American Elephants

The American economy lost 95,000 jobs in September. According to the Labor Department that leaves the household survey unchanged at 9.6 percent. That means that about 14.6 million people who are looking for work can’t get a job. The jobless rate has been above 9 percent since May of 2009, the longest stretch in a quarter of a century.

Gallup says that the Labor department is understating unemployment which they place at 10.1 percent. But this just considers those who are unemployed and looking for work, not those who are discouraged and have stopped looking, nor those who are working part-time, though they want full-time employment. That rate is over 17 percent.

There is not much the Fed can do. The problem is a great cloud of unknowns hanging over the economy.  Business is afraid to spend, afraid to expand and afraid to hire.

Congress went home without passing a budget. What increases in expenditures and increases in taxes does it contain? What new regulations will this Democrat Congress impose on business? What new costs? Will Obama impose a moratorium on their business as he did in the gulf?

Obama not only took over the automobile industry, but ordered private businesses, car dealers, entrepreneur-owned, whose connection with the auto industry was that they purchased cars to fill their lots from the car companies.  Privately owned business!  Wiping out the car dealers livelihood and that of their employees.  If you do not understand how frightening such arbitrary and unlawful actions would be to American business, consider the potential of the administration suddenly deciding to shut down the business where you work.

ObamaCare has a poisonous provision that requires business to submit a 1099 form to the IRS every time they spend $600 with a vendor. The deep unfamiliarity of this administration and this Congress with American business and how it works is demonstrated in every bit of legislation passed. They simply do not understand the consequences of their lack of understanding.

Barack Obama is out on the campaign trail, cajoling, whining, pleading for his base not to desert him. He has stopped blaming George W. Bush by name, he just refers to the dreadful past decade that “put us in the ditch.” But it was Obama’s failed stimulus that cost more than the entire Iraq War.  The decade  of the Bush years was pretty darn good.  Unemployment ranged from 5.7% in 2001;  down to 5.4% in 2004; 4.8% in 2005;  down to 4.4 % in 2006, when the Democrats took over the House of Representatives, and Nancy Pelosi became Speaker.

Nancy Pelosi seems to believe that the best jobs program is more unemployment insurance.  She said economists (unnamed) assured her that “if you want to create jobs the quickest way to do it is food stamps and unemployment insurance. “She said: “Biggest bang for the buck!  Unemployment and food stamps.”

We currently have 41.8 million people on food stamps — the most ever.  We have a 7.2 million jobs gap.  Unemployment is higher now than when the recession “officially ended” in June.

The biggest uncertainty hanging over American business is the huge tax increase on January 1, if Democrats do not act to extend the Bush tax cuts.  The president is intent on raising taxes on singles who earn over $200,000 or couples who earn over $250,000.  This includes all the entrepreneurs who file as individuals, as partnerships or subchapter S corporations.  That’s a large number of those who potentially hire.  Neither poor people nor those in the middle class create many jobs.  On top of that are new taxes on dividends, capital gains and a return of confiscatory death taxes.  In other words Obama wants to tax away the money that would expand business, create new business and create new jobs.

Economists, Congressmen , businesses, think-tanks, Republicans, Libertarians and a goodly number of Democrats have tried to tell the president that it’s not wise to raise taxes during a recession — any taxes.  Europeans are going in the opposite direction, cutting taxes, cutting spending, initiating austerity programs, and recovering, and they too have suggested to Obama that he is heading in the wrong direction.

A wake-up call in November might just help.