Posts Tagged ‘high unemployment’

Michael Angley

It’s Your Economy, Stupid!

by Michael Angley

It’s all over. The Democrats finally have owned up to what everyone else in America has known for the past two and a half years. Dual-hatted Congresswoman and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz claimed that her party “owns the economy.” She recently told POLITICO’s Mike Allen, “We own the economy. We own the beginning of the turnaround and we want to make sure that we continue that pace of recovery, not go back to the policies of the past under the Bush administration that put us in the ditch in the first place.”

Alright, that’s not exactly a total coming out of the denial closet, but it’s a start. Rep. Shultz is right about the first part of her statement. The Democrats, and in particular President Obama, own this economy. The “beginning of the turnaround” part is a bit disingenuous; however, unless the turnaround consists of dropping from 9.8% unemployment in November 2010 to 8.8% in March 2011. But not so fast. It’s back up to 9.1% today. Not much of a turnaround, unless Rep Shultz meant a turnaround of the turnaround.

How about that “continue the pace of recovery” comment? If you are one of the perpetually-unemployed (especially if you are one of the newly-unemployed during that turnaround from 8.8% to 9.1%) then you probably don’t exactly like the “pace of the recovery.” I suspect the 14 million unemployed Americans would tell Rep. Shultz to stop – don’t continue – the Democratic version of a recovery.

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Bob Ewing

Why Can’t Chuck Get His Business Off the Ground?

by Bob Ewing

Nationwide, government at every level is requiring more and more of the workforce to get its permission just to earn a living.

In the 1950s, only about 5 percent of the workforce needed a government license to do their job. Today, that number is over 30 percent.  And governments impose all kinds of other requirements that make it hard for would-be entrepreneurs to start and grow small businesses.

Entrepreneurs like Chuck, here:


Unemployment in the United States has now topped 9.5 percent for 14 straight months—the longest stretch since the Great Depression.  Nearly 14.8 million people were unemployed last month.

Consider the nation’s capital.

Year after year, Washington, D.C., is ranked the worst place in the United States to start a small business. How can the District change its ways to allow entrepreneurs to create more jobs and opportunity?

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Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL)

Pelosi’s Healthcare Vision: Government Mandate or Jail

by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL)

Failing to purchase “acceptable health insurance coverage” could result in a fine punishable “up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” Those are direct quotes from a letter of analysis done by the Joint Committee on Taxation, a non-partisan analysis committee in Congress.  While that policy may not be one of Nancy Pelosi’s main talking points about her healthcare takeover legislation, it is an undoubtedly destructive portion of her healthcare bill, part of the reason it passed with only two votes to spare.

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For months now, we’ve heard about the merits of Nancy Pelosi’s healthcare overhaul. To hear it from Democrats, the healthcare overhaul would be all things to all people, forever solving America’s healthcare woes. So if the Speaker’s plan is so fantastic, why do Democrats need to criminalize Americans to coax them into this plan?

Americans struggle enough already with a historically weak economy, high taxes and the looming burden of having to pay off an enormous federal debt. In Illinois, unemployment is already 10.5%, and Chicago-area residents just endured property tax increases to the tune of 20% in some areas. With this sort of abuse to their bank accounts, the last thing folks need is more taxes – but Pelosi’s plan shovels them on.

The Pelosi healthcare overhaul is a mandate lockdown.

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