The Propaganda Of Incompetents

IBD editorials Newsletter: August 06, 2010 issue

Economy: As the "recovery summer" turns into a nightmare, one thing has become painfully clear: This is the most economically incompetent administration since the Great Depression.

Two years into the Obama era, when the U.S. should be enjoying a booming recovery from the 2007-08 meltdown, with millions of new jobs and higher incomes for all, all we see is economic wreckage from the unbelievably foolish policies pursued by the White House and the Democrat-controlled Congress.

Whether it's the $862 billion "stimulus" that turned into a welfare program for bankrupt states and public unions, or the $700 billion TARP program that became a giant dish of pork for Democrats and their supporters, or the job-killing duo of health care and financial reform, Obama, Pelosi, Reid et al. seem oblivious to the deep and lasting damage they're doing to America's economy.

Friday's frightening jobs report was only the latest in a series of releases indicating the "recovery" is faltering. Unemployment in July was unchanged at 9.5%, but a net 131,000 jobs were lost on top of 97,000 more than first accounted for in May and June.

"Recovery summer"? Time for another sobriquet.

The White House response? On Friday, after release of the jobs report, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis touted the economy's "turnaround" and credited "strong and immediate action" President Obama took after entering office. The only real problem, she hinted, was Republicans who refuse to support a $26 billion bailout for state and local governments and their pampered unions.

"There is no room for partisan roadblocks when Americans are depending on their government's action and the stakes are so high," Solis said. In this White House, economic recovery is always just one massive stimulus or bailout bill away.

Solis also repeated — with the stock market selling off 100 points as she spoke — the bogus claim made by the White House and uncritically parroted by its media pals that timely action "saved or created more than 2.5 million American jobs."

As we've said, this is utter nonsense. Completely made up. And, by the way, the official who made it up — Council of Economic Advisers chairwoman Christina Romer — quit on Friday to return to academia, her reputation for accuracy in tatters.

Here's the real record: America has lost 4.1 million jobs since Obama took office and 7.7 million since the recession began in December 2007. So most of the jobs lost have been under this administration. Whatever else you might call Obamanomics, "successful" isn't it.