Were You Better Off 6-years Ago?

Jim Harbison

Commentary by Jim Harbison - The political pundits keep asking “are you better off now than you were four years ago”. I think a more appropriate question is, are you better off now that you were SIX years ago? Why, when current administration has only been in office for four years? The answer is simple. The democrats took over the US House and Senate in 2007 and controlled the agenda, budgets and the legislation. The republicans regained control of the house in 2010 while democrats retained the Senate so the partisan gridlock continued.
Partisan politics and the resultant gridlock have contributed to ongoing high job losses with long term unemployment, lower standards of living, reduction in individual wealth, lower property values, and increased foreclosures. Unfortunately, social safety net programs have become entitlement programs that are unsustainable and are heading for financial collapse. Congress has failed to pass a budget for three consecutive years and the President’s last proposed budget didn’t get a single vote.
The unemployment numbers are horrendous and are often under reported and then quietly readjusted upward several weeks later. In nearly every case the actual number is worst than initially reported. In order to make them look more favorable this administration has readjusted the criteria to reduce their adverse political impact.
Let’s look at the real unemployment numbers. According to a 9/7/12 article by Terence Jeffrey (http://cnsnews.com ) there was a record of 88,921,000 Americans not in the labor force and 119,000 fewer people employed in August than in July. He reported that the unemployment rate dropped from 8.3% to 8.1% because 368,000 people simply dropped out of the labor force in August and are therefore not counted in unemployment statistics. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the August participation percentage (those working or looking for work) has steadily declined since 2008 and is at a 30-year low. It dropped from 63.7% in July to 63.5% in August which ties the horrible September 1981 rate established by President Carter.

Were You Better Off 6-years Ago?