The Failure of Barrack Obama

When president Barrack Obama was first inaugurated, he faced a country with a shattered moral, a country with 5.8% unemployment rate¹, a falling stock market, a falling GDP, a country with a $454.8 Billion dollar deficit², and a country which was still at war in two countries and facing some serious national debt problems. The Bush bailouts and stimuli failed to cure or even stop the economic ills our country was facing. Instead the bailouts and stimuli passed by President Bush ended up as dismal failures. Keynesian Economists, like Paul Krugman, along with Democrats in Congress demanded that a new stimulus be passed – one which threw more money at the problem. Many said the Bush stimulus was too small and that it needed to be larger to have any effect on our economy. Based on the arguments that demanded larger stimuli, President Obama acted in passing the $850 Billion Obama Stimulus of 2009³. The stimulus spent money on infrastructure and special interest groups³, all in hopes of creating numerous “Shovel Ready” jobs which would help to jumpstart the economy. The money was set up to be spent throughout the years 2009 and 2010. The Obama Stimulus differed from the Bush Stimulus in the way it spent the stimulus money. The Obama Stimulus injected the stimulus money into infrastructure and special interest groups, slowly over two years. The Bush Stimulus injected its money into the consumer through checks and the stimulus money itself was spent right away. The Obama Stimulus was also larger than the Bush Stimulus, but the Bush stimulus was truer to Keynesian Theory in the way the money was spent and where it was spent (Spent quickly, on the Consumer and businesses.)  President Obama also passed other measures to cure the economy, like passing the famous Cash for Clunkers program, which cost the nation a mere $3 Billion dollars⁴. He also expanded funds for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008⁵ or also known as the Bush bailouts.

Obama Economic Advisers, Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein, predicted that the nation would not see an unemployment rate above 8% if the Obama Stimulus was passed⁶. That prediction ended up being false, as unemployment eventually reached 10% in 2009. We did see growth in the stock market and eventually an increase in our GDP growth. Stock Market/DOW Jones growth went from a low of 7062.93 points in 2009 to a high of 11,008.61 points in 2010⁷. Many advocates of the Obama Economic policy used the growth in the Stock Market and GDP as “proof” of the Stimulus working. The second argument was that unemployment would be a “lagging” factor. The last argument was that without the stimulus, we’d be worse off. Sounds like a sound argument at first, until one looks at the numbers and logic. First of all we all were promised that the stimulus would keep us from reaching an unemployment rate higher than 8%³, which turned out to be a big lie. The argument, or should I say talking point, that suggests we’d be worse off without the stimulus is an argument which is extremely illogical. No one can prove this to be true, which renders this argument to be without logic, since a hypothesis must be able to be tested to even be considered a proper hypothesis. Don’t forget we ended up with an unemployment rate of 10%, even when we were promised we’d never reach an unemployment rate that high. Anyone who suggests GDP growth and Stock Market growth is proof of an economic recovery is foolish, since during the Great Depression (1933-40) we saw both stock market and GDP growth but we never saw unemployment fall below 14%¹. As for unemployment being a lagging factor, I doubt unemployment reaching 9.6%¹ in 2010 is an indication of economic growth. If the stimulus was a “success” Economists like Paul Krugman wouldn’t be calling for a third stimulus!

President Obama’s stimulus and economic plan was a dismal failure. Unemployment has not fallen under 9% in three years¹, and is at 9.1%⁸ as of now. Wages continue to fall⁹; GDP growth isn’t impressive, and even the stock market has been sluggish. It is without a shred of doubt that Obama has failed. President Obama’s policies also led to a $1.41 Trillion¹⁰ dollar deficit his first year, which is 210% higher than the Bush deficit of 2008, which was $454.8 Billion². His deficits for three straight years have been in the Trillions – something no president in the history of this country has ever done. Under President Obama our national debt has reach 100% of our GDP, or beyond $14.41 Trillion dollars¹¹! In three years alone he has added more than $4 Trillion dollars to our national debt¹⁰! He has wrecked our economy and he has wrecked our budget. His only real achievement was killing Osama Bin Laden!

President Barrack Obama was a failure to begin with – there is no doubt about it. To deny this, is to deny reality itself. If you look at the facts, unemployment will not fall below 8% by 2012¹⁰. The deficit for 2012 will also be in the Trillions, $1.1 Trillion to be exact¹⁰ (Four straight years of Trillion dollar deficits!). Wages continue to fall, as they have been for the past three years. With all of that said, I now leave you to accept the truth, like many of us already have. Our Commander In Chief is nothing but a bombastic failure.

Sources

1. “Annual average unemployment rate, civilian labor force 16 years and over (percent).”Bureau of Labor Statistics. United States Department of Labor, n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2010. http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat1.pdf

2.  “Revenues, Outlays, Surpluses, Deficits, and Debt Held by the Public, 1969 to 2008.” Congressional Budget Office. N.p., Mar. 2009. Web. 3 Feb. 2010. http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10014/March2009_HistoricalTables.pdf

3. “Read The Stimulus.” Read The Stimulus. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2010.
http://www.readthestimulus.org/

4. Johnson, Brian M. “Presidential Math: Cash for Clunkers Spent $3 Billion to Save
$375 Million .” Americans For Tax Reform. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 July 2010.
http://www.atr.org/presidential-math-cash-clunkers-spent-billion-a3816#

5. “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.” Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 12
July 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Economic_Stabilization_Act_of_2008

6. Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein, ”The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan”,   January 10, 2009  http://otrans.3cdn.net/45593e8ecbd339d074_l3m6bt1te.pdf

7. “Dow Jones Industrial Average (2000-Present Day) .” Stock Charts.Com N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.  http://stockcharts.com/charts/historical/djia2000.html

8. Unemployment Summary, BLS Report: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

9. Census Bureau Income, Poverty, and Statistics 2010 PDF: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

10. CBO Budget Outlook 2011-2012 PDF: http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12061/FY2011Outlook_Testimony.pdf

11. US Debt Clock.Org: http://www.usdebtclock.org/