As Gas Prices Rise, Washington Democrats Tell American Families to Get Used to It

February 24, 2012

High Gas Prices, Sky-High Unemployment and Massive National Debt are All Part of the Miserable “New Normal” Democrats Have Created

Speaking yesterday in Florida, President Obama tried to “divert blame and prepare voters for higher costs” from energy due to his policies of sabotaging new energy development.
As Democrats are telling American families to get used to high gas prices, they are also attempting to shirk responsibility for the “new normal” of sky-high unemployment they have created.
Meanwhile, the Democrats’ spending spree has burdened America’s families with a record increase in the national debt, despite the grave threat their policies pose to economic growth.

Speaking yesterday in Florida, President Obama lectured American families suffering with rising gas prices, trying to “divert blame and prepare voters for higher costs” from energy due to his policies of sabotaging new energy development:

PRESIDENT OBAMA TRIES “TO DIVERT BLAME AND PREPARE VOTERS FOR HIGHER COSTS” FROM GASOLINE: “As Republican presidential candidates toss barbs at Barack Obama over expensive gasoline, the U.S. president and his team are going on the offensive with a strategy to divert blame and prepare voters for higher costs.” (Jeff Mason, “Obama Goes on Offense Over High Gasoline Prices,” Reuters, 2/23/2012)

“GAS PRICES ARE HIGHEST EVER FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR”: (Chris Kahn, “Gas Prices are Highest Ever for This Time of Year,” Associated Press, 2/18/2012)

GAS PRICES $1.71 PER GALLON HIGHER UNDER OBAMA: (“Petroleum & Other Liquids,” U.S. Energy Information Administration, Accessed 2/23/2012)

OBAMA WANTED ENERGY PRICES TO “NECESSARILY SKYROCKET” UNDER HIS CAP-AND-TRADE PLAN: “ ‘Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket,’ Obama told the Chronicle. ‘Coal-powered plans, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plans were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.” (Catherine Richert, “Pence Claims that Obama said Energy Costs Will Skyrocket with a Cap-and-Trade Plan,” PolitiFact.com, 6/11/2009)

ENERGY SECRETARY STEPHEN CHU IN SEPTEMBER 2008: “SOMEHOW WE HAVE TO FIGURE HOW TO BOOST THE PRICE OF GASOLINE TO THE LEVELS IN EUROPE”: “ ‘Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,’ Mr. Chu, who directs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September.”(Neil King, Jr. and Stephen Power, “Times Tough for Energy Overhaul,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/12/2008)

FLASHBACK: HOUSE DEMOCRATS RAMMED THROUGH CAP-AND-TRADE NATIONAL ENERGY TAX IN 2009: (Roll Call 477, Clerk of the U.S. House, 6/26/2009)

“THE ANTI-JOBS PRESIDENT” REJECTS JOB-CREATING KEYSTONE PIPELINE:(Editorial, “The Anti-Jobs President,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/19/2012)

OBAMA MORATORIUM ON GULF DRILLING “TAKING ITS TOLL” AND “MIGHT AS WELL STILL BE IN EFFECT”: “Small- and medium-size businesses serving Louisiana’s energy industry are shedding employees, dipping into personal savings or moving elsewhere to stay afloat. The administration’s war on fossil fuels is taking its toll.

“The federal six-month moratorium on drilling that was issued in May 2010, after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, has been officially lifted, but it might as well still be in effect.” (“Gulf Deepwater Drilling Ban’s Hidden Victims,” Investor’s Business Daily, 1/31/2012)

As Democrats are telling American families to get used to high gas prices, they are also attempting to shirk responsibility for the “new normal” of sky-high unemployment they have created. The Congressional Budget Office’s most recent economic outlook projects unemployment will remain above 8 percent through 2014 and linger in that range for years after:

CBO PROJECTS UNEMPLOYMENT TO JUMP TO 9.0 PERCENT, STAY THERE THROUGH 2014: (Table E-2, p. 129, “The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022,” Congressional Budget Office, January 2012)

CBO PREDICTS THAT BY 2016, UNEMPLOYMENT WILL BE 6.5 PERCENT AT THE LOWEST: (Table E-2, p. 129, “The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022,”Congressional Budget Office, January 2012)

MORE CBO: REAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS 10%: “The rate of participation in the labor force fell from 66 percent in 2007 to an average of 64 percent in the second half of 2011, an unusually large decline over so short a time. … Had that portion of the decline in the labor force participation rate since 2007 that is attributable to neither the aging of the baby boomers nor the downturn in the business cycle (on the basis of the experience in previous downturns) not occurred, the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2011 would have been about 1¼ percentage points higher than the actual rate of 8.7 percent.” (“The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022,” Congressional Budget Office, January 2012)

