force. “Women lost out in the jobs market in March, according to an analysis of the latest government figures. Male participation in the workforce was up 14,000 while female participation fell 177,000, according to the labor department’s latest figures. ‘This recovery has not been great for women,’ said Betsey Stevenson, assistant professor of business and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school.” (Dominic Rushie, “Women Hit Hardest In US Economic Recovery As Jobs Growth Slows,” The Guardian [UK], 4/6/12)

Despite The Binge Spending, Green Technology Jobs Account For Just Two Percent Of Employment Nationwide . “A study released in July by the non-partisan Brookings Institution found clean-technology jobs accounted for just 2 percent of employment nationwide and only slightly more – 2.2 percent – in Silicon Valley. Rather than adding jobs, the study found, the sector actually lost 492 positions from 2003 to 2010 in the South Bay, where the unemployment rate in June was 10.5 percent.” (Aaron Glantz, “Number Of Green Jobs Fails To Live Up To Promises,” The New York Times, 8/18/11)

• Biden’s Former Economic Advisor, Jared Bernstein, Admitted “It Doesn’t Take A Ton Of People” To Run Solar Plants. “Can I make two points? First of all, when I worked for the administration, I was very active in the implementation of the Recovery Act, and one thing we found about clean energy was that if you build a solar plant, you’re going to hire a lot of people. If you run a solar plant, it doesn’t take a ton of people to run some of these plants. They’re very – the labor saving technology around the actual production of clean energy is quite intense. So, some of these firms don’t employ as many people as you might hope.” (Jared Bernstein,American Action Forum’s Housing Event, Washington, D.C., 4/4/12)

The Job Market Is Losing Momentum. “New data Thursday provided fresh evidence that the job market is losing the momentum it built earlier this year, which could pressure fragile housing markets that have been showing signs of life. Separate reports this week suggested that the factory sector, a source of strength in the recovery, now is being hurt by weak growth overseas.” (Ben Casselman and Nick Timiraos, “Economic Reports Fan Fears,” The Wall Street Journal , 4/19/12)

• Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Warns That The Economy Is Not Growing Fast Enough To Sustain The Hiring Gains. “Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, meanwhile, has warned that the economy is not growing fast enough to sustain the hiring gains.” (Vickie Needham, “Weak March Jobs Report Could Spell Trouble For Obama’s Reelection Bid,” The Hill’s “On The Money,” 4/6/12)

Those Lucky Enough To Find Jobs Are Finding They Don’t Pay The Bills Like They Used To

“The Jobs Are Lousy, And There Aren’t Enough Of Them.” “The job market these days is sort of like that old Catskills joke: The food is terrible, and the portions are so small. The jobs are lousy, and there aren’t enough of them.” (Mark Gongloff and Bonnie Kavoussi, “Job Market Recovery Led By Low-Wage Sectors,”The Huffington Post, 4/5/12)

• “The Problem Is That Most Of The Decent Job Growth We’ve Seen In The Past Few Months Has Been In Sectors That Do Not Pay All That Well.” “The problem is that most of the decent job growth we’ve seen in the past few months has been in sectors that do not pay all that well. The economy has created 1.2 million nonfarm payroll jobs in the past six months — great news. But nearly 668,000 of those jobs — more than 55 percent — have been created in the retail, temp, ‘health care and social assistance’ and ‘leisure and hospitality’ sectors, notes Brusuelas.” (Mark Gongloff and Bonnie Kavoussi, “Job Market Recovery Led By Low-Wage Sectors,” The Huffington Post, 4/5/12)

“More Than Half Of All The Jobs Created During The Past Six Months Have Been In Low-Paying Industries Such As Retail And Temporary Help, Joseph Brusuelas, Senior Economist At Bloomberg LP, Noted On Thursday.” (Mark Gongloff and Bonnie Kavoussi, “Job Market Recovery Led By Low-Wage Sectors,” The Huffington Post, 4/5/12)

The Average Hourly Earnings Grew 1.9 Percent In February From The Previous Year, Not Enough To Keep Up With Inflation And Meaning “Real” Earnings Are Shrinking.“The average hourly earnings of American workers grew just 1.9 percent in February from the year before, according to the February jobs report. That’s better than nothing, and certainly better than during the recession, when wage growth dipped to, well, nothing. But wage growth was not enough to keep up with consumer price inflation, which rose 2.9 percent year-over-year in February, according to the Labor Department. That means ‘real’ earnings, or earnings that are adjusted for inflation, are actually shrinking. A lot. That needs to change in order for the economy to keep recovering.” (Mark Gongloff and Bonnie Kavoussi, “Job Market Recovery Led By Low-Wage Sectors,” The Huffington Post, 4/5/12)

UNABLE TO LIVE UP TO HIS HYPE, OBAMA BLAMES EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING FOR HIS OWN FAILED ECONOMIC POLICIES

Reuters : “Part Of [Obama’s Campaign] Pitch Will Include Steering Attention To Outside Forces As Causes For Economic Woes At Home.” “That bump is a political challenge for the president, whose re-election in 2012 may depend on his ability to convince voters that his economic policies have been successful. Part of his pitch will include steering attention to outside forces as causes for economic woes at home. The president did just that in his weekly radio and Internet address, broadcast Saturday, by highlighting ‘head winds’ that are affecting the United States.” (“Obama Blames Europe, Japan For U.S. Economic Woes,”Reuters, 6/4/11)

