In his weekly address, President Obama touted the debatable economic gains America made in 2014, claiming “America’s resurgence is real.” He said we had the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s.
(Read The People’s Pundit Data-Driven Response)
Transcript:
Hi, everybody. About a year ago, I promised that 2014 would be a breakthrough year for America. And this week, we got more evidence to back that up.
In December, our businesses created 240,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 5.6%. That means that 2014 was the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s. In 2014, unemployment fell faster than it has in three decades.
Over a 58-month streak, our businesses have created 11.2 million new jobs. After a decade of decline, American manufacturing is in its best stretch of job growth since the ‘90s. America is now the world’s number one producer of oil and gas, helping to save drivers about a buck-ten a gallon at the pump over this time last year. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, about 10 million Americans have gained health insurance in the past year alone. We have cut our deficits by about two-thirds. And after 13 long years, our war in Afghanistan has come to a responsible end, and more of our brave troops have come home.
It has been six years since the crisis. Those years have demanded hard work and sacrifice on everybody’s part. So as a country, we have every right to be proud of what we’ve got to show for it. America’s resurgence is real. And now that we’ve got some calmer waters, if we all do our part, if we all pitch in, we can make sure that tide starts lifting all boats again. We can make sure that the middle class is the engine that powers America’s prosperity for decades to come.
That’ll be the focus of my State of the Union Address in a couple weeks – building on the progress we’ve made. But I figured, why wait – let’s get started right now.
On Wednesday, I visited a Ford plant outside of Detroit – because the American auto industry and its home state are redefining the word “comeback.” On Thursday, I traveled to Arizona, a state that was hit among the hardest by the housing crisis, to announce a new plan that will put hundreds of dollars in new homeowners’ pockets, and help more new families buy their first home. And, I’m speaking with you today from Pellissippi State Community College in Tennessee, a state making big strides in education, to unveil my new plan to make two years of community college free for every responsible student. I’m also here to establish a new hub that will attract more good-paying, high-tech manufacturing jobs to our shores.
Making homeownership easier. Bringing a higher education within reach. Creating more good jobs that pay good wages. These are just some of the ways we can help every American get ahead in the new economy. And there’s more to come. Because America is coming back. And I want to go full speed ahead.
Thanks, everybody, and have a great weekend.
Realistic / January 11, 2015
The Federal Reserve, politicians and news editors should truly experience this economy before trying to convince us of the rosy images of prosperity. It’s a question of integrity and accountability towards us marginally employed who bare the weight as the financial system comes back from teetering on the edge of oblivion due to some thoughtless decisions by those who are well insulated from poverty.
Since I now work 4 part time jobs in my attempt to make my $600 monthly rent payment and put groceries on the table, I guess I am supposed to be convinced that prosperity is here. Too bad that one of my contract jobs sometimes doesn’t even pay for gas needed to deliver Edible Arrangements, another limits my auto dealership test drives to one location visit per year while payment for my bank secret shopper efforts are undependably invoiced and inconsistently paid 60 days later unlike my fourth company where I get paid every 2 weeks for trimming hedges.
It could still be worse; last year after scraping up $500 cash to get my DirecTV satellite certification, I begged and borrowed for 3 months to pay gas and tolls to do installs before I finally started receiving installments towards my wages instead of the full payment due to me.
And then there is the shortage of my unpaid truck driving wages due since workers desperate for income must accept risks of non-payment issues. Since Federal, State or Local authorities do not enforce the laws when trucking companies cheat the drivers, paychecks usually fall far short of compensation wages I actually earned.
Complaints of extensive promised but unpaid diverted loads in the Texas oil country fall on deaf ears at the Department of Labor where they focus on “minimum wage issues” to companies who stretch the truth and mislead drivers about allowable axle spreads to leave the drivers personally liable for the thousands in overweight fines merely to be replaced with more of the trusting naive willing to take a chance to put food on their family’s table.
And the local law enforcement who decline to prosecute the fully documented thousands of dollars in bad check’s paid to the drivers or the punishment for those refusing to drive CDL risking, overweight, poorly maintained death traps and fatigue conditions potentially endangering the unsuspecting public.
It’s a question of integrity and accountability in paying us marginally employed who bare the weight as the financial system comes back from teetering on the edge of oblivion due to some thoughtless decisions by those who are well insulated from poverty.
Enough thoughtless decisions made by those who do not suffer. A good start is to stop prolonging the delayed implementation of the recently mandated and SEC approved “Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act)”, let’s utilize our resources and get the economic momentum going again for everybody, not just the elite who build their wealth and portfolios of
collectables.
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