According to experts who get down on their knees every day and give thanks that there is still employment for "experts," there are now more Americans idled by joblessness than at any time since the Great Depression. Which, by 2012, we'll no doubt be calling "Great Depression One."
Estimates are that 10.5 million jobs have been lost in recent years...and they show no real signs of coming back. Perhaps ever. And the alleged unemployment figure of 9.1% is essentially a funny (but not hilarious) bit of shady government bookkeeping to hide a real figure that is closer to 16%.
None of which comes as news to regular readers of Hope n' Change...and neither is the fact that the Obama administration continues to do nothing to change this disturbing situation.
And why should they? More and more people are becoming entirely dependent on the government and developing bitter resentment towards those who have jobs, create jobs, or invest in job creation - an attitude which is being actively fomented by the Left.
But as bad as all of this is, the "oratorically gifted" Barack Obama continues to refer to our nation's joblessness as nothing more than "a bump in the road"... before heading out to the golf course.
All of which is, to put it mildly, Greatly Depressing.
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Obama is what he is and we here know that. He hasn't changed, mainly because he can't. He loves himself and his ideology far too much to ever be able to admit that any aspect of his character or thinking needs modification. Any positive steps he may have taken (killing Bin Laden)are taken grudgingly and only when his back is against the wall. But you can't blame a wolf for being a wolf. The ones I hold most in contempt are the vile enablers who continue to tell us that the wolf is a sheepdog just protecting the herd. If they actually believe that, they are gullible and incompetent beyond measure. If they don't believe it, but insist on promulgating it, they deserve whatever bad befalls them, and I mean that seriously. They are traitorous vermin and the 30% of Americans who claim they will vote to reelect Obama are blind or stupid or stupidly blind. The thing that gives me hope is that the majority of Americans are beginning to have the veil lifted from their eyes. Unlike the media-manufactured sins of George Bush, Obama's sins (all mortal, none venial) are self-evident and shine through the false veneer Obama's fluffers desperately paste over. Right now America is cut and bleeding. We have to mend the wounds and take time to heal. We can't do that with just any Republican at the helm. We need serious, bold leadership and that person, whoever that is, will need the hand of God to guide them. That is, if God even thinks we are worth saving anymore.
ReplyDeleteRant off/
@Angry Hoosier Dad- Excellent. And I couldn't agree more about the need for serious, bold leadership. Look at the morning paper: Bernanke admits he doesn't know why the economy is tanking (or how to stop it), even more jobs have been lost, the CBO is saying that our nation's debt will be 100% of the GDP within a decade and is unsustainable, the Medicare trustees have testified that the program will collapse and be over for everyone in about 15 years, and the commander-in-chief just overruled his own lawyers to declare that there are no hostilities in Libya and overruled his generals to declare that the timetable for troop drawdown in Afghanistan should be based on his reelection campaign instead of military practicalities.
ReplyDeleteWith all of that on the table, our nation can't withstand another 4 years of Obama, and it can't withstand 4 years of a RINO. And it's not just the man at the top: 2012 must create a conservative supermajority in order to get things done. Because if we're not out of chances already, this will be the last one.
Interesting that the unemployment rate is 9.1%. I suppose if they carried out the decimal place one more time it would be 9.11%. Yes, damaging terroristic actions by our own President are being done in our country!
ReplyDeleteIt might be BETTER if they just used the 16%, because the "alleged" number is just too telling....
I don't know what you are all whining about. Obama's economic agenda has been a tremendous success, except for most Americans. Remember, he was elected to "fundamentally transform America" to a Euro-socialist-type state, and we are well on our way! Low-growth and high unemployment are the norm for Euro-socialist states, along with a largely dependent and passive population.
ReplyDeleteBernanke can't possibly be that clueless. The reality is that there is absolutely nothing the fed can do to offset the private-sector killing agenda of this Administration and it's remaining allies in Congress. The fiscal uncertainty of ObamaCare, yet-established collateral to be caused by Frank-Dodd, the phony regulatory review, our just-plain bizarre energy policy, and, of course, the methodological take-over of large sectors of the economy.
And as if all of that isn't enough, we have the NRLB (which Obama has stacked full of recess-appointed union lawyers) in open warfare against one of the few companies who actually is expanding and trying to employ Americans, for daring to build factories in places that aren't unionized blue states! The message is clear: They are retaliating against right-to-work red states, and this is what the Federal government has in store for any company looking to expand or relocate in places we don't like.
You think that doesn't put a chill on the economy?
So if the Obama Administration gets its way, all 787's will by built by union labor. But I'll tell you this, the 797, whenever and whatever it may be, will likely be built in China or India. After all, this is the business model that makes Apple such a success.
