Category Archives: Economy

by | March 13, 2014 · 8:31 pm

What we wish our leaders cared about

January 22, 2014: Quinnipiac Poll

What do you think should be the top priority for President Obama and Congress in 2014?

(Note: This was an open-ended question, not a multiple choice question.)

The SINGLE BIGGEST RESPONSE: 18% responded “Healthcare”

Here are the responses as grouped and ranked by CtH:

48% = Economy worries and stuff the Feds are supposed to do (combined)

  • 16% Jobs/Unemployment
  • 15% Economy(General)
  • 12% Budget and Taxes (combined)
    • 4% Budget(General)
    • 3% Budget deficit
    • 2% Budget(Gov spending)
    • 1% Budget (Other)
    • 1% Taxes(General)
    • 1% Military Issues/Benefits
  • 2% Foreign Policy
  • 2% Immigration Issues
  • 1% Obama resign

36% = Social engineering stuff the Feds are NOT supposed to do (combined)

  • 18% Healthcare
  • 2% Education (General)
  • 1% Wages/Minimum Wage
  • 1% Income inequality
  • 1% Class inequality
  • 1% Social Issues/Social Services
  • 1% Gun Issues/Policy/Control
  • 1% Environment

24% = People who don’t pay enough attention to answer intelligently (combined)

  • 10% Other (less than 1% each)
  • 9% Don’t Know / No Answer
  • 4% Bipartisan/Cross party lines/ Coop to get things done
  • 1% Candidate cares about people

January 27, 2014: Pew Opinion Poll

Which of the following should Congress and the President make a top priority?

Note: This was NOT an open-ended question. Percents given were for those who says YES to top priority.

The SINGLE BIGGEST RESPONSE: 80% Strengthening the Economy

Issues more or less evenly split Republican vs. Democrat:

  • 80% Strengthening nation’s economy
  • 74% Improving job situation
  • 73% Defending against terrorism
  • 69% Improving education
  • 66% Securing Social Security
  • 63% Reducing budget deficit
  • 61% Securing Medicare
  • 59% Reducing health care costs
  • 55% Reducing crime
  • 55% Reforming the nation’s tax system
  • 45% Dealing with nation’s energy problem
  • 42% Reducing the influence of lobbyists
  • 41% Dealing with illegal immigration
  • 39% Improving infrastructure
  • 28% Dealing with global trade

Issues predominantly Democrat:

  • 49% Helping poor and needy
  • 49% Protecting environment
  • 29% Dealing with global warming

Issues predominantly Republican:

  • 43% Strengthening the military
  • 39% Dealing with moral breakdown

Sources:

3 Comments

Filed under Budget, Climate, Democrats, Economy, Immigration, Medicare/Medicaid, Minimum Wage, Obamacare, Polls, Republicans, Taxes, Unemployment

by | February 13, 2014 · 8:10 pm

Debt and Democrat Lies

Obama and Debtmageddon

2006 Pelosi on Dem promises

Source:

1 Comment

Filed under Barack Obama, Economy, National Debt, Republicans

by | February 8, 2014 · 11:44 am

Two Americas

The Democrats are right, there are two Americas.

The America that works, and the America that doesn’t. The America that contributes, and the America that doesn’t.

It’s not the haves and the have nots, it’s the dos and the don’ts. Some people do their duty as Americans, to obey the law and support themselves and contribute to society, and others don’t.

That’s the divide in America.

BHO - no idea free market

It’s not about income inequality, it’s about civic irresponsibility. It’s about a political party that preaches hatred, greed and victimization in order to win elective office. It’s about a political party that loves power more than it loves its country.

That’s not invective, that’s truth.

And it’s about time someone said it.

The politics of envy was on proud display last week as the president said he would pledge the rest of his term to fighting “income inequality.” He notes that some people make more than other people, that some people have higher incomes than others, and he says that’s not just.

It was the rationale of thievery.

The other guy has it, you want it, Obama will take it for you.

Vote Democrat.

It is the electoral philosophy that gave us Detroit. It is the electoral philosophy that is destroying America.

