Americans Know What Democrats Did This Summer – and it Wasn’t Creating Jobs

Washington– What was supposed to be a summer of economic recovery for Washington Democrats is now turning into an autumn of discontent. With unemployment at an unacceptably high 9.6 percent – higher than the beginning of the summer – it is clear the Democrats’ recovery plan did not work.

How the Democrats’ “Recovery Summer” turned into an autumn of discontent….

Unemployment Continues to Fall: “Nonfarm payrolls dropped 125,000, the largest decline since October, as temporary census jobs fell 225,000, the Labor Department said on Friday. However the unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent, the lowest level since July, as people left the labor force. The report will add to worries the recovery from the longest and deepest recession since the 1930s could be faltering.” (Lucia Mutikani, “Payrolls fall, private hiring below forecasts,” Reuters, 7/02/2010)

Economist Warn We are in a “1930s-Style Depression”: “Positive gross domestic product readings and other mildly hopeful signs are masking an ugly truth: The US economy is in a 1930s-style Depression, Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg said Tuesday. Writing in his daily briefing to investors, Rosenberg said the Great Depression also had its high points, with a series of positive GDP reports and sharp stock market gains. But then as now, those signs of recovery were unsustainable and only provided a false sense of stability, said Rosenberg.” (Jeff Cox, “Economy Caught in Depression, Not Recession: Rosenberg,” CNBC, 8/24/2010)

Nation’s Poverty Rate is Expected to Hit a Record Level: “The number of people in the U.S. who are in poverty is on track for a record increase on President Barack Obama’s watch, with the ranks of working-age poor approaching 1960s levels that led to the national war on poverty. Census figures for 2009 — the recession-ravaged first year of the Democrat’s presidency — are to be released in the coming week, and demographers expect grim findings. It’s unfortunate timing for Obama and his party just seven weeks before important elections when control of Congress is at stake. The anticipated poverty rate increase — from 13.2 percent to about 15 percent — would be another blow to Democrats struggling to persuade voters to keep them in power.” (Hope Yen and Liz Sidoti, “US poverty on track to post record gain in 2009,” Associated Press, 09/11/10)

Home Sales Plummeted to the Lowest Level in 15 Years: “Existing-home sales plunged to their lowest level in 15 years in July as inventories soared, painting a grim picture for the housing market absent government support in a stubbornly sluggish economy. Home resales dropped a record 27.2%—nearly twice as much as analysts had expected—to an annual rate of 3.83 million in July, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. Meanwhile, inventories rose to 12.5 months from 8.9 months in June, pressuring already depressed home prices. Inventories are at their highest level in more than a decade. (Meena Thiruvengadam and Sarah N. Lynch, “Existing-Home Sales Plunged in July,” Wall Street Journal, 8/24/2010)

Stimulus Money Has Been Mismanaged and Misspent: “Stimulus money is going toward iPods for high school students in Utah, cellphones for smokers trying to quit in Washington and advertising devoted to the promotion of … the stimulus. The findings are part of a 74-page report put out by a pair of Republican senators who contend the $862-billion program is fraught with needless spending.” (Peter Nicholas and Julia Love, “Republicans decry stimulus funds for iPods, cellphones,” Chicago Tribune, 08/03/2010)

Economists Warn of a Double-Dip Recession: “The risks of a double-dip U.S. recession have risen in the last six months, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said on Tuesday. While a new contraction in the economy is still not the most likely scenario, high unemployment and a fractured housing sector make this recovery a fragile one, he said.” (“Risk of Double-Dip Recession Has Risen: Fed’s Evans,” Reuters, 8/24/2010)

Budget Deficit is on Track to Hit 1.3 Trillion: “The budget deficit is on track to hit $1.3 trillion this budget year, which ends Sept. 30. That would be the second highest deficit on record, slightly below last year’s all-time high imbalance of $1.4 trillion.” (“Summary Box: Deficit on Pace to Hit $1.3 Trillion,” Associated Press, 9/13/2010)

Voters Are Concerned About Dems’ Runaway Spending Spree: “Voters are concerned about high levels of government spending and the deficit, but are not keen on administration plans to let tax cuts for the rich expire this year to help close the fiscal gap. The implication seems to be that Americans want the deficit tackled through lower spending rather than through higher taxes.” (Simon Denyer, “Analysis: Voters favor lower spending to close deficit,” Reuters, 8/24/2010)

Democrats’ Planned Tax-Hikes Could be “Catastrophic”: “’The political consequences of allowing that to happen during the worst recession in decades would be catastrophic, especially for the majority party who controls the movement of legislation on Capitol Hill. ‘If Congress was to fail to extend [the tax cuts], that would be close to disastrous,’ Clint Stretch, managing principal for tax policy for Deloitte Tax, told reporters this week. ‘I don’t see how these folks can fail to extend the middle-class tax cuts.’” (Jay Heflin, “Inaction on Bush tax cuts would pinch wallets across country and cost Dems,” The Hill, 9/11/2010)

Americans Are Growing Concerned as the Dems’ Economic Policies Fail to Bring Recovery: “More Americans now disapprove of President Barack Obama than approve of him as high unemployment and government spending scare voters ahead of November’s congressional elections, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday. In the latest grim news for Obama’s Democrats, 72 percent of people said they were very worried about joblessness and 67 percent were very concerned about government spending.” (Richard Cowan, “Job fears grip voters, Obama ratings crumble,” Reuters, 8/24/2010)

Politically Vulnerable Dems Avoided Public Events: “…[A] year after tea party protesters disrupted their town hall meetings — and with control of the House hanging in the balance — many politically vulnerable House Democrats now appear reluctant to telegraph where and when they will appear in open forums….There’s even been a concerted effort by House Democratic aides to counter the perception that lawmakers are hiding from their constituents.” (Jonathan Allen, “Vulnerable Dems duck public events,” Politico, 9/11/2010)

Even Democrat Leaders Admit Their “Recovery Summer” Was a Failure: “Despite hopes on the left that a ‘recovery summer’ would create a wave of enthusiasm that would energize the party heading into the fall, Van Hollen admitted no such spike developed. ‘It’s pretty clear that over the summer there was this political energy deficit and our challenge is to close the gap…’” (John McArdle, “Van Hollen: We Haven’t Lost the House Yet,” Roll Call, 09/14/10)

Democrats’ Majority is Now in Peril as They Enter Into an Autumn of Discontent: “ “’But conditions have deteriorated badly for Democrats over the summer. The economy appears rotten, with little chance of a substantial comeback by November 2nd. Unemployment is very high, income growth sluggish, and public confidence quite low. The Democrats’ self-proclaimed ‘Recovery Summer’ has become a term of derision, and to most voters—fair or not—it seems that President Obama has over-promised and under-delivered.” (Larry J. Sabato, “Sixty Days to Go,” Sabato’s Crystal Ball, 9/02/2010)