November the unemployment rate rose, from 9.6 to 9.8% dashing hopes that the recovery is gaining momentum.
Could this have been a possible explanation for the President’s unscheduled and surprise trip to pay tribute to the troops in Afghanistan?
While there the President sought to meet with President Karzai to mend already strained U.S. relations with Afghanistan because of new and embarrassing leaked cables alleging widespread fraud and underscoring deep American concerns about the Afghan President. They could not arrange to meet in person but talked on the phone.
Obama aides later said the subject of the cables didn’t come up during the Obama-Karzai phone call, which lasted 15 minutes.
Ben Rhodes, a White House national security aide told reporters, that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had already spoken to Karzai about WikiLeaks disclosures.
In a rather interesting set of circumstances the President mysteriously left town leaving Vice President Biden in Washington, to explain the falling employment numbers to the media.
NPR had a
different take on the President’s trip and suggests that it was unannounced for security purposes. To be sure, former President George W. Bush made unannounced visits, as all presidential visits should be to a war zone, but they were rarely spur of the moment getaways.
Putting the above aside for a moment, the unemployment picture does not look good and indicates that the Obama administration’s policies are not working.
A recent pickup in consumer spending and strong manufacturing surveys had offered hope the recovery might be gaining strength.
With the weakness in the jobs market one would think this would lead the administration to seriously evaluate their failed economic and social policy. After all, the unemployment rate has now been above 9% since May 2009 or 19 months. By any conceivable spin put out by the White House, their attempts have been unsuccessful. That matches the longest stretch at such an elevated level since the Second World War. In the previous deep recession of the early 1980s, the jobless rate crept to 9% in March 1982 and remained above that mark until September 1983.
In a very clear demonstration that the Pelosi led Congress learned nothing from the blood shed at the polls on November 2, 2010, House Democrats yesterday passed a bill to extend the Bush tax cuts for the middle class while letting those for high earners expire.
Doing such would crush many small businesses, and result in hundreds of thousands of more unemployed Americans. This is also proof that Democrats knowingly or unknowingly do not understand the relationship between taxation, economic growth and job creation.
Their ill-advised attempt succeeded only in infuriating Republicans. The bill has zero chance in the Senate, where Democrats have no shot of garnering the necessary Republican support to pass the legislation, and is largely seen as political maneuvering for Democrats to placate members of their base who oppose tax cuts for the rich.
If they are pragmatic, those Democrats left standing on January 20th, 2010, are most likely to vote in many instances with the Republicans. The country's economic situation must begin turning around, if they hold out any hope for their next election they will remember those that voted along with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are no longer members of Congress.
In closing, on keeping Bush Tax cuts in place bet on it, the Democrats will cave. It’s just Democrat spin or semantics for tax increases, they certainly aren’t cuts.
In the convoluted thinking among those on the left, money earned belongs to the government in first place and not the individuals that earn it. So whatever the kind and benevolent government lets one keep should make them feel happy.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it, I’m J.C.
Jim Campbell runs Charging Elephants.