Lady Parts vs Lady Smarts

And it conceals a fundamental deviation from American values and common sense. It ends up not being a benefit to the people who support it, but a betrayal. The Democrats have not empowered their followers, they have enslaved them – in a culture of dependence and entitlement, of victimhood and anger instead of ability and hope.

The president’s premise – that you reduce income inequality by debasing the successful – seeks to ignore and cheat the law of choices and consequences. It seeks to deny the successful the consequences of their choices and spare the unsuccessful the consequences of their choices.

Because, by and large, the variability in society is a result of different choices leading to different consequences. Those who choose wisely and responsibility have a far greater likelihood of success, while those who choose foolishly and irresponsibly have a far greater likelihood of failure.

And success and failure can manifest themselves in personal and family income.

You choose to drop out of high school or to skip college and you are apt to have a different outcome than someone who gets a diploma and pushes on with purposeful education. You have your children out of wedlock and life is apt to take one course, you have them in wedlock and life is apt to take another course.

Social Justice - Walter E Williams

Most often in life our destination is determined by the course we take.

My doctor, for example, makes far more than I do. There is significant income inequality between us. Our lives have had an inequality of outcome. But, our lives also have had an inequality of effort. Whereas my doctor went to college and then gave the flower of his young adulthood to medical school and residency, I got a job in a restaurant. He made a choice, I made a choice. And our choices led us to different outcomes.

His outcome pays a lot better than mine.

Does that mean he cheated and Barack Obama needs to take away his wealth?

No, it means we are both free men.

And in a free society, free choices will lead to different outcomes.

PRISON Democrat Paradise

It is not inequality Barack Obama will take away, it is freedom.

The freedom to succeed, and the freedom to fail. And there is no true option for success if there is no true option for failure.

The pursuit of happiness means a whole lot less when you face the punitive hand of government if your pursuit brings you more happiness than the other guy.

  • Even if the other guy sat on his arse and did nothing.
  • Even if the other guy made a lifetime’s worth of asinine and shortsighted decisions.

Barack Obama and the Democrats preach equality of outcome as a right, while completely ignoring inequality of effort. The simple Law of the Harvest – as ye sow, so shall ye reap – is sometimes applied as, “The harder you work, the more you get.”

The progressive movement would turn that upside down.

Those who achieve are to be punished as enemies of society and those who fail are to be rewarded as wards of society. Entitlement has replaced effort as the key to upward mobility in American society.

Or at least it has if Barack Obama gets his way.

He seeks a lowest common denominator society in which the government besieges the successful and productive and fosters equality through mediocrity.

He and his party speak of two Americas.

And their grip on power is based on using the votes of one to sap the productivity of the other.

Hitler Make the lie big and simple

America is not divided by the differences in our outcomes, it is divided by the differences in our efforts. And by the false philosophy that says one man’s success comes about unavoidably as the result of another man’s victimization.

What the president offered was not a solution, but a separatism. He fomented division and strife, he pitted one set of Americans against another.

For his own political benefit.

That’s what progressives offer. Marxist class warfare wrapped up with a bow.

Two Americas, coming closer each day to proving the truth to Lincoln’s maxim that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Source:

Two Americas by Bob Lonsberry © December 9, 2013 [Graphics added by CtH]

Comments Off on Two Americas

Filed under Barack Obama, Democrats, Economy, Equality, Liberty

by | January 30, 2014 · 9:37 am

Inequality Godzilla

You’re going to start seeing this in photoshops and cartoons and on t-shirts and bumper stickers soon, so I thought I’d let you know ahead of time where it originated.

Excerpt from Senator Mike Lee’s SOTU response – January 28, 2014

Real inequality is trapping poor children in failing schools to benefit bureaucrats and union bosses. It’s penalizing low-income parents for getting married, or getting better jobs.

It’s guaranteeing insurance companies taxpayer bailouts if Obamacare cuts into their profits.

Inequality is blocking thousands of middle-class jobs in the energy industry as a favor to partisan donors and radical environmental activists.

Inequality is denying viable, unborn children any protection under the law, while exempting unsanitary, late-term abortion clinics from basic safety standards.

It’s denying citizens their right to define marriage in their states as traditionally or as broadly as their diverse values dictate.

It’s the federal government hurting rural communities, especially in the west, by controlling and mismanaging public lands.

