I set out to amaze you with facts, you know such things like Wilford Brimley was once Howard Hughes' bodyguard. Or how about this? In 2009 scientists tried to find the Loch Ness Monster. They failed, but they did find over 100,000 golf balls. Did you know that in 1893 the first kid who was supposed to graduate from high school in New Mexico was shot and killed before the ceremony.
I checked it out, all of it, on the Internet. Some of this stuff is interesting, but useless. I hate to say it, but so was much of the president's State of the Union address. I know that I am not a fair arbiter, but Obama made some claims in the speech that while true are not necessarily the whole, unvarnished truth. Keep in mind that the statements I cite are not necessarily presented in the order of his speech. I have to point that out because some of my critics have accused me of taking things out of context, even when context was of no consequence.
First, he said America is number one in oil and gas. His claim about energy production is true. Amazingly, we are the largest oil and gas producer in the world, even larger than Saudi Arabia. The only reason I quibble with his statement is that we are number one in spite of the president and not because of his policies. Oil production on federal land is down 16 percent since 2010 and gas production is down 24 percent. Obama's policies have not been at all friendly to the energy industry.
Then he said the economy is creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999. Keep in mind that this is not in the order of his speech. Again, what he said is true, but the bad news is that the labor participation rate is the lowest it's been since 1978. Only 62.7 percent of people 16 or older are actually employed, but when he first took office 66.1 percent were employed. Since 2009 there has been a net loss of 321,000 manufacturing jobs.
Obama was proud to point out that, "Our deficit has been cut by two-thirds." Well, I guess that's right. But keep in mind that he ran the deficit up by over a trillion dollars every year from the time he took office until last year. In 2009, his first year in office, the deficit hit a whopping $1.4 trillion, and last year was the first year of his presidency that it was less than a trillion; falling to $679 billion. This year the deficit was $483 billion, but that is still more than in any year of the George W. Bush presidency. The good news is the deficit is down by 66 percent from its high. That is an accomplishment. But he neglected to mention that the national debt has skyrocketed. From the time he was sworn in the national debt has jumped from $10.6 trillion to over $18 trillion today. That's real money and that's an increase of $7.4 trillion in six years, or a percentage increase of nearly 70 percent for the time he's been in office. I have seen predictions that by the end of his presidency the deficit will exceed $21 trillion.
One more thing about the president's speech. I hesitate even bringing it up because it sounds like I'm being ever so picky. Well, I guess I am. So here goes. Rebekah Erler was sitting in the First Lady's box. She was introduced by the president as a struggling, young housewife who got caught in the recession's downturn. Her story was a sad one, but a courageous one for sure, and Obama took great pains to outline the great difficulties she and her husband overcame. But as it turns out this was almost all malarkey. She is and was a Democrat operative and a field organizer in 2012 for Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. Like so many other alleged particulars Obama stated as fact, this one is very questionable.
I opine, you decide.
-- Willie Williams is a Siloam Springs resident. He can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 01/28/2015