The Right Opinion
Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte
I am not one to whine about the Liberal bias of the national political press corps. It's there. You know it. I know it. THEY know it.
The GOP can either rail against the media gods or design a game plan to get around it; something Republicans have gotten pretty good at going all the way back to Richard Nixon's "silent majority."
However. There were two numbers released yesterday that, if this were a convention to re-nominate a Republican President, would have been on every commentator's lips -- from Fox to MSNBC: 4.5 million and 46.7 million.
The 4.5 million number is how many jobs Democrats claim have been created during President Obama's term. However, CNN reminds us that the number cited by Keynote Speaker San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is carefully measuring job growth since January 2010.
The private sector, non-farm people payroll figure stands at 111.3 million. When Obama took office, that number was 111 million.
Thus the 4.5 million new jobs is really only 300,000 new jobs.
Ok. A rounding error.
But, CNN goes even farther:
"The jobs that have come back aren't the same ones that were lost.
"According to a study released last week by the liberal-leaning National Employment Law Project, low-wage fields such as retail sales and food service are adding jobs nearly three times as fast as higher-paid occupations."
If you include public sector jobs, the CNN fact check concludes,
"[O]verall, there are still fewer people working now than when Obama took office at the height of the recession."
Don't hold your breath waiting for Al Sharpton to jump on that.
Mostly silence from the other 15,000 reporters in Charlotte, too.
Hush.
Now to that 46.7 million number. That's the number of Americans who are now depending on food stamps to feed their families.
Bloomberg.com quotes Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack as saying:
"Too many middle-class families who have fallen on hard times are still struggling. Our goal is to get these families the temporary assistance they need so they are able to get through these tough times and back on their feet as soon as possible."
Whoa! Check Please!
Too many middle-class families have fallen on hard times? The same middle class families Obama has been focused on for each and every one of the past 1,325 days since his Inaugural (not counting fund-raisers and golf outings)?
No one -- with the possible exception of graduate students -- thinks that qualifying for Food Stamps is a good thing.
A year or so ago, when Newt Gingrich called Obama "the food stamp President," I was on the CNN set with John King when he told of his dad, having lost his job, needed to apply for Food Stamps.
Tears welled up in John's eyes and I could feel his dad's humiliation. It was a very moving moment.
The failure to help middle class families lies directly at the feet of Barack Obama. This astonishing 46.7 million number has nothing to do with Republicans wanting to change the tax code. The tax code has been exactly the same during Obama's entire term.
Under Obama's guidance about 1.5 million additional middle class families' incomes have slipped to the point that they need Food Stamp assistance. And that's not since January 2009. That's just in the past year.
I am not opposed to those who are legitimately in need temporarily receiving food stamps, unemployment insurance, or any other form of government assistance. We are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world and the $16 trillion deficit will not disappear by withholding that assistance from those who need it.
What I am opposed to is a President who sees that as a fact of life in America. Another "new normal." I would much rather (and I suspect most recipients would rather) the President see these programs as emergency aid while those receiving them are being trained to re-enter the workforce in a growing economy.
That 46.7 million number has everything to do with yet another number: 8.3 percent -- the current official unemployment rate. As you know that number will be updated on Friday and there is no chance it will dip below 8 percent.
Fewer Americans working. More Americans on food stamps. Is it why Obama thinks he deserves to be re-elected?
Oh, and according to Bloomberg.com, the two states with the highest growth in food stamp use? Louisiana and ... North Carolina. But, keep that to yourself in Charlotte.
Hush.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to the CNN.com and the Bloomberg.com articles. Also the background of the title (Hush, Hush ...) and a mildly amusing Mullfoto.
Copyright ©2012 Barrington Worldwide, LLC | Mullings.com
10 Comments
Kevin in Michigan
Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 8:58 AM
As a person out of work for 12 of 24 months during the recession, I relied on family and friends, not the government. If your middle class on food stamps, I suggest going to one car, or cut down on the number of cell phones in the house, or as Dave Ramsey would say, 'rice & beans'.
Rod in USA
Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 12:25 PM
Well said Michael and also Kevin in MICHIGAN.