It’s changing laws without congressional approval, and spying on American citizens without constitutional authority.

And of course, Obamacare – all by itself – is an inequality Godzilla that has robbed working families of their insurance, their doctors, their wages and their jobs. Many Americans are now seeing why some of us fought so hard to stop this train-wreck over the last four years.

Government-driven inequality is the reason why, as hard-working families across the country struggle to make ends meet, six of the ten wealthiest counties in America are now suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Throughout the last five years, President Obama has promised an economy for the middle class; but all he’s delivered is an economy for the middle-men.

And tonight his party cheered as he asked for more of the same, as if the solution to inequality were … well … more inequality.

Source:

5 Comments

Filed under Abortion, Economy, Education, Energy, Equality, Insurance, Obamacare

by | January 19, 2014 · 11:23 pm

The Straw Man known as “Trickle-Down Economics”

The Left preaches as a point of faith that Republicans are EEEVIL because we support something called “trickle-down economics.”

But “preaching” and “faith” are as close as you can get to justifying their oft-repeated statement.

The fact is that nobody supports “trickle-down economics” because there is no such thing!

It exists nowhere except in the “Republicans are EEEVIL” rantings of Democrat politicians and their lapdog talking heads.

Even if you limit the definition of this non-existent theory to something like “high taxes are bad for the economy,” you still don’t get to a Republicans-only place.

Democrat Presidents Kennedy and Wilson BOTH said high taxes are bad for the economy.

What the Left wants us to infer from their trickle rantings is that it is Democrat, not Republican policies that boost people out of poverty.

The historical record shows just the opposite.

2012 to 2001 US Labor Force and Political Party Control

Sources:

The ‘Trickle-Down’ Lie by Thomas Sowell – January 7, 2014

http://www.humanevents.com/2014/01/07/the-trickle-down-lie/

5 Comments

Filed under Democrats, Economy, Republicans, Taxes, Thomas Sowell, Unemployment

by | January 13, 2014 · 1:25 pm

Who is the real sellout?

DEM run every ghetto

Who is the real sellout?

By Allen West – December 11, 2013

One of the many insidious monikers hurled at black conservatives is “sellout.” Black liberals who fear the rise of independent-thinking blacks are threatened by those of us who refuse to be stuck on the 21st century economic plantation of the white progressive socialists.

I find it absolutely disgusting how the black community continues to fawn over a person who took it upon himself to make one of his first decrees the cancellation of the DC school voucher program for young deserving black children. That person of course is President Barack Obama.

And his policies continue to damage the black community. Case in point: Tom Allison of the Huffington Post shows the abject decimation of opportunity for young blacks ages 16-24.

Allison writes:

Nearly one in four black 16- to 24-year-olds was out of work in November, compared to only about one in ten white workers in the same age group.

In other words, as we enter the sixth year of the Obama economy, the failed economic policies of the “first black president” are exacerbating the unemployment of all black Americans. While Obama is yukking it up taking “selfies” at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows in November 2013 black workers aged 25 to 34 had an unemployment rate of 13.6 percent. A year ago the rate was 12.7 percent. This is more than double the rate of white workers in the same age group at 5.9 percent.

Black workers have consistently seen higher unemployment rates that whites, but these numbers are certainly disturbing, and epidemic.

Allison states,

The fact that the nation’s black young adults are worse off than they were a year ago should be a serious concern for our nation’s leaders. The recovery is slow enough as it is, but the widening the racial gap among young people makes this issue even more urgent to address.

But is it actually a concern for Obama and the coalition of race baiting, poverty-prophet black leaders? Combine this with the deplorable state of the black family, crumbling inner cities, astronomical murder and incarceration rates, and you have a recipe for disaster. However, as former Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Emmanuel Cleaver stated, “President Obama knows he has a certain amount of deference given to him. But if there were anyone other than him in the White House we would be marching.”

So I ask all of you proud black liberals, who is the real sellout? Those of us who offer solutions for economic growth, education, restoration of the black family, and a future of opportunity — or your self-proclaimed messiah incarnate President Obama who is selling you to his white progressive socialist masters for your blind obedience and vote?

