The Truth behind the 4.5 million jobs

If I see one more post on FB or tweet on Twitter about how this adminstrtation has created 4.5 million jobs, I am going to scream! This number does not tell the whole story. From the Daily Herald:

While that figure has become a White House talking point, it’s only part of the story. It’s a cherry-picked number that refers just to private sector jobs created in the last 29 months, from the trough of the recession through July. Governments — especially state and local ones — have continued shedding jobs.

The economy lost 8.8 million jobs from the time employment peaked in January 2008 until it hit bottom in February 2010. Between then and this July — the most recent month for which there are figures — just 4 million jobs have been recovered. Never since World War II has the economy been so slow to recover all the jobs lost in a downturn.

So as you can see the Obama administration is not telling the whole truth. Now I realize that is not a surprise to many of you, but the next time you hear a lib scream how this administration has created 4.5 million jobs you can take them to task. You may also want to point out to them that the jobs that are being created are low wage jobs. From the NY Times: (emphasis mine)

“The overarching message here is we don’t just have a jobs deficit; we have a ‘good jobs’ deficit,” said Annette Bernhardt, the report’s author and a policy co-director at the National Employment Law Project, a liberal research and advocacy group.

Higher-wage occupations — those with a median wage of $21.14 to $54.55 — represented 19 percent of job losses when employment was falling, and 20 percent of job gains when employment began growing again. Lower-wage occupations, with median hourly wages of $7.69 to $13.83, accounted for 21 percent of job losses during the retraction. Since employment started expanding, they have accounted for 58 percent of all job growth.
The occupations with the fastest growth were retail sales (at a median wage of $10.97 an hour) and food preparation workers ($9.04 an hour). Each category has grown by more than 300,000 workers since June 2009.

So this administration likes to talk about jobs being created and in reality they are just entry level retail jobs.

Finally the labor force participation rate has been shrinking since Obama took office.  Neal Lipschutz of the Wall Street Journal does a great job of explaining this:

First a definition: The labor force participation rate is that percentage of the adult population that is employed or actively seeking employment.
In August, this group was 63.5% of the population. That was the lowest figure since September 1981, when it also stood at 63.5%, according to the Labor Department‘s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For men, the August participation rate figure was 69.8%. That’s the lowest on record. The records of the Labor Department began in 1948.

So to recap the 4.5 million number is cherry picked, the jobs created are low wage jobs, and the labor participation rate has been shrinking. Now that you are armed with the truth you can point out facts to all of your liberal friends!

RR

A Different Look at the Chick-fil-A Controversy

Unless you have been under a rock for the past two weeks, you are well aware of the Chick-fil-A controversy.

First a little background. After the mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel stated that Chick-fil-A did not share Chicago values, I nearly became unglued! (Note: My Alderman in Chicago and the Boston mayor made comments about Chick-fil-A as well. You can find them here and here.) What are Chicago values? Was he talking about all of the shootings that occur in Chicago? Was he talking about all of the crime in black communities? Was he talking about the high taxes Chicago imposes on its citizens? What about the high unemployment rate in the black community? Well no, he of course was saying that Chicago has no problem with the gay and lesbian community. I agree with that and for the record, I am opposed to gay marriage based on my understanding of God's Word the Holy Bible. I make no bones about it and I am willing to stand up for what I believe in. With that being said, I have plenty of gay friends and I believe as the Bible teaches we are to love everyone as God has loved us. What I do disagree with him on is the fact that Chicago has plenty of issues, why even wade into the waters on this one? Well Peter Bella of the Washington Times does a pretty good job of explaining that when he wrote the following:

There are defintely two Chicagos: working and wealthy Chicago, and poor Chicago. Politicians, especially black politicians, rarely visit poor Chicago except during election time. They stay just long enough to beg for votes. They more often frequent wealthy and White Chicago, where the campaign money is.
Blacks were promised that if black politicians were elected to represent them, their lives would change for the better. Chicago’s black elected officials on every level - city, state, and federal - have done next to nothing for the communities they allegedly serve and supposedly represent. They willfully and cheerfully ignore the very people they promised to help.

