Tuesday, January 6, 2015

You will note that in the majority of my postings, I provide links that are supportive of my point of view. Those links often have content that is not fully supportive of my point of view, nonetheless I provide you with them. You will also please note that the liberal critics default response is not to provide data supportive of their position, but rather to insult and denigrate.

You, the CT reader, will be the ultimate judge of the merit of this Olde Farte’s arguments and opinions. In the end, each reader must realize that the CT is a forum of opinions, and each reader has the responsibility to check the arguments and the facts claimed in support thereof, and then come to their own conclusions.

A POSTER WROTE: “Thanks to Obama the nation added 2.7 million jobs in 2014 through November, the best year for employment growth since 1999. Economic output registered its best six-month stretch since 2003. Claims for jobless benefits have been running lower than at any point since 2000.” Link.

FTR’S RESPONSE: To paraphrase Sgt. Schultz of Laugh In fame: “Very Interesting”, but very misleading. Let’s take a look at the official Bureau of Labor Statistics data on the issue.

Please remember that we finally are coming off of the longest recovery from a recession in more than half a century. The only longer and more tortured recovery was also at the hands of Democrats. Please also remember that the recession has been over since June of 2009.  Only in the last few months has our economic engine begin to sputter again in spite of tens of thousands of new regulations foisted on us by the Democrats.

Please consider that we have added 3.423 million people to our labor force since the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006. That’s 8 long years ago. But during that same period we have only added 1.361 million jobs. You should also think about the fact that in those 8 years of Democrat control, more than 15 million people have abandoned the work force. When the Democrats took over, our u/e rate was 4.5%, today it is 5.8%. Link

To give the issue some perspective, between Jan. 1, ‘01 and Dec. 1, ’06, GWB with a Republican legislative branch, added 9,565,000 jobs to our economy.  That’s damned impressive. From Jan. 1, ‘09 through Dec. 1, ‘14, the same time period in their Presidencies, Obama and the Democrats managed to add only 3,949,000  jobs. That’s pretty damned pathetic performance.  For God’s sake, last month, we only added 4k net jobs.  Don’t believe me, check it out for yourself. Link

The poster claimed that “Claims for jobless benefits have been running lower than at any point since 2000.” That may or may not be true.

According to the Department of Labor’s opening statement in its report of 12/27/14: “In the week ending December 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 298,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week’s revised level.” Link

The poster also claimed: “Economic output registered its best six-month stretch since 2003.” While it is true that our GDP has had a decent increase in the last quarter, especially when compared to the previous quarters in 2014. In Q1, our growth rate was negative. Please remember that GDP growth still has not reached the growth rate we enjoyed in 2003 with Republican governance.

Another poster wrote of Obama’s reported increasing approval rating since the election. That’s not surprising given that the economy has finally begun to sputter along. We should remember that Obama, who is not running for office, and the Democrats suffered one of the most crushing defeats in a midterm election in decades. It was a thorough and complete repudiation of his policies. It was a rout. Elections, not polls, have consequences. It is worth noting that on January 4th Gallup reported that only 44% approve of Obama’s performance, while 49% disapprove.

While there is improvement in Obama’s polling, it can largely be attributed to falling gas and energy prices. That decrease is of course a huge benefit to our economy. Yet, paradoxically Obama has done nearly all in his power to keep fossil fuel prices sky high. It is a commitment to the far left that he will not break.

On December 31 Rasmussen reported that only 30% of us believe that our nation is on the right track, while 61% say it is not. As to the Democrat health care scheme called Obamacare, the average of the Real Clear Politics polling shows that only 38.4 favor it, while 51.5 oppose it. None of that is even close to being a ringing endorsement of Obama