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Black Leaders Open Fire on Obama Over Unemployment
Townhall.com ^ | March 29, 2013 | Donald Lambro

Posted on 03/29/2013 1:06:09 PM PDT by Kaslin

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's failed job policies are facing bitter criticism from African-American leaders who say black unemployment has grown worse under his presidency.

After four years of holding their tongues and remaining quiet in the face of sharply rising black unemployment and record poverty, political leaders from the Congressional Black Caucus to the NAACP have begun to open fire on the White House.

Obama won 96 percent of the black vote in 2008 and about the same percentage in 2012, despite a worsening jobless crisis among African-Americans. At 14 percent for adults and 43.1 percent for 16-to-19-year-old teenagers, blacks still have the highest jobless rate of any minority group in the U.S.

Black leaders in Congress largely kept their complaints to themselves throughout Obama's first term in office and his re-election campaign. But no longer.

The nation's black leadership has become a great deal more vocal lately about severe unemployment, fewer job opportunities, and a weak, lackluster economy. They are especially unhappy with the fact that Obama has placed relatively few black officials in top level positions in his second term administration.

It didn't get that much media attention, but shortly after Obama was inaugurated in January, NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Jealous went on nationwide television to condemn Obama's weak job creation record, charging that black Americans "are doing a full point worse" than when Obama became president.

"The country's back to pretty much where it was when this president started," Jealous said on Meet The Press on Jan. 27.

The government's employment numbers maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics support Jealous' latest criticism. The black unemployment rate was 12.7 percent when President George W. Bush finished his second term and Obama took office.

It soared over the first three years of Obama's first term to 16.7 percent by September 2011 (the worst jobless rate for black Americans since 1983). Unemployment among black teenagers exploded to 39.3 percent in July, 2012.

"Statistics show that the African-American community is in bad shape under the Obama administration," the widely read web site "Your Black World" said this week.

Earlier this month, Democratic Rep. Marcia L. Fudge of Ohio, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, let loose with some stinging criticisms of Obama's record on his appointments in his second term.

"The people you have chosen to appoint in this new term have hardly been reflective of this country's diversity," she said in a letter to Obama. "Their ire is compounded by the overwhelming support you've received from the African-America community."

Fudge and other CBC members complain that Obama has not devoted enough attention in his agenda to many of the critical economic issues within the black community, especially rising unemployment.

"I think we are going to hear more voices of opposition coming from all sectors of black leadership, and certainly from the most hard pressed sections of the black population," said Dr. Tony Monteiro, professor of African American Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Unfortunately, most black leaders do not understand that it is Obama's anti-growth, economic policies that have contributed to the persistently high level of unemployment among all Americans, especially African-Americans.

The NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus still believe that Obama's $800 billion economic stimulus plan, largely made up of public works, infrastructure and other government spending, was the smart way to create jobs and boost economic growth. If anything, they wanted him to spend more.

But there were no economic growth incentives in his plan that would boost venture capital investment, the mother's milk of business expansion, new business formation and job creation.

Soon after Obama's stimulus plan became effective and the money began flowing out across the country, a look at the list of recipients revealed that it included hundreds of federal agencies and programs. It expanded government spending, and maybe some of the money trickled down to workers, but it created relatively few permanent jobs.

Once the stimulus funds were spent on roads, bridges and other public workers projects, the jobs ended.

The proof that Obama's Keynesian spending didn't work is in the numbers: high unemployment that is still skirting 8 percent, and it is actually 14 percent if you include workers who want and need full-time employment but are forced to take part-time jobs.

And the economy isn't getting stronger, as we can see in the economic growth numbers that measure the gross domestic product (GDP) that is the sum of everything we produce, sell and export. It grew at a barely-moving pace 0.4 percent in the last three months of 2012, according to the Commerce Department's latest estimate Thursday.

The Federal Reserve says unemployment will remain high this year and next and economic growth will remain weak for at least the next two years.

Now Obama is calling for a $9 an hour minimum wage which the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus has supported in the past and no doubt supports now. But this is a job killer, particularly for small businesses and especially for minorities. It will kill entry-level training jobs and that will drive black employment even higher.

In an interview with the College Fix web site, Antony Davies, an economics professor at Duquesne University, explains why: "When businesses -- especially small businesses -- are faced with increased labor costs due to minimum wage hikes, less valuable jobs are eliminated. After that, the extra workload is doled out to remaining employees."

Or as economist Murray Rothbard writes in his book, The Free Market, "In truth, there is only one way to regard a minimum wage law: it is compulsory unemployment, period."

Meantime, it is becoming increasingly self-evident that black leaders are getting fed up with the economic results of Obama's presidency. For the first time, they have begun to question and to criticize some of the economic policies that he still defends but that they now know aren't working


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: bho44; bhoeconomy; blackcommunity; blackunemployment; economicgrowth; jobsandeconomy; lambro; obama; stimulus; unemployment
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1 posted on 03/29/2013 1:06:09 PM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Illegal immigration, overregulation, and taxation.


2 posted on 03/29/2013 1:07:48 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Kaslin

F*#@em. They got what they asked for.


