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Updated July 21, 2019-
Reasons included 11 states had more welfare recipients than job holders in this era of entitlement
Until the economy was revived by the Trump Administration in 2017, developments indicated the U.S. had lost its way. Literally, there was no hope for beleaguered businesses and workers until effective measures were implemented.
Even though he had eight years to grow the economy, President Obama only achieved 1.9 percent growth in gross domestic product in his final year in office.
After seven years, the economy had only created 173,000 jobs in August, 2015.
Job creation remained well below the pace needed to reemploy all the workers displaced during the Great Recession. Twenty-three million Americans remained unemployed or under-employed.
ObamaCare was both a fiscal and life-and-death nightmare. Some 6 million Americans lost their insurance policies, employers were forced to cut the hours of workers to stay in compliance and premiums skyrocketed for individual policyholders.
There were 21 new taxes and 10 failed promises by Mr. Obama, including whether Americans can keep their policies, stay with their doctors, and save money on their premiums.
Even though there was no where to go but up, the lack of economic growth trended for a long time.
For instance, the last jobs report for 2012 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed job growth was barely keeping pace with the population growth.
The BLS also listed the professions with the highest and lowest unemployment rates. The highest unemployment rates were in construction, sales and transportation. The lowest unemployment rates were in finance, healthcare and social services.
Involuntary part-time workers
Also, earlier in December 2012, the BLS reported 8.2 million Americans were under-employed – they had to settle for part-time work. Unfortunately, that’s twice as high as the number of involuntary part-time workers in 2006.
Yes, the last BLS report of an increase of 155,000 jobs that month was welcome, but that was still pitiable news about the so-called Obama recovery. The number of jobs created in December was actually less than the month before – there were 166,000 new jobs in November.
Only 1.84 million jobs were created in 2012. There was no improvement over 2011 when Mr. Obama’s economy only produced 1.84 million jobs.
At such a mediocre pace, the pre-Great Recession success would not be attained until after a President Trump would manage the economy. That’s terrible news for the millions of unemployed and involuntary part-time workers.
“I’m here to tell you, some time in the next couple of months, we’re going to be creating between 250,000 jobs a month and 500,000 jobs a month.”
-Joe Biden, April 23, 2010
Conference Board’s 2 cents
What did the nation’s major employers say about this fiscal quagmire in 2012?
“The current moderate pace of hiring could be sustainable if companies believe that economic growth is poised to accelerate a bit in the second half of the year as the fiscal drag wanes and the housing recovery strengthens,” said Kathy Bostjancic, director of macroeconomic analysis, for the Conference Board.
The Conference Board is an association comprising about 1,200 public and private corporations from 60 countries.
“The key to boosting the labor market is stronger demand – a task made slightly more difficult with new higher withholding rates,” she added. “Additional uncertainty surrounding the next round of political wrangling over the fiscal budget also leads businesses to be hesitant in hiring new workers.”
Her bottom-line: “Weakened business and consumer confidence doesn’t bode well for any acceleration in the hiring trend.”
Fiscal Cliff deal
Americans failed to get good results from the Fiscal Cliff deal cut by Congress and the president. All it did was create higher taxes for individuals earning $400,000 and couples making $450,000. Many of those are small businesspeople – A.K.A. employers.
So nothing was achieved.
The nation’s debt was more than $17 trillion and climbing. A two-year budget deal was reached in December 2013, but the heavy spending will continue.
In 2012, the House of Representatives passed a budget and sent it to the Senate, where it was ignored. The Senate, under Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, hadn’t approved a budget in more than three years.
Messrs. Obama and Reid were oblivious to the fact that red ink always follows poor planning.
That’s why we got more business angst and waste – in money and time – instead of real progress.
Escalating entitlement mentality
Workers and businesses were increasingly burdened – having to underwrite an entitlement mentality. Why?
Eleven states had more people on welfare than they had working. That was revealed in the Nov. 25, 2012 issue of Forbes by writer William Baldwin. (See: Do You Live In A Death Spiral State? – Forbes)
The 11 states: California, New York, Illinois, Ohio, Maine, Kentucky, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, New Mexico and Hawaii.
For every 100 workers in California, there were 139 residents are drinking from the welfare trough. Is it a coincidence that seven of the 11 states backed Mr. Obama in the 2012 election?
Avalanche of new regulations
Federal agencies are required by law to announce their proposed regulations that affect the economy by each April and October. This process allows dozens of bureaucracies to circumvent oversight by Congress.
Guess what?
If you’re a businessperson coping with the shortcomings of the Obama Administration, you were shocked by two developments:
Firstly, the Obama Administration ignored the law. It released its 2012 agenda for regulations on the Friday just before Christmas. That meant relatively few people would even notice the furtive, onerous administration charade because of the holidays.
Secondly, the government’s Web site introduced more than 5,500 new regulations comprising thousands of pages. The regulations affected nearly every industry.
The American Action Forum estimated the aggregate cost to implement the regulations was $123 billion.
The Obama Administration’s morass shows questionable priorities in other ways. As of Jan. 5, 2013, some 50 percent of the deadlines – for implementing ObamaCare and the Dodd-Frank law – have been ignored or missed.
No wonder business and workers, alike, were apprehensive. No business would succeed if it was operated like Mr. Obama and Democrats conducted their affairs.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are additional public-policy articles:
A Little-Known Benefit of the President’s Trade Tariff Policies –There’s an often-overlooked indicator the Trump trade tariffs are important for a stronger U.S. economy. Shockingly, before the election of President Trump, too many production workers were drawing welfare-related benefits to supplement their wages.
Myths and Truths about Dealing with China and the Tariffs — Five decades ago, the U.S. and China did not have diplomatic relations. But in 1972 it was universally felt that diplomatic relations with China was a worthwhile optimistic goal. Now as it turns out, China’s behavior has become an economic and political powder keg. Here is the solution.
USMCA Will Stop that ‘Giant Sucking Sound’ – You might recall what many politicians considered a ridiculous idea during a debate in the 1992 presidential campaign. Two years before it was implemented in 1994, Ross Perot argued NAFTA would not be a two-way street. Though sounding facetious, he accurately predicted NAFTA would create a giant sucking sound.
1.36 Million Jobs Would be Created by Tariffs on China – Study— A 25 percent tariff on all imports from China would create 1.36 million jobs in five years, according to an economic study.
“I’m here to tell you, some time in the next couple of months, we’re going to be creating between 250,000 jobs a month and 500,000 jobs a month.”
-Joe Biden, April 23, 2010
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