Obama's Job-Killing Agenda

by Ralph R. Reiland

"You ain't seen nothin' yet" was Ronald Reagan's standard rally-ending line during his 1984 reelection campaign. He won 49 states, losing only his opponent's home state, Minnesota, 49.7 percent to 49.5 percent.

Obama could truthfully use the same "ain't seen nothin' yet" line, except Reagan was referring to more jobs, smaller government and more individual freedom, while Obama is pushing a job-killing agenda that promises to expand an already bloated government while simultaneously shrinking individual freedom.

In its latest official tally of jobs being lost per month, more than seven months after Obama's $787 billion non-stimulating stimulus bill was rushed through Congress, the Labor Department reported that 263,000 more jobs were lost in September, increasing the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent and bringing the total number of unemployed to 15.1 million.

That doesn't count the so-called "discouraged" workers who've quit looking for work and are no longer considered part of the labor force. By the Labor Department's count, the U.S. workforce is currently 615,000 workers smaller than it was a year ago, even though the working age population is expanding.

Also uncounted in the 9.8 percent unemployment rate are part-timers seeking full-time work. Add these underemployed part-timers and the "discouraged" to the official jobless rate and the real unemployment rate in September was 17 percent.

In January, urging quick passage of the stimulus bill, President Obama called the legislation "the most sweeping economic recovery act in history" and said it would "save or create 2.5 million jobs" -- and quickly, via "shovel-ready" projects.

Instead, most of the shovels are still hanging in the garage and the economy has lost 2.7 million jobs since the "most sweeping" stimulus bill was signed into law in February...  Read the whole article.