The Democrats’ “New Normal” is Unacceptable

November 3, 2012

The Democrats’ “New Normal” is Unacceptable

Working Families Deserve Better Than Persistently High Unemployment, Economic Misery and a Growing National Debt

The jobs report out Friday offered the latest evidence that the economy continues to struggle and that unemployment remains unacceptably high, with job creation unable to keep pace with population growth.
The Democrats’ solution to this new normal of economic misery has been to keep spending money we don’t have. The result is trillions in new debt.
To pay for their new spending spree, Democrats want job-destroying new tax hikes that will destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs. America can’t afford four more years of this.

The jobs report out Friday offered the latest evidence that the economy continues to struggle and that unemployment remains unacceptably high, with job creation unable to keep pace with population growth:

UNEMPLOYMENT UP FROM 7.8 TO 7.9% SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE. (“Employment Situation Summary,” Bureau Of Labor Statistics, 11/2/2012)

DEMOCRATS PROMISED STIMULUS WOULD BRING UNEMPLOYMENT RATE TO 5.4% BY NOW: (Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein, “The Job Impact Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Plan,” 1/9/09)

10.6% UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IF LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION THE SAME AS WHEN OBAMA TOOK OFFICE: (James Pethokoukis, Twitter Feed, 11/2/2012)

LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION DOWN FROM 65.7% TO 63.8%: (“Employment Situation Summary,” Bureau Of Labor Statistics, 11/2/2012)

23 MILLION UNEMPLOYED, UNDEREMPLOYED AND DISCOURAGED WORKERS: (“Employment Situation Summary,” Bureau Of Labor Statistics, 11/2/2012)

1,019,000 CONSTRUCTION JOBS AND 586,000 MANUFACTURING JOBS LOST SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE. (“Employment Situation Summary,” Bureau Of Labor Statistics, 11/2/2012)

SINCE 2009, ONLY ONE NEW JOB CREATED FOR EVERY 23 PEOPLE JOINING THE WORKFORCE: (Senate Budget Committee, 11/2/2012)

CNN’s ALISON KOSIK: “THE NUMBER OF JOBS BEING ADDED EVERY MONTH IS JUST NOT ENOUGH TO KEEP UP WITH POPULATION GROWTH”: “And you know we’re at this point right now where the number of jobs being added every month is just not enough to keep up with population growth. You know, it averages out to 157,000 jobs created every month. It’s just not enough momentum in the jobs market.” (CNN’s “Starting Point,” 11/2/2012)

FEDERAL RESERVE: UNEMPLOYMENT TO “REMAIN ELEVATED FOR ANOTHER FIVE TO SIX YEARS”: “Federal Reserve officials agreed at a meeting in June that unemployment would remain elevated for another five to six years…” (Binyamin Appelbaum, “Fed is Torn on Tipping Point for Action,” The New York Times, 7/11/2012)

The Democrats’ solution to this new normal of economic misery has been to keep spending money we don’t have. The result is trillions in new debt:

PRICE TAG FOR FAILED STIMULUS: $833 BILLION:(Congressional Budget Office, 8/23/2012)

OBAMA TO DES MOINES REGISTER: NO WAY “WE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN ADDITIONAL STIMULUS OUT OF THE REPUBLICANS”: “And the suggestion somehow that if we hadn’t pursued Obamacare, somehow we would have gotten additional stimulus out of the Republicans, for example, that we could have primed the pump more, that’s just not borne out by any of the evidence.” (“After Editor’s Blog, President Obama Releases Transcript of Register Interview,” The Des Moines Register, 10/24/2012)

TRANSLATION: MORE STIMULUS SPENDING WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER: (“After Editor’s Blog, President Obama Releases Transcript of Register Interview,” The Des Moines Register, 10/24/2012)

DEMOCRATS HAVE ALREADY BALLOONED THE DEBT BY $5.6 TRILLION:(“The Daily History of the Debt Results,” Bureau of the Public Debt, Accessed 11/2/2012)

NATIONAL DEBT CURRENTLY STANDS AT $16.22 TRILLION; SIZE OF NATION’S ECONOMY AT $15.78 TRILLION: (“The Daily History of the Debt Results,” Bureau of the Public Debt, Accessed 11/2/2012; Bureau of Economic Analysis, 10/26/2012)

To pay for their new spending spree, Democrats want job-destroying new tax hikes that will destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs. America can’t afford four more years of this:

