Obama's "Job-Killing" Results In 4 Million Jobs

Republican presidential candidates love to criticize President Obama's "job-killing" policies, citing specifically his penchant for over-regulation and his wasted stimulus spending. Each month's updated employment statistics, however, totally contradict the right-wing rhetoric, proving it to be nothing more than fabrication and fiction.

The February jobs report was released today by the Department of Labor, and for the third consecutive month, our economy benefitted from the creation of more than 200,000 new jobs. 

Additionally, nearly 500,000 job-seekers who had stopped looking for work have re-ignited their search for gainful employment. Amazingly, job growth has been so robust that even with this massive influx of workers added back into the equation, the unemployment rate remained steady at 8.3%. 

Campaign rhetoric is often nothing more than empty words, but facts are facts. Below is a chart that shows our actual employment statistics in the twelve months before Obama compared to the three years since Obama. 

Viewing Tip: Clicking on the chart should open a larger easier-to-read version.

Dept of Labor Employment Statistics, Feb 2012

The fact is that America has enjoyed 24 consecutive months of job growth, resulting in more than 4 million newly created jobs in the last two years. 

Consequently, I ask you all to join me in imploring President Obama to absolutely continue the implementation of the horrific "job-killing" policies that Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, and Paul have warned us against. I'd rather live with steady progress and bombastic right-wing criticism, than return to the glory days of the Bush-era economy.

5 Things Republicans Should Stop Attacking

1. Economy/Jobs - Sorry, it's improving. Hard to accept, but you can't win this one.

2. Gays - Seven states have legalized gay marriage. Not enough bigots left for this to matter.

3. Birth Control - Seriously? Even Catholics are on the pill.

4. The Teleprompter  - Get over it. The President is an inspiring speaker. Also, in a sing-off, Obama's voice delivers a solid ass-whooping to Mitt's voice.

5. Iran - Did GWB teach you nothing about fucking up foreign policy? Besides, no one wants to pay for another war. 

With apologies to my friend Selene (who has reminded me more than once to stop feeding good suggestions to the GOP), I feel obligated to send this simple message to my Republican friends - it's the trillion dollar budget deficit, stupid!

Republicans find themselves faced with these facts: Under President Obama, the economy and job market have shown consistent growth, and they continue to move in the right direction. The U.S. is now out of Iraq, and the troop draw down is underway in Afghanistan. Oh yeah, did I mention that whole killing of Osama bin Laden thingy?

So, here's all you have left GOP. I'm a fairly hardcore Democrat, and even I can't stand that the President's current budget proposal, if adopted, would guarantee another year of $1 trillion deficit spending. Think about it - for four straight years, our government will have spent $1 trillion more than they collected. And what's worse, we would make minimal reductions in the next six years, adding at least another half trillion dollars per year to what we already owe. Not acceptable. Bill Clinton must be rolling over in his satin bed sheets.

The Obama administration will argue that these deficits are the price we must pay to repair the damage done to our economy by the Bush administration, and they may be right. But honestly, other than a somewhat related argument the GOP can make against Obamacare, there are no other significant issues around which they can rally enough Americans to actually beat Obama.

The sad fact for the even sadder right wing is this - if the economy continues its slow and steady improvement, Obama will win. But hey GOP - at least I'm offering you something to legitimately complain about.

Headlines the GOP Hates On Road to Michigan

Photo: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg

The next major Republican primary contest is scheduled for Michigan in less than two weeks.

As Santorum and Romney battle it out in the state that should have easily been Romney's, it may not matter who wins the primary - or even the GOP nomination.

 Republicans woke up to these three headlines today:

• Jobless Claims Drop to Near 4-Year Low
• GM Reports Big Profit
• Bailout Politics: Even Michigan's Economy Is Improving

The economic news is once again very good for America, but horrible for the GOP. The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims last week is the lowest it has been since March 2008, almost a full year before George Bush left office. General Motors, whose Obama-backed bailout was opposed by both Romney and Santorum, has reported its eighth consecutive profitable quarter. This will result in profit-sharing bonuses of up to $7,500 for nearly 50,000 eligible hourly workers at GM. The impact of the auto industry resurgence is lifting the entire Michigan economy, and tax revenues in the state have risen so dramatically that the state now has a $450 million budget surplus.