When the troops come home, Oblah-blah-blah will order the reduction of our military forces putting soldiers out on the street without a job because they are returning to the workplace they formerly held but which is no longer in existence since it too downsized into extinction. All this means higher unemployment, more government subsidy, more taxes on those still working.
ReplyDeleteLet's see... GDNO (Great Depresssion Number One), caused, in whole or part, by economc forces related to speculating in the stock market, "isolationist" tariffs on imports, natural disasters (a drought) which precipitated reduced spending in the private sector (duh!), and, eventually failures in the banks. Hmmmm.....
ReplyDeleteWe were "saved" by FDR's Constitution-busting policies which, lucky for FDR, came about at the same time that a great war spurred the economy, giving the false impression of success - ostensibly, his actions make him the "father" of this current situation, and the first truly "progressive" president to force his will upon the nation through the exloitation of a crisis. Hmmm.....
So, if those who refuse to learn from history are destined to repeat it... Damn! I just shit myself!
(By the way, Stilt, "Kinetic Leisure'! Sprayed hot coffee out my nose on that one. I'll send you the ENT and laundry bills...)
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'm officially depressed. Thanks a heap!
ReplyDeleteWe've all been talking for months about the need for bold, conservative leadership. Does anyone see it ... anywhere? Anyone at all? Buehler? Buehler?
I had hope for Alan West, but then he voted NOT to stop Pigford, and I have not yet found or seen an explanation as to WHY. My own Rep, Austin Scott (R) who managed to boot an entrenched Democrat in the last election, also voted NOT to stop the Pigford payouts ... without explanation. I sent him an email asking how he could do that, but have not yet received a reply. In all, there were enough Republican votes to go with all the Democrat votes to keep the Pigford fraud alive ... while we, as a nation, sink into the abyss.
@Stilton - in my paper this morning, the article about Bernanke was in the business section with a small 1" x 1" picture of him. Next to that article was one on Obama's poll numbers (inflated in his favor) with a larger 3" x 3" picture. When I read the quote where he didn't know why the recovery was stalling, I pointed (with vigor) at the picture of Obama and said, in a voice that woke my son, "THERE ... THERE IS THE REASON!"
I don't think Bernanke heard me. I wasn't loud enough.
Welcome to The Great Depression 2.0
@Suzy- Wow, that 9.11 number compared to 9/11 is a really powerful idea. If I could actually draw worth a darn, I'd be all over it. I may still try to do something with it... it's just a great idea!
ReplyDeleteJohnTheEcon- I agree that Bernanke knows perfectly well that Obama's policies are what's killing the economy...but he can't say so, so instead he just shrugs. And you're exactly right that the future of "American" industry will be almost exclusively overseas thanks to the NLRB insanity. Meanwhile, there are idiots like Paul Krugman claiming we need more unionization as the way to fix things here. Honestly, did that jackass get his Nobel Prize out of a box of crackerjacks?
@Bobo- Decommissioned troops will raise unemployment numbers, but also give Obama a CYA position. He'll inflate the degree to which the unemployed soldiers are affecting the numbers, and point out that voters certainly can't blame him for what looks like unemployment but is actually a return to peace.
@Emmentaler- I don't think another World War could pull us out of our fiscal woes. We're too good at fighting them now; the whole thing would be done in a day. And so would we.
Also, sorry about the whole coffee up the nose thing, but people shouldn't sip liquids (especially hot ones) while reading this strip.
@Chuck- It certainly wasn't my intent to depress you. It was my intent to bitch about how depressed I am! (grin) And where the heck did your paper come up with ANY poll that was able to inflate numbers in Obama's favor?! It had to be something like:
In 2012, I would prefer:
1) Barack Obama
2) Rectal cancer
3) My eyes ripped out by ferrets
4) Sexual enslavement in the basement of a mosque
5) Putting my tongue in a woodchipper
And even then, I can't see Obama scoring more than 30%...
ROFL at your poll, Stilt!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe scary thing is, Obama has gotten so many people so totally duped they'd ALL probably vote Obama!
Of course with ObamaCare, the rectal cancer thing could be a real possibility, anyway....there should be a 6) All of the above and then fine print that says if you chose 1) then you automatically get 6).
An AP (Associated Poop) poll has his overall approval at 52%. All other numbers quoted were well below 50% approval, so I'm not sure what math they use to get 52% overall. I know polls are useless, but just the same: the Rasmussen poll of likely votes shows that 46% approve of the job Obama is doing. Even after you subtract the ones that lie to throw off the poll, you still have over 40% approving. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THOSE PEOPLE? There is cure for stupid.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't depress me ... all the depressing news depresses me. And the fact that I do believe that light we sometimes think we see at the end of the tunnel is actually a 25 watt bulb (incandescent) at the bottom of the hole!
