Better off now 4 years later?, Obama Clinton Democrat lie, 3.85 gallon gas, High school graduates, College students and young adults clobbered, No jobs

“Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.”…Barack Obama 

“Our student health insurance policy premium has been substantially increased due to changes required by federal regulations issued on March 16, 2012 under the Affordable Care Act.”…Guilford College student

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right. The obvious, the silly, and the true had got to be defended. Truisms are true, hold on to that! The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall towards the earth’s centre. With the feeling that he was speaking to O’Brien, and also that he was setting forth an important axiom, he wrote:

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984″

I paid $ 3.85 a gallon for regular gas today in NC. When Obama took the White House, we payed an average of around $ 1.85 a gallon.

I am fortunate, I am not a young person trying to pay for college and health care, or a young graduate trying to find a job or part of a young family trying to buy groceries that have skyrocketed due to high gasoline prices.

With a record Labor Force Participation Rate, we still have a national unemployment rate over 8 percent and much worse than that in NC. Those numbers reveal only the tip of the iceberg.

From Carolina Journal September 7, 2012.

“Poll: Young Adults Not Better Off Than Four Years Ago

88 percent in N.C. have changed daily lives because of economy”

“A former chief of staff in the U.S. Labor Department takes issue with former President Bill Clinton’s assertion that Americans are better off now than they were four years ago, especially when it comes to younger adults.

“If the message is that American young adults are better off than they were four years ago, then the facts say they absolutely are not,” said Paul Conway, who was chief of staff to President George W. Bush’s labor secretary, Elaine Chao.

Clinton, during his Wednesday night address to the Democratic National Convention, made the case that in many statistical terms, Americans were definitely better off than when President Barack Obama took office in January 2009.

Conway now is president of an nonpartisan organization called Generation Opportunity, which seeks to mobilize 18 to 29 year olds on challenges facing the nation, such as the lack of job opportunities, the national debt, and federal spending.

Conway noted that the unemployment rate for young adults now stands at 12.7 percent, which is higher than the overall jobless rate of 8.3 percent.

“In addition to that, there are 1.7 million young adults who are no longer counted in that 12.7 percent because they’ve been out of work so long,” Conway said. If they’re included, Conway added, the young adult unemployment rate would be 16.7 percent.

“That number represents the highest sustained level of unemployment for young adults since World War II,” Conway said.

He gives other statistics for younger Americans.

“Unemployment for the Latino community of young adults is 14 percent,” Conway said. “For African-American young adults, it’s 22.3 percent.”

Conway noted a recent survey commissioned by Generation Opportunity from the inc./WomanTrend polling company which found 88 percent of North Carolina’s young adults have changed some aspect of their day-to-day lives because of the current state of the economy, such as skipping a vacation, reducing their grocery budget or skipping a major family event.

The survey said that 22 percent of young adults had changed their living condition, such as moving in with their parents, taking in extra roommates or downgraded their apartment.

The survey also said that 79 percent of young adults in the state have delayed or might not do at least one major live event because of the economy. These include buy their own place, get married or start a family.

Conway said only 38 percent of young adults nationally believe their elected officials represent their concerns.

He said a high percentage of them plan to vote and questions why Clinton would make the claim that people are better off today.

“In whose interest is it to try to say that things are better off than they were four years ago, because for young adults, the answer is, it’s simply not true,” Conway said.”

http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=9472&__utma=1.1815112598.1347277351.1347277351.1347277351.1&__utmb=1.2.10.1347277351&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1347277351.1.1.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=(organic)%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=68467473

If that article frightened you, this will keep you awake at night.

And remember, the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress beginning in January 2007 until January 2011.

From the Economic Policy Institute May 3, 2012.

“The Class of 2012

Labor market for young graduates remains grim”

As Figure B shows, the unemployment rate for young high school graduates jumped from 17.5 percent in 2007 to 32.7 percent in 2010, dwarfing the increases in prior recessions. The rate has since declined slightly, to an average of 31.1 percent over the last year (April 2011–March 2012). The increase since 2007 was larger for young male high school graduates (from 18.7 percent in 2007 to an average of 32.9 percent over the last year) than for young female high school graduates (from 15.8 percent in 2007 to an average of 28.5 percent over the last year). Men’s unemployment rates tend to disproportionately increase during downturns because men are more concentrated in industries, such as manufacturing and construction, that are particularly hard-hit by recessions.

Figure C shows that among young high school graduates, the unemployment rate for racial and ethnic minorities—particularly young black graduates—tends to be higher than that of whites, in good times and bad. In 2007, the unemployment rate of young white high school graduates was 14.5 percent. It rose to 29.1 percent in 2010 and improved slightly to an average of 25.6 percent over the last year. In 2007, the unemployment rate of young black high school graduates was 33.0 percent. It continued on a general upward trend until 2011, when it was 48.9 percent, and continued creeping up, to 49.1 percent over the last year. In 2007, the unemployment rate for young Hispanic high school graduates was 15.5 percent. That rate also continued to rise until 2011, when it was 35.7 percent, and improved to 33.8 percent over the last year.

Because the definition of unemployment includes only jobless workers who report that they are actively seeking work, the unemployment rate overlooks those who are “underemployed”: jobless workers who want a job but have given up looking, and workers who have a job but cannot get the hours they want or need.

Figure D presents national data on both unemployment and underemployment among young high school graduates, providing a more comprehensive look at slack in the labor market. Underemployment rates include not just workers who are unemployed but also those who are working part time but want full-time work (“involuntary” part-timers), and those who want a job and who have looked for work in the last year but have given up actively seeking work (“marginally attached” workers).

Currently, while the unemployment rate for young high school graduates is 31.1 percent, theunderemployment rate of young high school graduates is over 50 percent (54.0 percent). In other words, in addition to the officially unemployed, a significant share of these young people either want a job but have simply given up looking for work, or have a job that  does not provide the hours they need. While state breakdowns of underemployment by educational attainment are not available, Appendix Table A2 shows state-level underemployment rates for all workers by age.

http://www.epi.org/publication/bp340-labor-market-young-graduates/

Does this look better to you?