People have began again to look for work. The participation rate has recent risen to 62.9%. However, The Labor Department’s unemployment rate of 4.4% does not tell the true story.
A huge number of people have simply
dropped out of the job market and are not counted.
The depth and severity of the Great Recession after the 2008 financial crisis
pushed millions of Americans to the sidelines and discouraged them from looking
for work and none of President Obama’s policies helped. In fact, it made
the situation worse.
The type of jobs available has been part-time jobs-- less than 30 hours
per week due to Obamacare. This reflected a provision in the law that
defined “full- time employees” as those working 30 hours or more.
Under Obamacare’s employer mandate, companies with 50 or more
“full-time” employees will be required to offer health insurance to their
workers or pay a penalty if at least one of their employees purchases a plan
through the healthcare marketplace with a federal subsidy.
Obamacare raised the cost of hiring along with the minimum wage controversy. Moreover, the
average working person hasn’t had a raise in the last 15 years.
The national deficit now stands at $603 billion, but is predicted to go down to $440 billion this next fiscal year. The national debt doubled
over the eight years of the Obama administration to now close to $20 trillion.
This was more debt accumulated, in those eight years, than all the previous 43
presidents combined. This was total recklessness on the part of Obama. Fortunately, this increase of the national debt is now slowing down.
The economy has now experienced a growth of 3.0% this past
quarter.
There is no new money available for programs, social or otherwise, unless
unspent funds are found in the budget or waste, fraud, and abuse are eliminated
and the funds redirected.
However, with the elimination of waste,
fraud, ,and abuse in the government’s agencies, no truly beneficial
programs need to be cut.
All federal employment should be frozen and any cost-of-living increases should
be pegged to the inflation rate. The pensions should be equalized rather than
income. All employees should be either on Social Security or on a 401k plan.
By knowing the state of the economy, you can rationally choose the candidates with
the best policies to address these issues and not get hung up on party labels,
or the race or sex of the candidate. And, most of all hold them accountable.
Our country is teetering on the brink of
self destruction. President Trump is now in office. Now regularly contact your Representatives and Senators and let them know how you want them to vote.
The eight years of Obama has been an unmitigaged disaster for Black Americans. These loyal ill-informed voters gave their votes twice to this first "black" President who has treated them with disdain.