Our country is now in its 30th consecutive month of jobless rates above 8 percent — and often far above 8 percent! In fact, the latest report on unemployment — for the month of July — shows that joblessness is a painful 9.1 percent.
The irony of such high figures on joblessness is that nearly two and a half years ago, the Obama administration projected that unemployment would stay below 8 percent if Congress went along with the president’s plan for $862 billion in “stimulus” spending.
Democrats approved the stimulus, and the federal government spent that borrowed money according to its wasteful priorities, hoping to “prime the pump” in this or that sector of the economy.
It plainly didn’t work. Only twice in the past two years has unemployment even gotten below 9 percent, much less the projected maximum of 8 percent.
And July’s 9.1 percent rate — bad as it is — doesn’t give the full picture of how weak the job market is. When the millions of Americans who have given up looking for work or who need full-time jobs but can find only part-time are added in, what economists call the “underemployment” rate is a shocking 16.1 percent.
There was some job creation in July, but the net number of jobs created was only about half the number needed to make any serious headway against the unemployment rate.
Unfortunately, major job growth in the short term is unlikely because consumer spending — so important to economic growth — is down. And the combination of low consumer demand for goods and services, heavy but uncertain regulation under ObamaCare, and the threat of higher taxes has sapped whatever will companies might otherwise have to invest, expand and hire.
The Obama administration and some members of Congress are criticizing — and at times practically condemning — businesses for not pumping more investment dollars into the economy. But the same politicians have imposed anti-free-market policies and burdensome regulations that make it even riskier to invest than it would normally be.
It is regrettable that growth is so anemic — if it’s happening at all. But if Washington wants to know why the economy is so weak, it should not fault businesses or taxpayers; it should just look in the mirror.