"Pres. Obama spoke today on #SmarterGov: Ways to make government smarter, more efficient and more innovative." Tweet from WH
- After I read that Tweet from the White House yesterday, I couldn't stop laughing for several hours. And then I started laughing (perhaps I should be crying) again when news broke later in the day reporting the IRS mistakenly posted thousands of Social Security numbers online.
- But it did not end there. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported yesterday that 101 million people now get food stamps (our overall population is currently about 316M +) at a cost of $114 billion. If you don't find those numbers disturbing, perhaps this number will move you. While there are 101 million receiving food stamps, only 97 million hold full-time private sector jobs.
- This data follows unimpressive jobs data from last month (did you notice the media played down the jobs numbers last week?). Last month, employment did rise by 360,000. But those were all part-time jobs. Full-time employment fell by 240,000. In fact, underemployment (those working less than full-time) actually rose from 13.8% in May to 14.3% in June. Keep in mind, we're still seeing about 350,000 people filing for first-time unemployment claims each WEEK. Over 12 million remain unemployed while 8 million work in part-time jobs and another 2.7 million juggle temp jobs. NY Post/DOL
- Of course all of this comes on the heels of the Obama administrating announcing the delay of the ObamaCare employer mandate. More proof the law basically sucks and has some serious design flaws. So serious, Democrats running in 2014 don't want this monstrosity hanging around their necks. Hence, the real reason for the delay.
- The failure in our Middle East policy also reinforce the incompetence shown by this administration and Congress.
- But, as I've written about several times, this administration is a genius when it comes to diversions and distractions. Last month, most Americans were focused on the IRS targeting of conservatives, the DOJ targeting journalists and the NSA spying on all of us. What did this administration and the political class do (including Republicans)? They redirected attention to the immigration debate. Poof! Attention diverted. Very little focus on the IRS, DOJ and NSA these last two weeks--- in my opinion, all more important issues considering they involve more Constitutional concerns.
