Sunday, January 8, 2012

Liberals to Americans: 'Only 8.5% unemployment. Let there be dancing in the streets!'

When Barack Obama was elected in November, 2008, the unemployment rate was around 6.5% and rising, and one could assign this stat to the spectre of a Marxist taking over the Oval Office, and the business community was preparing for the long cold 4-year winter.  In a few months into the Obama administration, unemployment hit 10.1%, and hovered there for quite a while.  The causes of this downturn can be debated at another time, but the reality was that President Barack Obama promised that things would be all honey and roses if he were given the keys to the car. 

President Bush drove the car into the ditch, they said.  Unemployment was at an unacceptable 6.5%, and Barack Obama now has the keys.  Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics put the unemployed figure at 8.5%, and we are all told that things have turned around.  Let there be dancing in the streets! 

Am I the only guy in this country that remembers that Democrats were bashing the Bush administration for the horrible numbers that reflected how desperate things were in America, and the worst numbers he ever chalked up during nearly all of his adminsistration until the last few months were well below 6%?  And we are now told that things are looking up: "ONLY 8.5% unemployment, Obama is now a shoo-in for re-election with numbers like this."

That is much like the following analogy: once upon a time,  a village historically held a celebration at harvest time, and 10 pigs were roasted, 100 chickens were put to the spit, and yet the elderly village chief was cursed by many because there were not 20 pigs roasted, and 200 chickens for everyone.  Then the elderly chief died, and a much more free wheeling, generous chief was hailed as the successor.  Of course, as the generous guy the new chief was, throughout the years going forward, he slaughtered most of the village pigs and chickens and passed them out to the neediest of the villagers, without thought as to how anyone would replace them.  In subsequent years, due to scarcity of pigs and chickens because of the new generous chief's profligate slaughter of the village animals, the annual celebration served up fewer and fewer pigs and chickens, and the last few years had to borrow pigs and chickens from other nearby villages to feed the villagers during the celebration.  Last year, only 2 pigs and 20 chickens were served at the 'feast.'

Time then came for a referendum on the new generous chief's leadership, and prior to this judgement by the villagers, the chief borrowed twice as many pigs and chickens for the celebration, and that year 4 pigs and 40 chickens were devoured by the hungry villagers.  Then, after the meager celebration was over, the chief declared 'let there be dancing in the streets, we have doubled our feasting from last year.  Happy days are here again!'  And the news was spread throughout the village that there should be dancing in the streets, the generous new chief had come through.  Let us keep him in control of the pigs and chickens for years to come!  Debt owed to the nearby villages was actually causing some serious PR problems with these other villages, but that information was not actively distributed to the local villagers, as that can could be kicked down the road, to be dealt with by some future chief.

And all the while, the generous chief and his managers simply assume that nobody remembers the days when the elderly and now departed old chief insured that the feast served up 10 pigs and 100 chickens.

Yes, the analogy is too long, but the point is this: liberals will have us all believe, contrary to our recent memories, that 8.5% unemployment is a really good thing, and that this good news is owing to our brilliant president's policies.  Once Barack Obama raises the debt ceiling by another 1.2 TRILLION dollars, we as a nation will be in debt over 16 TRILLION DOLLARS, and George Orwell could not have written this scenario with any more incredulity than is being spouted by liberals and the Democratic National Committee. 

"Let there be dancing in the streets," the liberals cry.  And let the debt and looming crisis be dealt with by a future administration, one that is responsible.  Or so that message seems to me.

10 comments:

Silverfiddle said...

And its even worse when you realize what the real unemployment rate is.

They've decreased the overall size of the group of employables. Were we using the Bush era baseline, unemployment would be well into double digits.

Malcolm said...

A couple of times in this post, you mentioned that when Barack Obama took office, the unemployment rate was around 5.7%. Actually, the unemployment rate was in the mid-to-high 7 percent range when Obama took office in January 2009. The link below puts the rate at 7.6%, while other reports had it as high as 7.8%.

http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2009/feb/wk2/art02.htm

As for liberals dancing in the streets because the unemployment rate is down to 8.5%, I'm not one of them. If there are liberals dancing, they are dancing fools. Sure, it's good news that the rate is dropping. However, we still have a long way to go.

Fredd said...

Malcolm:

OK, you are correct, the 5.7% is low, I used my fading memory for the figure, as it was betwen 4 and 5 point something for nealy all of Dubya's tenure, except the last few months when the Dodd/Frank housing bubble burst, and things went to hell, despite Dubya's efforts earlier to do something about it.

I have changed that figure to what it was a few days after Obama was inaugurated: 6.5%. Let's stick with BLS numbers (http://www.epi.org/publication/webfeatures_econindicators_jobspict_20081107/) for the link.

Read the post again, Malcolm, and see if my adjusted figures make any difference in the jist of my point whatsoever. 6.5%, 5.7%, Po-TAY-to, po-TAH-to.

Liberals are not dancing in the streets per se, their leaders are telling the rest of us (voters) that WE should be dancing in the streets...and subsequently re-electing their guy.

At least I appreciate your civil correction, Malcolm. I usually don't get treated to this kind of courtesy, since according to most liberals, I'm pretty darn evil, you see.

Fredd said...

Silver:

Of course you (and I) are right on this one, despite liberals such as Malcolm's keen observation that the BLS numbers were such and such.

Fudging the numbers now simply does not compare apples to oranges, but when millions of people stop looking for work, suddenly the Obama statisticians jump on this fact to suggest falsely that the labor situation is improving, when it is clearly not. Just look out your front door, turn your head left and right and tell me how many of your former neighbor's houses are for sale. You know, because they lost their jobs and can't afford to live next to you anymore.

But don't count them in the denominator of the BLS figures, since it's expedient to the current administration to shrink the country's employed bodies to make the numerator look good.

Bunk. It's all bunk.

Z said...

"But don't count them in the denominator of the BLS figures, since it's expedient to the current administration to shrink the country's employed bodies to make the numerator look good."

Wait for this to happen all over the place this year; COOKING THE BOOKS IN OBAMA'S FAVOR: they'll have Obama looking good on every miserable situation he's created.
What happened to SOlyndra? Fast and Furious? Where's the media on all of that? (ya, I know)

I remember when he went into office and I heard he'd hired five or six ex producers from CNN, etc...all experts in PR and how to play the media (and probably send the leftwing media information on how and what to cover)....they don't get mentioned anymore; I've heard nothing about them since that first mention. They're very busy at work, no denying it.

Fredd said...

Z:

No doubt, the left is busy, as we speak, spinning the bad news as much as they are able.

And that is 'much.'

Joe said...

Notice to liberals: We conservatives are dumb, and we can't see that 8.5% is higher than Bush's final figures, so just tell us we're better off and we'll believe it, 'cause liberals are so honest and dependable.

Not.

Fredd said...

Joe:

They indeed do think that we are dumber than dirt, Joe.

They are always telling us that up is down, black is white, and that 8.5 is better than 6.5. Just ask Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She said that very thing just a week or two ago.

Kid said...

Million seconds = 12 Days

Billion seconds = 32 Years

Trillion seconds = 31,687 YEARS !

Democrat politicians are Evil, repubs are Useless. God help us.

Fredd said...

Kid:

Yes, the current DNA of a run of the mill republican is not good. Examples include Olympia Snow, Arlen Specter, Lincoln Chafee, and Willard Romney. But many of these have been put out to pasture, and the remainder can be pressured to not be so evil.

But the Tea Party is starting a natural selection process, just wait and see before tossing in the towel.