Young Americans graduating from colleges across the United States are facing limited job prospects, high debt and the likely necessity of returning home to live with parents in order to survive, a bitter harvest from the Obama Economy.
Our current economic policies that continue to find new and even more inventive ways to punish the prudent, destroy the entrepreneurial , reward the most irresponsible, all while burdening future generations with trillions in new debt. Commencement speeches traditionally focus on bright futures and change and “oh–the-places-you’ll-go” in an optimistic, nationwide, rah-rah as graduates turn their tassels and launch forth to conquer new worlds. Good luck with that.
Closer to the truth would be a stark admission that Obama’s economic policies have failed and the evidence is all around us. The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report shows that the jobless rate (despite repeated manipulations of the data by the Obama Administration) has climbed to 9.1%, with decreases in both private and public sector jobs.
Gas prices remain high, averaging almost $4 per gallon across the United States. The Consumer Confidence Index fell to a six-month low, coming in at 60.8 (a rating of 90 shows a healthy economy). The housing market has hit a new low, according to the S&P Case/Schiller Home Price Index, and confirms the existence of a double dip in housing prices across the United States.
Even the United States’ comprehensive scorecard for the economy, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report shows that growth is slow. All of these indicators, on top of the recent BLS jobless report, provide proof that the economy is not growing, the recovery has not happened and that the over $1 trillion dollars that the Obama Administration spent in Stimulus did not stimulate the economy.
Is it any wonder that across the country the morale is low and that Americans think, increasingly, that the federal government is out of touch with the concerns of the average working American?
For minorities, the prospects of a good job are especially bleak; unemployment for white Americans averaged 8.9%, but African Americans averaged 17.5%, just a little more than double the rate of white unemployment. Hispanic Americans reported 11.9% unemployment.
Still, despite the grim outlook for newly minted college grads, these college grads are better off than high school grads. Young teens looking to gain work experience are finding that even low-skilled, part-time, jobs aren’t there. Unions don’t seem to want young people competing for jobs that their adult union members might perform. And, with a high minimum wage, small business owners are hesitant to bring on inexperienced labor in this uncertain economic climate.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report shows that the hardest hit among all of the unemployed are America’s teens. African Americans, ages 16-19, of both sexes, show a mind-boggling 40.7% unemployed; white teens show 20.7% unemployment and Hispanic teens report 26.1% unemployment. The long-term repercussions of these unemployment numbers are troubling, yet the Obama Administration is curiously silent.
Team Obama has spent trillions of dollars and enormous political capital advancing stimulus plans and other empty calorie policies that have failed to spark employment, especially among America’s young. Instead, Obama’s policies have only further eroded American competitiveness, hindered job creation.
Young men and women with no job, and little hope of finding a job, represent a strain on the social fabric of the nation as they become angry and resentful over the lack of employment opportunities. They will need, and demand, additional aid and support from the government, so social spending is likely to grow.
The consequences of a growing and prolonged unemployment within the minority and teen work community, combined with preferential legislation, create a dangerous racial cocktail of time, idleness and increased expectation of entitlements. With the high tax structure and the ever-increasing hostility towards wealth creation, entrepreneurial energies aren’t there and Americans should expect that the jobless situation will only get worse.
Young Americans will likely face the worst summer in recent history. After over two years of “fixes”, the Obama Administration has shown that they are bankrupt of ideas and incapable of providing solutions to the country’s growing problems. The White House seems aware of this and is likely to launch a “charm offense”, fire up social-media savvy Obama accolades and talk about how hip they are rather than providing solutions.
How sad is that?
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