Obama: ‘The private sector is doing fine’

Although President Obama’s statement, “the private sector is doing fine” has largely been used as political fodder or spun as a misspoken statement, he is in many respects correct.  The US economy has been expanding and the markets are bouncing around at about pre-Great Recession levels.  Meanwhile, American corporations have billions of dollars on their books.  Only in terms of unemployment is President Obama wrong.

The problem is that businesses do not produce jobs just because people need them; just as employers do not pay someone a better wage, because their current salary does not meet their living expenses.  In other words, the economy is not built for sustainability or to address the interests, including jobs, of the majority of the People.  Furthermore, the Great Recession destroyed a myriad of businesses, which translates into lost jobs, forced fundamental changes in business practices, i.e. positions have been permanently eliminated, revealed personal and institutional debt issues, which continues to hinder consumer demand, and outright drove individuals out of the economy.  As such, employers either do not need more employees or they do not want the ones available.  Meanwhile, the job creators of our economy are small businesses and new business ventures developing innovative technologies, but the main thrust of government policy, especially in terms of taxes, is not focused on these firms.  This means we cannot grow our way out of our underlying economic problems.  As such, our economic situation will continue to worsen until there is a restructuring of how our economy works.