Jobs 

October Unemployment 9%:  In yet another sign that President Obama’s economic policies have failed, the unemployment rate for the month of October was 9%, marking the 28^th month under President Obama that the unemployment rate has been 9% or higher.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment grew by 80,000 in October which is 78,000 less than September and far below the 150,000 new jobs that BLS says are necessary each month just to keep pace with population growth.

Spending

FY 2011 Spending and Deficits:  CBO recently released its monthly budget report for September, the final month of fiscal year 2011.  According to CBO, 36 cents out of every dollar the federal government spent came from borrowed money.  The U.S. deficit in FY 2011 is greater than the total amount of borrowing from 1789 to 1982—a period covering 194 years.  The FY 2011 deficit is greater than the GDP of more than 90% of the world’s countries including Mexico, Australia, and South Korea.  The FY 2011 deficit is larger than 48 of our 50 state economies (all except California and Texas).   

Medicare

Cost is Unsustainable Regardless of Additional Revenues:  Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM), and Dr. Alice Rivlin, co-chairs of the Bipartisan Policy Center Debt Reduction Task Force, stated in testimony last week to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction “the principal driver of future federal deficits is the rapidly mounting cost of Medicare. The huge growth in the number of eligible seniors over the coming years is due to both increasing longevity and the retirement of the baby boomers. Then, that beneficiary growth is multiplied by continuing increases in the cost of health care. Without a significant change in this trend, the cost of Medicare will continue to rise faster than the economy can possibly grow. Even if revenues are raised and other spending is restrained…the exploding cost of Medicare is unsustainable.”