Too many people view food stamps as a way of life. If only there were more pride in self-reliance and more shame in accepting handouts, people would live within their means. I do not feel that it is my obligation to pay higher taxes so that someone with a smart phone and internet can also get food stamps.
I recall being about 22, on my fiest job, living paycheck to paycheck. I was buying the ceapest food you could find (Mac and Chees or Ramen Noodles, anyone?). In front of me in the grocery store was a female dressed nicer than I could afford, buying steaks, beer and all the trimmings with .... you guessed it, food stamps. Then she and her friend drove off in a car nicer than I could afford even after paying my way through college.
Rod in USA
Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 12:26 PM
Sorry: I meant Rich Galen, not Michael.
TAE in PlanetUtah
Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 12:39 PM
I know people who can barely get by, but they all have cell phones, and drive newer vehicles than I do (and that get worse gas mileage). I don't understand it. I don't have a cell phone, because I frankly can't afford one, and my 'new' car is a 1997 minivan. I've never bought a new car, but I manage to pay my bills. I qualify to use VITA (volunteer income tax assistance) every year and am employed full time (thank GOD!). I believe that if the 'poor' would give up their hundred-dollar-a-month cell phones, they could afford to buy groceries for their families. I was on welfare for two years about 30 years ago, got retrained so I could get a job, and have had one ever since. I used welfare as it was intended to be used, as an emergency safety net, and I took advantage of the education it offered. I even worked in a welfare ofice for a short time, and saw that 99% of the clients had NO interest in ever getting a job and getting off the dole. I firmly believe that welfare has gone from being a safety net to being a permanent hammock, even to the fifth generation. California, back in the 80s, tried to change it, but the Federal Government said they couldn't. Too bad. I firmly believe that the government, both state and federal, needs to get out of the welfare business and turn it back over to the cities and churches. Go back to giving people a hand up instead of a handout.
CGreen in Texas
Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 2:43 PM
Is it too crass to suggest the Dems want to see more people on welfare because they count those as sure votes?
JTG in Indiana
Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 3:26 PM
So Obama wants these down on their luck middle class people to pay for Sandra Fluke's contraceptives in exchange for submission to the government dole? And they are probably paying union dues to support the Bamster's power grab.
pete in ca
Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 3:42 PM
When I was a kid and times got tough we learned to do without the extras. No meat in the beans, no onion and carrots in the rice.
I'm curious as to how many who use food stamps and ebt cards still have their cable hooked up, and their internet. Cell phones with unlimited minutes, text, and data. How many still buy gas for more than one car more than once a month. How many have their hair and nails done on a regular basis. Still go out to eat even once a week.
When we were kids our pride might send us to school with patched clothing and holes in our everyday shoes, but it also forbade us taking from others who REALLY needed help .
Stretchr in Georgia
Friday, September 7, 2012 at 2:18 AM
And an amazing number still can afford to smoke cigarettes and always seem to have money for lottery tickets! LOTS of lottery tickets!
Bo from Texas in Texas
Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 10:59 PM
My parents never considered any sort of government assistance. We had so little that aside from clothing that was not torn or dirty, all other indications were that we were below the middle mark. Our vehicles in the 50's were always several years old, and when another kid brought 15 cents to school to spend on stuff, I thought they were from a "rich" family. I never had any money to keep in my pocket, but I cannot recall going to bed hungry. We had a huge garden, lots of chickens, and all that was far less expensive than store-bought groceries. Even in the early 60s, everyone over the age of 14 worked at something, black families were independent and self reliant, and all but the lunatics worked to put food in their own mouths. What happened to pride? What happened to self help? What happened to the concept of help your neighbor, instead of pointing to the welfare store? The downturn into the abyss began with LBJ, who recognized that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would buy the black vote forever. It passed and has.
Stretchr in Georgia
Friday, September 7, 2012 at 2:25 AM
Yet still so many are simply blind to the fact that they are just as enslaved as blacks were in the 19th century south, only now they willingly vote to keep their "masters" in power instead of fighting to end the enslavement! They can continue to throw around claims of racism but voting for anyone based upon their skin color is racist and it's ALWAYS despicable, no matter what color combinations are involved!