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Updated Unemployement Charts – How’s that Stimulus Bill Working Out?

Monday, May 10th, 2010

The unemployment charts (links on top of this page) have been updated with the most recent data.

The first chart shows that, for folks 20 and over, there is still a big gap between the unemployment rate of men and women.  Probably a logical explanation for this if you take the time to dig through the data…  types of work men typically do being hit harder? Men being targets because of higher salaries compared to women?

Second is a straightforward unemployment rate chart for 16yrs and older.

Third chart had to change this time around because of available data on the Bureau of Labor Statistics site.  The data I was using appears to be gone, but I did find data focused on non-farm jobs in the private sector… so I replaced all months with this new data.

This third chart uses February 2009 as the baseline, when we were promised the stimulus bill would create 3,500,000 new jobs by 2011.  This chart extends to December 2011 to give the folks in power the entire year of 2011 to accomplish this task.

Unfortunately, we have lost jobs since the start of the stimulus, so the stimulus now needs to create 6,871,000 jobs by the end of 2011 to reach the total of 3,500,000 promised. That is an average of 343,550 new jobs per month, every month, between now and the end of 2011.

Seems a bit unlikely…

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Posted in Economy, Obama, Pelosi, Politics, Reid | 1 Comment »

Remembering the good old days of “high unemployment”

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Remembering the good old days when Dems criticized Bush for huge unemployment rates…

On the Hill – June 6, 2008 – The Democratic Congress is working to address the faltering economy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi charges, blaming President Bush for fiscal woes as the unemployment rate increased to 5.5 percent.

“The New Direction Congress will send the President legislation to provide urgently needed assistance to millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and are struggling to make ends meet,” Pelosi adds. “Just as we worked cooperatively in passing a stimulus plan to put $117 billion into the hands of more than 130 million Americans, we urge the President to support legislation to address the needs of America’s unemployed and struggling workers. Today’s unemployment numbers demonstrate that this is an urgent challenge.”

Wow!  5.5%… who wouldn’t take that today?  Good to see Pelosi was tackling this as an urgent challenge two years ago…  a bit strange that it is no longer an urgent challenge now that we are close to 10%… guess she met her goal.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi March 7, 2003 – “President Bush’s first $1.7 trillion tax cut came with a promise — that it would create jobs and grow the economy. We all know that it has not. The rhetoric was good, but the reality couldn’t be more different. Today’s unemployment numbers show that 308,000 jobs were lost last month, the biggest one-month job loss in 18 months. Overall, President Bush has the worst record on job creation of any President in nearly 60 years.

“We need policies that create jobs. It is that simple. Democrats have proposed an economic stimulus package that nonpartisan observers say will create 1 million jobs this year, five times more than the Bush plan. President Bush’s policies have produced record job loss — Democrats propose policies that will create jobs. The choice for the American people is clear.”

The unemployment rate was 5.9% in February and March of 2003, unacceptable to Mrs. Pelosi.  For the record, the average rate under President Bush was 5.3% over 8 years; amazing when you factor in the major hit to the economy on 9/11.

So… how’s the Obama record?  Perhaps too soon to tell.  So let’s look at the Pelosi/Reid record.

When Pelosi, Reid and the Democrats took over congress in January 2007, the unemployment rate was down to 4.6% with a Republican president and congress. Today it is close to 10% and likely would be over that if not for the temporary census jobs inflating the employment figures.

But jobs are not job one with Reid, Pelosi and Obama.  First we need health care legislation, “stimulus” bills that are laden with pork, cap and trade, denial of the right to a secret ballot for folks voting on unionization…

Maybe they should look to some of the “failed policies” of the Bush administration to see if we can at least get back to the good old days of high unemployment rates like 5.5%.

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Posted in Economy, Election 2010, Obama, Pelosi, Politics, Reid | No Comments »

Liberal Vision: A Nation of Vampires

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

As the Reid/Pelosi/Obama vision of America continues to materialize before our eyes, one thing is already very clear… an America dependent on government is a sustaining source of power for those who feed that dependency.

In a warped perversion of the old “trickle down” economics, far-left liberals are accelerating the flow of wealth with high powered siphons and are doing so without even trying to hide their disdain of those who supply the life-blood of our economy.

Impatient with voluntary trips to the economic blood bank by those who live and thrive in our economy, they have turned to vampirism and will greedily feed off the hosts until they are bled dry.

When 40% of the country not only pays zero income tax but actually receives a check from the government at tax time (that’s right, 40% of the country actually makes a profit on April 15), when 10% of the country pays 73% of all income taxes collected by the federal government, what we have is a major redistribution of wealth.

But even that is not enough for the far left, they want to expand the number of available hosts (declaring more of us to be rich in the process) and ramp up the flow from all available hosts to feed more of the vampire class and expand their base so that, in their minds, perpetual power will be within their reach.

Vlad would be proud.

The problem is that this is not sustainable.  When all hosts are bled dry, the economy will collapse and all will suffer, the vampires, the hosts… and those of us caught in the middle.

What works best for our country?

The same thing that has worked, albeit cyclically, for decades.

