Your Lyin' Eyes

Some newspapers and much of network TV are telling you that the recession is over. The Obama recovery has finally kicked in. We are all successful and life in these United States is good. Then you look around. Maybe check some alternate news sources. Reality kicks in.

The new organizations reprint White House handouts. Their proof for how well the economy is doing is based on two pieces of information. The stock market is up and unemployment is down.One of these "facts" is irrelevant. The other is a lie.

The President talks like a populist. He claims to be doing everything in his power to help the middle class. What has he actually done in the past six years? Abso-fricken-tutely nothing! Au contraire, most of the administrations actions stab the middle class in the back. He even took a run at killing 529 college savings plans. The uproar created scared him off.

The stock market being up has made the very rich, very much richer. The people that Obama goes to to raise funds are rolling in it. The big banks are sitting on vaults full of our money. Crony capitalism had filled the pockets of those the administration chooses to be winners. Due to Obamacare, the big insurers are getting huge profits. And because of high deductibles their outflow will be down. High profits for the chosen.

The number published for unemployment is down. That number is as real as the proverbial unicorn. If you want to see the true state of employment look at the Labor Participation Rate. That number represents the number of people actually working as a percentage of population. Right now, it is lower than it has been in over three decades.

The new jobs claimed by the administration are lower level jobs than the jobs lost. Many have given up even trying to find work. So they no longer even exist as far as the government is concerned. Part time jobs are counted as equal to full time jobs even if they are a few hours a week.

So when you see someone on TV ranting about the good times we are enjoying, you may wish to ignore that person and, in this case, believe your lyin' eyes.