The economy created 151,000 new jobs in August according to the U.S. Labor Department and the unemployment rate held at 4.9% It was the 78 straight month of positive job growth and a indication that the job market is still healthy leading into the holiday season. The August job numbers were down from the previous month of July but that is the nature of the economy at the present time.
At this same time in the George W. Bush Presidency for August 2008 the economy lost 84,000 jobs and the unemployment rate stood at 6.1%. The country was deep into recession, the wall street banks were failing and the federal deficit continued to rise rapidly. The fore closure on homes was taking place, median family income was still going down, businesses were failing and there was no end in sight to the downward spiral. By the time President Bush left office in January of 2009, the country suffered the worst of economic times since the great depression of 1929.
The people of America then made the right choice and elected a democratic President named Barack Obama. The new President met the challenge despite opposition from the republicans in congress, a host of conservative journalists and the Fox News Network. And this writer can say that when President Obama leaves office in January 2017, America and its people will be better off than they were in just about every category when President Bush left office almost 8 years ago.
Now in the middle of another Presidential election Donald Trump and his ditto head republicans are trying to down play the success of Obama's leadership and even talking about reversing the progress made the last 8 years. It reminds this writer what the Bush administration did when it followed the Clinton administration's record economy and balanced budgets. Bush proposed a tax cut of $5 trillion because he said the Clinton surpluses over charged the American people and he was going to give the people their money back.
Well, the top 2% got more than their money back from that tax cut while the American people lost their jobs and their homes in the great Bush recession. President Bush reversed all the good that had been accomplished by the Clinton administration for the country and its people. The voters in this Presidential election should be able to see the relationship of what Bush did to what Donald Trump wants to do if elected President.
Understanding the mistakes of the past is still the key to a better future and improving on what works and what is working is the key to long term stability and the rejection of past mistakes.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
