In Jan, 2007, the Democrats took control of the Senate and the House. Prior to then, the unemployment rate (U-3) was 4.6%, GDP growth averaged about to 4%, government deficit spending was cut to $160 billion, and America was feeling good.
From Jan, 2007 to Jan, 2009, the last 2 years of Bush, the economy fell apart as the Democrats ran Congress. Even with that, the U-3 unemployment rate for the 8 years of Bush averaged 5.2% (including the recession left by Clinton at the end of his term and the recession caused by 9/11) as compared to an average unemployment rate for the 8 years of Clinton of 5.1%.
Despite the statistical facts, many Americans have the misconception that the economy was better under Clinton than under Bush. And many of them are making excuses about the negative results from this Obama administration.
Obama promised in 2008 that he would keep the unemployment rate (U-3) under 8% if he was elected. As a member of the Senate, he was well aware of what he would inherit in the economy when he made that promise. He also promised to cut the federal deficit in half, to bring more transparency to government, to unify America, and to eliminate cronyism.
For his first 43 months in office, Obama had a Democrat controlled Senate. For the first 24 months, he had a House that was controlled by Democrats and a super majority of Democrats in the Senate that was filibuster proof. That Democrat controlled Congress of 2009-2010 passed Obamacare without any Republican support. It could have given Obama anything that he wanted.
During these 43 months of Obama, the U-3 unemployment rate averaged 9.1% and exceeded 10% at times (today, it is 8.3%) as compared to Clinton at 5.1%, Bush at 5.2%, and his promise to not let it exceed 8%. The federal deficit has grown by more than $1 trillion per year.
But that is not the whole story. Even though there are 11 million more people in America then when Obama took office, there are 2 million fewer people who are working. The Labor Department, who reports to the White House, has systematically taken people off the rolls of people available for work to artificially hold down the U-3 unemployment rate. If the same number of people available for work was held constant to Jan, 2009 with the additional 11 million increase to the population, then the unemployment rate would be over 11%. But the White House controlled Labor Department is spinning the numbers for political reasons.
John Carney in his article for CNBC on Aug 3, 2012, “Real Unemployment Rate Shows far more Jobless,” states that the real unemployment rate (U-6) is more like 15%. That means that one out of every seven people who qualify to work is unemployed. Estimates of the underemployment/unemployment rate are around 25%. One out 4 Americans in the labor pool are either unemployed or underemployed. One out of 4.
On top of that, in 2008, Obama demonized Bush as being “unpatriotic” for allowing the national debt to grow $4 trillion during the 8 years of Bush. The national debt increased more than $5 trillion in the 43 months of Obama … So is Obama more “unpatriotic” for letting debt grow more than twice as fast as Bush?
So what do we have from the 43 months of Obama?
1. Obamacare. The OMB states that Obamacare will increase costs to America by another $2.6 trillion over the next 10 years. While an additional 11 million people will have “insurance,” no additional people will receive “healthcare” that did not have “healthcare” before Obamacare. And Obamacare was passed by Democrats without any compromises to Republicans to get bipartisan approval.
2. More government, more government debt, and more government spending.
3. A more polarized America. Attacks on religion. Pandering to feminists. Race bating. Class warfare. Solyndra. GM bailout (current stock price of 19 vs IPO of 31).
4. Fewer people working.
5. GDP growth that is about the same as inflation, therefore, real GDP growth is stagnant.
6. A complete lack of transparency (Fast and Furious, White House security leaks, passports, college transcripts, college applications).
7. Decrease to the personal wealth of the average American of about 40%… especially to home values.
8. Decrease to real wages of 10%.
9. Broken promises while Obama blames everyone except himself for his failures.
10. According to Rasmussen polls, an all time low in the confidence for the future of America.
How did this happen? Because Obama is the first president in history without any … without any executive experience before taking office. America can never let that happen again. Being president of the United States is an executive position. And that requires executive experience to do a good job.
America used a lower set of criteria to elect the first black president (affirmative action), and America is now paying a price for its bad decision. America did not even demand to see his sealed college transcripts to see how smart he really is about the items needed to run our country.
Barack Hussein Obama, the first president without any executive experience of any kind, must be removed from office so we can save America from any more of his destruction to our nation.
Michael Master is the author of “Save America Now!” and “Rules for Conservatives.” which can be ordered at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=michael+charles+master
