Posted by Erick Erickson:
Wow. Obama has been touring the nation making sure we know how many jobs he has saved or created. It is looking more and more like he is saving or creating the jobless.
Unemployment this morning topped 10.2%, even though the number seeking employment has declined. Many have just given up. Likewise, and more troublesome, the average hours worked in a week is at its lowest in decades — 33 hours. That suggests employers are going to just expand hours worked in the future, instead of hiring new people. So the unemployment number will stay high for a while.
On January 18, 2009, Obama’s top economics advisor Larry Summers said Barack Obama’s stimulus plan would keep unemployment below 10%.
On July 17, 2009, Larry Summers said
“Both administration and independent forecasts predicted that only a very small part of the total job creation expected from the Recovery Act would take place within six months,” he continued. “Indeed, a Council of Economic Advisers’ study predicted that only 10 percent of the total job impact of the Recovery Act would take place during calendar year 2009. Given lags in spending and hiring, the peak impact of the stimulus on jobs was expected not to be achieved until the end of 2010.”
In other words, an ever growing number of Americans have to sit on the unemployment line until next year by design. Why? So in 2010, Barack Obama and the Democrats can run on falling unemployment. They’d rather you starve now so they can have recovery happen in an election year.
We’re all political pawns to Barack Obama.
One more thing: remember, outside economists say passing the Democrats’ health care plan will slow the recovery further, stagnate wages, and increase unemployment. Do we want to do that?
