The Obama administration has repeatedly assured the American people that the recession is “over,” and that the economy is moving forward.
But that will surely be news to the tens of millions of Americans who are unemployed, who can get only part-time jobs when they need full-time work, or who have simply given up the job search in frustration.
Lots of economists and other experts predicted that the economy would produce lots of new private-sector jobs in November. But the “experts” were wrong.
The figures for November paint a picture of a nation still stuck in remarkably high unemployment. Private-sector job creation last month was puny, to say the least, and the official rate of joblessness actually increased from 9.6 percent to 9.8 percent. That doesn’t count millions more people who are “underemployed” or who have thrown in the towel and stopped searching for jobs that just aren’t there.
Those numbers are a record – and not the good kind. Unemployment has been higher than 9 percent for 19 consecutive months now. Joblessness has never before stayed above 9 percent for that long.
The latest increase in joblessness is especially alarming because it came in November. That’s when many retailers and manufacturers might be expected to increase hiring for the Christmas season. As it turned out, however, retailers cut more than 28,000 jobs last month! They, like the rest of the country, apparently have serious doubts that we’re in a real recovery.
“The report was a reminder that the economic recovery is proceeding more slowly and fitfully than many economists had expected,” The Associated Press reported.
In fact, the report is a “reminder” that the supposed “recovery” is barely proceeding at all.
Why would it? We have not, after all, reversed the bad policies that are worsening the economic crisis.
The unproductive, debt-bloating $862 billion “stimulus” spending continues, despite its obvious failure to hold down joblessness the way it was supposed to.
Congress still is not really tackling the problem of excessive spending (though we hope the new GOP majority in the House of Representatives in 2011 will move in the direction of spending more responsibly).
The costs of ObamaCare socialized medicine have only just begun hitting companies around the nation. And businesses will soon be saddled with massive new IRS reporting requirements that are sure to discourage some entrepreneurs from even trying to start a business.
That is hardly a recipe for economic growth!
At a time when our nation should be lowering barriers to job creation, it is actually creating roadblocks to growth with policies that discourage companies from expanding operations and hiring new employees.
We should not be surprised, therefore, to learn that unemployment is creeping back up toward the terribly painful 10 percent mark.
If we want a stronger economy, we should abandon policies that destroy growth. If instead we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting.