If the unemployment rate is at a dismal 9.8%, we’ve lost an average of 16,000 jobs a day, and only one state saw an increase in jobs over the last nine months (North Dakota, with an increase of less than 2,000 jobs), would you consider that there could be such a thing as a “jobless recovery”?
As ridiculous as it may seem, it’s exactly what Democrats seem content to settle for. They’re so preoccupied with health care and cap-and-trade that they’ve seemingly forgotten that we have an ailing economy and an outrageous pile of debt. While Obama is promising that he’ll work until everyone who is unemployed will be able to get a job thanks to his economic policies, his actions speak otherwise -- and so do the words of his economic advisor, Christina Romer. Last week, she told Congress that unemployment was likely to stay exactly where it was, but that she still expected an economic growth in the third quarter.
And with that, we have a “jobless recovery”. Unemployment may remain at 9.8%, but hey, chin up -- we’re still going to have some form of economic growth! You may not be able to afford to feed your family, but Obama’s economic advisor says it’ll all be OK, so take solace in that.
The reality of the situation is that, without a decrease in unemployment, the economy can’t really improve that much. And it’s looking increasingly bleak. Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, has to answer to a 13.3% unemployment rate in his home state of Nevada. While North Dakota has seen an increase in jobs, they are the only state to do so and it was a mere 1,800. (North Dakota lawmakers also cut taxes, which may have something to do with it.)
As for jobs created through the stimulus package, they came at a heavy price. Lorie Byrd notes that there was a cost of a whopping $71,500 per job -- and that’s just based on funds distributed so far. The average American salary is less than $40,000 a year, so anyone who got a job through the stimulus package and is getting paid an average salary is finding that their stimulus job cost them money.
But again, we’re still being promised economic growth in the third quarter. But without some relief in the job market, what will happen in the fourth quarter? What will happen in 2010? If Americans can’t work, if they can’t make and spend money, then the economy can’t survive. It especially can’t survive if Democrats keep spending the way they have been. In the fiscal year of 2009, the government ran a $1.4 trillion deficit, more than triple 2008’s deficit.
Meanwhile, Democrats are focusing on disaster legislation that will only serve to hurt the economy more. The health insurance industry, for example, will be destroyed in Obama’s government run health care reform gets passed. However demonized insurance companies may be, the reality is that health insurance companies are struggling to make it right now. The average profit margin for a health insurance company is currently 2.2%. And insurance companies won’t be able to compete with the government, which will have limitless borrowing potential. Insurance companies will find themselves edged out of business, and before you know it, socialized health care will have taken over -- not quickly or noticeably, but a little at a time. The government will force a struggling industry to shut down. And all this will serve to do is to make costs skyrocket and force rationed health care onto us.
The other nightmare Democrats are trying to cram down our throats is cap-and-trade. It’s being passed in the name of global warming and saving energy, but as with most Democratic initiatives, that’s misleading. Cap-and-trade, if passed, would be the largest tax increase in American history. It will affect every facet of our lives, from our cost of living to our global economic competitiveness. It will raise operating costs on businesses as well, and it won’t do a dang thing about the so-called global warming. But Democrats still want to push cap-and-trade through, despite the economic disaster that will follow.
With the economy already in such shambles, why would Democrats want to pass such harmful legislation?
It’s simple: because they want to, because they ignore the evidence of what will happen, because it’s the fantasy legislation they’ve been deprived for the last twenty years, and because it’s a massive power grab for them. They don’t know how bad it will be, and they don’t care. Life will still be comfortable for them, provided they don’t get voted out of office, and most of them feel like their position as a senator or a representative is one they’re entitled to for life. Reality is not very well understood in Washington, D.C., and reality is harsh.
Raising taxes, for example, is a horrible idea during a recession. Small business owners will be the ones affected the worst by cap-and-trade. Mega-corporations can move their operations overseas without a problem, but mom-and-pop stores can’t. So the only options they have are to raise costs for their customers or to fire employees. If conditions don’t improve, then they’re forced to close their doors. None of those options are good for the economy; a fired employee can’t spend their paycheck and stimulate the economy, and neither can a failed business owner. But Democrats don’t understand, and they don’t care. They see nothing but their dreams coming true, and are happily ignoring the evidence of what will surely follow. It’s the modern-day equivalent of Rome, except Rome is our economy and the Democrats are Nero.
While they’re fiddling with health care and cap-and-trade, our economy is burning.
Cassy Fiano's Bio
Cassy Fiano is a sports journalist turned political blogger ( www.cassyfiano.com ). She's a twenty-something opinionated conservative who has worked on a presidential campaign, campaigned for George W. Bush in 2004, and served on the planning committee for the Jacksonville Tax Day Tea Party.
Posted
10-26-2009 9:11 AM
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