Today’s jobs report underscores what has already been a tough week for our economy.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

The unemployment rate edged up to 9.1% in May, from a level of 9.0% in April and 8.8% in March. 

The percentage and number of long-term unemployed (those unemployed for 27 weeks or longer) jumped up to 45.1% and 6.2 million in May, from 43.4% and 5.8 million in April.

There were 13.9 million unemployed persons in May, up from 13.7 million in April and 13.5 million in March.

After 28 months in office, it is clear the President’s policies have failed to positively affect our economy.  His two signature accomplishments, ObamaCare and the stimulus package, have only exacerbated the two biggest challenges we face, overspending and mounting debt. 

Now, the President, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and other leading Democrats have said Medicare reform is completely off the table.  Instead of fixing the program to preserve it for those who need it most, they are content to ignore the problem and watch as the inevitable fiscal train wreck occurs.  The Social Security and Medicare trustees recently reported that the way these programs are currently financed is “unsustainable”, which means that by doing nothing, Democrats are ensuring that the program will fail.  It fundamentally undermines their argument that they want to protect seniors.

In addition, Senate Democrats haven’t passed a budget in more than two years, and couldn’t even bring themselves to vote for the President’s proposal.  With all this abdication of responsibility going on, you start to wonder why the President wanted the job in the first place, or why Senate Democrats wanted control of the chamber.  They have failed to lead on nearly every single issue. 

As the Senate returns next week, Republicans are going to keep highlighting these issues and demand action from the President. 

The video below is from a tour I did with Kenworth, a local Utah company, that discusses what they are doing to adapt to this difficult economic climate.  I am interested in hearing what other business owners are doing to adjust.