Is the American economy doing well? The answer seems to depend on what one looks at as an indicator. In 2014 GDP which is a measure of the entire economy grew at a paltry amount of just over 2%. During the first quarter of 2015, the first indication is that growth was negligible. Median household income is still significantly lower than it was when president Obama took office. The current economic "recovery" is unique in modern American history in that incomes have not risen for the average person; only the wealthy have done well while the middle class has suffered. The massive fall in oil prices should have caused a big increase in consumer spending as billions and billions of dollars have been put into the pockets of the average American, but that has not happened. On the other hand, job growth has been steady although certainly not spectacular. We have more jobs but stagnant wages. Millions of middle class people who planned to use income from their savings during retirement are getting next to nothing on their CDs and other savings accounts. This is squeezing large numbers of people.
None of these conditions ought to be a surprise at this point. We have seen the government follow policies for the last six years that are designed to help the rich get richer. It is a strange thing to watch the Democrats denounce income inequality and then push policies that keep the poor and middle class down while enriching the wealthy. I keep waiting for the media to wake up and point this out, but it seems like it's going to be a long, long wait.
Think about what has happened on Obama watch:
1. Millions of illegal aliens have come into the USA and they are now being allowed easy access to jobs. This flood of low cost labor has kept wages from rising. The people who are hurt most by this are the least skilled; in other words, those with just high school diplomas or who dropped out of school are losing the ability to ever get higher wages because more and more illegal immigrants are competing for their jobs.
2. Interest rates have been kept as close to zero as possible. Those in the middle class who saved for the future have lost all their interest income. Because the interest rate is so low, wealthy investors are forced to seek higher returns in the stock market. All that extra cash invested in the markets have driven the price of stock much higher. Those rises in the stock market means big profits for investors, but it is only the Americans with the top incomes who have substantial investments in the stock market.
3. The Fed has pumped massive amounts of cash into the economy by using "quantitative easing". Literally trillions of dollars of cash has been pushed into the economy. Still, because interest rates are so low, that cash is getting invested in stock and commodities, the only places that look like they could provide a sizeable return. Once again, this pushes prices higher and who benefits? The rich, that's who.
4. Measures that might help gain good paying jobs for the middle class have been abandoned or opposed by the Democrats. The Keyston Pipeline would have meant 60,000 good paying construction jobs for a few years. Obama vetoed it. Obama has spoken again and again about the need for a big investment in infrastructure, but he has never even proposed a real program that would accomplish that goal. Even during the stimulus era, all those "shovel ready jobs" about which the Democrats spoke were never found.
5. The USA has the highest corporate tax rates in the world. Lowering those rates would encourage investment and new jobs here. At the same time, getting rid of the thousands of special tax breaks in the code would let the rate be cut by 40% with government revenue actually increasing. Obama keeps saying that he is in favor of changing the tax code, but he never has come up with any proposals. Indeed, he won't even sit down to discuss the proposals of others.
None of these conditions ought to be a surprise at this point. We have seen the government follow policies for the last six years that are designed to help the rich get richer. It is a strange thing to watch the Democrats denounce income inequality and then push policies that keep the poor and middle class down while enriching the wealthy. I keep waiting for the media to wake up and point this out, but it seems like it's going to be a long, long wait.
Think about what has happened on Obama watch:
1. Millions of illegal aliens have come into the USA and they are now being allowed easy access to jobs. This flood of low cost labor has kept wages from rising. The people who are hurt most by this are the least skilled; in other words, those with just high school diplomas or who dropped out of school are losing the ability to ever get higher wages because more and more illegal immigrants are competing for their jobs.
2. Interest rates have been kept as close to zero as possible. Those in the middle class who saved for the future have lost all their interest income. Because the interest rate is so low, wealthy investors are forced to seek higher returns in the stock market. All that extra cash invested in the markets have driven the price of stock much higher. Those rises in the stock market means big profits for investors, but it is only the Americans with the top incomes who have substantial investments in the stock market.
3. The Fed has pumped massive amounts of cash into the economy by using "quantitative easing". Literally trillions of dollars of cash has been pushed into the economy. Still, because interest rates are so low, that cash is getting invested in stock and commodities, the only places that look like they could provide a sizeable return. Once again, this pushes prices higher and who benefits? The rich, that's who.
4. Measures that might help gain good paying jobs for the middle class have been abandoned or opposed by the Democrats. The Keyston Pipeline would have meant 60,000 good paying construction jobs for a few years. Obama vetoed it. Obama has spoken again and again about the need for a big investment in infrastructure, but he has never even proposed a real program that would accomplish that goal. Even during the stimulus era, all those "shovel ready jobs" about which the Democrats spoke were never found.
5. The USA has the highest corporate tax rates in the world. Lowering those rates would encourage investment and new jobs here. At the same time, getting rid of the thousands of special tax breaks in the code would let the rate be cut by 40% with government revenue actually increasing. Obama keeps saying that he is in favor of changing the tax code, but he never has come up with any proposals. Indeed, he won't even sit down to discuss the proposals of others.
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