Source:

http://allenbwest.com/2013/12/consequence-black-liberals-kowtowing-white-masters/
Bolding added by CtH

4 Comments

Filed under Allen West, Barack Obama, Democrats, Economy, Unemployment

by | December 12, 2013 · 1:27 pm

The Unemployment Rate Bait-and-Switch

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has been calculating the Unemployment Rate every month since January 1948. During Bill Clinton’s first year in office, his administration cooked up a new category called Discouraged Workers (jobless American who want work, but have stopped looking because the job market is so bad). Since January 1994, the BLS has been EXCLUDING these jobless workers from the official Unemployment Rate.

BLS Compl Hist Unemployment Rate 1948 to 2013

Common sense would dictate that Discouraged Workers be tracked as a subset of the Unemployed, not excluded like they were somehow not unemployed anymore. But since when do Democrats ever use common sense? Clinton’s statistical chicanery has had a really screwy side-effect that Democrats exploit to their political benefit:

  • When the economy is BAD, more people become discouraged enough to quit looking so the BLS moves them from Unemployed to Discouraged. Net result: The Unemployment Rate goes DOWN.
  • When the economy IMPROVES, more people become encouraged enough to start looking for work again so the BLS moves them from Discouraged to Unemployed. Net result: The Unemployment Rate goes UP.

This allows the Lamestream Media to spin the monthly jobless reports in a way that most benefits Democrats. Since it’s been Obama in the Oval Office during our latest period of historically bad joblessness, the MSM trumpets each “improved” Unemployment Rate report as yet another sign of Teh Won’s wonderfulness.

And if you happen to mention that Obama is the first president to create more than a MILLION jobless workers too depressed to get off the couch, then you’re a dirty RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACIST TEA BAGGER

BLS Compl Hist Discouraged Wkrs 1994 - 2013

If the economy were to improve under Obama (not holding my breath), the Unemployment Rate would rise, at which point the talking heads would carefully explain to us at great length and with lots of experts and charts that it was because Discouraged Workers were now re-entering the job market, so woohoo Obama!

Sources:

BLS: Unemployment Rate @ http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000.

The official (but faux) “total unemployment” rate used for media and political sound bytes and headlines. This statistic is reported as a percent of the employable population, which includes civilian, non-institutionalized Americans ages 16 and over, so basically not soldiers, jailbirds or children. The total employable population number changes.

BLS: Discouraged Workers @ http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNU05026645.

This statistic is reported as an actual number of individuals, not as a percent of employable population, making it very difficult to correlate with the Unemployment Rate.

NOTE: These time series pages are easy to use, but really hard to find at the BLS website. If you want to access them again, bookmark them. 

H/t itooktheredpill for my bookmarks!

P.S., If it makes you angry that the tax-funded Bureau of Labor Statistics has been corrupted by Democrats, join the club.

6 Comments

Filed under Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Democrats, Economy, George W. Bush, Republicans, Unemployment

by | December 10, 2013 · 4:50 pm

What exactly is a “fair” share?

Obama and his cronies are forever bleating that “the rich” don’t pay their “fair” share of taxes. Problem is … they never ever say what “fair” means.

Check out these statistics from 2010, which were part of a new study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)*:

  1. Households in the top 40% for before-tax income PAID 106.2% of the nation’s net income taxes.
  2. Households in the bottom 40% TOOK IN an average of $18,950 in government redistributed dollars.

Give me your pie

Got that?

  • The top 40% paid MORE than ALL of the income tax.
  • The bottom 60% paid NONE of the income tax.
  • The bottom 40% got PAID for being at the bottom.

I don’t call that fair. And I’m one of those shlubs in the bottom 40%!

*The CBO is a nonpartisan federal agency created in 1974 to provide economic data to lawmakers.

Source:

H/t: Pistol Pete

4 Comments

Filed under Economy, Taxes

by | December 7, 2013 · 4:08 pm

Increasing minimum wage is a BAD idea

Check out the ABSURD tweet Barack sent out:

2013_12 04 BHO's absurd min wage tweet

I can only conclude the man has been sniffing unicorn farts (or dipping into blow again), because there is no sense whatsoever in his assumption that an increase in minimum wage will lead to increases in the Gross Domestic Product or jobs.

