The American Tea Man

Just recently a new report came out declaring that the unemployment rate went down from 8.5% to 8.3% in the month of January.  A decline, yes, but an improvement, hardly.  President Obama was quick to come out and give a speech, taking credit once again for the slow decline of the unemployment rate.

Looking through different news channels, including websites and social media.  People seem to be cheering and thrilled with the slow change from 9.0% to 8.3%.  But why are people suddenly ‘happy’ with around 8.0% unemployment?  After all, that is not something to be happy about.  We haven’t even fallen past 7.0% in over 3 years, which is almost the entire term of Pres. Obama.

What we are experiencing is the same thing that is taking down Europe.  The elites and people at the top are making complacent, and happy with a small slip.  Declaring each one as a victory for the private sector.

To make you understand better, think of the story of the frog and the boiling water.  If you put a frog into boiling water, it will jump out immediately because of the heat.  But if put a frog in lukewarm water, and slowly turn up the heat, he will become complacent and die.

My fellow Americans, we are that frog in the water that is slowly being turned up.  We cannot choose to remain at ease and okay with small declines, and the occasional jump up in the unemployment rate.

Personally, I’m a bit wary of these new numbers, and think that they could easily go up again.  Because if you have been paying attention, you will have noticed that it’s just been going down because of new jobs.  It has been going down also because a lot of people have been giving up.  If everyone who doesn’t have a job where to be actually counted, then you would see a huge spike the unemployment rate.

Now, I myself will not be honestly happy until I see those numbers go below 1.0%.  That might seem ridiculous, but honestly, who could truly be happy with 8.3% unemployment other than the president.

Related articles

• Unemployment Rate Falls Again (politicalwire.com)
• Unemployment rate hinges on more than job gains (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• The Real Unemployment Rate (treeofmamre.wordpress.com)
• The Myth of the Obama Recovery (whitehouse12.com)