The Reality of Long Term Unemployment

[Michael J. Fell]

In his “Mission Accomplished” moment, Barack Hussein Obama ended his jobs council on Thursday, January 31, 2013.

Despite the fact that more than 12 million people in the U.S. are still out of work. 

Obama’s allies will point out that when the jobs council began two years ago, unemployment was above 9 percent and has since improved to 7.8 percent.  What they conveniently overlook is that the unemployment number has shifted downwards in large part due to people who have exceeded their unemployment benefits are no longer being counted.

So, if you are a middle aged worker who has experienced long term unemployment, you have forever lost what for most people were the peak earning years of life.  A time when under normal circumstances, the opportunity to save for retirement was most feasible financially.

Instead you were drawing unemployment benefits worth less than half what you used to make.  As the result, instead of saving for retirement, you reduced your expenditures (read: standard of living) by half.

Not to mention the loss of medical, vacation, 401k and other employer provided benefits.

Then to add insult to injury, the self-imagined, self-appointed “progressive” intellectual elite ruling class decide that the expiration of the unemployment benefits that sustained your Spartan existence means that for the purposes of their statistics, you are no longer out of work.

Even if you have honestly sought work for years and have been unsuccessful thanks to an economy crippled by their “progressive” economic policies, have used up all your personal savings and are a month or two away from living on the street.

The reality of long term unemployment is not being accurately portrayed by the Obama administration, their “progressive” political allies, or their devoted supporters within the institutionalized “progressive” left.

The economy is not growing.  Jobs are not being created.  If you are unemployed, prospects for future employment look bleak.

Their big government “stimulus” spending was devoted primarily to helping their “progressive” allies in blue states that needed the money to balance their own indebted balance sheets.

Every dollar spent on “stimulus” was obtained through a tax on the private sector.  Instead of the private sector having the money they earned to invest in growing business and creating jobs, it was sent to Washington DC, where the cost of an ever growing, bloated bureaucracy was first removed, then redistributed to those deemed fit by the same self-imagined, self-appointed “progressive” intellectual elite ruling class that has shown through their handling of the nation’s unemployment statistics that they are far more concerned with retaining their own grip on power than truly helping the little guy.

If you have a job, thank God and pray to keep it.

http://mjfellright.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/the-reality-of-long-ter...

[Jerseygal]

Well said, Michael. I can't believe people think things are getting better just because the media helps Obama deliver that message. Tweeting this out for you.

[Jodi180]

"The reality of long term unemployment is not being accurately portrayed by the Obama administration"

The reality of long term anything is not being accurately portrayed....period.

I call it bizzaro-world.

[Patriot Eagle 1]

We are in very deep trouble and we best find a way to fix this mess or we are going under and I do not speak Chinese and I hate fenced in areas.

[kwicgov55]

Thanks for posting this Michael.

Obama created his jobs council for the soul purpose of looking like he cared, so many were unemployed. It was propaganda for his re election campaign, nothing more.

My daughter has been out of work for over 2 years now, with the exception, that she was hired last summer in a mass hire to open a small retail outlet. She had hoped to become permanent after the store opened, but they let all go but 4, and those 4 were all under 21 years of age. All my daughter can do, is keep on looking.

The major retail outlets reported losses this year during the holidays, our gdp is down, and public assistance is up.

Only delusional liberals could believe that anything is getting better.

[Robin]

Good post again, Michael! The Obama Administration has mastered the art of smoke and mirrors. The media provides the props! Tweeting it out again.

[Michael J. Fell]

Thanks for all the comments!