That the U.S. is going through the worst economic downturn and longest unemployment crisis in generations is news to almost no one.
That a left-leaning longtime advocate for Barack Obama’s socialist policies would admit it is.
The blast at the Obama economy came this week from the far left Mother Jones, which said, “Not since the Great Depression has the United States experienced such massive and persistent long-term unemployment.”
The article, under a trio of bylines including Dave Gilson, Tasneem Raja and AJ Vicens, noted that while the Great Recession of 2007 “ended in Jun 2009,” the economy remains full of holes.
“In less than a week, emergency federal unemployment benefits for 1.3 million of these jobless Americans are set to run out. Proponents of ending the benefits argue that the economy is expanding and that the benefits prevent people from finding work,” the report explains.
It then blames Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for saying, “You get out of a recession by encouraging employment not encouraging unemployment.”
But the report said “nearly 11 million Americans” remain unemployed at this point, the unemployment rate is estimated at 7 percent and the nation still is “not restoring all the jobs it shed when the economy tanked five years ago.”
That would have been at the outset of Barack Obama’s presidency.
The Christian Science Monitor notes that the nation’s economy finally is showing it may be gaining traction.
“It’s possible that gross domestic product could grow 3 percent or more next year – something that hasn’t happened in the United States in any year since 2005,” it reported.
The publication made clear there still are many problems, stating, “All this doesn’t mean American families are suddenly on easy street. Many would-be breadwinners remain unemployed, income gains for workers remain slow, and households are under pressure to cover costs like health care and saving for retirement.”
But its financial experts are estimating that growth over the next year is expected to be at least 1.9 percent.
“A pickup in the growth rate promises to bring the unemployment rate down below 7 percent, where it stood in the latest Labor Department report,” the report said.
Just a couple days back, the Wall Street Journal said America’s economy recovery has been chugging along in “fits and starts.”
“The question now: Is the economy genuinely lifting off, with recent growth fueling a healthier cycle of higher consumer and business spending and in turn more job growth? Or is the recent burst of momentum bound to evaporate, as it has repeatedly through the recovery?” the Journal asked.
Mother Jones, however, fretted “Many of the jobs lost in the Great Recession have yet to return” and “For four million Americans, the recession isn’t over.”
“Not since the Great Depression has the United States experienced such massive and persistent long-term unemployment,” the report said. It pointed out more than 25 percent of the unemployed have been out of work for more than a year.
“For many people, going without work for more than six months can kick off a vicious cycle [of] financial and personal crises that may take years to break out of.”
Mother Jones said, among other impacts from the recession that has happened on Obama’s watch:
- Most of the long-term unemployed see their family incomes drop 40 percent or more
- Around 10 percent file for bankruptcy
- When they find another job, laid off workers earn 15 percent less than other workers.
- Nearly 30 percent of the long-term unemployed who find a job say it’s worse than their previous one.
- Long-term joblessness can decrease a 40-year-old’s life expectancy 1 to 1.5 years.
The report said the long-term unemployment has been a “national catastrophe.”
