The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin argues it never arrived
The economy may or may not wind up in a technical recession (two quarters of negative growth), but in fact the Obama economy never really made a recovery. Its endemic low growth and high unemployment now define the U.S. economy — unless we chart another course.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin of the American Action Forum commented via an e-mail blast: “The bottom line: The January jobs report shows the economy moving sideways. Liberals are celebrating a revision of 35,000 jobs a month in 2012 — proof that they are charter members of the flat-earth society. When the economy is stalled, the new normal says “break out the champagne.†As he points out, the U-6 unemployment rate (underemployed and unemployed workers) is stuck at 14.4 percent.
Because it is politically uncomfortable to point out how awful the job market is, liberal pundits continue to play along with the notions that the economy is getting better and a surge in economic activity is right around the corner. (As with not much else, reality, intellectual consistency and the issues the left cares about take a back seat to simply sustaining the Obama cult.) After years of this economic anemia, we know what we are really in is not a “recovery†but a low trough in which economic activity is insufficient to push up employment, earnings and household wealth.
Recovery has been “right around the corner” ever since the passage of Stimulus, which failed to produce much in the way of economic activity, except for those groups and individuals which were big Obama/Democrat supporters and donors. The stock market may be doing well, but the average American is seeing stagnant wages, horrific long term unemployment, seniors staying in the jobs market longer, record numbers of people dropping out of the jobs market, and anemic GDP. Among other crummy conditions. If Bush were president, or some other Republican, we’d be hearing a constant litany of doom from the mostly Liberal MSM. Hell, they told us that 5% unemployment and high GDP during the Bush years was terrible!
While President Obama and Democrats in Congress have given up on growth and jobs and the mainstream media don’t bring it up (because the Democrats have given up), Republicans should not. (snip)
Without a change in regulatory, tax, spending, health-care and immigration policy, our economy will not revive. Republicans need to start explaining that we either are looking at a lost decade akin to Japan’s or a new, pro-growth agenda designed with one thing in mind: Get the job engine back.
It is remarkable that Democrats have been able to run from this issue. But it’s also shocking that Republicans have done so little with it.
The problem is that Republicans did pound the table with the poor economic conditions. Romney certainly did. Yet, a bare majority of voting Americans said they preferred Obama, the guy who led this stagnation and offered unicorn in the sky ideas on sticky notes, to a guy who knows how economies work and offered a detailed plan.
This is the economy the Obama voters wanted. If you hear them complain, laugh at them. Unfortunately, they’ve ruined the country for the rest of us.
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.
Read: Where’s The Obama Recovery? »
