Confusion has set in. Obama took a six mile helicopter ride to a sign-making company to tout the job numbers, pointing out that private sector jobs grew. He attempted to put the best spin on the fact that the economy lost 131,000 jobs in July and that the revised June numbers indicated that 97,000 more jobs were lost than was initially reported.
So where’s the confusion? Well, as many of you will recall, Democrats spent months dismissing the economic recovery in 2004 under Bush. Month after month as the economy added jobs in 2002, Democrats touted it as a “jobless” recovery, noting that 115,000 new jobs a month needed to be added in order to account for population growth. In 2003 as the economy began adding in excess of 200,000 per month, the Democrats changed positions and claimed that these were not skilled labored jobs. This, despite data showing that job growth coming in the building, banking, and technology sectors. As 2004 approached, significant data contradicted these claims so Democrats launched a new attack to dismiss the strong economy by citing that personal income was down. Again, this claim was false. My confusion lies with these same Democrats who now tout the latest jobs numbers as a positive. After all, if we are in a recovery, it is in fact a jobless one. With 9.5% unemployment, there is no disputing that. The jobs that are being added are not skilled labor- they are service-sector jobs. And personal income is down. That’s based on factual government data.
Let’s close with Robert Reich’s take on the latest jobs data:
Robert Reich, Labor secretary under the Clinton administration, told CNBC’s Larry Kudlow that the numbers may not signal a double-dip recession, but it is perilously close.
“I don’t think it has double-dip yet,” Reich said, “but it certainly has one and three-quarters dip. This is a disappointing report by almost anybody’s definition of disappointment.
“The thing that worries me is that 125,000 new jobs are needed every month just to keep up with population growth. And 71,000 private sector jobs means we are going deeper and deeper into the hole,” the Democratic insider said.
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