3 posted on 03/29/2013 1:08:37 PM PDT by forgotten man (forgotten man)
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To: Kaslin
Obama won 96 percent of the black vote in 2008 and about the same percentage in 2012, despite a worsening jobless crisis among African-Americans.

So next time I guess he'll get 95.9 percent?

4 posted on 03/29/2013 1:09:21 PM PDT by COBOL2Java (Fighting Obama without Boehner & McConnell is like going deer hunting without your accordion)
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To: forgotten man

I agree 1000%. Screw ‘em.


5 posted on 03/29/2013 1:09:42 PM PDT by Cowboy Bob (Democrats: Robbing Peter to buy Paul's vote.)
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To: cripplecreek
You voted twice for Obama, now you own him, elections have consequences
6 posted on 03/29/2013 1:10:12 PM PDT by JoanneSD
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To: Kaslin
Obama to Blacks:
"I don't want you working and slipping into middleclassedness (a Jeremiah Wright coined-term), I want you broke, dependent and p!ssed at Whitey."

7 posted on 03/29/2013 1:11:01 PM PDT by RoosterRedux (Get armed, practice in the use of your weapons, get physically fit, stay alert!)
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To: cripplecreek

and Obamacare.


8 posted on 03/29/2013 1:12:08 PM PDT by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: Kaslin

“...Obama is calling for a $9 an hour minimum wage which the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus has supported in the past and no doubt supports now...”

“...this is a job killer, particularly for small businesses and especially for minorities...”

“...It will kill entry-level training jobs and that will drive black employment even higher...”

“...”When businesses,especially small businesses, are faced with increased labor costs due to minimum wage hikes, less valuable jobs are eliminated”...”

“...Murray Rothbard writes in his book, The Free Market, “In truth, there is only one way to regard a minimum wage law: it is compulsory unemployment, period”...”


9 posted on 03/29/2013 1:12:43 PM PDT by Repeal The 17th (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: Kaslin

black leaders, an oxymoron in 89.6% of the cases. more like black pimps.


10 posted on 03/29/2013 1:12:59 PM PDT by bravo whiskey (We should not fear our government. Our government shoud fear us.)
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To: Kaslin

Scew you to any liberals criticizing him. You were and are part of the problem. You covered for him, called us racist, now you own it.


11 posted on 03/29/2013 1:13:19 PM PDT by CommieCutter
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To: BookmanTheJanitor

I just wish conservatives were bright enough to convey the message without being assholes but it doesn’t look too promising.


12 posted on 03/29/2013 1:14:13 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Kaslin
The NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus still believe that Obama's $800 billion economic stimulus plan, largely made up of public works, infrastructure and other government spending, was the smart way to create jobs and boost economic growth. If anything, they wanted him to spend more.

Yup, their complaint is that the Marxist in Chief is not marxist enough ...
These folks all flunked their history and human nature lessons. Growing the Government impoverishes Private Industry and the Working class, and eventually the whole system implodes... Sure, we need more Government spending, that's the ticket...

13 posted on 03/29/2013 1:15:16 PM PDT by El Cid (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house...)
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To: forgotten man
F*#@em. They got what they asked for.

AMEN! You guys bought the s##t sandwich, now deal with it.

14 posted on 03/29/2013 1:16:19 PM PDT by Marathoner (What are we waiting for? Where are the Articles of Impeachment!)
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To: Kaslin

Nobody likes or respects him. Not even his old lady. How does he exercise power?


15 posted on 03/29/2013 1:16:47 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: Kaslin

Holder’s people? They have been cowards when it comes to holding this administration accountable.


16 posted on 03/29/2013 1:17:44 PM PDT by JerseyDvl (Cogito Ergo Doleo Soetoro, ABO and of course FUBO!)
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To: Kaslin

We have to keep pushing our message and separate as many from this blind dem voting as possible. They are not stupid, and although it is overstated now, they have reason to be distrustful of the ruling class. We need to convince them that the ruling class is the goverment/democrats.


17 posted on 03/29/2013 1:17:58 PM PDT by arkfreepdom
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To: Kaslin

No, No, No!!!! THIS week is all about “gay marriage!” Next week is gun control! We are NOT talking about jobs until the second week of April. You MUST get in line!


18 posted on 03/29/2013 1:19:32 PM PDT by ScottinVA (Gun control: Steady firm grip, target within sights, squeeze the trigger slowly...)
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To: Kaslin

19 posted on 03/29/2013 1:19:33 PM PDT by Bon mots (Abu Ghraib: 47 Times on the front page of the NY Times | Benghazi: 2 Times)
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To: Kaslin

Obama: “Black unemployment hasn’t gone up. Who you gonna believe? Me or some dumb statistic. You know what they say about torturing statistics long enough and they’ll say anything you want? Well, those evil Tea Partiers put out this information. You know they like to torture things and these statistics, they got worked over. Blacks are in a much better place under my Administration than they were previously”

/Obama


20 posted on 03/29/2013 1:21:48 PM PDT by Personal Responsibility (In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act - Orwell)
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