  • Those of us with lots of money who invest in our nation and fuel the engines that creates jobs
  • Those of us doing fairly well, buying lots of stuff and keep the economy afloat
  • Those of us getting by and working hard for a better life for our families
  • Those of us struggling that need our help
  • And.. a government that protects those of us who struggle while staying out of the way of the rest of us

When the government becomes the economy, the economy will collapse from the top down as the rich stop creating jobs, the well off and those getting by have no money to feed the economy, and finally those who are struggling no longer have the rest of us to help them out because we are standing beside them instead of reaching out with a helping hand.

A nation of vampires is doomed to a life in the shadows…

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Posted in Culture War, Economy, Government, Obama, Pelosi, Politics, Reid | No Comments »

Quick Thought: Reid/Pelosi/Obama Priorities the Same as Ours?

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

With the nation facing 9-10% unemployment, President Obama, Senator Reid, and Speaker Pelosi spent over a year pushing “health care reform” that we now know will put our economy further in the hole.

OK… health care bill passed, next up tackle the economy?  Well, actually yes.  In much the same way LT tackled QBs.

Up next on the Obama/Reid/Pelosi agenda? Cap and Trade… which is essentially the selling of the rights to pollute from one company to another.  Not sure how that reduces pollution, but it certainly moves money from one company to another for nothing more than a right to pollute (assuming you agree that CO2 is a pollutant).  In the middle of all this? Traders who will skim profits from every trade.  This will drive up the cost of energy, which will drive up the cost of products, which will further cripple the economy and put increase pressure on employment.

But wait… what about securing our borders, or immigration reform, depending on your perspective on the issue?  Nope, gotta get that Cap and Trade thing going so Democrats who are voted out of office in November will have another corrupt institution to run to next year.

So.. what would you say our priorities are?

Unemployment/jobs?

National debt?

Securing our borders?

I don’t know about you, but I really don’t see how health care “reform” and “cap and trade” trump these issues… unless of course the rush is to push through an agenda that has no chance once balance is restored in our government.

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Posted in Election 2010, Obama, Pelosi, Politics, Reid | No Comments »

Looks like Nancy Pelosi was right about the health care bill…

Saturday, April 24th, 2010

She said they have to pass the health care bill so we can find out what’s in it:

So.. now we are starting to find out what’s in it.  And guess what… looks like it doesn’t lower health care costs after all.  Guess there wasn’t any time to figure this out before the bill was passed:

From AP -

Economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department concluded in a report issued Thursday that the health care remake will achieve Obama’s aim of expanding health insurance — adding 34 million to the coverage rolls.

But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president’s twin goal of controlling runaway costs, raising projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years. That increase could get bigger, since Medicare cuts in the law may be unrealistic and unsustainable, the report warned.

Where were these guys, where was this report, where was this data indicating costs would go up, not down… BEFORE the bill was passed?

If this comes as a surprise to Pelosi and Reid, shame on them for not knowing the impact of their bill before it was passed.

If this comes as no surprise to Pelosi and Reid, shame on them for lying to the American people.

Either way.. shame on them, and shame on us for allowing our country to be led by the far left minority of the Democratic Party…  shame on Democrats for choosing leadership so far outside the mainstream of American politics.   Shame on Republicans for not offering good alternatives until recently.  And shame on us again if we don’t vote for a shift away from the far left in November.

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Posted in Pelosi, Reid | No Comments »

The Cap & Trade Video Obama Admin Doesn’t Want You to See

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

The creators of this video were told to take it down… but once something is out there on the Net, hard to pull it back:

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Posted in Culture War, Economy, Global Warming, Obama, Pelosi, Reid | No Comments »

Historical Unemployment Rates Related to Who Controls Congress?

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Heard a Democratic congressperson attempt to spin the unemployment rate situation today by accusing folks of forgetting that President Bush was in office when the job losses started.  That is true, no question.

But two thoughts here.

First, the rate continues to climb despite the actions taken by congress and both Presidents Bush and Obama and despite the promise that the “stimulus” would stop the climb before it passed 7%… it is now more than 10%.

Second, and I believe more significant, while presidents typically get much of the blame and credit for economic conditions, it is the US Congress that passes budgets and drives legislation that has a major impact on the economy (like the tax rates, the “stimulus”, “health care reform”, etc.).

Who controlled both the House and the Senate during this rapid climb in the unemployment rate?  Democrats under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.  So while they are pointing fingers back at Bush, they might want to take a good look in the mirror too, because they are at least as much, if not more, to blame for this current mess.

In fact, since 1972 the lowest unemployment rates were when the Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate:

Coincidence?  Maybe… then again, maybe it has something to do with the how the two parties view this country: opportunity vs entitlement.  Could it be that encouraging open competition and low government intrusion leads to more jobs while taxing to drive behavior and redistributing wealth leads to less incentive to create jobs?

Just thinkin’…

Small historical footnote:  Back when the unemployment rate was around 4.5%, many Democrats were spinning that the rate under Bush was unacceptable, that the pain caused by his policies meant that people who wanted jobs could not get them, etc, etc…   anyone else wish we had that problem today?

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Posted in Congress, Economy, Obama, Pelosi, Politics, Reid | 1 Comment »

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