07 Aug 2015 A Word About the Economy: “Stagnant”

Another month has come and gone with not a lot of good economic news for Americans.

Obama and his supporters might cheer at official unemployment figures that are slowly edging toward five percent like they do for other alleged economic progress, but they fail to note things such as low workforce participation and extremely high unemployment among black teens who are being denied valuable training opportunities.

And how about all those people dependent on government assistance?

How can these not indicate an economic crisis?

Project 21 member Derryck Green, who regularly covers the economic stewardship (or lack thereof) on the part of the Obama Administration, uses the word “stagnant.”

To follow is Derryck’s “About Those Job Numbers” report for July:

As has been the case throughout the Obama presidency, the economy hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. The dangerous mixture of his obvious incompetence and adherence to a strict leftist ideology has made President Obama a destructive national embarrassment on too many issues to keep count.

When the economy does get mentioned, the news is spun tight and fast so the American people won’t get catch on about Obama’s poor economic leadership.

Don’t expect this month to be any different.

To begin with, the U.S. Department of Commerce released its revised gross domestic product (GDP) numbers for the first quarter of this year as well as its initial GDP estimates for the second quarter.  Initially, the GDP reportedly contracted in the first quarter.  But now, as a result of some probably creative calculations, Commerce officials now claim the economy actually grew at a 0.6 percent rate in the first quarter.

As for the second quarter approximations, Commerce expects the economy grew at a 2.3 percent rate — below the 2.6 percent expectation

If that weren’t bad enough, Commerce Department officials also said that economic growth between 2012 and 2014 was revised downward 0.3 percent — to two percent growth annually.  That means that, for the past six years, the economy has only grown at a rate of 2.2 percent annually.  That’s the worst six-year economic growth in the past 70 years.

Initial reports on private job creation was underwhelming according to the independent payroll processor ADP, which estimated July’s job creation at an underwhelming 185,000 jobs — far below the 215,000 that were initially predicted.  Adding to that, June’s job creation numbers were revised downward to 229,000 from an original estimate of 237,000.

At the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), it was reported that July’s non-farm job creation at 215,000 — right around what analysts expected.

The BLS also said that the unemployment rate held at 5.3 percent, with more than 93 million people not in the workforce.

The alternative U-6 unemployment rate — a more accurate indicator of the nation’s jobless rate because it factors in the underemployed and those discouraged enough that they’ve stopped job-hunting — was 10.4 percent.

The unemployment rate for blacks, which has generally been twice the rate of the national rate, was 9.1 percent.  Black teen unemployment thankfully dropped below 30 again for one of the few times in the Obama presidency to 28.7 percent.

The unemployment rate for women, who’ve also faired poorly in the Obama economy, was 5.3 percent — with 124,000 more women having left the workforce since last month.  Now, more than 56,000,000 women are no longer in the workforce.

The Latino jobless rate was 6.8 percent.

And, last but not least, the labor force participation rate for July is 62.6 percent — once again reaching a 38-year low.

Overall, the poor economic stewardship of Barack Obama and his administration is seen in a flurry of bad financial news:

• According to the Census Bureau, the second quarter of 2015 saw homeownership rates drop to 63.4 percent — the lowest since 1967.
• The number of Americans on food stamps is at record levels.  More than 45 million people have been on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for 48 straight months.  This includes more than 22 million households.
• According to a report released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Barack Obama’s alleged economic “recovery” has now put more children in poverty than the actual recession.  During the recession, roughly 18 percent of American children lived in poverty.  In 2013, that number had risen to 22 percent.  Sadly, black children suffered disproportionately with 39 percent of black kids living in poverty.
• According to Pew Research data, the lack of full-time jobs is forcing more than 20 million Millenials — adults between the ages of 18-34 — to live with relatives rather than living on their own.
• Hourly wage growth was essentially stagnant in the second quarter.  It increased only 0.2 percent — an all-time low.

None of this news is good, no matter how the Obama Administration may try to spin it.  Too many people remain unemployed, as evidenced by the BLS’s own numbers — including the Jimmy Carter-era labor force participation rate.

And Obama’s answer to the poor economic situation he created?  Aside from ignoring it?

Obama announced this week he wants to increase economy-killing regulations with the help of the EPA under the guise of cleaning our air.  It’s expected such regulation will significantly increase the costs of household energy bills to the tune of $1 trillion, costing the economy over $2.3 trillion in economic growth.

Obama promised a fundamental transformation of America — and this is exactly what it looks like.  Just not in a good way.