Which Political Party Knows How to Create Jobs?

Mitt Romney recently criticized President Obama saying that we should be growing jobs at the rate of 500,000 per month …

That sounds a lot like Newt Gingrich’s promise of $2.50 per gallon of gasoline if we elected him.

Only once — in 1978 — has the economy topped 500,000 jobs two months in a row and that was when Jimmy Carter was president … Obama had one such month in May of 2010 with 516,000 jobs. Reagan had one such month in 8 years of his presidency, and neither Bush ever hit this level. Clinton also got just one 500,000+ month.

Paper or plastic? Private Jobs Increase More With Democrats in White House – Bloomberg.

Since President Kennedy, private industry jobs growth has been much greater under Democratic presidents. Government growth records go to the Republicans.

Isn’t that the opposite of what we constantly hear?

While I remain a Reagan fan — his legend should be that he was a generally inspirational figure that was the right person at the right time — jobs creation under Reagan was strong but not any kind of record setter.

Jobs growth under the different presidents — although I am not sure that they all deserve credit/discredit for the jobs created — am not a political partisan:

Kennedy/Johnson 3.12%
Johnson 3.63%
Nixon 2.17%
Nixon/Ford 1.96%
Carter 2.3%
Reagan 81-84: 1.75%
Reagan 85-88: 2.53%
Bush 41: .69%
Clinton 93-96: 2.6%
Clinton 96-2000: 1.6%
Bush 43 ’01-04: .51%
Bush 43 05-08: .84%
Obama: .75%

Noting that jobs growth has slowed significantly since Clinton’s second term, what can we do to create jobs?

What can we really do?

Is Fox News following a script? Fox News on Energy Prices – Then and Now

Then and now … flip and flop … Politics 101: blame the other guy whenever possible and obfuscate when your guy is in office.

Often heard is that gas was something like gas was $1.84 on the day Obama became president and now … OMG.

Sure it was lower for that short period of time, but it had just fallen late in the 2008 election year from a high in the spring of 2008 that wasn’t much different than the current cost.

Beware of politicians … and fear their cheering sections even more. Truth often is irrelevant and YOU are trusted to have a short attention span.

So what does the energy industry itself say about high prices? Check it out at this link.

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Thanks to Travis Johnson for sharing.

If you want my vote: ‘Just the facts’. No garbage, please.

Even though a chart is technical correct, being correct can also mislead.

The Daily Kos chart below is fairly impressive and would seem to support Democrats as being good for business.

Reality is that the market responds quite well under Democrats. So let’s not take away from that by seriously misleading as to how current Dow Jone Industrial Average (DIJA) stock performance is or has performed.

The chart below comes from an article entitled ‘Just the facts, please: Stock performance under Clinton, Bush, and Obama‘.

Just the facts should be just that.

However the Daily Kos chart misleads as to how well the market is responding under President Obama.

The DIJA is responding well — but it is not better than at the height of the Bush Administration. The market has just recovered to where it was, although this chart makes it seem that it is far better than it ever was under Bush.

In the chart below I have added the annual performance of the DIJA  since 1992 (’92 3.1K) and added a corrected market performance depiction for 2007/2008 (the thin red line).

My point is that I look forward to accuracy.

As an independent I vote for members of both parties, and the occasional independent or libertarian if I believe that they can win.  We have elected independents and some Reform Party officials in my part of Virginia so voting for them is not a wasted vote.

My point is that it bothers me greatly when an article that has much going for it so biases its data that its validity as a whole becomes questionable.

If you want our votes as independents, and our votes pick the winners in the general election, then don’t feed us garbage.

I look forward to just the facts.
Sources:

Original Chart: Just the facts, please: Stock performance under Clinton, Bush, and Obama,  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/31/962053/-Just-the-facts,-please:-Stock-performance-under-Clinton,-Bush,-and-Obama

DIJA Annual Performance: http://www.1stock1.com/1stock1_139.htm