Snap-O Fact #100

Post date: Feb 14, 2012 1:24:20 AM

Snap-O Fact #100

Private Sector Job Creation Has Risen Consistently Since President Obama Took Office!

U.S. companies hired the most workers in nine months and the nation’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in almost three years, according to the government’s employment report for January. The U.S. gained 243,000 jobs in January 2012 and the unemployment rate dipped to 8.3% as nearly every sector of the economy added workers, the Labor Department said Friday. The increase in hiring was the biggest since last April and supplies further evidence that the economy continues to strengthen after a slowdown last summer. The U.S. has added an average of 183,000 jobs a month in the past five months. In fact, private sector job creation has grown every month for 23 consecutive months.THE MYTH: “The economy is speeding up,” President Obama said Friday. Yet predictably, Republicans said the President’s policies are to blame for the slow recovery following the 2007-2009 recession. “We can do better,” said Mitt Romney*, who looks likely to be Obama’s opponent in the fall.

*Interesting comment by Mr. Romney, a very successful businessman in his own right… but he doesn't seem to recognize that there is a difference between dealing with a $100 million/100 person company w/problems, and a $1 trillion/350 million person country w/problems.

THE truth: Presidential Primer 101: What President Obama did to accomplish the U.S. economic turn-around.

1- For starters, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 was established with a total fiscal punch of $787 billion (later increased to $840 billion). It was designed to save and create jobs, as well as to cushion the economic downturn and make crucial public investments. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) estimates were used to specify the likely spend-out, by quarter years through 2012. Below is a partial listing of what it was constructed to do.

• Tax Incentives for Businesses: The Work Opportunity Tax Credit added unemployed veterans and 16-to-24 year olds to the list of new hires that businesses could claim. The Net Operating Loss Carry back allows small businesses to offset losses by receiving refunds on taxes paid up to five years ago.

• Education: State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. Student Aid. Training and Employment Services. Aid for the Disadvantaged. Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

• Transportation: Highway Infrastructure. High-Speed Rail Corridors. Grants for Railroads and Airports

• Infrastructure: Broadband. Federal Building Fund. Highway Construction. Rural Water and Waste Disposal Account.  Tax-exempt bonds to expand industrial development. Bonds for investment in Infrastructure, job training, and education in high unemployment areas. Increased available New Market credits

• Energy/Environment: Energy Efficient and Renewable Energy Program. Defense Environmental Clean-up. Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability Program. Water and Related Resources Superfund Program.  Tax credits for energy efficient improvements to residences. Tax credits for alternative energy equipment. Electric Vehicles Tax Credit

• R &D/Science: Fossil Energy R&D. National Science Foundation. National Institutes of Health

• Health: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Indian Health Service. Food & Nutrition Service. National Institutes of Health

• Family: Health Resources and Services. Veterans Health Administration. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Indian Health Services. Food and Nutrition Services. Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children

• Public Safety: Wild land Fire Management. FEMA Firefighter Assistance Grants and Emergency Food and Shelter. Violence Against Women Programs. Customs and Border Protection

• Job Training/Unemployment: Community Service Employment for Older Americans. Training and Employment Services. Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers.

2- Rescue of the American auto industry.  When President Obama took office, the American auto industry was shedding jobs by the hundreds of thousands and GM and Chrysler faced the specter of liquidation – which would have caused at least 1 million more jobs to be lost. The President made the tough choice to help provide the auto industry the temporary support it needed to grow and prosper. Two years later (May 2011), GM, Ford, and Chrysler were all adding jobs, generating profit, and investing in their U.S. facilities.  GM is the # 1 producer in the world, again. (Bibliography # 11)

3- President Obama got out of the White House and spoke to the American public.  He explained clearly what had to be done and what the obstacles were.

4- Ongoing Planning.  The President unveiled the American Jobs Act of 2011  in September of that year. Nearly all of the Act is made up of ideas in his plan have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans in the past. The President believed that Congress would pass right away to get the economy moving now. The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: put more people back to work now and plan ahead for the jobs of the future.             

• Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small Businesses Hire and Grow

• Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America. Teacher rehiring and first responders, Veterans hiring initiative, Rehabilitation/re-purposing of vacant property, Modernizing schools, Infrastructure bank, National wireless initiative.(Bibliography # 10)

Despite the urgency, importance, and practicality of the proposed Act, the Bill has run into rock solid opposition in the Congress.  

Sources:

U.S. adds 243,000 jobs in January, http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-adds-243000-jobs-in-january-2012-02-03?siteid=bnbh 

• 1. Bureau of Labor Statistics News Release:  http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

  2. Romney: Jobs Report ‘Good News,’ But Obama ‘Has Not Helped’,http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/romney-jobs-report-good-news-but-obama-has-not-helped/

  3. Estimates of Job Creation from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cea/Estimate-of-Job-Creation

  4. Reactions from economists, D.C. to jobs data, http://www.marketwatch.com/story/reactions-from-economists-dc-to-jobs-data-2012-02-03

  5. State of the Union: "The Defining Issue of Our Time" and the Definition We Needed, http://www.truth-out.org/state-union-defining-issue-our-time-and-definition-we-needed/1327504564

  6. Obama plan would hire vets as cops, firefighters,  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/03/us-obama-jobs-idUSTRE8121SU20120203

  7. A timely infrastructure bill, http://www.caller.com/news/2012/feb/07/a-timely-infrastructure-bill/ 

  8. Private Sector Job Creation, http://www.barackobama.com/jobsrecord?source=20120205_pg_st1&utm_me dium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_campaign=20120205_pg_st1

  9. Lawmakers Remain Hopeful About Spectrum Bill's Prospects, http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2012/02/lawmakers-remain-hopeful-about.php

  10. Rescuing the American Auto Industry, http://www.whitehouse.gov/economy/jobs/rescuing-the-american-auto-industry