Our Dire Economy Should Dominate Election Talk

Our Dire Economy Should Dominate Election Talk

The Stream - Wednesday October 26, 2016

by Dan Celia

With just two weeks until the election, talk must turn to the economy, and how everyday Americans are being oppressed with out-of-control expenses and regulations.

Donald Trump must also stay focused on a few other important matters, such as:

pointing out the contents of Hillary Clinton's emails, which show her corruption, collusion with foreign governments and anti-Christian leanings restating how he will let Obamacare die so Americans aren't trapped by their ever-rising health care costs and reassuring Christian voters that he will work to protect their religious liberties, which are increasingly under attack.

In these final days before November 8, Trump must stay laser-focused on these few issues, rather than defending himself or getting off track. There's too much at stake.

But for someone who works daily with finances, the economy looms large, and the starting point for discussing this economy is a labor participation rate stuck at 1978 levels, a lack of jobs, and the lowering of the bar for every economic indicator. The poverty rate has increased every year this president has been in office.

The constant attacks on American exceptionalism, the demonizing of profits and the criticism of "fat cat" job creators can't hide the fact that real wages have not increased for more than a decade. The fallout has decimated the middle class over the last seven years, even as this administration celebrates an unprecedented seven straight years of two percent or lower GDP growth.

Disappearing Jobs

The Obama administration celebrates the creation of 14 million jobs while failing to acknowledge that twice that number have disappeared. Unemployment rates among youth in the inner cities remains at record highs. According to government numbers, under-employment is still close to 10 percent. The part-time labor force is higher than ever, too. Average hours worked per week have continued to hover around 34.5 since 2009.

Because of fear that surely things could get worse -- including lackluster wage growth, uncertainty and unprecedented increases in the cost of healthcare -- we will continue to see no significant boost in consumer spending.

What's worse is that our national debt is likely to increase, too. This is a president who in 2008 in Fargo, North Dakota, said that $9 trillion in debt that had been created from George Washington through George Bush was irresponsible and unpatriotic. Then he went on to become president and more than doubled the debt accumulated from the first George to the second.

Fictional Unemployment Numbers

I wish someone would spend time exposing the fact that -- as shown by high under-employment and low labor participation -- the government's figure of a 5 percent unemployment rate is laughable at best. It is not something that should be celebrated; such a statistic can only be lies, deception or phony math.

Even the Federal Reserve knows it's a lie or it would have raised interest rates a long time ago. This may be the first time in history where we've had so-called full employment with no corresponding upward pressure on wages. Millions are still afraid of losing their jobs, poverty rates continue to rise, and the GDP can't seem to even get above what is necessary to keep up with the demographic of changes of a population.

Let's keep our eye on the ball. Little else than these few issues should be discussed during the next two weeks.

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