170 DAYS SINCE REPUBLICANS PASSED PLAN TO AVOID THESE TAX HIKES AND DEFENSE CUTS: (Roll Call 247, Clerk of the U.S. House, 5/10/2012)

“DEMOCRATS THREATEN TO GO OVER ‘FISCAL CLIFF’ IF GOP FAILS TO RAISE TAXES”: (Lori Montgomery, “Democrats Threaten to Go Over ‘Fiscal Cliff’ if GOP Fails to Raise Taxes,” The Washington Post, 7/16/2012)

“SENIOR DEMOCRATS” ARE READY TO “PLUNGE THE NATION BACK INTO RECESSION” IF THEY DON’T GET THE TAX HIKES THEY WANT: (Lori Montgomery, “Democrats Threaten to Go Over ‘Fiscal Cliff’ if GOP Fails to Raise Taxes,” The Washington Post, 7/16/2012)

FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE: IF DEMS GET THEIR WAY “RECESSION WOULD OCCUR EARLY NEXT YEAR”: “The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that, if the full range of tax increases and spending cuts were allowed to take effect–a scenario widely referred to as the fiscal cliff–a shallow recession would occur early next year…”(Bernanke testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Federal Reserve Web site, 7/17/2012)

DEFENSE CUTS WILL DESTROY MILLIONS OF JOBS:

NATIONAL ASSOCATION OF MANUFACTURERS: 3.44 MILLION JOBS COULD DESTROYED BY SEQUESTER FROM 2012 – 2022: (“Defense Spending Cuts: The Impact on Economic Activity and Jobs,” National Association of Manufacturers, Accessed 7/18/2012)

STUDY: UP TO 10 MILLION JOBS COULD BE LOST FROM DEMS’ DISASTROUS PLAN: “The negative fiscal shock exceeds Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in any year over the past two decades, and when considering economic multipliers, the contraction could approach ten percent, which would amount to the biggest year-to-year decline since 1932. This upper-bound estimate would result in a loss of 10 million jobs, according to the administration’s methods.” (“New Study Examines Economic Effects of the Fiscal Cliff,” American Action Forum, 7/17/2012)

TAX HIKES WILL HURT SMALL BUSINESSES

710,000 JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY DEMOCRATS’ TAX HIKE PLAN: (Robert Carroll and Gerald Prante, “Long-Run Macroeconomic Impact of Increasing Tax Rates on High-Income Taxpayers in 2013,” Ernst & Young, July 2012, Appendix C)

1.8% DROP IN WAGES: “Real after-tax wages would fall by 1.8%, reflecting a decline in workers’ living standards relative to what would have occurred otherwise.” (Robert Carroll and Gerald Prante, “Long-Run Macroeconomic Impact of Increasing Tax Rates on High-Income Taxpayers in 2013,” Ernst & Young, July 2012)

JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION: 940,000 SMALL BUSINESSES TO GET HIT BY DEMOCRATS’ LATEST TAX HIKE: “Congress’s Joint Tax Committee—not a conservative outfit—estimates that in 2013 about 940,000 taxpayers will have enough business income to meet Mr. Obama’s tax increase threshold.” (Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)

TAX HIKE WOULD BE A $201 BILLION HIT TO THE ECONOMY: (Robert Carroll and Gerald Prante, “Long-Run Macroeconomic Impact of Increasing Tax Rates on High-Income Taxpayers in 2013,” Ernst & Young, July 2012, Appendix C)

MORE THAN HALF OF NET BUSINESS INCOME WILL BE HIT BY HIGHER TAX RATES UNDER OBAMA PROPOSAL: “And of the roughly $1.3 trillion in net business income, about 53% will get hit with the higher tax rates. This is because millions of businesses report their income as sole proprietors and subchapter S corporations that file under the individual tax code.” (Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)

OBAMA’S NEW TAX HIKE WOULD HAVE SOME SMALL BUSINESSES PAYING HIGHER TAX RATES THAN GENERAL ELECTRIC AND J.P. MORGAN: “So Mr. Obama wants these businesses to pay higher tax rates than the giant likes of General Electric or J.P. Morgan. Does that qualify as ‘tax fairness’?” (Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)

TAXMAGEDDON WILL COST AVERAGE FAMILY $4,138 IN 2013: (“Taxmageddon Costs Average Family $4,138 Next year,” The Heritage Foundation, 6/14/2012)

The Democrats’ “New Normal” is Unacceptable http://ow.ly/eZ9h6