To be clear: The following statistics are all a form of archconservative Visigothery, and as such I find them invasive and unhelpful and wish they would just shut up, being fundamentally unelectable and extreme:
Government dependence, which is defined as the percentage of persons receiving one or more federal benefit payments, is at a staggering 47%, its highest level in American history, while 21 million households are reliant on food stamps. In fact, government spending on food stamps in 2010 ($68 billion) was double what it was in 2007, with the 2011 figure likely to be even higher.
According to the August employment report from the Department of Labor, the nation’s unemployment rate remained at 9.1% with a total of zero jobs added to the economy during the month. Among demographic groups, Latinos had an unemployment rate of 11.3%, while African-Americans posted a rate of 16.7%. For blacks, that represents the highest unemployment rate for this group since 1984 and a rate more than double that of whites (8%).
When Obama took office in January 2009, the nation’s unemployment rate stood at 7.8%, a rate higher than the historic norm, yet far below the current rate, and above any rate during the Bush administration. Since June 2009, six months into Obama’s term, the nation’s unemployment rate has been at or above 9% during 25 of 27 consecutive months.
Those are the official unemployment rates. The real unemployment rate, as it is sometimes referred to, rose to a seasonally adjusted 16.2% in August. That rate, as defined by the U.S. Department of Labor, includes those in the official unemployment rate plus those who have given up looking for a job and those who are working part-time but wish to work full-time. This figure is now at its highest rate since August 2010 and represents about one out of every six potential American workers now without a job.
The economic numbers are especially poor for the demographic groups that most supported Barack Obama at the polling booth in November 2008.
Take Wayne County, Michigan, for example, where President Obama made a Labor Day economic speech. This county, which includes the city of Detroit, voted for Obama at a rate of 74% in 2008. It has been estimated that Detroit’s “Real Unemployment Rate” might be upwards of 45%, and Michigan remains the state with the dubious honor of having the highest unemployment rate.
On a state-by-state basis, seven of the ten states with the highest unemployment rates voted for Obama in 2008, with Alaska, Georgia, and South Carolina being the exceptions.
Among the aforementioned Latino and African-American groups, with their higher than average unemployment rates, Obama carried 67% and 96% of these groups in the 2008 election.
These woeful economic figures have come during a time in which we have experienced the most government involvement in the economy since the days of FDR and government spending without parallel in our nation’s history.
The list of taxpayer-paid government bailouts and government spending under the Obama administration is seemingly endless and has resulted in our national debt now above $14.7 trillion.
So we’re moving closer and closer to political model in which the Federal Government takes the bulk of the money from the private sector, then doles it out to people based on their supposed need.
But that doesn’t mean we need to say so.
I mean, sure, we can: but nothing sends the moderates and independents scurrying back faster into the arms of socialists than pointing out that the society is being fundamentally re-formed into a democratic socialist state.
But it can’t happen here and now, just like it didn’t happen there and then.
Argh! Sorry for being picky, but this bugs me:
receiving one or more federal benefit payments
Please specify what counts as a federal benefit payment. What if something benign or hidden is being counted?
percentage of persons … is at a staggering 47%, its highest level in American history, while 21 million households are reliant on food stamps
MIXED MEASUREMENTS! The 47% is individuals, whereas the 21 million is households: one is a percentage whereas the other is a raw number. Please stick to percents or numbers or individuals or households so that I can make a proper comparison.
Also, dood, please don’t underline text for emphasis on a web page, because it looks like a hyperlink. (I checked the code: it isn’t supposed to be a link.) Speaking of which, please provide links to where you got these figures.
I’ve no doubt that the numbers look bad for Obama, especially in the dependency arena, but statistic-soup articles make me dizzy. Especially since there’s such a problem with damned lies running around these days. Charts and graphs, man. Show the trends. Compare with known reality.
I saw an article the other day about all the “records” that Obama has set: highest X since Y, etc. But you can establish anything as a “record” if you also get to choose the “since” against which you compare it, cf news organizations and the wars’ death tolls during the Bush admin.
Jeff, Jeff, Jeff,
All this joblessness is FEATURE of Obama-nomics, not a BUG.
Cloward-Piven and all that……
A lot of those folks have a job, it is to vote for Democrats.
JHoward posted on 9/13 @ 11:54 am
“The budget must be balanced, the Treasury must be refilled, public debt must be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom must be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands must be curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”
Cicero, 55 B.C.
Nice quote. Rome managed to last another 400 years or so (although some of those years were pretty unpleasant). Unfortunately, I do not think we have that much time. Maybe 4 years till the shit really hits the fan.
Early indications are that it’s entirely possible that not enough of those will show up at the NY-9 polls today B Moe.
The Democrat’s are starting to frown in disappointment at the fact they’ve paid so much purchasing an office for Obama to gain so little return. Well, save those among them who were out to engender hatreds in the first place. In which case, Winning!!!
I’ve no doubt that the numbers look bad for Obama, especially in the dependency arena, but statistic-soup articles make me dizzy.
So you’re saying you prefer your Visigothery to be well-organized, even though that makes it even more invasive and unhelpful and noisy and unelectable and extreme? You really are hard-core, aren’t you?
You really are hard-core, aren’t you?
No, I’m just easily overwhelmed by information unless it’s accompanied by a photo of a catty.
Might it can be Medicaregoesbrokeday now?
That’s not funny. Gets laughs anyhow. [“the American jobs ass” was funny though, and got no laughs at all.]
Who are these people? They never ask themselves.
I can haz paycheck?
sdferr. Intrade right now has Turner at 70. Of course that could change, but it is a good sign.
Win or lose this particular race, it looks to me as though the damage all Democrats will be bearing in mind has already been done. I mean, for crying out loud, this is Brooklyn and Queens. How’s some poor Democrat schlub in suburban Philly or upstate Ohio gonna see it?
the giant rat shows up
Link
Squid:
NOW I get it! It’s all so clear!
Thanks!
Would that make it VisiCalc-ery?
*rimshot* Hey!