No Hope, No Change

The Wall Street Journal has an editorial today that is well worth your time. Link here.

The unemployment figures just released show that “official” unemployment is 9.5% with an underutilized labor (i.e. full time employment but not a 40 hour week) stands at about 16.5%. Remember the Marxist in the White House said that with the “stimulus”, unemployment would be no higher than 8%. How anybody can believe anything that comes out of 0bama’s mouthteleprompter is beyond me.

From the WSJ…..

“About the best we can say about yesterday’s June jobs report is that employment is usually a lagging economic indicator. At least we hope it is, because the loss of 467,000 jobs for the month is one more sign that the economy still hasn’t hit bottom despite months of epic fiscal and monetary reflation.

The report is in many ways even uglier than the headline numbers. Average hours worked per week dropped to 33, the lowest level in at least 40 years. This means that millions of full-time workers are being downgraded to part-time, as businesses slash labor costs to remain above water. Because people are working less, wages have fallen by 0.3% this year. Factories are operating at only 65% capacity, while the overall jobless rate hit 9.5%. Throw in discouraged workers who want full-time work, and the labor underutilization rate climbed to 16.5%.

The news is even worse for young people, with nearly one in four teenagers unemployed. Congress has scheduled an increase in the minimum wage later this month, which will price even more of these unskilled youths out of a vital start on the career ladder. One useful policy response would be for Congress to rescind the wage hike to $7.25 an hour (from $6.55) that is scheduled for July 24. But the union economic model that now dominates Washington holds that wages only matter for those who already have jobs. The jobs that are never created don’t count.

The goods producing sector — Americans who make things — shed 223,000 more jobs last month. Asked about these job losses by the Associated Press yesterday, President Obama said Congress should pass his cap-and-tax on carbon energy because “If we’re weatherizing every building and home in America, if we are creating windmills and solar panels and biofuel facilities, that is a huge promising area not only for jobs here in the United States, but also for export growth.” But even under the most optimistic scenario, not every hard-hat worker in America can make windmill blades and solar panels. With manufacturing on its back, enacting a new energy tax to drive more jobs offshore is crazy even on Keynesian grounds.” [...]

Barry, just how stupid do you think the American public is? Your Marxist plan is NOT working, but of course, if you knew anything at all about economic history, or history at all for that matter, you would have KNOWN this asinine stimulus plan won’t work.

Add in the “Cap and Kill Jobs” bill recently passed by the morons in The House, and we now have the makings of a nice long depression, if the Senate passes the “Cap and Kill Jobs” bill. We already know, that 0bama, in his quest to destroy America will sign the bill into law.

The WSJ sums it up nicely.

[...]“As always, a sustained expansion and job creation must come from private investment and risk-taking. Yet as America’s entrepreneurs look at Washington they see uncertainty and higher costs from a $1 trillion health-care bill; higher energy costs from the cap-and-tax bill that just passed the House (see below); new restraints on consumer lending in the financial reform bill; new tariffs and threats of trade protection; limits on compensation and banker baiting; and the possibility of easier unionization, among numerous other Congressional brainstorms.

None of this inspires “animal spirits.” The best thing Mr. Obama could do to create jobs would be to declare he’s dropping all of this and starting over.”

Fat chance that will happen…little Barry and his Administration are too committed to the damage they’re causing to America.