Brace yourself… Skepticism, doubt and criticism of Obamanomics (all of which are, undoubtedly, based in racism) will be cast aside. Why? Because, according to the 20-something-year-old White House intern that is in charge of the official White House twitter account, “Our businesses have added nearly 10 million new jobs over the past 52 months.”
I know, right? Pretty awesome statistic. (Gloss over the fact that the President is referring to private enterprise as “our businesses”.) But before you rush out to slap an Obama ‘16 sticker on your car (are those stickers available yet?), you may want a little bit of context for this stunning validation of Keynesian economics.
This “10 million new jobs” number starts to sound even more impressive when you ignore that job growth under Obama has been roughly half the average pace of the previous 10 recoveries in American history. So by ignoring the fact that, according to historical trends, we should have 7 million more jobs, things start to look pretty rosy… But wait, there’s more!
Real per capita GDP is up roughly 6 percent. Great news, right? I mean, it might be true that we’ve grown slower than historical trends by roughly $1.6 trillion, but c’mon: We should be thrilled by that “10 million new jobs” statistic, right?
Sure, you might be tempted to point out that 11.4 million people have dropped out of the labor force (meaning that over 92 million Americans are no longer working, or even looking for work); but that’s not really unprecedented. I mean, it happened in 1978…
Yeah, it might be true that the number of involuntary part time workers has increased to 7.5 million, according to the bureau of Labor Statistics, and real weekly earnings for full time workers are down by three percent… But c’mon: “10 million new jobs”!
If you still have doubts about the vibrancy of this recovery, it could be possible that you are somehow missing out on this Obamanomics success story in your every-day life. And, let’s face it, that’s pretty possible. Real hourly wages have seen virtually no noticeable increase; real median household income is down almost four percent; and basic life necessities have seen an average of 10 percent price inflation. (In fact, milk is 25 percent more expensive, meat prices are 27 percent higher, and gasoline has jumped in price roughly 40 percent since 2009.)
Or, maybe, you’re just not feeling the beneficial impact of those “10 million new jobs” because your home value has just barely increased above the rate of overall inflation. Or, maybe you’re one of the 2.9 newly impoverished individuals since the recession officially ended. (Are you one of the 11 million new food-stamp recipients?)
Well… Just hang in there. I mean, the economy has grown by roughly $1.1 trillion in the last five years. (Just ignore the fact that the Federal Reserve has injected more than $2 trillion into that same economy, and we’re still barely able to squeak out any consistent GDP growth.)
Even though you’re part of a smaller workforce, making less money, working fewer hours (with less cash in the bank), and the cost of living has gone up, at least we’ve created 10 million new jobs in the last 52 months! That might not even be enough to keep up with population growth, but at least it’s something, right?
“Obamanomics! A fiscal policy that could always be worse!” Are you a believer yet?
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