BloggeRhythms

Changing channels yesterday, the tail end of an interview was seen in which the POTUS was discussing his record regarding the nation’s economy. The sound was off, thus the commentary wasn't heard, but just before the segment ended the crawler said that the POTUS believed his record compared favorably with Ronald Reagan’s.  

Unable to find any specifics about the particular televised meeting, an article was found this morning by Andrew Ross Sorkin, @nytimes.com, in which a similar premise was presented by the POTUS.

Sorkin writes: “His efforts to rebuild the U.S. economy from the 2008 financial crisis were being hit from left, right and center. And yet, by his own assessment, those efforts were vastly underappreciated. “I actually compare our economic performance to how, historically, countries that have wrenching financial crises perform,” [Obama] said. “By that measure, we probably managed this better than any large economy on Earth in modern history.”

“It was a notably grand claim, especially given the tenor in which presidential candidates of both parties had taken to criticizing the state of the American economy — “Many are still barely getting by,” Hillary Clinton said, while Donald Trump said that “we’re a third-world nation.”

And then Sorkin presented a truly incredible paragraph in which he gives credit to Obama by presenting statistics cherry-picked to present a picture of economic success where none is present. And, in the case of measuring employment, the numbers look superior because the formulas deriving them had been purposefully altered by the current administration.  

According to Sorkin: “Obama analyzed, sometimes with startling frankness, nearly every element of his economic agenda since he came into office. His economy has certainly come further than most people recognize. The private sector has added jobs for 73 consecutive months — some 14.4 million new jobs in all — the longest period of sustained job growth on record. Unemployment, which peaked at 10 percent the year Obama took office, the highest it had been since 1983, under Ronald Reagan, is now 5 percent, lower than when Reagan left office. The budget deficit has fallen by roughly $1 trillion during his two terms. And overall U.S. economic growth has significantly outpaced that of every other advanced nation.”

The facts say something totally different however, whereas the “budget” debt may have fallen by a billion on paper but, since Obama took office in January 2009, the “national” debt increased from $10.626 trillion to $19.25 trillion, almost 9 trillion dollars.

As far as unemployment goes, a couple of years ago the administration changed the reporting formula to reflect the U-3 total, which includes those out of work for only thirty days, omitting those unemployed longer. Thus the comparison's totally invalid.

Tim McMahon @unemploymentdata.com provides the data which presents the true results. “For March 2016 the official Current U-6 unemployment rate was 9.9% down from 10.1% in February. On the other hand the independently produced Gallup equivalent called the “Underemployment Rate” was 14.4% from  14.0% in December and January and 14.7% in February.”

Mr. McMahon then went on with an explanation: “Why do we have a U-3 number at all? Aren’t all U-6 people unemployed? But during bad times like the recent few years it is scary to hear the Unemployment rate is 18% (U-6) but less scary if the number you hear is “only” 10.6% (U-3) so the government prefers the U-3 number and unfortunately the news media plays along and uses the U-3 number because it is the “Official” unemployment rate.”

On a broader scale, the labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics in March was 63%, the lowest since Jimmy Carter. And, as mentioned here a few days ago, but appropriate for today’s subject, according to Louis Woodhill: “Barack Obama will be the only U.S. president in history who did not deliver a single year of 3.0%+ economic growth.

And if the economy continues to perform below 2.67% GDP growth rate this year, he will leave office with the fourth worst economic record in US history. 

“Assuming 2.67% RGDP growth for 2016, Obama will leave office having produced an average of 1.55% growth. This would place his presidency fourth from the bottom of the list of 39, above only those of Herbert Hoover (-5.65%), Andrew Johnson (-0.70%) and Theodore Roosevelt (1.41%)” 

And then, even Sorkin had to relent in his attempts at praise for the POTUS, by writing farther along in his column: “But as Obama also acknowledged, the public anger about the economy is not without empirical basis. A large swath of the nation has dropped out of the labor force completely, and the reality for the average American family is that its household income is $4,000 less than it was when Bill Clinton left office. 

“Economic inequality, meanwhile, has only grown worse, with the top 1 percent of American households taking in more than half of the recent gains in income growth. “Millions and millions and millions and millions of people look at that pretty picture of America he painted and they cannot find themselves in it to save their lives,” Clinton himself said of Obama’s economy in March, while on the campaign trail for his wife. “People are upset, frankly; they’re anxiety-ridden, they’re disoriented, because they don’t see themselves in that picture.” 

Thus, in summation, it seems that Sorkin’s article is what’s meant by those referring to “liberal bias” in the major media. Which, always it seems, is consistently refuted by facts and accurate data.

Bringing us to today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife, who according to FoxNews.com, “already has a certain someone in mind for the role of manufacturing jobs czar: her husband. 

“In one of the first real indications of the role Bill Clinton might play if the Democratic presidential front-runner brings the family back to the White House, Hillary Clinton told hard-hit workers in coal country that she plans to take her husband “out of retirement” so he can work on bringing jobs back. 

“I’ve told my husband he’s got to come out of retirement and be in charge of this, because you know he’s got more ideas a minute than anybody I know.”

   

And at the same time that his wife was praising his creative ability's Sally Miller @theamericanmirror,com, posted her own story about: “When I met Bill Clinton and the first time we were together.”

Ms Miller describes the relationship as beginning when she was a Legislative Senate Aide for Arkansas’s 87th General Assembly. 

As a temporary hire, she was “merely one woman in a select pool of other females labeled: Senate Aides. In truth, we were nothing more than nursemaids— substitute mommies for Arkansas State Senators.” 

At that time, she describes Bill as about seven years younger than her, “single, fairly nice looking, and could best be described as a political wannabe.  Like everyone at the General Assembly, Bill Clinton attended the after-work parties and other political festivities.

“Bill had a little-boy charm and country-freshness I found attractive and, over time, I sensed the interest was mutual. 

“We flirted with each other, shared a few laughs, even danced together several times but there were no shared moments.  Neither of us could have imagined that, ten years later, we would meet again and— share each other.” 

And then, after ten years had passed, representing the Rail Historic Preservation Society, Ms Miller headed to the office of her “one-time friend, Bill Clinton, now Arkansas’s Governor.  "His secretary, Ms. Moore, was extremely nice.  She explained Bill was playing golf but promised to have him call the minute he checked in with her. 

“Bill called several hours later.  After ten years, he sounded happy to hear from me.  It didn’t seem awkward or strange when he asked if he could stop-by my place, later. I gave him my address at Andover Square Condominiums, explaining my patio backed up to Reservoir Park.  Bill replied: “Leave the gate open and the patio light on.  I’ll have my driver drop me off at your back door.” 

“Closing the patio door behind him and flashing his trademark open-mouth smile, Bill stepped into my living room. He wasted no time pulling me close, laughing in my ear, hugging me affectionately.” 

From there, Ms Miller goes on to explain in surprisingly lurid detail more information about their sexual relationship than most people would care to peruse. 

However, if this is who Bill’s wife plans to add to her staff in any way at all, should she be elected, she will effectively lower the office of POTUS to an international laughing stock as never seen before. As evidenced by a reader, John Magnum’s, posing following the article.  

 

Which leads to the ongoing question, once more: Joe Biden, Mayor Bloomberg, Jerry Brown, and Starbuck’s chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, are you guys reading this?  

   

That’s it for today folks.   

  

Adios