Text VICTORY to 21818 to help DEFEND our conservative majority!

The 95%

October 28, 2011

Record Numbers of Americans are Pessimistic About the Economy as U.S. Falls Behind on Global Competitiveness, But Democrats Aren’t Worried at All

  • A recent poll shows that the overwhelming majority of the American people—95 percent—hold negative opinions about the direction of the economy under the Democrats’ job-destroying policies.
  • This growing pessimism about the country’s economic direction coincides with new data confirming the decreasing global competitiveness of the U.S. and the continuing concern about the weak state of the economy.
  • Despite this miserable economic record, Democrats are now claiming “we can’t wait” for more of the same stimulus spending that made a bad economy worse.

BACKGROUND 

A recent poll shows that the overwhelming majority of the American people—95 percent—hold negative opinions about the direction of the economy under the Democrats’ job-destroying policies:

95% OF AMERICANS HOLD NEGATIVE VIEW OF ECONOMY, WORST SINCE RECESSION AND EERILY CLOSE TO A RECORD HIGH: “Consumer confidence declined last week as Americans’ views of the economy sank to the lowest since the recession, highlighting the challenges facing the recovery.

“The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index fell to minus 51.1 in the week ended Oct. 23, the lowest in a month, from minus 48.4 the prior period. Ninety-five percent of those surveyed had a negative opinion about the economy, the worst since April 2009 and one percentage point shy of a record high.” (Timothy Homan, “Consumers in U.S. Are Most Negative on Economy Since Recession,” Bloomberg, 10/27/2011)

This growing pessimism about the country’s economic direction coincides with new data confirming the decreasing global competitiveness of the U.S. and the continuing concern about the weak state of the economy: 

“AMERICA AS NUMBER FOUR” IN GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS: “The report, which uses various indicators to rank 183 countries on the ease of doing business, puts the U.S. in fourth place for 2012, behind Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand. That’s up a notch from its fifth-place finish last year, but down one from third place in 2007.” (Editorial, “America as Number Four,” The Wall Street Journal, 10/27/2011)

U.S. FALLS TEN SPOTS TO 13th IN “EASE OF STARTING A BUSINESS”: “But then there are the trend lines in the sub-rankings. In 2007, the U.S. ranked third in the ‘ease of starting a business’ category. This year it ranks 13th.” (Editorial, “America as Number Four,” The Wall Street Journal, 10/27/2011) 

COST OF STARTING A BUSINESS HAS DOUBLED FROM 2007: “The cost of starting a business, measured as a percentage of per capita income, has doubled to 1.4% from 0.7% in 2007.” (Editorial, “America as Number Four,” The Wall Street Journal, 10/27/2011) 

GALLUP: ONE THIRD OF SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS WORRIED ABOUT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS: “Looking ahead to 2012, approximately one in three small-business owners say they are very or moderately worried about going out of business. About the same number are worried about not being able to compete with large or global competitors, not being able to hire the number of employees they need, and not being able to pay their employees. Thirty percent worry they will have to reduce their number of employees.” (Dennis Jacobe, “Gov’t Regulations at Top of Small-Business Owners’ Problem List,” Gallup, 10/24/2011) 

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE DROPS TO LOWEST LEVEL IN TWO AND A HALF YEARS: “Consumer confidence unexpectedly dropped to its lowest level in two-and-a-half years in October as consumers fretted about job and income prospects.” (Leah Schnurr, “Consumer Confidence Tumbles in October,” Reuters, 10/25/2011) 

TRANSLATION: CONSUMER CONFIDENCE BACK AT RECESSION LEVELS: “In a terrible sign for the economy and President Obama’s popularity, consumer confidence tanked in October to levels last seen at the start of the 2008 recession, according to a leading economic indicator.” (Erik Wasson, “Consumer Confidence Drops Steeply,” The Hill, 10/25/2011) 

MEANWHILE, “EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK IN U.S. WORST SINCE 2010: SURVEY”:“U.S. companies’ hiring plans reflect the worst employment outlook since January 2010 as demand slows in the world’s largest economy, a private survey showed. Fewer companies project payrolls to rise in the next six months compared with a July survey, while more plan to cut workers, the National Association for Business Economics said today in Washington. The share of firms planning to raise prices was the smallest in almost two years.” (Shobana Chandra, “Employment Outlook in U.S. Worst Since 2010: Survey,” Bloomberg, 10/24/2011) 

“U.S. ‘MISERY INDEX’ RISES HIGHEST SINCE 1983,” A 28-YEAR HIGH: (“U.S. ‘Misery Index’ Rises Highest Since 1983,” CNBC, 10/20/2011) 

Despite this miserable economic record, Democrats are now claiming “we can’t wait” for more of the same stimulus spending that made a bad economy worse: 

CBO ADMITS: ” ‘IMPOSSIBLE TO PROVE’ STIMULUS CREATED JOBS”: “SEN. TOOMEY: ‘I know it is your view that the recent huge increase in spending and the corresponding big deficits have generated more economic growth and more job creation that we would have had in the absence of those things. But surely you’d agree, that that essentially asks for a comparison to a counterfactual, and as such, it’s completely impossible to prove?’ DR. DOUGLAS ELMENDORF, director of the CBO: ‘Yes, that’s right, senator.‘” (Remarks from Doug Elmendorf, “CBO Agrees With Toomey: ‘Impossible to Prove’ Stimulus Created Jobs,” Real Clear Politics, 10/27/2011) 

BIDEN TELLS CNN: “NOBODY” CAN SAY STIMULUS “DID NOT DO VERY GOOD THINGS” FOR THE ECONOMY: CNN’s CANDY CROWLEY: “Aren’t people also saying look we did almost $1 trillion in stimulus spending, and you all at that time said oh, unemployment won’t go above 8%, GDP will be a lot higher than it is now and it isn’t, and so now we need another leap with the jobs bill.” VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: “No. Look, here’s the deal. Nobody can look you in the eye and tell you that the Recovery Act and that stimulus did not create jobs and did not do very good things for the economy.” (CNN’s “State Of The Union”, 10/23/11) 

WHITE HOUSE NO LONGER TALKING ABOUT JOBS “SAVED OR CREATED”—THE NEW LANGUAGE IS JOBS “SUPPORTED” BY STIMULUS: “The American Jobs Act Will Support Nearly 400,000 Education Jobs—Preventing Layoffs and Allowing Thousands More to Be Hired or Rehired.” (“Teacher Jobs At Risk,” The White House, October 2011)

DEMS NOW SAYING “WE CAN’T WAIT” FOR STIMULUS 2.0 AFTER “PASS THIS BILL NOW” FAILED: “President Obama’s growing impatience with Congress’ refusal to ‘pass this bill now’ has launched a new approach — bypassing Congress by taking actions that don’t require congressional support and insisting that ‘We Can’t Wait’ for any more delays on Capitol Hill.” (“President Begins ‘We Can’t Wait’ Economic Push,” Fox News, 10/24/2011)