And still they ask, Where are the Jobs?

So, the Right keeps asking, “Where are the jobs?”  And today’s jobs report gives, at first glance, gives fuel to their flame.   Unfortunately, the attention span of the average American is equivalent to that of a sugar- dosed third grader with ADD.  The situation is compounded when operatives on the right will exploit this national disorder by telling lies often enough and consistent enough that people will begin to perceive the lie as reality  (Orwell was right).

With regard to job creation the picture is harder to discern than one might think.  But the easiest way to the truth is to compare Obama to his immediate predecessor regarding job creation.  When comparing Bush and Obama it is important to look at more detail than the right will ever provide.  And it is a mixed picture.  In total, Bush did in fact create more jobs than Obama.  But that statistic includes public sector jobs created under the Bush administration.  Under Obama public sector jobs have been steadily decreasing-  in part because of forced Republican policies that belittle and bemoan such jobs.  It was Speaker Boehner who, when confronted with the loss of public sector jobs his policies would cause, responded,  “So Be It!.”   What an arrogant prick.

In fact,  when we consider public sector jobs,  Obama continues to perform better than Bush ever did.      This Article from October of 2010 demonstrates the job growth patterns of the Obama administration in the private sector.    At that time, more private sector jobs had been created under Obama than under the whole 8 years of W Bush.    And, while sluggish (because of right-wing influenced pressures) the policies of President Obama continue to create new jobs. 

Indifference on the right and policies of greed by big corporations can only work against us for so long before they will need to change their tactics.  With productivity or the American worker at an all-time high, demand will soon exceed the ability of factories to meet demand without hiring is seriously doubtful.  Even their own greed will work in favor of businesses actually busting down the doors and letting new employees into the mix.

The right wing will continue to talk about how bleak things are.  It is in their best interests to do so.  But they fail to acknowledge that the slide in employment began under their watch and was reversed and halted under the Obama administration.  This chart   demonstrates the job slide from January of 2008 to January of 2009 (when Obama took office) from 4.8%  to 7.6%.  In the months between the time he took office and the time his policies began to take effect  unemployment continued to grow, peaking at about 10%.  Some will say that Obama ‘promised’ to keep unemployment below 8% between the time he was elected and the time he took office.  This has been sufficiently debunked previously on this blog and elsewhere, but suffice to say that a president elect would have no interest in making such a promise after an election- especially when anyone paying attention could see we were on a slide beyond 9% at the time he was preparing to take office.   I remember talk about urgent change to save our economy from full on depression.

At the time Obama took office the Dow Jones opened at 8279.63.  Today The Dow opened at 12,719.49.  The recession that started in 2007 was declared  ended by economists in June of 2009.   For those who would disagree because they just don’t like Obama, or they are focused more now on their personal hardship than they were in 2007 or 2008 or the first part of 2009,  it needs to be explained that recession is a technical term defined by economic growth-  it is not about attitude of the people.

Job growth has been on a slow but mostly steady upward trend since Obama took office  (as demonstrated by the famous bikini chart found here).

I for one wish he would be more aggressive and that he, along with Democrats, would be bold enough to introduce a new stimulus package devoted to our infrastructure that is falling apart (think 35W bridge and tell me you are not nervous).  The projects now will put people to work in the short term and prepare us for the time when the private sector will finally reopen their wallets.

Anyone who pays attention to facts knows full well that Democrats have been historically better at jobs creation than Republicans in every administration since Herbert Hoover.   It was Hoover who articulated the continuing policy of the right wing that government should play no role in job creation and that corporations and the market should be left alone without government influence.  That policy worked so well for him that Republicans have been selling it ever since.

So what caused the dip in economic activity in the past month.   Most economists will cite four causes:  Greece disaster, oil price spikes,  bad weather and the effects of the Japan Tsunami as the principal causes- 

Boehner says its Obama’s fault (idiot).   

Before he makes such an accusation it is incumbent on him to demonstrate what he or his party has done to try to stimulate job growth.  Instead,  we have example after example of his party shutting down job growth ideas-  even ideas that have been traditionally put forth by the right.

I can’t deny that I wish Obama could do more.  At the same time I refuse to accept the outright lies put forth in criticism of him.