From a three page article at Politico we see a comment from Barack Obama:
“We learned this morning that our business created 84,000 new jobs last month and that overall means that businesses have created 4.4 million new jobs over the past 28 months including 500,000 new manufacturing jobs,” Obama said. “That’s a step in the right direction. But we can’t be satisfied because our goal was never to just keep on working to get back to where we were back in 2007. I want to get back to a time where middle class families and those working to get into the middle class have some basic security.”
A step in the right direction?
Unemployment is still at 8.2 percent and the White House website encourages voters, 30 different times, to " not to read too much into any one monthly report and it is informative to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available."
So, let us consider the other data, shall we?
First, consider that unemployment has been over 8 percent for 41 straight months.
No Barack, that is not a step in the "right direction."
Manufacturing is down for the first time in three years, that report came out earlier in the week.
No Barack, that is not a step in the "right direction."
The economy needs up to 200K+ new jobs a month to grow because the workforce expands each month, so 80,000 jobs means we are going backwards, not forward.
No Barack, that is not a step in the "right direction."
In August 2011 S&P lowered the U.S. one level to AA+ while keeping the outlook at “negative” as it becomes less confident Congress will end Bush-era tax cuts or tackle entitlements. The rating may be cut to AA within two years if spending reductions are lower than agreed to, interest rates rise or “new fiscal pressures” result in higher general government debt. (Source- Bloomberg)
That was the first time the U.S. has been downgraded.
In April, another credit agency downgraded the U.S. again, from AA+ to AA. (Source- Bloomberg)
No Barack, that is not a step in the "right direction."
In May 2012 it was reported that consumer spending had stalled.
No Barack, that is not a step in the "right direction."
In March of 2012, CBS News reported "The National Debt has now increased more during President Obama's three years and two months in office than it did during 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency."
No Barack, that is not a step in the "right direction."
Food Stamp usage has more than doubled since 2008.
No Barack, that is not a step in the "right direction."
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| Chart- American Enterprise Institute |
61 percent of the American people disagree with Barack Obama and believe, correctly, that the U.S. is on the wrong track and is not stepping in the "right direction, " no matter how many times he repeats that phrase, it doesn't make it true and Americans are not buying what he is selling.
Obama blames Republicans who now control the House, without mention that the first two years he had a Congress completely rubber stamping whatever he wanted, and they focused on Obamacare instead of jobs and recovery. Without mentioning that since Republicans took control of the House they have passed dozens of bills to create job growth and he has threatened to veto them or the Senate, controlled by Democrats, have not passed them. Without mentioning that Obama and Democrats' economic stimulus package, that cost over $800 billion, did not stimulate growth as evidenced by a stalled economy and unemployment still being over 8 percent.
The bottom line is that if Obama cannot see that he is heading in the wrong direction with the policies that have failed over the last nearly four years, if he truly believes the country is stepping in the "right direction" as he keeps claiming over and over again, then how on earth can anyone expect him to turn around and change direction?
Best case scenario, Obama is blinded by his political ideology and just cannot see what his policies are doing to the country.
Worst case scenario, he knows and is just lying to the American people, because his political ideology is more important to him that turning this country around.
I am not sure which scenario is worse.