Sorry, it's: There is NO cure for stupid.
ReplyDeleteAlso none for my typos.
Stilton, I really had to think long and hard about your poll. Choice one would last the rest of my life (two terms = USA destroyed permanently!), and so would choice two. But choice two wouldn't last as long. Hmmmm....
ReplyDeleteFolks, scream it from the rooftops. We can not afford to let the MSM pick our candidate again. Let's not have McCain #2 this time around. Get behind a real Conservative and push like your life depends on it (because it DOES!).
@Readers- I looked up the Associated Press poll and now understand the results...
ReplyDeleteYou think Barack Obama looks cutest in...
A) Dress slacks 9%
B) Golf shorts 21%
C) Mom jeans 10%
D) Muslim robes 8%
E) Overalls 52%
Headline: 52% Overall Approval For Obama
@Stilton - Excellent! Thanks for clearing that up in a way that actually cheered me up!
ReplyDeletegood article in American Thinker today...very uplifting and positive for us who want BO to just go away....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/more_bo_than_anyone_can_stand.html
Chuck, over 40% of "likely voters" are a) totally dependant on "Government Cheeze" and / or truly believe that re-distribution is the answer.
ReplyDeleteAsshats, all.
@Pete - yeah, there was actually a caller to Talk Radio (Hannity) on my trip home from work who SAID he believed in "equal outcomes" and redistribution of wealth. That everyone should have the same income, no less!?! When pressed (and he resisted answering, but they KNEW where he was calling from), turns out he is a well-to-do lefty in an upscale neighborhood who is "willing" to pay more taxes. He had no answer when asked who was stopping him, of course, but said he would in the future.
ReplyDeleteBlarney in June.
It was the first time I ever heard anyone actually say they believe in "equal outcomes" directly, but it was no surprise that he, himself, is "privileged".
Chuck...I have to ask myself...are these people ignorant??? I mean, really...he works 60 hours a week and thinks the teenage punk at the local fast food restaurant working 35 hours a week flipping burgers deserves his salary? Really?
ReplyDeleteThese people are nuts. They can't possibly believe what they say. I think they just say it to spite conservatives.
Chuck, I don’t know a lot of the details about Pigford. But, to me it’s really simple, the farmers sued because they could not get loans. So, just get them the LOANS they wanted. With an apology, sorry, here’s your loan, make sure that you pay it back on time & with interest.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many “farmers” would have taken that deal as opposed to the free money ($50K each & up deal, not to metion how much the lawyers are making) No wonder this country is so broke. Is it possible to get the government’s head out of it’s ass or out of our wallets?
BIG Govt…waste, fraud & abuse pretty much sums it up.
Krugman got his Nobel the same way that most get it these days; acting as useful idiots to the totalitarian socialist agenda. Nobody out side of the Northeast media establishment social circle takes that boob seriously; he even contradicts his own textbooks. 1st-year econ students can figure out he's full of it. Nobody's taken the Nobel committee seriously since they gave one to Arafat. Obama's pre-peace prize was just the final nail in the coffin.
ReplyDeleteBernanke is a stooge of the Keynesians, little more.
I encourage all Americans to vote NO!! with the weapon of their choice.
ReplyDeleteNot mine originally but it certainly is apt
@Chuck- It's not that hard to guarantee "equal outcomes;" all you have to do is keep anyone from succeeding.
ReplyDelete@Suzy- I think they really do believe in equal outcomes. After all, is it "fair" for some people to be born with talent or initiative and others not? Which reminds me, if anyone here hasn't read Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron," do so right now. Really.
@SC- Tort reform, tort reform, tort reform!!! Thanks, I feel better now.
@John the Econ- Krugman just wrote a piece which (he claimed) proved that Medicare was cheaper than private insurance. His proof: in a certain period of time, the amount of money Medicare spent per patient went up 400%...but in the same period of time, the cost of insurance premiums went up 700%. Ergo, Medicare is cheaper!
Anyone who knows the difference between apples and oranges should be screaming now. The two numbers have no relationship to one another. Nobel Prize my ass.
@jselvy- And let's assume that everyone's weapon of choice is a vote, okay?
(Hope n' Change has a strict non-violence policy, though your entirely hypothetical idiom is pretty funny!)
I have the movie based on the short story. It's called 2081. At 20 minutes, it is much longer than the read. But it is also quite well done.
ReplyDeleteI've always said that it's easy to be a socialist when you're born into money. However, being born into money somehow makes some people guilty about that, and they want to re-distribute all the money. They just want to re-distribute everyone else's money first.
ReplyDelete@JustaJeepGuy - too true!
ReplyDeletelinked at RR
ReplyDeletehttp://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/2011/06/reaganites-sunday-funnies_26.html