Propaganda Masks Economic Stench

For months, the Obama Administration and their cronies in big media have been churning out statistics to convince Americans the economy has healed itself.  Unemployment is improving.  Jobs are growing.  The private sector is enjoying an economic renaissance.  Never has their been a propaganda campaign to match this.

When the facts don't support a rosy economic picture, the slavish media buries the news.  As evidence, the National Journal recently researched national news coverage of unemployment and discovered that mentions of the the issue have dwindled by more than half since August, 2010.

However, not even the lapdog media could hide May's government report that showed unemployment ticked up to 8.2 percent, marking 40 consecutive months that the nation's jobless rate has exceeded eight percent. That triggered a swift shift in the Obama Administration's narrative.

The White House now shies away from any talk of country's economic condition because the coverage makes the White House seem impotent to do anything about the tepid recovery.  The new Obama strategy is to blame Europe's crippling debt and George Bush's economic missteps for the malaise.

With the strategy shift, the media has gotten new marching orders from the Obama campaign.  Now the media is trying to convince people of the absurd notion that headlines may be bad, but the economy is good.  Americans aren't buying it.  The most recent Consumer Confidence Index found only 16.6 percent believe business conditions will improve over the next six months.

There are good reasons for consumer pessimism.  Here are three measurements of economic activity which indicate the current economic sickness will linger:

According to the latest figures, American corporations are sitting on nearly $2 trillion in cash.  Instead of investing that money, companies are hoarding it.  In economic good times, firms shovel money into research, development, new factories and hiring. Businesses simply see no reason to invest when there are so many unknowns about taxes and the costs associated with Obama Care. The overhang created by this uncertainty has made American firms adverse to taking risks with their money.

The country's labor participation rate is at an all-time low.  Not many in the media follow this metric contained in the Bureau of Labor's Statistics  monthly employment report.  The labor force participation rate is the percentage of working-age persons who are employed or looking for a job.  At the end of May, the country's labor participation rate was near a historic low of 63.8 percent, a precipitous drop from 65.8 percent at the end of President Bush's term.  The Obama apologists have tried to argue that the the reason for the decline is the aging of the population.  However, the facts say otherwise.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the labor participation rates of those over the age of 55 are soaring.  There are fewer people participating in the economy because there are fewer jobs.  The Obama economic plan has produced a "jobless recovery."

Consumer spending on discretionary goods and services has plummeted.  Consumer purchases account for 70 percent of the country's economic activity.  When consumers spend less, the economy suffers.  In the latest Gallup survey, the average consumer spent $58 per day on non-essential items, such as clothes, dining and soft drinks.  When George Bush left office in January 2008, the average was $97 a day.  This drop of 40 percent has dealt a crippling blow to the economy.  While consumers are spending less on clothes and eating out, they are shelling out more for fuel and health care. Gallup attributes the decline to several factors, including "economic uncertainty." Consumers are fearful because they have watched their home values sink and their stock savings plunge.  The prospect of higher taxes has an added a chilling impact on spending.

Instead of waging a propaganda war, President Obama could awaken the lethargic American economy by ordering the repeal of his health plan, making permanent all the Bush tax cuts and overhauling corporate taxes.  Overnight, these moves would unleash a torrent of economic activity.

Sadly, Obama prefers to point his finger at Europe and George Bush rather than exercise leadership this economic crisis demands.  The president has done nothing to jumpstart America's growth engine. Even the sycophant media can no longer camouflage Obama's abject failure on the economy.