Truth In The Trends.
As an educated, rational person, I try to make decisions based on thoughtful personal and religious values, along with well-sourced data and facts.
Republicans often claim that Obama’s record will be his demise in this election, but what exactly are they referring to? How do they define “record?" How do they define economic success? I’m going to make the assumption that they’re referring to certain economic trends since they continue to beat the drum of jobs, jobs, jobs.
I’m no economist, but I’m not stupid. If we cut through the rhetoric and objectively examine what’s actually happening, we will emerge with a clearer economic picture.
Mitt Romney and the Republicans have said repeatedly that President Obama took a bad economy and made it worse. Let’s examine the validity of that assertion. When George W. Bush left office in 2009, the country was shedding about 800,000 jobs a month due to Republican policies of corporate deregulation that led the country into the deepest recession since the Great Depression. Almost as soon as Obama took office the economy began to recover. He quickly took action by passing the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act or the “Stimulus.” Within a year, the economy averted a second Great Depression and was producing jobs rather than losing them.
To date, Obama’s overall record shows that the economy has produced just over 300,000 jobs under his tenure—the worst performance of any President in recent history. This data, without further discussion, would label Obama as an economic failure, but when should we start counting? If we look at the private sector job growth chart and take a fairer approach to its data, we can start counting in the spring of 2010 instead of January 2009. Over the past 31 months there have been over 5.2 million jobs created under the Obama Administration. The unemployment rate is also trending downward and now sits below 8%. This, in fact, is a remarkable recovery considering where the economy was headed when Obama took office.
Does it make sense to expect Obama to inherit an economy from George W. Bush that was losing 800,000 jobs in January 2009, and then in February 2009 produce 200,000 new jobs? Of course not, this would be absurd.
Each month when the private sector jobs report becomes available, Republicans thoroughly enjoy criticizing the President for the sluggish numbers. But what have they done to help the recovery? After all, Speaker of the House John Boener, said, “We're going to have a relentless focus on creating jobs."
Here’s what the Republicans have accomplished in aiding the country’s economic recovery-- they have blocked or attempted to block every initiative presented to simulate the economy and produce jobs.
Republicans often claim that Obama’s record will be his demise in this election, but what exactly are they referring to? How do they define “record?" How do they define economic success? I’m going to make the assumption that they’re referring to certain economic trends since they continue to beat the drum of jobs, jobs, jobs.
I’m no economist, but I’m not stupid. If we cut through the rhetoric and objectively examine what’s actually happening, we will emerge with a clearer economic picture.
Mitt Romney and the Republicans have said repeatedly that President Obama took a bad economy and made it worse. Let’s examine the validity of that assertion. When George W. Bush left office in 2009, the country was shedding about 800,000 jobs a month due to Republican policies of corporate deregulation that led the country into the deepest recession since the Great Depression. Almost as soon as Obama took office the economy began to recover. He quickly took action by passing the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act or the “Stimulus.” Within a year, the economy averted a second Great Depression and was producing jobs rather than losing them.
To date, Obama’s overall record shows that the economy has produced just over 300,000 jobs under his tenure—the worst performance of any President in recent history. This data, without further discussion, would label Obama as an economic failure, but when should we start counting? If we look at the private sector job growth chart and take a fairer approach to its data, we can start counting in the spring of 2010 instead of January 2009. Over the past 31 months there have been over 5.2 million jobs created under the Obama Administration. The unemployment rate is also trending downward and now sits below 8%. This, in fact, is a remarkable recovery considering where the economy was headed when Obama took office.
Does it make sense to expect Obama to inherit an economy from George W. Bush that was losing 800,000 jobs in January 2009, and then in February 2009 produce 200,000 new jobs? Of course not, this would be absurd.
Each month when the private sector jobs report becomes available, Republicans thoroughly enjoy criticizing the President for the sluggish numbers. But what have they done to help the recovery? After all, Speaker of the House John Boener, said, “We're going to have a relentless focus on creating jobs."
Here’s what the Republicans have accomplished in aiding the country’s economic recovery-- they have blocked or attempted to block every initiative presented to simulate the economy and produce jobs.