Richard Kappmeier: Positive jobs numbers being made up by politicians

The official government unemployment rate is a misrepresentation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the available civilian workforce grew 17.1 million from 2008 to July, 2015, while only 4.24 million gained employment. Thus, the percent of the population employed went down 2.8 percent. In 2008, 79.5 million people were “not in the Labor Force,” vs. 92.3 million people in July 2015. Thus, over 12.8 million people dropped out of the labor force.

The government just ignores these dropouts. Our population grows but available jobs are not being created due to misguided government culture, policies and political spin while the populace suffers. That suffering has vastly increased. Since 2008, food stamp recipients have increased 17.6 million to 45 million people. The national debt is a tragedy perpetuated by feckless politicians. Total national debt is $18.3 trillion, or $154,453 per taxpayer. Bleaker is our U.S. total debt of $61.2 trillion, a debt burden of $190,500 per citizen or $753,000 per family. Year-to-date we have spent $165 billion on imported oil, $52 billion from the Middle East. The current culture of divisiveness, anti-business, anti-pipeline policies and party-first politics are working against you and driving the U.S. broke and strategically weaker.

This story was originally published August 11, 2015 at 1:07 PM with the headline "Richard Kappmeier: Positive jobs numbers being made up by politicians."