Jobs Crisis: Data Shows Obama Stopped Economic Freefall

Impact

Adding 163,000 jobs this month was a good number, but it could have been better. While this jobs number shows that Obama did turn America around -- the president  wanted to do more. 

Republicans didn't want Obama to have any more success before an election. For the last two years Republicans have been on a mission to deny Obama a second term. The best way to do that is to make sure the economy doesn't grow too fast.  

In December 2008, the month before Obama took office, we lost 839,000 jobs.  In July 2012, we gained 163,000 jobs. This is a 1,002,000 swing in the monthly job numbers from the starting point where Republicans left and Democrats took power. 

All the jobs legislation in the past two years have been blocked by Republicans. Republicans must be held responsible if the pace of the recovery is not fast enough. My previous articles explain why the jobs reports could have been far more positive, but Republicans didn't want them to be.

Jobs reports are complicated. Sorting through the political mess around jobs is complicated.  I've tried my best to show the leadership decisions that led us to this place as clearly as possible in a set of articles.  

My entire purpose for joining PolicyMic was to spread the word about what I was seeing. My belief is that if any leader during a financial crisis this deep was not 100% committed to helping America recover as quickly as possible -- they should be booted out of Congress. Republicans blocked all measures that would speed up recovery and they need to get the boot.

View my articles that cover all elements of what happened.

Article 1: Examine the results of the stimulus as it swung the GDP of America 12.4% within the first year.  This was one of the most successful pieces of legislation in history. 

When Hoover was President leading up to the Great Depression, he was leading by the same top-down approach Republicans propose today. Search google and see what Hoover proposed -- it sounds like today. Bush literally followed the Hoover model that took us into the Great Recession and now Republicans want to take us back.

Roosevelt took office in 1933 and started a massive spending program.  Look what happened to unemployment during the Great Depression  (view the chart in this article to see what Obama accomplished).  

 

My point is, during this collapse, Republicans wanted to do nothing -- like they did from 1930 to 1933. During that time, unemployment went from 4.6% to 24.9%. Had Obama not come in and passed the stimulus, and instead followed Republican ideas, that is where we would have ended up. Obama broke the free fall.  Now, those of us who support him must fight on his behalf. He turned America around in an extremely dramatic way.

Article 2: Examine the process Republicans used to block the American jobs act to sabotage the President's ability to improve the economy prior to the election. Every jobs bill was filibustered.  Not the vote on the final bill, but they filibustered the capacity to even debate jobs measures. Republicans did not want to be on record when they blocked legislation that provided tax cuts for small businesses, so they wouldn't even debate the issues. We must hold Republicans accountable today for the jobs reports we see. More jobs could have been added if Republicans were a little bit more patriotic and vigilant about seeing America successful as fast as possible.  

Article 3: Then view my article on how when Americans discover what has been happening Republicans will face a backlash (I wrote that article recenlty as a 19th jobs bill was blocked.) 

Bottom Line: Republicans policy is consistent through Hoover, that led to the Great Depression, Bush that led to the Great Recession, and now. The only reason Republicans think they can do better with the economy is because they blocked everything that they knew would work. The bills to generate demand in the economy that leads to job creation are already written.  

Article 4: Check out my article on how ready America is to start adding jobs if we just take a few basic actions to stimulate demand. Republicans literally halted the accelerating economy right as it was primed to explode forwards.

Conclusion: The economy is primed to move forwards rapidly today. Republicans filibustered all measures that would have grown demand, which is what leads CEOs to hire. Obama's stimulus was very successful -- Republicans just don't want you to think that because they all voted against it. Obama's American Jobs Act was rated by economists to add from 1 to 4 million jobs this past year, and Republicans could not have that -- not in an election year -- Americans had to struggle that much longer so Republicans could receive power.

Now, I've got a few questions for you.

• Were you aware that Republicans blocked 19 jobs bills?

• Were you aware that most of what they blocked were previous Republican proposals?

• Did you know that some of those proposals were put forward in the past by people who blocked them today?

• Were you aware that the president proposed legislation that would have added millions more jobs this year?

• Did you know that Republicans also blocked 379 more bills entirely?

The America that I want is one where all people come together to solve a crisis. The America I want is one where creating jobs and healing the economy is the mission of those in power. The America I want is one where we hold any leaders accountable who try to slow things down for political gain. The America I want is where we get people out of power who try to block growth for political gain.

Please, take a look closely at what I wrote in these articles. This is what happened. This is why we are here. We must hold Republicans accountable for doing whatever they could to make sure the jobs reports looked bad before the elections. Sure we got a rather good number this month of 163,000 jobs (172,000 private sector jobs added minus 9,000 government layoffs). Sure economists expected 100,000 jobs, and we've greatly exceeded expectations. It could have been better. The economy could have added 400,000 jobs this month and every month this year. Republicans simply wouldn't have it.

You need to fight now to make sure that other Americans -- your friends, your family -- know that Republicans used all their power to sabotage the president instead of help to build America. We must fight together to hold them accountable and get as many Republicans out of Congress as possible. My core mission for being on PolicyMic writing to you today is to do my part in making sure this approach of slowing down a recovery is never used again.

Please, spread the word, share this article, and get involved with the Democrats' campaign efforts by donating, or volunteering to make sure that Republicans fail in their efforts to sabotage the president during a crisis. Republicans in Congress must be removed from power.