Romney and Santorum can argue all they want over who can best put things back the way they were in the first eight years of this decade, but no one wants to revert to a proven failed way of doing business, when the new way works.  

It doesn't matter which Republican wins the GOP primary on February 28. With headlines like these, Michigan will vote blue in 2012.

Romney Aiming at Wrong Target

During a campaign stop in South Carolina today, Mitt Romney accused President Obama of not understanding how the American economy works, and then added, "It's time to get a president who does."

I appreciate a good stump speech as much as the next guy, but I think Team Romney's attention might be better focused elsewhere. The last thing I want is to see Romney lose additional ground to his more insane fundamentalist challengers. In the spirit of support, I'm sharing a few headlines from today's news that might encourage the GOP frontrunner to climb off the President's back and get his message back on the right track.

• U.S. Economy Gains Steam as 200,000 Jobs Are Added
• Job Growth Quickens; Unemployment Near Three-Year Low
• Santorum, Riding Wave, Sharpens Aim at Romney
• Gingrich On Offensive to Prove Viability to NH Voters
• South Carolina Polls Show Romney Leading, Santorum Surging

Seems the President has the economy under control, and the Romney folks should pay more attention to the rest of the GOP. I'm sure the former governor's campaign team would like to believe they can ignore Santorum and head straight for the general election, but with the Republican base still looking for any other viable options to Romney, the frontrunner would be well-served not to underestimate any opponent. 

Note to Team Romney - Remember the Patriots-Giants Superbowl from 2008? Don't get too comfortable. There's a reason why they make you play the game.

UPDATED: 110,000 Jobs Created in October

Job creation exceeded expectations in the last two months. In October 110,000 new private sector jobs were created (which more than offset the 24,000 public sector jobs that were lost), and the Labor Department also revised September numbers up to 116,000 (25,000 more than originally reported). While growth is slow, the overall employment outlook is looking a little less bleak.

The private sector job growth had a small but positive impact on the nation's unemployment rate, which dipped from 9.1% to 9.0%, the lowest rate in six months.

My gut feeling (this is the opinion element of a blog that your friends warned you about) is that it will take little additional movement of the nation's unemployment number (a modest reduction to 8.5% or 8.6%) to get consumer confidence kicked up significantly and to secure re-election for Obama. Sometimes, you just need a little something to feel good about.

Revised on Saturday 11/5/2011

A Fun and Simple Video Explains GDP

Everyone has heard of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Many of us know that GDP growth is "the" key indicator of a nation's economic health. But how many of us really know how GDP is calculated?

Adam Davidson of NPR's Planet Money produced a short easy-to-understand video linked in this Slate article that explains GDP. It's painless and you'll be done in five minutes (and it's so interesting that it only feels like 4 minutes and 30 seconds).

Economy = Hard, Debt = Easy

America's economy is far more complex than most of us will ever truly comprehend. Consider the impact of and the relationships between the national debt, the dollar, job creation, big oil, Wall Street, banking and finance, the Fed, the housing market, consumer spending, manufacturing, foreign markets, free trade, technology, infrastructure, tax revenue, and on and on and on.

America's national debt crisis, the first element I listed above, actually can be simplified though. This graphic, which was recently getting passed around on Facebook (thanks Carrie Clement!), does the trick nicely. It clearly illustrates the ridiculousness of our current national debt situation, and it lends itself nicely to the McKown Formula for Solving Any Budgetary Crisis - make more, spend less.

Congress Stalls Jobs Act, Offers Nothing New

Senators Harry Reid (D) and Mitch McConnell (R)
Photo: Sam Stein/Huffington Post

In the wake of Republican procedural maneuvers that blocked the President's full American Jobs Act last week, Senate Democrats are planning to take a more piecemeal approach to job creation. I'm skeptical they can do even that, but it's fine with me - just show you can all work together to get something done.

