Here is an article from FoxNews.com suggesting that Obama has ignored the unemployed and has shifted his focus towards climate change and taxing the wealthy. The article also states that the unemployment rate has "disappeared as an issue" due to the media wanting Obama to get reelected for a second term:
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/02/01/president-obama-has-abandoned-america-unemployed/?intcmp=HPBucket
Who is the Forgotten Man today? Is it the coal miner whose employer
was shuttered by the EPA? The construction worker hoping to build the
Keystone Pipeline? Maybe it’s the salesclerk who was laid off because
her boss feared having more than 50 people on the payroll as ObamaCare
kicks in.
The most recent news on unemployment is bleak – only 157,000 jobs
were added last month, and the unemployment rate rose again, to 7.9%.
There are 23 million Americans unable to find full-time work. Many have
been disadvantaged by the Obama administration’s liberal agenda. Others
have simply been left behind as the president focuses on matters more
significant to him – such as climate change and taxing the rich.
Our jobs shortage has disappeared as an issue – buried by a news
community anxious to reelect President Obama. The White House has
scuttled all discussions of employment and even of the economy.
In his second inaugural address, the president waxed enthusiastic
about gay rights and the sanctity of our entitlements programs, and also
proclaimed that America’s prosperity must “rest on the broad shoulders
of a rising middle class.” How that class is supposed to rise when
people can’t find jobs is a mystery – one that President Obama has yet
to reveal.
Mr. Obama only in passing mentioned that “an economic recovery has
begun.” Well, it certainly didn’t get very far in the fourth quarter. In
fact, output took a nosedive in the final three months of the year,
contracting by 0.1% as businesses pared inventories, exports tumbled and
government spending took a hit. Doubtless activity will return to
modest growth in the current quarter, but the economic news reminds us:
something is not quite right in this recovery.
The underpinnings of an upturn are in place. The Federal Reserve met
recently and confirmed its expectation of steady though slow expansion,
and its intention to continue feeding that growth through ongoing
monthly bond purchases of $85 billion. Housing, autos, renewed growth in
China, a steadying Europe – all on the upswing. But, businesses large
and small continue to resist hiring, even though profits are up and
stock prices up even more.
How can that be? There are two reasonable explanations. The first
stems from a hard look at where corporate profit gains are coming from.
After the financial crash, businesses slimmed down, cut staffs and
readied for the drop in demand. In time, as business picked up,
companies discovered they didn’t need to replace laid-off workers; they
could manage with less. And they did so—quite profitably.
Eventually companies began to hire, cautiously, as increased demand
outstripped their lean capabilities; thus the modest increase in private
sector hiring.
Simultaneously, the Federal Reserve handed out an unexpected bonus –
lower interest rates. A chart contained in a recent presentation by
Societe Generale (and published by The Economist) shows corporate net
income recovering more robustly in 2010-12 than earnings before tax and
interest. Lower interest rates boosted results – a factor that is
unlikely to repeat. Earnings per share have been further bolstered by
share buy-backs, financed by those same extra-low interest rates.
These financial high jinx may push stock prices higher but can’t
provide much comfort to managements. They need to see demand – and
revenues -- rise convincingly before they will add to staff. They also
need confidence, which is the second missing ingredient.
That’s where President Obama’s leadership becomes a factor. After
9/11, President George W. Bush exhorted Americans to go on with their
lives despite their fears, asking “continued participation and
confidence in the American economy.” (Contrary to many erroneous
re-tellings, including by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Time
magazine and others, Mr. Bush never urged us to go shopping.)
Two weeks after the attacks, in response to the flat-lining of the
airline and hotel industries, Bush also encouraged people to travel, to
“do your business around this country…take your families and enjoy
life…” -- to show that we would not be defeated by those who had taken
down the World Trade Towers. (Even so, six North American carriers went
bankrupt in the five years after 9/11.)
It sounds almost hokey today, but the country was shaken; no one knew
what to expect, and it would not have taken much to plunge the nation
into an economic crisis. Indeed, the economy was already softening, and
unemployment rising, when Bush took office. Instead, people rallied,
they went out to dinner and – yes -- they went shopping.
After the attack on the World Trade Center, consumer confidence
understandably collapsed -- it fell from 114 in August to a low of 85 in
November. In December, confidence surged to 95, against all odds, and
the country experienced but a mild recession. It was a stirring example
of presidential leadership.
By comparison, consumer confidence in the U.S. most recently plunged
to 59 in January, after falling for three months. This – in the face of a
booming stock market. In the past five years, it hasn’t been able to
top 73.1.
While many factors influence how people feel about their prospects, the tone for the country is set at the top.
Instead of cheerleading from President Obama, we get browbeating.
Every time the nation’s economy has begun to get traction, Mr. Obama has
engaged in a fight with Congress – over health care, the debt ceiling,
appointments to the NLRB, environmental regulations – over one issue
after another that keeps the country on edge.
He has lambasted the wealthy, and implied time and again that they,
and business leaders, have succeeded by luck of the draw or – worse –
through unfair practices.
Is it any wonder that one measure of confidence among the wealthy
-- Pam Danziger’s Luxury Consumption Index – scored its second biggest
loss in January since the start of 2008?
Now we face more wrangling over gun control, immigration, the
sequester and tax reform. These issues divide the country, and it takes
deft and positive leadership to make progress.
Unfortunately, President Obama seems to relish the political brawling
and appears unable to rise above campaign mode. That is bad news for
the country, and bad news for all those forgotten people who can’t find
jobs.
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