Wow. There are two points to be made here. One, he mentions politicians and votes. He states black politicians, but as anyone who follows politics knows a politician is a politician no matter race creed or color. It is safe to say Rahm was trolling for votes like all politicians. He has stated that he is in favor of gay marriage and I take him at his word. The second point, speaks to black America especially those who continue to vote for Democrats blindly. They have been burned by them time and time again, yet they go back for more. Also, when politicians decide to support one group over another, (in this case the LGBT over everyone else) they end up hurting other groups in this case blacks and Hispanics. With the black unemployment rate over 14%, I think they would welcome any business willing to hire them. If you would like to read the full article it can be found here.

RR

Unemployment Rate 8.3% for January

While this is great news that the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest rate since February 2009, there is more to the numbers as Rick Santelli explains below.



RR

The Jobs President

From Investors Business Daily interview with Bernie Marcus co-founder of Home Depot:

IBD: If you could sit down with Obama and talk to him about job creation, what would you say?
Marcus: I'm not sure Obama would understand anything that I'd say, because he's never really worked a day outside the political or legal area.

I think he is absolutely right. We spent 1 trillion dollars on a stimulus that failed. This President has surrounded himself with people who know nothing about job creation.
The unemployment numbers out this week show a decrease in the rate to 9.1%, while adding only 117K jobs. Keep in mind that 200K jobs a month are needed to make any significant changes to the unemployment rate. The response from the White House "Things are going to get better," Obama said.

We shall see Mr. President, we shall see.

RR

Debt Ceiling Shenanigans

As most of you know, there is a lot going on in Washington. I am sure you have all read and heard about the debt ceiling negotiations, but I am not sure how many people know what is meant when the words "Debt Ceiling" are thrown around.

The debt ceiling refers to the amount of debt the federal government can legally borrow, which currently stands at $14.3 trillion. At this moment we are pretty close to hitting the limit. The politics are getting nasty with Barry's Administration predicting chaos in the world markets if the deal is not done by August 2 (the other deadline was in May. It passed with no chaos). My personal opinion is more in line with Republicans (surprise surprise). I am okay with raising the debt ceiling, but only if we can have substantial cuts or/and a balanced budget resolution (like most states).
Now for the hypocrisy:
- Barry thinks it is wrong for Republicans to not raise the debt limit and that they are playing politics with the matter. Well that sounds all well and good until you read the following quote:
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure,” he said on March 16, 2006. “Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership . Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”

This quote is from Barry when he was a Senator and Bush was the President. His press secretary has since stated that he voted that way because he knew the outcome wasn't in doubt.

Barry now wants to raise taxes on the rich in this country as part of any deal with Republicans. Well this leads to more false hoods perpetuated by the Democrats and Barry.

-Top 5% of wage earners pay 59% of taxes (Tax Foundation). This debunks the lefts ridiculous argument of not paying their fair share.
And as for raising taxes in a tough economy:
"First of all, he’s right. Normally, you don’t raise taxes in a recession, which is why we haven’t and why we’ve instead cut taxes. So I guess what I’d say to Scott is – his economics are right. You don’t raise taxes in a recession. We haven’t raised taxes in a recession.” (Interview with Chuck Todd Aug. 2009)

With the unemployment rate at 9.2%, this administration should quit with the shenanigans and get a deal done.

RR

Bump in the Road

This is the new add by Mitt Romney. I am not supporting anyone at this time, but I thought this was a very creative ad.

Enjoy.







RR

Civility and the Left

Just after the Arizona shootings, Barry called for all Americans to be more civil. Although I know what the word means, I am not sure the left does. Merriam-Webster defines the word as: civilized conduct; polite conduct or expression. Well in the clip below we hear DC Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (non voting) comparing shutting down the government to bombing innocent civilians? WTH?






As always with those on the left, do as I say, not as I do.

