How is your “summer of recovery” going so far?
To refresh your memory, the Obama administration proclaimed this was going to be the summer when all his economic fixes began to pay off. He even assigned “Sheriff Jumpin’ Joe” Biden to oversee it.
The result of his actions: an inelegant demise of an otherwise recovering economy.
Here are a few recent economic items that show what firm control the community-organizer-in-chief has over our financial well-being:
1. McKinsey & Co., a consulting firm, released a study that found that 30% of employers are likely to stop offering their workers health insurance once most of the Obamacare rules and regulations kick in.
2. J.P. Morgan Bank CEO and lifelong Democrat Jamie Dimon said regulators have gone too far with the Dodd-Frank legislation. He said he fears someone will write a book about how government overreaching had hurt the economic recovery.
3. Consumer confidence is falling and Americans are experiencing buyer’s remorse. 57% say they disapprove of Obama’s management of the economy. The other 43% say, “So we still have an economy?”
4. Unemployment is 9.1% and rising again, and gas prices are touching $4 per gallon. Here’s an inconvenient truth: gas prices were $1.65 per gallon the month Obama took office.
It was interesting what Nancy Pelosi said about Bush’s stewardship of the economy on January 4, 2008, when unemployment was 5% and gas cost $3 per gallon: “This morning’s jobs report confirms what most Americans already knew — President Bush’s economic policies have failed our country’s middle class.”
When Obama said he was going to get us back on our feet again, he must have meant us having to power our cars like Fred Flintstone.
The Limousine Liberal has doubled the amount of government luxury cars/limos, most made by his wholly owned subsidiary, Cadillac. He tells us to inflate our tires and buy smaller cars, but Obama lives large.
5. In fiscal year 2007, the Republicans passed their last budget before Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats took over Congress. It had a deficit of $161 billion. That now looks like the good old days. In their first year with the checkbook, the Democrats ran a $459 billion deficit — and they were just getting started. In 2009 they racked up a record deficit of $1.42 TRILLION. Democrats felt they were on a roll and beat that record in 2010 by putting another $1.6 trillion on our joint credit card — a personal best to date. That figure does not include the $50 trillion in unfunded mandates, the costs of regulation, Bush’s prescription drug entitlement, Obamacare, etc.
6. The Dow Jones closed below 12,000 last week after its sixth-consecutive weekly decline. This is the longest losing streak for our stock markets since 2002. Stock values dropped so much the E-Trade baby filed for bankruptcy. The USA has gone from using stock brokers to using pawn brokers.
7. USA Today reported last week that the unfunded obligations the politicians have promised folks (welfare, Social Security, government retirement) amount to over $500,000 per household. This compares to only $112,000 in debt the average family has now for its home, car and credit cards. The Congressional Research Center reported that 77,000 federal employees make more than the average governor.
8. Moody’s rating agency said it was considering lowering the U.S’s credit rating. Obama thinks they were just being moody.
9. It is so bad that Obama’s top economic advisor, Austan Goulsbee, stepped down. I hear they are thinking of replacing him with Ashton Kutcher.
The bright spots are McDonald’s, which is spending $1 billion to upgrade its stores, and Dunkin’ Donuts, which is contemplating an IPO. This proves that the one growth industry in America is our waistlines.
Obama and his sycophants have next-to-no business experience and profess disdain for those who do. I am pretty sure the young Obama received a government-backed loan to buy his first teleprompter. He has never even run a lemonade stand; when you have no idea what drives business, that’s a problem. His is an envy-based economy.
Japan is falling into recession after experiencing natural disasters like a tsunami, nuclear meltdowns and earthquakes. This differs from the U.S., which is falling back into recession due to unnatural disasters like Dodd-Frank, the stimulus bill, cap and trade, and Obamacare.
Ron Hart is a syndicated op-ed humorist, award-winning author and TV/radio commentator. Email Ron@RonaldHart.com or visit www.RonaldHart.com.