Saturday, October 4, 2014

At Least We’re Not Detroit. Or Liberia. Yet.

“So it is indisputable that our economy is stronger today than when I took office.” – President Obama, October 2, 2014

Eric Bolling disputes some of the President’s indisputable facts

Whenever Big Guy pivots back to the economy, you can assume that the rest of the world is a messy, messy place indeed.

ebola001

So when BO returned to his “home town” of Chicago last week to raise money and mix with the little people at Bill and Giuliana Rancic’s tony RPM Steak and deliver an economy speech at Northwestern you can safely assume everything else is falling apart. Avoiding such hot topics as multiple Secret Service fails, ISIS advancement in the Middle East and Ebola coming to America, the President took to the pulpit to tout the success of his economic programs, and calling for more of the same:

  • New investments in the energy and technologies to make America a magnet for good, middle-class jobs
  • New investments in education that will make our workforce more skilled and competitive
  • New reforms to health care that will cut costs for families and businesses
  • New savings in our federal budget that get our fiscal house in order for future generations
  • New rules for our financial system to protect consumers and prevent the kind of crisis we endured from happening again

Because all of those same things are what have given us the robust economy we are enjoying today. Indeed, if you are still a non-believer just look at these government reported numbers: an awesome unemployment rate of just 5.9%! (applause)

Of course there’s a price to pay for such awesome numbers: a not-since-Jimmy Carter-era style Labor Participation Rate of just 62.7%! (applause). A 36 year low!

participation rate sept 2014_0Wow! That IS awesome!

Or in other words, there are now a full 92.6 million Americans NOT in the labor force!! (applause) That’s right, nearly 93 million of your fellow citizens are now able to just chill and follow their bliss, as Nanny Pelosi envisioned.  Well done! The Prezzy takes another bow:

“All told, the United States has put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and every other advanced economy combined.”

Which is a bit like Cleveland proudly proclaiming “At least we’re not Detroit!”

cleveland

until they were.

So as Big Guy touts his “job creation” numbers it is perhaps wise to remember that – in addition to many of those new jobs being part time positions – the number of American freeloaders, combined with an ever increasing number of citizens “going Galt,” results in a very disturbing trend of non-worker bees in the economy at large:

labor part rate

Remember, the American work ethic is inversely proportionate to the Labor Participation Rate.

Butt hey! At least we’re not Detroit: where there were once millions of worker bees now there are only abandoned bee hives:

bee hives detroit

Well, anyway, at least we’re not Greece! Or Liberia! Yet.

So - is anybody interested in starting a pool to forecast in which month the Ebola infection rate exceeds the Labor Participation Rate?

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted and Featured on Patriot Action Network