Continuing on Americans for Limited Government’s series investigating the effects that the “Summer of Recovery” and the “Stimulus” had on the states we covered Montana, Oklahoma, Idaho, Rhode Island and Utah over the past week. With news this week that the recession ended in 2009, it is hard to notice any “recovery” in the states we have examined. Further, with the most recent release of the unemployment situation state by state for the month of July, it is more evident than ever that the economy is not recovering.
Just look at Rhode Island. Since January of 2009, the unemployment rate has increased by 2.3 percent and is now hanging just below 12 percent! While Rhode Island is a less populated state than most, the effects of the recession are deep across the board. Even though the recession has been declared over, the unemployment trend in Rhode Island is not good and is continually creeping upwards.
Oklahoma is another good example of a state that has been devastated. While the initial impacts of the recession in Oklahoma were better than most, the “Sooner State” has had a rough year in 2010. The unemployment rate alone has increased by nearly 2 percent since Obama took office.
And Oklahoma is also a good state to look at for the “success” of “Recovery Summer.” If you look at the employment rate in Oklahoma for 2010, you will see that at about the time that the “Summer of Recovery” began, the employment rate plummeted at a tremendous rate. Across the board, the notion of the “Recovery Summer” is anything but.
In Montana and Idaho, the success of the “stimulus” is nothing to be proud of. Montana has watched the unemployment rate increase by nearly 2 percent while over $1.2 billion of “stimulus” was spent in the state. Just next door in Idaho, over $1.6 billion of “stimulus” was spent while the unemployment rate has increased over 2 percent. Clearly the “recovery” that was promised by the Obama administration has not happened yet.
Utah provides a further example of how so far the “stimulus” has failed to deliver on creating an economic recovery. While the state has received over $2 billion in “stimulus” monies, the unemployment rate has increased by 1.6 percent. Further, nearly 45,000 less people are employed in Utah today than they were when Obama was sworn in.
As we continue examining the effects of the “Stimulus” and the “Recovery Summer” we will be posting our updates at NetRightDaily.com. Over the next week, we will examine Tennessee, Maine, Vermont, Arkansas and Alaska. We will also be re-examining previous states that we have covered with the latest data possible from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com.
Continuing on our series to investigate how the “Summer of Recovery” and the “stimulus” affected the economies of all 50 states, we covered Oregon, Maryland, Kentucky, Arizona and Virginia over the past week. As we have been finding all along, any signs of a “recovery” are yet to be discovered.
Arizona is one of the worst hit states in the recession. From June 2007 to June 2010, the unemployment rate has skyrocketed by nearly 6 percent — a startling increase! Not only that, the federal government has pumped nearly $5 billion into the state in “stimulus” monies to stop the economic downturn. The Obama administration projected that they would create 70,000 new jobs in Arizona by the end of 2010, but so far, 84,600 jobs have been lost. At this point, it is hard to see any positive effects from the “stimulus” money as the unemployment rate continues to climb towards double digits.
In Kentucky, the unemployment rate has climbed to 10 percent since Obama took office. The state has received nearly $3 billion in “stimulus” but the troubled economy continues to worsen. The labor force is shrinking and employment is falling. The Obama administration projected 48,000 new jobs by the close of 2010, but they have fallen behind by 13,900 on their projection.
The situation is no better in Oregon where the unemployment rate hangs around 10.5 percent. The Obama administration is behind on their Oregon job creation estimates by 46,600 jobs! Even worse, the unemployment rate continues to climb and the labor force is shrinking. It is evident that people are altogether giving up on the hope of finding a job in Oregon.
But there are two odd states that we examined this week. Both Maryland and Virginia have a different situation than most states given their proximity to Washington, D.C.. This is not to say that these states have positive growth in their economies, but they have not been affected as harshly as most states have in the “Great Recession”.
With the explosion of federal government jobs, the border states of the federal capitol have benefited from these taxpayer-subsidized jobs. But those in Virginia and Maryland have still watched their unemployment rates increase since Obama took office.
The unemployment rate in Virginia has risen by 1.3 percent since Obama took office and currently hangs around 7 percent. In Maryland, the unemployment rate has risen by 1% and sits at 7.1 percent. Both states have seen considerable amounts of “stimulus” money but have still seen the negative effects of the recession. Also, both states are behind in the Obama administration job creation estimates for the end of 2010. Virginia is currently behind by over 40,000 jobs, and in Maryland, they are behind by over 14,000 jobs.
Even in states where the recession has not been as hard, things are still bad. As we continue our series over the coming week, we will examine Montana, Idaho, Oklahoma, Utah, and Tennessee. Be sure to check NetRightDaily.com each day to follow the uncovered results of the effects of “Recovery Summer” and the “Stimulus” on the sates.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com.
Over the past week, we covered the following states at NetRightDaily.com to see how Recovery Summer and Stimulus affected those states’ economies. We examined New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Washington and the results were alarming to say the least. As we continue to discover, the Big Government schemes from Washington, D.C. have had no positive effect on the employment situations in the states as unemployment continues to climb.
Just take a look at New Mexico. Since Obama took office in January of 2009, the unemployment rate has increased nearly 2.5 percent — a startling increase when you consider that the Obama administration was claiming that the economy was recovering in the spring of 2010.
Over the course of the spring, New Mexico faced increasing unemployment even as the supposed “Summer of Recovery” began. Overall, New Mexico is currently facing the worst unemployment situation since Obama took office. And there is no end in sight for their ailing economy.
Similar bad news can also be found in North Carolina. As of June 2010, the unemployment rate hit double digits at 10 percent. And while the “Summer of Recovery” was supposedly going strong, North Carolinians witnessed a shrinking labor force and an ever-decreasing hope that the economy would soon revive itself.
And in Washington, the unemployment rate has increased by 1.5 percent indicating that the “Summer of Recovery” was nothing but a “Summer of Economic Disaster”. While the state has received nearly $6.5 billion in “stimulus” monies, the unemployment has continued to rise as each “stimulus” dollar was spent. This surely is not what the Obama administration expected would happen. But it is exactly what free market economists predicted would happen since the concept of “stimulus” spending was first introduced.
Even small states like New Hampshire have not been immune to the terrible economic conditions. Even though the state has received nearly $1 billion in “stimulus”, the unemployment situation has risen by nearly 1 percent. It is very difficult to find a single state that has benefited from the “Recovery Act”.
As most Americans realize, the “Summer of Recovery” was anything but a “recovery”. While the Obama administration continued to pump “stimulus” money into the states, the results continue to prove that Big Government spending does nothing but divert resources away from places that desperately need them.
Over the next five days we will continue examining the results of the “Summer of Recovery” and “Stimulus” in Virginia, Arizona, Oregon, Maryland and Kentucky. You can visit NetRightDaily.com each day to see what we uncover.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com.
