Obama’s top economic advisors (yes. . . He actually has a couple of those lying around the White House) did some common-core style math, and have calculated that the [partial] government shutdown earlier this month will end up costing the economy over 120,000 private sector jobs. Who’d have thought closing down a DC memorial to WWII vets could cause so much economic havoc?
Our Campaigner-in-Chief’s Council of Economic Advisors announced that the [partial] government shutdown slimdown will result in a 0.25 percentage point reduction in GDP, and the loss of roughly 120,000 private sector jobs for the month of October. According to the same “brilliant” economic minds that brought us the 2009 Stimulus, Obamacare, and “fair share” tax increases on the middle class, a temporary 17 percent reduction in government operations might have just thrown off whatever hopes of a “recovery” we might have had.
Right. . . After five years of a declining workforce and increasingly grim private sector growth, a 16 day holiday from 17 percent of government will propel America into another great recession. At least that’s the message we’re supposed to take from the President’s crack team of Keynesian economists. Of course, on the bright side, it’s refreshing to see our buck-passing President blame someone other than his predecessor.
Laughably, the Washington examiner reported that the announcement “represents another effort by the White House to discourage further political crises relating to budgetary matters.” . . . Um, we could just pass a budget – but I guess that would be too much of a “lead from the front” approach to economic governance. To think that our economy will enter another micro-depression because of a few Barrycades around DC monuments, closing open Ocean, and shutting down parking lots at the (privately owned) Mount Vernon Estate is beyond wishful thinking for a White House that thrives off of casting stones.
Recommended
The mathematics incorporated in the report are reminiscent of Obama’s “saved or created” jobs from his “shovel ready” projects. (How come we can’t get an estimate on how many jobs were destroyed or prevented by Obamacare?) But more importantly, it demonstrates the White House’s government-centric view of economic prosperity.
And that’s what this administration has gotten wrong since day one. Government is not the source of prosperity. Remember the President’s unscripted “You didn’t build that” comment? Well. . . We did build that. His insulting insinuation – that only with the aid of government can success be obtained – was met with predictable hesitation from an intrinsically entrepreneurial nation. Backing off the unpopular theme that no-one is responsible for the equity of their own sweat and tears, our Public-Employee-in-Chief tried to explain away his statements by pointing out that government roads, schools, and police all make individual success possible.
And yet. . . He was still dead wrong. We (the private sector) did build it. We built it all. Every last ounce of cement, hour of lecture, or moment of police protection is brought to you by your local neighborhood entrepreneur. After all, it is only by the revenue collected from the business owners, employees, and private citizens that any of those government sponsored entities exist.
The assertion that roughly two weeks of mildly restrained government spending will shave 120,000 private sector jobs from the economy is illustrative of the Administration’s government-centric world view, and their Keynesian-heavy economic approach. In their minds, without the benevolent intervention of bureaucrats, regulators, and government grants “we the people” would be left wallowing in a stagnant state of joblessness.
Of course the report was not exactly created with the intent of honestly interpreting the impact of DC’s brinkmanship. In the same fashion as Barry’s community agitating shutdown tactics, the report was crafted with the specific purpose of elevating the role of Government in public opinion. The report is merely an attempt to arm Obama’s teleprompter with some impressive sounding statistics when he trots in front of a loving press corps to pass the fiat buck on the heels of another disappointing jobs report. (Can’t you hear it now? “Because of the extremist Tea Party, we’re experiencing a lapse in job creation. . .”)
Brace yourself Ted Cruz. . . It seems the Left is ramping up to blame our economic ills on brand new Texan.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member