Obama's Economy: What We've Learned Since Re-election

 

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Obama II: In the "now they tell us" file, add a vast array of reports that have come out since the election showing just how weak the economy really is. Looks like the president will need a new scapegoat soon.

Here's just a sampling of what we've learned since voters decided to give Obama four more years to "experiment" with the economy.

Earnings falling: The Labor Dept. reported on Thursday that real average hourly earnings dropped again in October for the third month in a row, and are now down 2% from when Obama took office.
Poverty rising: A new Census Bureau report, also released after the election, finds that the number of poor people in America climbed 712,000 in 2011. The "official" report that came out in September had the number dropping by 96,000. So much for Obama's claim that things are getting better.

Food-stamp enrollment skyrocketing: Another government report conveniently timed after the election found that food stamp enrollment exploded by more than 420,000 in August. The number of people getting food stamps has climbed more than 15 million — or 47% — under Obama. That's a bigger increase than in all of President Bush's eight years. Today, almost 15% of the population is collecting food stamps, up from 7% just a decade ago.

Jobless claims jumping: The number of new jobless claims shot up to 439,000 last week, up 78,000 from the week before, due largely, it's said, to Hurricane Sandy. But the two states with the biggest increases in jobless claims the week before that were Pennsylvania and Ohio, thanks to layoffs in the construction, manufacturing and auto industries.

Inflation creeping up: We also learned that the annual inflation rate climbed to 2.2% in October, according to the BLS, which is the third consecutive monthly increase.

Coal plants closing: A report by the liberal Union of Concerned Scientists, released (naturally) a week after the election, finds that as many as 353 coal-fired plants will close as a result of Obama's environmental rules.

Small banks disappearing: Fortune reported three days after the election that the "overwhelming conclusion" of industry analysts and consultants was that Dodd-Frank would cause thousands of small banks to disappear. As a side note, one month before the election a Fortune "fact check" (by the same reporter, no less) blasted Romney for saying during one of the presidential debates that Dodd-Frank was "killing regional and small banks."

Meanwhile, stocks are down about 5% since Election Day as the mainstream press tries to blame it on anything but Obama's re-election. The latest culprit is supposed to be fears about the fiscal cliff. But even if that were true, it shows how little confidence investors have in Obama's ability to avoid taking the country over it.

Obama keeps saying that his top priority for his second term is jobs and growth, but the only thing he's pushed since his re-election is a massive tax hike on the so-called rich.

That's despite the fact that Obama knows these tax hikes will hurt economic growth. He admitted as much in 2010, when he extended the Bush tax rates, citing the harm a tax hike would cause a weak economy. And now, thanks to an Ernst & Young study, we know that Obama's tax hikes will kill 710,000 jobs.

Obama got re-elected largely by blaming Bush for everything bad that happened during his first term. So who's he going to blame now?

Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/111612-633815-bad-economic-news-emerges-after-election.htm#ixzz2CvRBAGhB