Posted on 01/05/2014 1:02:23 AM PST by Zakeet
The resilience that has long been one of America's remarkable traits was on display in 2013. Not only did businesses create 2 million jobs, but the struggling economy actually grew and profits and stock prices soared to near-record levels.
Still, five years into the Obama presidency, the economy is grossly underperforming. Contrary to the dominant media narrative, it's not bad luck or the financial crisis to blame, but bad policies — from the $860 billion "stimulus" that didn't stimulate to the Dodd-Frank financial reform that killed lending.
Last year was a challenging one for entrepreneurs and other productive Americans. No fewer than 13 new taxes were put into place. Big government now consumes one of every four dollars of our GDP and is getting bigger.
Entering 2014, we face problems, including taxes and spending, that neither the White House nor Congress is addressing. In the following charts, we look at a few of the more alarming and intractable ones.
Extremely Limited Prosperity
The president talks endlessly about the need to reduce income inequality, and claims it will be the focus of his remaining years in office.
As this chart shows, since the U.S. recession bottomed in June 2009, stock prices have been on a tear — fueled by a powerful rise in corporate profits. The bellwether S&P 500 index has climbed more than 90%, as U.S. investors added more than $5 trillion in stock market wealth.
But Obama's slow-growth economic policies have taken a toll.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
The 11 Nasty Trends:
Note: Lots of terrifying numbers, graphics and explanations in the original article.
I’m getting nowhere fast in my own job search. I’ve got 25 years experience and really an excellent resume, and I barely get interviews.
I don’t know if it’s me, the fact that I’m older, or the economy.
But, psychologically it’s starting to drive me nuts. I thought the one thing in life I could do was get a job and work.
Anybody needs a bookkeeper in the NYC metro area, freepmail me!
Unless you play down your experience or otherwise indicate a willingness to work for less than your experience calls for, you’re not all that likely to get a response unless you’re known to the company to which you’re applying. It’s who you know that would be willing to give you a chance that will land you the job. Anonymous online job sites are notorious for lack of interviews across the board, but especially for older males.
Have you taken full advantage of LinkedIn to create as large a network of contacts and associations as possible? A lot of the professional hiring occurs via LinkedIn these days.
Obama wants to divide “THE” pie...
instead of create many more pies...
What happens when the pie is eaten?... (well you know)...
Lack of civility and fighting for crumbs.. i.e. SHTF...
Looking at the chart I have to wonder how much of the Stock price increase is due to quantitative easing, i.e. inflation?
A lot goes into determining stock price, but at core a share of stock represents some basic value in the underlying company it represents. Stock companies haven’t doubled their value, but as printed dollars keep watering down value stock prices are running to keep ahead of inflation.
bttt
Scary.
I see more and more folks I come across understand the mess we are in but they still think an election will fix this
It's the communism. I've been laid off twice since Obama took over. Never before. I've spent half of the last five years looking for work.
On the plus side, I've been getting more responses lately, so it looks like hiring may be picking up a little.
bttt
then why are we not trying to reduce it.....crickets is all we get.....it gets little attention....this tax dwarfs income and corporate taxes...see chart.
where is norquist and his ilk when we need him?
Take a look at the inflated stock prices of Google, twitter, Facebook and Instagram. These are totally free to the user with hopes of clicking on an ad by some. I’ve never clicked on an ad and I know there are millions like me. At some point they will figure this out and prices will crash.
I got laid off in June of 2013 and with 25+ years of machine maintenance and production work I got turned down for all sorts of jobs, including 3 different janitorial positions. So after all of those years of working in a high tech fast-paced production environment I wasn't even considered good enough to push a broom. There were plenty of part time minimum wage jobs available and I even took one, hoping to show that I was good enough to be considered for a full time position but that turned out not only to be a waste of time but it also got me kicked off of unemployment (That's a story for another time. Bottom line, though, is that government works best when you are dependent on it. Don't take anything less than full time as long as you have benefits or they will punish you for trying.) For a while it was so bad that we seriously considered selling everything and leaving the country for some place where our savings could be stretched enough to keep us going until I was old enough to tap into my IRA money without penalties. I finally found something in November, good pay but through a temp agency but I am interviewing for a direct hire this coming Tuesday and I'm very optimistic about my future.
It is very tough out there in spite of the propaganda you hear through the media. You have to be willing to try anything that will get your foot in the door. Even a crappy job looks better on your resume than long term unemployment. In fact I even applied for some positions that wouldn't even talk to you if you were out of work longer than 6 months. So be flexible and don't give up.
The best way of describing the current economy is the analogy of a “kept woman”, a mistress of a spendthrift professional gambler.
Everything she has or does is only because he keeps giving her money, but only in the form of things or gifts.
She lives in an apartment only because once a month he pays her rent. She wears fashionable clothes that are now used so no longer command value. She gets room service or eats in restaurants, so has no food in her pantry.
And while the gambler used to have a lot of money, his debts to the casinos are allowed only because he keeps gambling and making the debts larger. He now owes several fortunes, and the only reason the casinos haven’t demanded payment is because carrying his debt still makes them look very profitable.
Even he now realizes his disastrous course, and wants to gamble less, but if he does, the casinos will call his debts and he will be ruined overnight.
And his “kept woman”, the US economy, will be penniless and out on the street.
Thanks folks, it’s good to know it’s not “just me”!
I was going to add yesterday that I’m thinking I’ll have to lower the wages I’m seeking, which would be OK, but of course there is a number the I have to earn, but I’ll keep plugging along.
Bring back jobs to America.
Now.
I counsel a lot of high-school kids and encourage them to look at IT jobs. Some great entry-level (well-paying) jobs can be had for just a bit of effort and incentive. Trouble is, they are lazy and don't want to be bothered (Having too much fun hunkered down with mommy & daddy, who pay all expenses).
It's pretty frustrating...
4. Dependency Growing, Not Jobs
Yet there are more idiots like Ed Schultz screaming that we need more welfare, more unemployment benefits, and such to “grow the economy”. And those rich people are not really job creators, they just sit on their piles of money like Scrooge McDuck.
Feb. 5, 1976, Prime Minister Thatcher said, “...and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”
Even he now realizes his disastrous course, and wants to gamble less, but if he does, the casinos will call his debts and he will be ruined overnight.
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