“So Far, He Has Blamed The Stagnant Economy On ATMs, Ditches, Slurpees, Corporate-Jet Owners, The Tea Party, Republicans, Japan’s Earthquake, The Arab Spring, The Arab Summer, George Bush, And ‘Fat-Cat’ Wall Street Something-Or-Others. The Kitchen Sink May Be Next.” (Salena Zito, “Battlegrounds Of Resentment,”Pittsburgh Tribune-Review8/28/11)

• Obama Blamed ATMs And Airport Kiosks For His Failure To Create Jobs. “[T]here are some structural issues with our economy, where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient, with a lot fewer workers. You see it when you go to the bank and use an ATM — you don’t go to a bank teller. Or you go to the airport, and you’re using a kiosk, instead of checking in at the gate.” (NBC’s“Today,” 6/14/11)
• Obama: The Republicans Are “Sipping On A Slurpee” And “Kicking Dirt” Onto Democrats. OBAMA: “And we’ve been pushing that car, pushing it, pushing it, pushing it. The whole time the Republicans have been standing on the sidelines. They’ve been looking down, fanning themselves, sipping on a Slurpee. Kicking dirt down into the ditch. Kicking dirt in our faces. But we kept on pushing” (President Barack Obama, Remarks, Minneapolis, MN 10/23/10)
• Obama Tried To Blame The Japanese Earthquake And Arab Spring For Poor Economic Numbers. OBAMA: “Let me start by saying a few words about our economy. There is no doubt this has been a tumultuous year. We’ve weathered the Arab Spring’s effect on oil and gas prices, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami’s effect on supply chains, the extraordinary economic uncertainty in Europe. And recently, markets around the globe have taken a bumpy ride.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks , Washington, D.C., 8/5/11)
• Obama Says He “Inherited” A Bad Economy. “Lately, Obama and his aides have taken to saying that they ‘inherited’ a troubled economy, a more subtle reference to the past at a time that many voters increasingly see Obama as being part of the problem.” (Peter Wallsten, “Obama: Bush Put Us In A Hole,” The Washington Post , 8/30/11)
• Obama: Problems In Europe “Wash Over Into Our Shores.” “But the truth of the matter is, is that we now live in a global economy where everything is interconnected, and that means that when you have problems in Europe and in Spain and in Italy and in Greece, those problems wash over into our shores.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks by the President at a DNC Event in Washington, DC , 8/8/11)

EXCUSE: Obama Blames Congress For The Sluggish Recovery. OBAMA:”Well, look, we anticipated that the recovery was slowing. The economy is still growing, but it’s not growing as fast as it needs to. I’ve got things right now before Congress that we should move immediately. And I said so before I went on vacation and I’ll keep on saying it now that I’m back. We should be passing legislation that helps small businesses get credit.” (NBC’s “Nightly News” 8/29/10)

• REALITY: Obama Got Almost Everything He Wanted Out Of The Democrat-Controlled Congress. “He passed $830 billion in stimulus, $3 billion for cash for clunkers, $30 billion in small business loans, $30 billion for mortgage modification, the GM-Chrysler bailouts, ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank, credit card price controls, Build America Bonds, jobless benefits for a record 99 weeks, and more. The only priorities that a Democratic Congress blocked were cap-and-tax and union card check, and both of those would have further damaged growth and jobs. Even last December, after Republicans had retaken the House, Mr. Obama won his one-year payroll tax cut, more jobless benefits and most of what he wanted.” (Editorial, “The Latest Jobs Plan,”The Wall Street Journal , 9/9/11)

EXCUSE: President Obama Claims “We Understood That It [The Economy] Was Bad, But We Didn’t Know How Bad It Was.” “President Barack Obama said Tuesday he wishes he knew the full extent of the economic crisis when he took office, if only so he could have let Americans know just how tough the coming years would be. ‘I think we understood that it was bad, but we didn’t know how bad it was,’ Obama said in an interview with KIRO in Seattle. ‘I think I could have prepared the American people for how bad this was going to be, had we had a sense of that.'” (Jennifer Epstein, “Barack Obama On Economic Crisis: ‘We Didn’t Know How Bad It Was,” Politico’s “44”, 12/13/11)

• REALITY: September 2008: Obama: “We Are Going Through The Worst Financial Crisis Since The Great Depression.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks During First Presidential Debate , Oxford, MS, 9/26/08)
• A 2008 Report By Larry Summers Described The Economic Crisis As “Grim And Deteriorating Rapidly” And Predicted America Could Lose 4 Million More Jobs Within The Year. “The initial debate was framed by a fifty-seven-page memo to the President-elect, dated December 15, 2008, written by Larry Summers, his incoming director of the National Economic Council. Marked ‘Sensitive and Confidential,’ the document, which has never been made public, presents Obama with the scale of the crisis. ‘The economic outlook is grim and deteriorating rapidly,’ it said. The U.S. economy had lost two million jobs that year; without a government response, it would lose four million more in the next year. Unemployment would rise above nine per cent unless a significant stimulus plan was passed. The estimates were getting worse by the day.” (Ryan Lizza, “The Obama Memos,” The New Yorker, 1/30/12)