As you probably are aware, the initial reports show GDP growth in the second quarter of 4% (I say “initial” because, in the era of Obama, after the positive headlines are ingrained in people\’s minds these data have a chronic habit of being revised downward). And initial reports are that 209,000 new jobs were created as well.
This caused President Obama to crow happily about what a great economy he has given us.
The problem? His claims about the economy – like his claims about so many other things – are absolute baloney. So much so that even the usually Obama-loving New York Times could not abide this deception.
Read the following excerpts from its Friday editorial, titled “Growth Without Jobs; then tell me how you feel the economy is doing:
Ina statement last Wednesday – just hours after the governmentreported headline-grabbing economic growth of 4 percent in the secondquarter – theFederal Reserve said it would continue to stimulate the economybecause, despite overall growth, the labor market remained weak.
Thosecautionary views were validated on Friday, when the employment reportfor July showed slower job growth, flat earnings, stagnant hours andstubbornly high long-term unemployment. The challenge now, as always,is to translate official concern over the job market into change forthe better.
Inits statement, the Fed said it was basically a tossup whether theeconomy would speed up or slow down. Faster growth, however,generally requires a healthy real estate market and that requires ahealthy job market, especially for younger workers.
Butin July, the jobless rate for workers ages 25 to 34 was 6.6 percent,compared with 6.2 percent over all. Among young people who areworking, many are in low-wage or part-time jobs, or jobs thatotherwise do not make use of their education or experience. So it isnot surprising that the sale of new homes plummeted recently at thefastest pace in nearly a year. Sales of existing homes have risen, apositive sign but a questionable trend given the still-ailing jobmarket.
Themost likely scenario is for the economy to continue to muddle alongat an overall annual pace of 2 percent to 2.5 percent.
Is this editorial surprising to you? It certainly is to me. Because it is the New York Times – the usually Obama-supporting New York Times – explaining why the marginally rosy economic numbers we are seeing are largely an illusion.
Possibly the editorial\’s most important point is that young people, who have to prosper for the economy to rise, are suffering through a combination of high unemployment (11.3% for 20-24\’s) and lousy, underpaying jobs.
Unfortunately, it did not go into the issue of Black unemployment at all. But if it had, the editorial would have told readers that Barack Obama has been a disaster for Black workers – who continue to endure unemployment at twice the national average – a grim reality which, if the President were White and Republican, would be treated by our media as a major, ongoing scandal.
Midterm elections are coming. As with most elections, they will largely be driven by economic conditions. And all the sugar-coating in the world by Barack Obama\’s Accomplice Media will not compensate for what people see in their own wallets. But, even so, it is very gratifying when a major newspaper talks as honestly as this editorial does about the facts which talk candidly about what they are experiencing.
The New York Times, therefore, is to be commended for telling the truth about our anemic, unacceptable “recovery”.
