Don's Tuesday Column

THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson  Red Bluff Daily News   4/28/2015

     Our failing economic self-worth

The Tea Party Patriots will present a very timely and informative address by Fred Kelly Grant on DVD during the 6:30 segment of tonight’s meeting at the Westside Grange on Walnut Street. Mr. Grant has been instrumental in helping citizens push back against out-of-control state and federal agencies trampling on local property and governmental rights. He will explain the abuses of California Air Resources Board (CARB), currently seeking to saddle trucking and agricultural industries with onerous and phony air quality standards.

Multiple legs support the platform of a healthy economy: 1) business and entrepreneurial activity (you can’t have too much), 2) utilization of natural resources (always a reliable source of jobs and income—always opposed mindlessly by the environmental left), 3) taxation levels (the lighter the burden, the more the economy will grow), 4) government regulations (currently excessive, constituting a $1-2 trillion annual drag on the economy);

5) An available labor force that is educated, eager and willing to forego government handouts for the pride and satisfaction of self-sufficiency (our current labor force is heavy on available workers but contains too few of the latter), and 6) an immigration system designed and implemented for the purpose of protecting American jobs, while encouraging reasonable numbers of legal immigrants with skills matching employment needs not being filled by current citizens and legal immigrants—which also affects the ability of businesses to grow.

When it comes to the collective wisdom of the American people, for instance, we can set aside happy, glowing reports on the economy and employment because “Only 1 in 4 buy Team Obama’s claim unemployment improving” (Jan. 15, The Examiner). Those polled accept “that the nation’s economy is improving, but not their own personal situation, a depressing reality that the administration can’t shake the country out of no matter what it does. They just don’t believe the president and his team’s boasting about the economy,” with a majority believing “more people are unemployed than the president says.”

The Economist/YouGov poll found that people don’t credit Washington but rather business and consumers for any economic improvements. “The poll offers two reasons why the public is slow to buy into the improvement, and give Obama the credit. First, it says Americans have a negative attitude about the economy. Second, they just don’t believe the government.” A third say their conversations with friends and family about the economy are mostly negative, with less than 1 in 5 reporting positive discussions.

“Only 1 in 4 Americans think they are personally better off today than they were when Barack Obama took office in 2009. A third say they are worse off.” They are evenly split on whether their financial status is better or worse than it was just one year ago. “Many Americans—mostly Republicans—simply don’t believe the data. Only one in four think the unemployment figures are accurate. More than half think there are more people unemployed than the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures say there are.”

In March, I used data from the EDD website to estimate what Tehama County’s unemployment rate really is when consistent, 20-years long, population, labor force and unemployed numbers are factored in. I found that we really have about 15 percent unemployment, not 9 percent—they’ve removed up to 1,600 people cumulatively from the labor force compared to what it should be based on population growth.

In February, Jim Clifton, Chairman and CEO of Gallup, confirmed what many perceptive analysts and conservative think tanks had already concluded—writing “The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment” (easily searchable by title). He followed that article up with a CNBC interview to clarify that “hopelessly deceptive” was a better descriptor than “lie,” and that “the BLS and Department of Labor numbers are very, very accurate. I need to make that very, very clear so that I don’t suddenly disappear.” I’m sure that was a tongue-in-cheek comment.

While I’ve frequently read that the official “underemployment” rate—which includes those working part time but wanting full time work—is around 11 percent, reality is far worse. You aren’t even counted as “unemployed” if you’ve given up looking for a job—defined as having stopped searching in the last 4 weeks.

Clifton: “Right now, as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed. Trust me, they aren’t throwing parties to toast ‘falling’ unemployment…An out-of-work engineer, healthcare, construction worker or retail manager (with) a minimum of one hour of work making at least $20—is not officially counted as unemployed…The official unemployment rate, which cruelly overlooks the suffering of the long-term and often permanently unemployed as well as the depressingly underemployed, amounts to a Big Lie.

“And it’s a lie that has consequences, because the great American dream is to have a good job, and in recent years, America has failed to deliver that dream more than it has at any time in recent memory. A good job is an individual’s primary identity, their very self-worth, their dignity—it establishes the relationship they have with their friends, community and country. When we fail to deliver a good job that fits a citizen’s talents, training and experience, we are failing the great American dream.”