12.8 MILLION UNEMPLOYED AMERICANS: (Table A-1, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2/3/2012)

15.1 PERCENT UNDEREMPLOYMENT: (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2/3/2012)

MORE THAN 3 MILLION “MISSING WORKERS” WHO HAVE DROPPED OUT OF LABOR FORCE: “There are currently over 3 million ‘missing’ workers who should be participating in the labor force but are not actively seeking work.” (“Jobs Preview 2012: The Year of the Missing Worker,” HPS Insight, January 2012)

Meanwhile, the Democrats’ spending spree has burdened America’s families with a record increase in the national debt, but Democrats have made clear in their 2012 budget that they intend on five more years of the same, despite the grave threat their policies pose to economic growth:

A $4.8 TRILLION INCREASE IN NATIONAL DEBT SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE:(“The Daily History of the Debt Results,” TreasuryDirect.Gov, Accessed 2/22/2012)

OBAMA RECORD “THE MOST RAPID INCREASE IN THE DEBT UNDER ANY U.S. PRESIDENT”: (Mark Knoller, “National debt has increased $4 trillion under Obama,” CBS News’Political Hotsheet Blog, 8/22/2011)

NATIONAL DEBT STANDS AT $15.42 TRILLION, LARGER THAN THE NATION’S $15.29 TRILLION ECONOMY: (“The Daily History of the Debt Results,” TreasuryDirect.Gov, Accessed 2/22/2012; “National Economic Accounts,” Bureau of Economic Analysis, Accessed 2/12/2012)

DEMOCRATS’ RECORD OF TRILLION-DOLLAR DEFICITS: “The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday predicted the budget deficit will rise to $1.08 trillion in 2012. … The deficit was $1.4 trillion in 2009, $1.3 trillion in 2010 and $1.3 trillion in 2011. The largest deficit recorded before that was $458 billion in 2008.” (Erik Wasson, “CBO Projects $1.08T Deficit, Higher Unemployment,” The Hill, 1/31/2012)

DEMS DOUBLE DOWN ON FAILED SPENDING:

REUTERS: “OBAMA UNVEILS BIG SPENDING ELECTION-YEAR BUDGET”: (Alister Bull and Laura MacInnis, “Obama Unveils Big Spending Election-Year Budget,” Reuters, 2/13/2012)

NEW BUDGET “LADEN WITH STIMULUS-STYLE INITIATIVES”: “The president’s plan is laden with stimulus-style initiatives: sharp increases for highway construction and school modernization, and a new tax credit for businesses that add jobs.” (Andrew Taylor, “Obama Budget: New Spending with Recycled Tax Ideas,”Associated Press, 2/11/2012)

PELOSI SAYS NEW STIMULUS PLAN IS AN “INNOVATIVE BLUEPRINT”: “ ‘President Obama has laid out an innovative blueprint for restoring opportunity for all Americans and for constructing an economy that is built to last,’ Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stated.” (John Parkinson, “Republicans Detest, Democrats Defend Obama’s Budget,” ABC News, 2/13/2012)

DEBT THREATENS ECONOMIC GROWTH:

“ECONOMIC DAMAGE BEGINS TO RISE” WHEN PUBLIC DEBT HITS 90% OF GDP:“Economists believe that when debt to GDP reaches 90% or so, the economic damage begins to rise. And this doesn’t include the debt that future taxpayers owe current and future retirees through the IOUs in the Social Security ‘trust fund.’” (Editorial, “The Amazing Obama Budget,” The Wall Street Journal, 2/14/2012)

STUDY SHOWS DEFICTS PUT A DRAG ON OUR ECONOMY: “The eventual effect of sustained fiscal imbalance is slower growth and greater risk of a fiscal crisis. Our estimates suggest that a 10-point increase in the debt/GDP ratio lowers growth four years later by 0.2 percentage point, and increases the probability of a debt crisis by 2.5% in the aftermath of a financial crisis like the recent one. (See No Rush for the Exit,” Global Economics Paper, No. 200, June 30, 2010 and “When One Crisis Leads to Another,” US Economics Analyst, 11/04, Jan. 28, 2011.) To avoid this, lawmakers must begin to identify deficit reduction strategies.

“Ultimately, what goes up must come down. In the case of the federal budget, this means that a deficit-financed boost to growth will eventually lead to a drag. While policymakers can try to smooth the transition by phasing in cuts and incorporating multi-year fiscal commitments, achieving a sustainable fiscal policy will inevitably be a painful but necessary process.” (Jan Hatzius and Alec Phillips, “Fiscal Restraint: A Question of When, Not If,” Goldman Sachs Global ECS U.S. Research, 3/2/2011)

MAJOR ECONOMIC STUDY LINKED GOVERNMENT DEBT TO SLOWER ECONOMIC GROWTH: “The sharp run-up in public sector debt will likely prove one of the most enduring legacies of the 2007-2009 financial crises in the United States and elsewhere… Our main finding is that across both advanced countries and emerging markets, high debt/GDP levels (90 percent and above) are associated with notably lower growth outcomes… Seldom do countries simply ‘grow’ their way out of deep debt.” (Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff, “Growth in a Time of Debt,” American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 12/31/2009)