What Must Pelosi Be Thinking About Persistent Sky-High State Unemployment?

December 20, 2011

House Dem Leader Once Equated 4.4% Unemployment to the Great Depression

Newly released state unemployment numbers continue to signal that joblessness in America remains unacceptably high, providing more evidence of the failure of Democrat policies.
Rather than abandoning their failed ways, Democrats are refusing to budge on their job-destroying agenda. The Democrats’ regulatory rampage continues unabated despite pleas from job-creators and an economy on the rocks.
House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi infamously claimed during a time of 4.4% unemployment and under a president not from her party that the jobs situation was the worst “since the Great Depression.” How does she feel now about today’s Obama economy with nearly double the unemployment?

BACKGROUND

Newly released state unemployment numbers continue to signal that joblessness in America remains unacceptably high, providing more evidence of the failure of Democrat policies:

NEW STATE JOBLESS NUMBERS SHOW JOBLESSNESS STILL UNACCEPTABLY HIGH, PARALLELING 8.6% NATIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT: (“Regional and State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 12/20/2011)

“THE REAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS 11 PERCENT”: “But today, the most important sentence isn’t a report on something that just happened, but a fresh look at something that’s been happening for the last three years. In particular, it’s this sentence by the Financial Times’ Ed Luce, who writes, ‘According to government statistics, if the same number of people were seeking work today as in 2007, the jobless rate would be 11 percent.’” (Ezra Klein, “Wonkbook: The Real Unemployment Rate is 11 Percent,” The Washington Post, 12/12/2011)

NO CHANGE IN SIGHT? GALLUP SHOWS U.S. UNDEREMPLOYMENT ON PAR WITH A YEAR AGO: (Dennis Jacobe, “U.S. Underemployment Similar to a Year Ago,” Gallup, 12/20/2011)

PERCENT OF AMERICANS THAT HAS A JOB OR IS LOOKING FOR ONE “HAS FALLEN FROM 62.7 PERCENT TO 58.5 PERCENT” SINCE 2007, A 4.2 PERCENT DROP: “Since 2007, the percent of the population that either has a job or is actively looking for one has fallen from 62.7 percent to 58.5 percent. That’s millions of workers leaving the workforce, and it’s not because they’ve become sick or old or infirm. It’s because they can’t find a job, and so they’ve stopped trying. That’s where Luce’s calculation comes from. If 62.7 percent of the country was still counted as in the workforce, unemployment would be 11 percent.” (Ezra Klein, “Wonkbook: The Real Unemployment Rate is 11 Percent,” The Washington Post, 12/12/2011)

1.9 MILLION JOBS LOST SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE: (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 12/13/2011)

Rather than abandoning their failed ways, Democrats are refusing to budge on their job-destroying agenda. The Democrats’ regulatory rampage continues unabated despite pleas from job-creators and an economy on the rocks:

EPA POISED TO FINALIZE NEW UTILITY MACT RULE THIS WEEK: (Patrick Reis, Politico’s “Morning Energy”, 12/19/2011)

UTILITY MACT RULE IS PROJECTED TO COST 1.44 MILLION JOB-YEARS: “Some plants may shut their doors while others will sharply decrease production or abandon plans to expand their facility. The NERA study predicts that the United States will lose 1.44 million job-years (where one job is for one year) by 2020 should both regulations be finalized and implemented.” (Paul A. Yost, National Association of Manufacturers, 8/4/2011)

MORE MAJOR REGULATIONS AVERAGED UNDER OBAMA THAN UNDER BUSH OR CLINTON: “According to an analysis of the Federal Register by George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, the Cabinet departments and agencies finalized 84 such regulations annually on average in President Obama’s first two years. The annual average under President Bush was 62 and under President Clinton 56.”(Editorial, “Regulation for Dummies,” Wall Street Journal, 12/15/2011)

“EVIDENCE IS OVERWHELMING” THAT “OBAMA REGULATORY SURGE IS ONE REASON THE CURRENT ECONOMIC RECOVERY HAS BEEN SO LACKLUSTER”: “The evidence is overwhelming that the Obama regulatory surge is one reason the current economic recovery has been so lackluster by historical standards. Rather than nurture an economy trying to rebuild confidence after a financial heart attack, the Administration pushed through its now-famous blitz of liberal policies on health care, financial services, energy, housing, education and student loans, telecom, labor relations, transportation and probably some other industries we’ve forgotten. Anyone who thinks this has only minimal impact on business has never been in business.” (Editorial, “Regulation for Dummies,” Wall Street Journal, 12/15/2011)

SHAMELESS: OBAMA ISSUING EXECUTIVE ORDERS JUST “TO LOOK LIKE [HE IS] GETTING STUFF DONE”: “President Barack Obama reached into former President Bill Clinton’s playback [sic] and started issuing a series of executive orders and rules in order to show he is getting stuff done.” (Lynn Sweet, “Obama Issuing More Orders to Look Like Getting Stuff Done: #Wecan’twait,” The Chicago Sun-Times, 12/15/2011)

House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi infamously claimed during a time of 4.4% unemployment and a president not from her party that the jobs situation was the worst “since the Great Depression.” How does she feel now about today’s Obama economy?:

FLASHBACK TO 2006: PELOSI SAID BUSH HAD THE “WORST JOBS RECORD SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION” WHEN UNEMPLOYMENT WAS 4.4%—HOW DOES SHE FEEL ABOUT HER RECORD NOW?: “Pelosi was not to be outdone, however, firing back at the president who she claimed had “the worst jobs record since the Great Depression,” in spite of Friday’s news that the October jobless rate fell to 4.4 percent, the lowest it has been in more than five years.” (“Bush Buoyed by Good Employment News, Fires Away at Dems, Pelosi,” FoxNews.com, 11/3/2006)