Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment went over 10 percent. Here are the basic stats:
| Unemployment | 10.2% |
| Jobs Lost: | |
| Household Survey | 589,000 |
| Establishment Survey | 190,000 |
The really disturbing thing is the continued hemorrhaging in the Household Survey numbers. In previous recessions the employment in the Household Survey picked up earlier and stronger than the Establishment Survey, reflecting, experts assume, the formation of new businesses. Today's numbers seem to indicate deep damage in the small business/startup sector.
It all adds up to the biggest presidential blunder in modern times. All through the winter I was wondering if Obama and his people were really going to continue with their damn-the-torpedoes agenda. I thought that they couldn't be so stupid as to focus on their liberal white whales while ignoring the only thing that mattered: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.
I was wrong, and they didn't. So now they are going to reap the whirlwind.
Charles Krauthammer has already pointed out in "The Myth of 08, Demolished." that the 2009 elections have told us that Obama's win was a fluke, a perfect storm that elected a left-liberal in a center-right country. The reversion to the norm was sharp and severe.
But the fact is that we ain't seen nothing yet. Obama has wasted a year on the non-stimulus package, the fiddling over healthcare and the madness of a climate change bill.
Obama should have been working like mad on fixing the "too big to fail" culture on Wall Street, on cutting the cost of government so that businesses can start up and expand and create jobs for Americans.
But he didn't, and that year can never be recovered. It is down the toilet.
Let's just call it "Obama's Wasted Year." It was a year in which Democrats tried to ram their extreme left-wing agenda on America: government takeover of health care, government takeover of energy, government goodies for Democrats, bailouts for unions and Wall Street. Probably the only thing they'll get will be their dreadful "porkulus" bill.
Guess what? America watched all this, and said: No Thanks.
Next year will be different. Next year Americans will be saying something different: Hell No!
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