A Run At The Numbers

I am not a mathematician. I know how to read, digest, and make sense of numbers, values, and statistics. I understand the metrics. However, I leave the actual computations to those who have degrees in them, like a young man who blogs (and posts to Twitter) under the moniker "Political Math".

I won't post his video here, but I'll provide this link to a great video about spending, the national debt, and a family trip with the presidents.

That does not mean I am incapable of looking at numerical facts and statistics and knowing what meets the "common sense" rule.

Take the U3 numbers that came out for the month of April. They claimed that unemployment was down to 8.1%. First of all, 8.1% means that approximately one out every 12 people you know is unemployed. That is not great news. Great news is 1 in 20, a 5% rate. What makes that number look even more dismal is the fact that, at the same time the 8.1% unemployment rate came out, so did the workforce participation index. The workforce participation index measures how many people of age and capability are actively employed or actively seeking employment. That has dropped from roughly 67% to 63.6%. Prior to 2009, over 2/3 of those capable of working were in the workforce. Now, less than 2/3 of the population capable of working is bothering to try.

Another number that should raise eyebrows is that 43% of our population was on some form of government subsidy in 2008. Last October, when the Occupy Movement began their 99% rhetoric, 47% of the population received subsidies and did not pay income or capital gains taxes. Now, in 2012, that percentage of hand-out junkies is up to 49%.

Among that 49% are those whose 99 weeks of unemployment "insurance" expired. Many of them sought Social Security Disability "Insurance", gaining ratings allowing them to receive as much as $1111.10 a month in handouts for some form of disability. The most claimed disabilities have been severe anxiety and depression, supposedly so bad that people cannot work. Of course, the major cause has been the economy and being out of work for 99 weeks. The problem is, once in the system, it is almost impossible to get out of it. If those people decide to return to work once the economy returns, by law, they are restricted how many hours per week they can work and how much they can earn. So, their employment and production are limited by the government. I do not understand how or why somebody would be willing to let the government tell them how prosperous they are allowed to be. If you don't see this as socialism and counterproductive, you haven't been paying attention.

You take all of these dismal numbers since Obama's inauguration and add the following numbers:

U3 unemployed (what the mainstream media wants you to think): 12.55 MILLION
Real unemployment:   22.27 MILLION


What is with the 10 million difference? Those are the people whose 99 weeks of unemployment ran out and are not counted as "unemployed" despite not having a job.

As of the minute this article was written, US National Debt is over $15.745 TRILLION dollars.

Amount of the National Debt owed to other countries (not to US citizens): $5.14 TRILLION

$0.40 = amount of each dollar the US owes that it owes to China 

The last two budgets proposed by President Obama received 0 votes in the Senate. The last one lost 99-0 against. Even his own party opposes his proposals.


Since congress has passed an annual budget: 1128 days. (The last budget was passed in 2008 for the FY09 Budget).

Those should scare every single American. The conservative-dominated house of representatives has passed budgets. They seem to fail in the socialist-dominated Senate. Most of those that seemed they could pass the Senate were shot down after a presidential threat to veto. This should lead one to wonder if Obama even wants a budget. Technically, you can't be overspending if you have no limits of a budget restricting that spending.

Now we have so-called financial analysts (on the left) claiming that Obama is the most thrifty president we have had in decades.

I'll let you stop laughing. To help you out, read the results of some fact-checking on the subject.

Here is the story, by my understanding. The stimulus was under the FY09 budget, technically signed by Bush even though the stimulus bill was signed and spent by Obama. According to some analysts, it falls under Bush's watch. Also, there were funds that Bush was not going to spend. Obama signed a bill releasing those funds that had been saved or cut and spent them. Bush had the bill on his desk and was going to pocket-veto it. Instead, Obama signed it. Then there were other funds that Bush was not going to release. He was hoping to save the government some money. Obama had his eyes on these funds from the National Park fund. So, as a courtesy, Bush released those funds so Obama could waste them upon coming into office. Yes, it was Obama who begged Bush to open those funds. The total amount of funding that Bush had saved or not spent that Obama turned around and wasted:  $1.2 TRILLION.

Just think, had Bush said "no" and stuck to his guns, the National Debt would be $1.2T lower.

Our Current Gross Domestic Product is $14.6T.   If Obama had not spent that $1.2T, the national debt would be $14.5T, a billion dollars lower than our GDP instead of $1.1T higher. Yes, our country owes more than it is making. Any high school student that passed the budgeting portion of Home Economics knows that is a BAD idea.

Now I hear Obama's speech on Hannity where he states that conservatives ran up the debt for him to clean up. The numbers indicate he is not just misleading with his rhetoric and some inaccurate numbers. He is lying.

If you recall that "common sense rule" I stated before and what the plain facts indicate it appears that Obama is trying to destroy our economy and spend us into oblivion. Anybody who wants 4 more years of that must hate our country, hate their kids, hate their parents, hate themselves, and just plain hate. Common sense should dictate that, despite your political leanings (pro-US Constitution or Pro-Communist Manifesto), we demand truth, accountability, and responsibility. We haven't had it from our government since Newt Gingrich was the Speaker of the House.