Much has been written about the motley crue of left wing radicals in President Obama’s administration. The most infamous example is perhaps Van Jones, once so proudly touted as an asset by Valerie Jarrett, he was ousted within days when the American people got wind of what he said and believed. Not much has been said or written, yet, about private sector experience of those surrounding President Obama. These are supposed to be the best and brightest that America has to offer. Looks more like the left and brightest that government has to offer.
Nick Schulz shares this great chart from JP Morgan,
The chart examines the prior private sector experience of the cabinet officials since 1900 that one might expect a president to turn to in seeking advice about helping the economy. It includes secretaries of State, Commerce, Treasury, Agriculture, Interior, Labor, Transportation, Energy, and Housing & Urban Development, and excludes Postmaster General, Navy, War, Health, Education & Welfare, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security—432 cabinet members in all.
Schulz observes,
When one considers that public sector employment has ranged since the 1950s at between 15 percent and 19 percent of the population, the makeup of the current cabinet—over 90 percent of its prior experience was in the public sector—is remarkable.
Remarkable is one word for it. Horrifying is another. Clarifying is a third. Why clarifying? Because it brings into relief why every solution coming out of the administration seems to expand the roles and responsibilities of the government at the expense of the private sector. It’s no wonder that the so-called stimulus bill was anything but. A couple of days before signing the bill President Obama said,
“I will sign this legislation into law shortly, and we’ll begin making the immediate investments necessary to put people back to work doing the work America needs done.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell disagreed by saying,
“A stimulus bill that was supposed to be timely, targeted and temporary is none of the above. And this means Congress is about to approve a stimulus that’s unlikely to have much stimulative effect.”
Nine months later, the unemployment rate is 17% higher than the administration’s predictions ( with stimulus passed unemployment would top off at 8.5%, currently it’s 10.2%) and 49 out of 50 states have higher unemployment. The number of jobs created “or saved” by the stimulus bill has become a running joke across the country.
To their credit, President Obama and his team of career bureaucrats have had some successes. For example, when it comes to unemployed per job posting in the top 50 U.S. metro areas, one city stands out above all others. That city, all the way to the left of the chart, is Washington DC. Given who is coming up with the solutons to our economic woes, it is not surprising that the home of government benefits first and most.
And for the dreaded private sector?
