Gov. Jindal lays out the economic failures of the Administration and reminds us that we should expect more.
In Washington, facts can sometimes be stubborn things. I guess that’s why some media pundits thought my comments at a governors’ association meeting last Monday–which highlighted the slow growth and failed economic policies of our President–impolitic or impolite.
But let’s look at the facts. According to Federal Reserve data, our current economic “recovery” is the slowest since World War II. After the deep recession of the 1980s, economic growth exceeded 4 percent for three straight years–and in 1984 topped 7 percent. But our economy has yet to grow even 3 percent per year under this President.
True, the unemployment rate has declined. But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the labor force declined by more than 200,000 workers in the past year, even though the pool of potential workers has grown by nearly 2.3 million.
That means the unemployment rate declined only because more people left the labor force. How is this a recovery?
If the status quo wasn’t bad enough, the President’s policies are making the economy even worse. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently concluded that Obamacare would result in more than 2 million Americans working fewer hours, or leaving the labor force altogether. At a time when the labor force participation rate is near 36-year lows, Obamacare is further reducing the size of the workforce. And–believe it or not–Democrats applauded this outcome!
Read Gov. Jindal’s entire column here.