The Voice of Reason: Debunking the Biggest Lie at the Democratic Convention

As a kid growing up in the country, I remember being told by another boy that if water in a stream runs over three rocks with moss on them, the water is safe to drink.  I didn't believe it at the time, and I don't believe it now.

The Democrats at the 2012 National Convention are using a similar method to try to purify their lies.  If they say something three or more times, they think it is the truth -- or at least the American people will believe it is the truth.  Just as three mossy rocks won't make water safe to drink, saying a statement three times doesn't make it a fact.

During this convention, you will hear a statistic repeated numerous times, like a mantra.  Democrat after Democrat will say that "this administration has created 4.5 million jobs."  Sometimes the speaker will quantify this statement by saying that 4.5 million "private sector" jobs were created, but typically speakers will leave out the clarification.

I don't know how to say it any other way.  This statement is a damn lie. It misleads the American people into thinking that the Obama Administration is doing a better job than it really is in turning around this economy.  Shame on them.

Compared to when Barack Obama took office, today there are slightly more private sector jobs (about 300,000) and significantly fewer public sector jobs.  As a result, there are about 400,000 fewer total jobs today than when President Obama took office.

Let me repeat that.  There are about 400,000 fewer American jobs today than when the President took office.  He certainly hasn't created 4.5 million jobs during his administration.

But in stating and restating their "fact" about job creation, Democrats don't count the private jobs lost at the beginning of the Obama Administration.  They conveniently compare the number of private sector jobs at the lowest point of the recession, which was in January 2010 (a year after President Obama took office), to the number of private sector jobs today in order to arrive at their 4.5 million figure. In other words, they cherrypick the best possible time points in order to show the greatest difference in jobs -- and they only look at the private sector jobs.

This is misleading, dishonest and unfair to the American people who will cast their votes in November.  It also shows that this administration is willing to mislead Americans in order to try to put lipstick on their pig of an economic recovery.  But no matter how much lipstick they put on this pig, it's still a pig. No matter how many times their "fact" is repeated, it is still a lie.

Even CNN and Yahoo News have called the Obama Administration out on this outright lie.  These liberal news organizations even report that the vast majority of the jobs created have been lower-wage jobs, not the types of "good-paying jobs" that First Lady Michelle Obama said were created by this administration in her speech last night.  Simply put, they are spreading lies on top of lies.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/fact-check-4-5-million-jobs-created-under-175621036--election.html
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/05/politics/fact-check-obama-jobs/index.html

But even comparing the number of jobs today to the number of jobs when the President took office doesn't tell the whole story. Why?  Our population grows, so in order to maintain the same percentage of people working, we must add jobs in addition to the jobs needed to offset job losses. If we don't, the unemployment percentage increases, which has occurred under this President.  Since President Obama took office, we not only have fewer jobs than we did when he took office, we haven't added enough jobs to keep pace with the population growth.  That's why when he took office our unemployment rate was 7.8%, but is now 8.3%, with millions more simply giving up looking for work and not counted in these statistics.  In reality, the real unemployment rate could be as high as 12%.  As one can see, job creation during the Obama Administration has been much worse than most people realize and the Democrats want us to believe.

So now you know the truth, not some watered down version of it, or the truth based on conveniently selected timelines. The Obama Campaign is hoping that Americans won't take the time to search out the truth.

Bloggers such as this one, and the people who take the time to read this blog won't let that happen.

Please share with your family members, neighbors and co-workers.

A Steady Hand Can Right the Economy

This past week I had the opportunity to go sailing for the first time in several years.  In just a few minutes, all of it came back. . .how to turn the motor to steer the boat out of the marina. . .how to turn the boat directly into the wind to raise the mainsail. . .how to trim the sails. . .how to use the wind to propel the boat through the water.

For most of the afternoon, my wife steered the boat, while I handled the lines and sails.  I noticed that she would often move the tiller in the wrong direction, which resulted in our sails flailing in the wind.  During these times, I watched as the knot meter moved from five to four to three to two to one.  The boat nearly stopped dead in the water before she turned the tiller in the right direction,  allowing the sails once again to fill with wind. 

It dawned on me while out on the water that a sailboat is a lot like the American economy. Our economy only needs to be steered in the right direction with a steady hand before it begins moving and gains momentum.  But with too many turns in the wrong direction, our economy loses speed and is soon dead in the water.

President Barack Obama is clearly an inexperienced sailor, having never been the captain of anything before he was given the tiller of the world's largest economy.  Instead of allowing our sails to fill with wind, he's seemingly done everything possible to take the wind out of the sails.

His health care law has created a lot of uncertainty with business and industry, as companies do not know how much this new law will eventually cost them on their bottom line.  As a result, business leaders are afraid to make large capital investments or to hire additional workers.

The Obama Administration's commitment to raising taxes on job creators has also taken the wind out of our sails. Those who create jobs are leery of hiring additional workers until they know if, when and how much their taxes will increase. 

The Obama Administration's overregulation of our domestic fossil fuel resources -- from coal to oil and natural gas -- has slowed down or stopped new investments, because energy companies don't know if or when they can expect a return on their investment, or if the EPA will simply try to shut them down with new regulations. 

In short, the policies adopted by this administration have been more like an anchor than a sail, and the American economy has suffered because of the President's inability to captain our proverbial ship.

With America in the midst of an economic storm of unemployment and our ship essentially dead in the water in terms of economic growth, it's vitally important that we have an experienced captain at the helm. We desperately need a captain who clearly understands the economic sails of capitalism that power America.  One has to believe that someone who has actually grown a business and governed a state would have the experience necessary to right our ship.

That captain clearly isn't Barack Obama.