I think if there is one thing that we can all now, very safely, agree upon, it’s that the figure comically referred to as being our national unemployment rate, that has continued to be bandied about by this administration, and it’s many minions in the state-controlled media, can now be said to have been reduced to that which is nothing more than a sick joke. Because while we are once again being told how the national unemployment rate dropped from 7.4 percent to 7.3 percent in August, what’s being left out of the entire conversation is the fact that the number of Americans who actually held jobs during August also dropped, and by another 115,000 from July.
The simultaneous decline in both the unemployment rate and the number of people with jobs was possible because the "labor force participation rate", or the percentage of adults 16 years or older who either had a job or actively sought one in the last four weeks, dropped to 63.2 percent as of August. That is the lowest it has been since back during the Jimmy Carter years and is something of a continuing trend that can be said to be the direct result of Barry’s abysmal economic policies. When Barry first took office, it was 65.7 percent. I would argue the fact that we see that trend continuing, is no accident, as Barry has been quite purposeful in removing as many folks from the workforce as he can.
The number of Americans who are 16 years or older and who have decided not to participate in the nation's labor force has now pushed past the 90,000,000 mark for the first time in our nation’s history. That’s according to data recently released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS counts a person as participating in the labor force if they are 16 years or older and either have a job or have actively sought a job in the last four weeks. A person is not participating in the labor force if they are 16 or older and have not sought a job in the last four weeks. And the odds are quite high that they are now a person collecting some form of disability payment.
In July, again according to BLS, 89,957,000 Americans did not participate in the labor force, in August, that number climbed to 90,473,000. In January 2009, when Barry took office, there were 80,507,000 Americans not in the labor force. Thus, the number of Americans not in the labor force has increased by an incredible 9,966,000 during Barry's presidency. Granted, part of that can be explained by the fact that Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age and deciding to stop working, and not being replaced by an equal number of younger people reaching age 16 and thus becoming part of the BLS labor force population.
However, what is also true is the fact that the overall percentage of the non-institutionalized population over the age of 16 that is working or seeking to work in the United States, or something that the BLS calls the employment-population ratio, has declined, and rather significantly, in recent years. From July to August, it dropped from 58.7 percent to 58.6 percent. And again, in January 2009, when our 'Dear Beloved Leader,' Barack Hussein Obama, first took office, that number was at 60.6 percent. It reached an historical peak back in April 2000, when it was 64.7 percent. Further evidence of Barry determination to expand the welfare state.
But look, the fact of the matter is that, nationwide, full-time jobs are being cut just about everywhere and the new jobs that are now being created are 2 year temp jobs. Employers will give full-time hours, but not offer benefits because the full time hours won't always be guaranteed. This is how businesses intend to avoid certain aspects of the disaster that is Obamacare. They will get rid of full-time employees and hire a buttload of 2-year temps and give them just enough hours so they don't qualify for full-time benefits. If they are to remain in business, there's simply no alternative. And if they go out of business, then there's no jobs at all.
The sad truth here is that what has occurred under Barry's 'leadership' is nothing short of a national tragedy. The hope of being able to live out the American dream is fading faster than a black guy with a stolen TV in his hands. In this the most blessed country on the planet, what should now be painfully obvious to all is just how much devastation has resulted from the progressive/liberal agenda. And our useless state-controlled media is only too happy to play along as people are made to suffer, families are devastated because no one can't find work, taxes go up as Obamacare kills even more jobs, and our wasteful welfare system is literally choking us to death.
Sadly, we of this the most wasteful generation, have made the conscious decision to commit what can only be described as being the most unforgivable of sins. Because far too many of us have come to see our lives as somehow being more important than the lives of our children, overcome by the need to make our lives as 'easy' as we can. And in so doing, we choose not to rely on ourselves but, instead, on our government to 'take care of us'. And since the money needed to cover the cost of that 'care' must come from somewhere, unfortunately it will have to come from our children and, in all likelihood, from our grand children as well.
So it will be, then, all thanks to us, that our children's lives will very likely be so much less than what they could have been. Because they will be ones saddled with the additional responsibility of repaying the massive debt so cheerfully accrued by we, their parents. It just all seems kind of one-way to me. Personally, I wanted my daughter to be able to enjoy her life, to have as many kids as she wanted, and could support, to have a nice home and a steady job that she might actually enjoy doing. But the future that lays in wait for her is likely to be far different, and for no other reason than because her parent's generation got lazy, and more than just a bit stupid.
What we have done here equates to nothing short of having plundered our children's futures while at the same time squandering that which those who came before us handed down to us to safeguard and to improve upon, if possible, and to then handover to those who would come after us for them to fulfill that very same task. Well, to say that we dropped the ball on that one would be the understatement of the century. For whatever the reason, we allowed ourselves to be talked into ignoring the warning signs even though, I believe, deep down we knew better. And now it may very well be too late to get things turned around before the whole thing simply comes apart.
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