Jobs and the Economy

23.2 Million Americans Now Without Adequate Employment:  The total number of “underemployed” Americans is 23.2 million, including those unemployed (12.7 million), those who are no longer looking for work (2.4 million), and those who are working part-time because no other work is available (8.1 million).  The number of underemployed Americans in May was up by 500,000 from April.

Spending

President Obama’s Budget Fails 99-0 in the Senate:  Last month, President Obama’s FY2013 budget (the only Democrat plan voted on in the Democrat Senate) was embarrassingly voted down for the second year in a row by a vote of 99-0. This comes less than two months after the House rejected the president’s budget by a vote of 414-0 and 1,118 days since the Senate last fulfilled their legal obligation to pass a budget (April 29, 2009).  If no other alternatives exist, where is the Democrat plan for addressing America’s debt crisis?  After three years of unsustainable spending under Democrats, the national debt is now $15.7 trillion, the highest in history.  The U.S. national debt is now more than $50,000 for every one of the 315 million men, women, and children in the U.S.

Medicare

Aging Key Factor in Need for Structural Reform:  CBO’s Long-Term Budget Outlook for 2012 released last week shows in no uncertain terms that a slow-down in Medicare cost growth would be insufficient to protect Medicare from eventual bankruptcy.  The report reveals that an ever-increasing aging population will be responsible for more than half (52%) of cost growth in major health care programs, including Medicare, over the next 25 years under CBO’s extended alternative fiscal scenario; and even 60% under CBO’s extended baseline scenario.