Stuck!

                      

Weak jobs report. For the month of June, unemployment is still above 8%. The United States is still struggling to bring jobs back. 


Not good news for President Barack Obama and the members of Congress.

We have a problem people!

Issues such as weak demand, the wildfires, Europe, and the stock market are factors.

The president can't make unemployment numbers go down! That's not going to happen overnight and it's not going to be a simple fix. He can lay out the groundwork and he still has one major obstacle to face.

Congress.

The real issue lies with the partisan gridlock with Congress. Before they went on their umpteenth recess vacation, all members of the House and Senate passed a student's loan bill and jobs bill. These bills were passed at the last minute, after the president urged speeder progress when passing it.

Unfortunately, when the president is having a good week, the reality of the jobs report brings him back to the  drag. Although jobs are added, the more hiring means the greater mass of employment. If the president could  he would wish a million jobs a month. But that can't happen.

Small businesses are being squeezed out of existence by name brand companies. The local coffee shop will be competing with Starbucks. The local deli is competing with Subway. The grocery store is competing with Kroger, Food Lion and Safeway. The local dress shop is competing with David's Bridal. The local doughnut shop is competing with Dunkin' Donuts. You rather travel to Wal-Mart, Target or Kohl's than drive downtown to the local businesses. You rather go to the open air town centers because its trendier than the mall.

Signs of a struggling economy. High vacancy rates at a mall.

Signs of a dying city. Foreclosed skyscrappers, homes and businesses.

Once again, the predecessor George W. Bush is a bad memory to the Republicans. They avoid him and his father George H.W. Bush every time. You hear Republicans and their conservative allies rally around Ronald Reagan, the only Republican they'll ever mention besides Abraham Lincoln.

Republicans are aware of the massive spending of Reagan and the Bushes. They don't care what they do! As long as they're Republicans, they are happy. But when a Democrat gets into office, the Republicans go holy bat shit with this notion that it's automatically the fault of the successor when things are getting worse before they gotten better.

See when the Democratic Party was in charge, things were done! Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-California) had led the House and Senate. They may of had some of their own members struggle on votes, but they had enough to pass laws. The Republicans painted them as the party of overreach and the Democrats couldn't figure out a message. Republicans managed to say that policies passed by Congress under the Democratic leadership were failing. And of course, people were soaking it up and even believing it.

White males are the most pessimistic voters this year around. President Barack Obama is struggling on winning this group of voters.

Former Massachusetts governor, perennial candidate for president, Mitt Romney has a lackluster campaign.

His campaign offers nothing inspiring. But you better believe that he's well funded and well messaged. As long as Romney can say that he knows how to fix the economy, people will lean towards him. Romney has no clear message to fixing the economy. He offers generic bumper sticker phrases and running on the "I am the only one who can beat Obama" crap. Some in his own party think he's not capable of taking on the president.

There's no signs of the Tea Party this year. The very people who voted out the Democratic majority are glum faced about the Republican leadership. They were hoping the Congress was going to get their act together and cut the spending. Alas that's not the case. Those freshmen Tea Party members of the Republican Party have turned their backs on the principles. They were promising to be that fiscally conservative member who can keep the president from spending the country into problematic countries like Greece.
       
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has been labeled a "crybaby" or milquetoast leader. The speaker allowed spending bills to pass, amid fierce opposition from his own members of his party. Even House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) has threatened to oust Boehner if he doesn't get his act together.


Another thing. We hear the Republicans say that our problems are similar to Greece and Spain. 


Not exactly. The problems that Greece is facing are the banks and austerity cuts. Those people who live and work in Greece are experience an unemployment rate at 18%. That's not good for anyone. They were asking for spending bailouts. Conservative leaders like the ones in France, Italy, United Kingdom, Belgium and Germany were urging nations struggling to cut domestic programs. That wasn't popular in Europe. 


They're facing an economic recession and it's affecting the United States.


The Republicans are rooting for the economy to fail. They want revenge on the Democrats after they hammered former president George W. Bush on his handling of the economy.


With leaders saying that their only goal is to see that the president serves one term, or an overpaid talk show host saying he "hopes [Obama] fails", it's pretty clear that they're celebrating failure over success.


Unemployment will stay around 7% - 9% for the next five years no matter what the president or congress does.