Now that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are assured their nominations, maybe we’ll finally see a pivot to the issue that worries voters most: jobs.
Gallup last week echoed what numerous other pollsters have found: Americans say their concern for the economy, more than any other issue, will determine whom they vote for in November.
They’re right to worry — and President Obama’s wrong to insist everything’s fine.
The facts don’t lie. Since 2009, real GDP has grown at a pathetic 2.1 percent a year. Obama is the only president never to see at least 3 percent growth in a single year.
And first-quarter growth didn’t even hit 1 percent this year.
Americans feel the pain. Officially, unemployment’s down — but that’s largely because so many folks have quit seeking a job and thus don’t count as “unemployed.”
Labor Department figures for May show more Americans “not in the labor force” than ever. Throughout this presidency, the share of those in the labor force, now 62.6 percent, has hovered around a four-decade low.
Things aren’t getting better. Last month saw just 38,000 jobs created — far less than the 150,000 needed just to cover people entering the workforce for the first time.
Wages are stagnant. The latest numbers on real household incomes show them below the 2009 level. Meanwhile, poverty is up.
Wall Street and the big banks have done OK, but Main Street is starving for the capital it needs to grow.
All this creates a giant problem for Clinton, who’s running to continue Obama’s failed policies.
She wants to extend ObamaCare, expand the government, sock investors with new taxes and embrace “green” energy policies that aim to save the planet by killing the US economy.
She opposes the Keystone Pipeline and would severely limit fracking. Heck, she vowed to put coal miners out of work.
It all adds up to slower growth, stagnant wages, fewer jobs.
Trump, for his part, backs Keystone, fracking and lower taxes. He aims to unleash the US economy, not “manage” it.
The presidential race will surely include battles over other issues, from ISIS to education to health care. But America’s economic health is the big kahuna.
And every indicator says that what’s needed is a drastic change in the White House.
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