Like most Americans, I'm growing increasingly frustrated with Congress' failure to make progress. Democrats have proven themselves to be unable to gain Republican support for their ideas through either persuasion, political outflanking, or sheer muscle, and Republicans continue to suffer from a perpetual dearth of new and decent ideas of their own.

While standing in staunch opposition to the jobs bill proposed by the White House, Congressional Republicans have proposed little to spur job creation and economic growth beyond removing regulations from various industries (which worked out well in the financial sector, right?), repealing Obamacare (which didn't come into law until after the economy was well down the road to hell), and drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge (regardless of the economic impact, Republicans seem bent on defiling this piece of wilderness).

Beyond the halls of Congress, Republican presidential candidates have busied themselves re-packaging the same failed economic policies that led us to the promise land we enjoy today. Texas Governor Rick Perry wants to resurrect the "drill baby, drill"mentality and he has done some funny math (according to Republican journalist David Frum) to try and substantiate the validity of this approach. Meanwhile, Herman Cain is breaking no new ground with his 9-9-9 tax plan which offers the same old Republican recipe of robbing from the middle class to protect the top 10%.

My advice to all of them is the same now as it was when the President first proposed his jobs bill in early September - get busy conducting the nation's critically important business or get ready to be swept out of the way in November 2012.

Congress Must Play Ball with President Obama's Jobs Plan

Atlanta Job Fair Crowd
Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal & Constitution, via Associated Press

As a proud Obama-crat who is still pulling for the President and the nation to succeed in engineering an economic turnaround, I have been reading with significant interest about the President's recently announced American Jobs Act. With a full week's analysis under my belt, I have concluded that the so-called experts (economists and executives) have no idea what the ultimate impact might be of the President's proposed legislation.

My initial instinct was that with President Obama's jobs speech last week he may not have scored a touchdown, but he had at least finally sketched out a play and huddled us up. If we work together, we might just move the ball down the field after all.

Within hours (or minutes) though, the tiny bit of momentum the President might have gained was threatened, as Republican party leaders indicated that less than half of the President's bill would ever stand at chance at becoming law. That's ok though, that means half of the proposed legislation could still make it through the intricate maze of the congressional labyrinth and positively impact our economic well-being.

The day after the President's jobs plan was announced American "big business" piled on with the nay-saying Republican leadership. An article in the New York Times reported that executives from various industries doubted the impact of the provisions in the President's plan, saying that things like payroll tax cuts and related incentives are not likely to spur any additional hiring. According to these executives, if companies were going to hire new workers, they would need to see increased consumer confidence and increased demand for their products and services, plain and simple.

Full Text of the President's Speech

Kevin Lamarque  /  Reuters

I've just finished reading the full text of President Obama's jobs speech, and if you missed the address, I would urge you to do the same. Yes, it's long, but educating ourselves takes effort, and this speech contains important details about our economy, something we all say we care about a great deal.

I have to say, President Obama has laid it all out for Congress. He has provided a wealth of specific job creation ideas and he has enumerated specific ways of paying for everything he proposed.

He also very openly acknowledged that there are some ideas his fellow Democrats won't appreciate (like adjustments to Medicare and Medicaid programs) and some ideas Republicans will balk at (like raising tax rates on the very top tier of wealthy Americans). Who gives a damn? If Congress wants to avoid wholesale incumbent replacement in the 2012 election, then they better suck it up, move past the politics and ideology, and take meaningful action.

The White House has gathered all these proposals for boosting our economy WITHOUT increasing our debt into a program called the American Jobs Act. It's now up to Congress to pass this legislation, in whole or in part, and if they can't do that, then they better damn well enact some legislation of their own that will move us forward as a nation.

Spitzer Makes the Case for Fighting Back

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer makes a strong case in favor of President Obama fighting back hard this week. In the linked article, he eloquently lays out several specific and bold economic proposals the President should put on the table this week.

Apparently, when he's not distracted by whoremongery, the Governor has some pretty smart stuff to say. Seriously though, a few trips to visit your favorite prostitute doesn't invalidate your intellect, just your electability.