RR

Barry on War

Well well well...what do we have here. Barry in the clip that follows says we can't impose a military solution on a civil war. I hope that someone at the RNC is keeping tabs on this. These will be more than just soundbites a year from now.



Here we have Sen. Obama saying pretty much the same thing.




Before he was President and even after he became President he was against intervention of another country's civil war. So why we are now dropping bombs on Libya, I have no idea (according to Barry he wouldn't intervene). I hope people see the hypocrisy of the left.

RR

NPR: Fair and Balanced

NPR has been posing as a "fair news organization" for quite sometime. After the firing of Juan Williams, I thought the nation as a whole saw them for who they really are: a liberal organization. You will hear claims of how fair they have been throughout their history, but I would take issue with that. I was glad to see this video that tells the story of their funding and they even mention Juan Williams. Enjoy!

RR

The Heritage Foundation does a great job of explaining collective bargaining. My question has always been to my liberal friends: You guys say we have to have unions to keep an eye on the greedy corporations, but why do we have so many unions in the public sector?

RR

The Tax Cut Mess

Well this is what I know.

- Sen. Obama and most of the democrats called the Bush tax cuts, cuts for the rich. I find this to be humorous that now we are so worried about the middle class. Are these taxes just for the rich or are they for all Americans? If they are for all Americans, when will the democrats apologize for characterizing these tax cuts as just for the rich.
- All democrats listen very closely. You do not have a leg to stand on. You have been in power (Congress) since 2007 and have had a democratic President for almost 2 years. You could have passed new tax laws at any point during that time. You instead chose to focus on health care, cap and trade, don't ask don't tell, and other issues that you deemed more important. When democrats blame the lack of an extension on the tax cuts on Republicans it is a flat out lie. Either you are really bad with math (255-180) (58-40 +2 Independents who caucus with the Dems) Is enough to get any bill passed for example healthcare.
- I am all for lowering the deficit. That is why I have taken the position of letting all of the tax cuts expire. Dems are all about raising taxes and dems claim we need more revenue, let them all expire. Let's see what happens. Will this really help close the gap? or will dems find something else to spend this new found revenue on?

RR

2010 Midterms

I have not written a lot about this subject, but I have spoken about it a great deal with libs on Facebook. Most Democrats are living in some sort of fantasy land. They believe they will be reelected if they simply bash Bush. Well I am here to let them know, that Americans have had enough of the Bush bashing. It cannot last forever. Eventually the "chickens do come home to roost".
I see three trends that are going to make if very difficult for the Democrats to hold onto to their super majorities in Congress.
- The conservative base is very energized about this year's midterm. They have been blogging, writing letters to their congressman/congresswoman and Tea Parties have formed and show that they are a force to be reckoned with (see Ran Paul KY,Sharron Angle NV).
- Democrats have misread the past two election cycles. Since the 2006-08 election cycles Dems have let their hair down so to speak. They have come out of their cloaks and are showing us they are the big spending, higher taxes, die hard liberals we (conservatives) always knew they were. Independents voted for the Dems the past two election cycles, but things are changing. A reader from the Washington Post sums it up this way:

"In 2006, Democrats talked about how bad the economy was and how they could do better. In 2006, unemployment was 4.3% and in decline. After taking control of both branches of Congress (and therefore all legislation and spending), they drove the rate to 8%. With the help of a super-majority in Congress and Obama in the White House in early 2007, they drove the rate to 10% where it hovers now."

This week it was reported that Barry's approval with Independents is slipping away. After having an approval as high as 56% his standing is now hovering around 38%.

- Last but not least is the economy. As stated in the paragraph above, the unemployment rate was around 4.3% when the Dems took over Congress in 2006. Since 2008 the President and this liberal Congress have helped increase this number with their horrible fiscal policies. We have a deficit that is rising faster than the temperature in AZ in the month of August! These guys (and gals) have spent billions and even trillions on healthcare, job bills (lol), a non working stimulus, bailouts, etc...

I have only about 4 months to see if I am right or not, but the way things are going now, I wouldn't bet against me.

RR