Common sense tells us the exact opposite.

Let’s say that my business can currently afford 10 workers at $7 per hour. If the minimum wage is increased to $10 per hour, I can now only afford 7 workers.

RESULT: Increasing minimum wage > Loss of jobs

My now-seven workers can’t produce as much, so I have to raise my prices just to stay in business. These price increases happen everywhere, because the minimum wage increase happens everywhere.

RESULT: Increasing minimum wage > Inflation

Higher prices everywhere mean the new minimum wage loses its buying power.

RESULT: Those who got higher wages lose the benefit of them.

Historical evidence proves that increasing minimum wage damages the jobs market.

I compared the seven most recent increases in minimum wage with percent employed. In NO case did it BOOST jobs as Obama claims in his absurd tweet.

Where the economy was slow, the minimum wage increase was followed by job losses.

1990_04 Mini wage up, jobs down

1991_04 Mini wage up, jobs down

2007_07 Mini wage up, jobs down

2008_07 Mini wage up, jobs down

2009_07 Mini wage up, jobs down

Where the economy was growing, the minimum wage increase was followed by slowing or stalling of growth.

1996_10 Mini Wage up, jobs stalled

1997_09 Mini wage up, jobs stalled

Not only is raising minimum wage bad for the economy, but it’s also bad for the people that Democrats claim it will help. Unfortunately, good intentions do not economic realities make.

Multiple studies prove that increasing minimum wage tends to eliminate jobs for the youngest and least skilled workers. Studies also find that higher minimum wages have no impact on poverty rates.

There’s one other reason I can think of to NOT raise the minimum wage now.

At $7.25, it is higher than the historical average of $6.60 (in inflation-adjusted 2013 dollars).

2013_06 Minimum wage 1947 to Present in 2013 dollars

In the graph above, the peaks are where the feds increased minimum wage. Note that each peak is followed by a sharp downward slope. This represents the rapid loss of buying power the dollars have because of the inflation that an increase in minimum wage always causes.

Sources:

H/t: itooktheredpill

13 Comments

Filed under Barack Obama, Economy, Minimum Wage, Unemployment

by | December 7, 2013 · 8:04 am

People need JOBS – CORRECTED

Obama Dems put 12 MILLION people out of work

Democrats bleat about how they care about PEOPLE and blah blah blah, not like those EEEVIL, hard-hearted, GREEDY Republicans. Let’s just do a REALITY CHECK on that particular claim, shall we?

Republican Majority Control* (Jan 1995 through Dec 2006)

Average percent of population** EMPLOYED = 63.3%

Democrat Majority Control* (Jan 2009 through Present)

Average percent of population EMPLOYED*** = 58.7%

Employment gap between Republican and Democrat economies: 63.3 – 58.7 = 4.6%

November 2013: Civilian noninstitutional population age 16+ years = 246,567,000

4.6% x 246,567,000 = 11.3 million MORE people are jobless because of Obama Democrats

*Majority political control = The political party that has majority control of two or three of the three legislative arms of the federal government (House, Senate, President).

**The population used for this statistic is noninstitutionalized civilians 16 and older.

***It is important to understand that, in the last 4 years, as unemployment dropped from 10% to 7%, people haven’t gone from unemployed to employed, they have left the work force. The “Unemployment Rate” excludes DISCOURAGED WORKERS (those who have stopped looking, because they have lost hope of finding a job). This is a faked up statistic the Clintons engineered to make their labor numbers look better in headlines. It leads to the cocked up fact that a failing economy, like ours, can see the “Unemployment Rate” go down because unemployed workers become too discouraged to keep looking for jobs that don’t exist, while a recovering economy can see this rate go UP, as discouraged workers begin to feel hopeful and get back to looking for work again.

Sources:

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Civilian noninstitutional population 16+ yo

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNU00000000

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Employment/Population ratio

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12300000

Average employment rates by majority political control

Employment-Population Ratio, Correlated with Majority Party, Jan 1995 – Nov 2013

MEGA hat tip with a shuffle-ball-change to itookotheredpill for teaching me this stuff and correcting my goof ups!

24 Comments

Filed under Democrats, Economy, Republicans, Unemployment