Obama Wrap-up Part I: PRIVATE DANCER, how our president used smoke and mirrors to assuage misery.

Money for nothing, and the votes for free

Walking through grocery store aisles over the past 8 years, I have to confess that I did not feel threatened personally by the economic circumstances to the the extent that many people I know have told me that they did. I sometimes thought that these criticisms about Pres. Obama ruining the economy were inaccurate or at least exaggerated. I was typically able to manage my costs for car care, food, housing, and other basic needs. But at the same time, I know that the costs of a 20-30 something man with no dependents and relatively healthy is not the most vulnerable sector of the economy. My spending habits have always been frugal, and I picked a career that has been consistently in demand. So why is it that I never supported this president?

To be quite clear, it took a genuine effort to stay afloat and it required a lot of discipline. One of the things that I made sure to do was not take any vacations or make any capital purchases like buy a home, nor did I depend much on student loans. I didn't go out very often. A lot of people chose otherwise, and that's perfectly normal. But is that the problem? Is normal university student behaviour, decision making, and yes even the curriculum and job path geared to be an obstacle rather than a facilitator of student career succes? Unfortunately, for many college students, in part due to the rising costs of education and the declining quality of that education in some cases.

Part-time, full frustration

Though necessary for many

businesses, part-time positions tend

to be designed for high turnover, 

poor benefits, and low job-security.

The Krueger jobs report belies Obama's

claims to have improved the job

market.

In 2014, prior to Obama's second mid-term election, it was scoffed at by the liberal press. Yet today as his time in office dwindles to two and a half weeks, Mr. Obama's own former economic adviser Alan Krueger has documented a sharp rise in Americans holding "alternative jobs", which includes temporary workers, contract employees, on-call workers, and freelancers. Krueger claims that of all of Obama's grown jobs, 94% fit into this category, meaning that these are not career positions but rather precarious "gig" jobs as the study itself admits. 

In remote rural areas, this job sector is not as much of a factor, because there is not as much human infrastructure in order to sustain even these businesses. This could help explain why the USDA has reported that reduction of rural unemployment has lagged behind urban unemployment since the Great Recession. 

Brand America has lagged, because Brand Obama is a flop

In 2014 new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi began
a campaign called Make in India to attract manufacturing
to his country.
By Narendra Modi - PM launches “Make in India” global initiative

To begin uncorking the issue of why the job market has skewed more toward temporary work under Obama is a task that may have to be completed after he leaves office. What can be said is that the President himself has done little to market Brand America to foreign investors and manufacturers, while expressing fatalistic statements about jobs that are leaving the USA even comparing Donald Trump's vows to negotiate to bring jobs back a "magic wand". This may have been a circumspect statement that Obama truthfully believed about himself, but it does not befit the leader of a nation, whether it's the United States or Latvia. As the symbol of his nation, the president is bound not only to guide his citizens to prosperity and health, but also to act as the ambassador for its capabilities overseas. The Obama attitude in that case that Carrier air conditioners could not be expected to continue being manufactured in America was a recipe for despair.    

Other nations venture to do exactly what Obama refuses to even try. Narendra Modi of is an excellent example, declaring that India must surpass China in steel production. He has also said that "when I talk of 'Make in India', I am not ready to lag behind anyone." Under Modi, India has the world's fastest growing economy. In reality, Trump's grandstanding over jobs is not unique by any means, and perhaps Obama should have taken the example of PM Modi. 

Beggars can't be choosers

Mike Rowe and a colleague want Americans to be

less picky about their job choices.

I do believe that the real key to solving the job crisis is not in the hand's of the president or other politicians. Therefore we cannot blame Barack Obama, but we should also blame individual choice. As reality TV star Mike Rowe constantly harps, there are many careers waiting for people to take them; they just happen to the difficult, long-houred, physically demanding jobs known as "the trades". This is not a secret, labour market analysts have been pointing with worry at the aging trades workforce for years. 

The trades advocates know what needs to be done: Vocational schooling must be revived and given due regard in grade school. Rowe has started Mike Rowe Works, a foundation that provides scholarships to youth seeking a career in the trades. But changing that paradigm only solves part of the problem. The Trump solution of promoting Brand America provides another part of the solution. The next part must come from the average citizen. They cannot remain idle and listless in the face of an evolving and discouraging job market. That's a recipe for not only failure but extinction, and it cannot continue to propagate as people adopt the helpless victim mentality. Until next time: Stay bold!

Grade: C-. Did Obama create "jobs"? Yes, but these jobs are not careers and they may themselves peter out in particular some of the minimum wage jobs that are vulnerable to replacement and turnover.