Another Disappointing Jobs Report And More White House Disinformation

Friday, the Labor Department will issue another mediocre jobs report—private forecasters estimate 190,000 jobs were created in October—well below the 260,000 averaged in 2014.

The White House will tout the economy is doing quite well—proclaiming 61 consecutive months of jobs creation—and liberal commentators like New York Times columnist and CNBC analyst John Harwood may offer this as more proof that the economy does better with a Democrat in the White House.

So much depends on the circumstances in which each president governs. For example, does his party control one or both houses of Congress and more importantly, what was the state of the economy bequeathed by his predecessor?

The best apples to apples comparison are the rather difficult conditions of Presidents Reagan and Obama inherited and how the fortunes of America’s families then progressed—with the former relying on conservative prescriptions and the latter on activist government to stimulate growth.

Obama confronted a terrible financial crisis and endured a punishing recession. Unemployment peaked at 10 percent in his first term, but since the economy has reclaimed and added 12.6 million jobs and employment is up 9.8 percent.

The Gipper faced tough times too—double-digit unemployment and interest rates and a bruising recession. Unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent but subsequently the economy added more than 17.2 million jobs and employment rose 19.4 percent.

The reason Reagan was able to create so many more jobs—in a much smaller economy—is quite simple. It wasn’t just lower taxes and less spending but rather, a reliance on private decisions to guide recovery. He cleared a path for businesses, large and small, to invest as they deemed fit and raise wages as they decided they could afford, and encouraged the unemployed to get out and look for work.

Whereas from subsidies for solar energy projects and mandatory health insurance to incessant preaching that ordinary folks are victims of racism, sexism and the evil machinations of the well-off, Obama has sought to micromanage business through an explosion of regulations and to pacify a middle class under siege and Americans underemployed or not working at all with giveaways from free contraception to forgiving college debt.