Obama's Policies Have Crushed the Economy

The headline at CNN Money was, "Why America's Youth Aren't Finding Jobs."

If you expected an analysis of how and why President Barack Obama's policies hurt the job market for the young, think again. Believe it or not, CNN wrote a piece, supposedly explaining the tight job market, without using the following words: Obama, Obama administration, taxes, regulations, "stimulus" program or, of course, ObamaCare.

Stunning.

Apparently, CNN believes the country has been on autopilot for the last five years, with policy decisions by the White House having no effect, for good or for ill. Since CNN will not, let's examine the major economic decisions by this administration and their impact on the job market.

"Stimulus": The Obama administration spent nearly $1 trillion on "economic stimulus" that would "save or create" 3.5 million jobs. Did it? "The inability to measure Mr. Obama's jobs formula is part of its attraction," wrote William McGurn in The Wall Street Journal. "Never mind that no one -- not the Labor Department, not the Treasury, not the Bureau of Labor Statistics -- actually measures 'jobs saved.'"

But some things can be measured. To keep pace with the number of new people entering the job market, the economy must produce 150,000 new jobs every month. In July, the economy produced 162,000 jobs. To date, in the four years since the end of the recession, Obama's economy has produced 4,657,000 jobs -- an average of just 97,020 per month. The percentage of civilians 16 years and older working or actively looking for work recently reached a 34-year low. Down from 65.7 when President Barack Obama took office, it is 63.4 today. Would-be workers are simply giving up, frustrated, no longer looking.

Team Obama said that without stimulus, unemployment, which was then 7 percent, could reach as high as 8 percent. Well, Congress did pass stimulus -- and unemployment rose to 10.2 percent in the first year of Obama's presidency.

Via: Real Clear Politics
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