“The steps we took early on to rescue our economy and rebuild it on a new foundation helped make 2014 the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s. All told, over a 57-month streak, our businesses have created nearly 11 million new jobs.”
President Obama opened his last press conference for 2014 with that boastful statement, and when he took questions, not a single White House correspondent challenged him on jobs or the economy, and the fact that the middle class isn’t experiencing the rosy picture he paints.
The president held his last press conference for 2014 and again wasn’t challenged by anyone in the press corps. (Muncievoice.com)
They could have queried him about the 70 million Americans who are not working, the miserable unemployment rate being experienced among Blacks, or perhaps, they could have asked him to explain the “new foundation” to which he referred.
I would have liked to have had the opportunity to ask him about the hiring of illegals. Earlier this month it was revealed that a loophole in the Affordable Health Care Act (ObamaCare) makes the five million illegal immigrants more attractive to businesses as new hires. Because the illegals are ineligible for ObamaCare, businesses wouldn’t be required to pay the $3,000 penalty for not providing them health coverage.
If you haven’t heard, government data shows that since 2000 all of the net gain in the number of working age people (16-65) holding a job has gone to immigrants (legal and illegal). Though there has been some recovery from the Great Recession, there were still fewer working age natives holding a job in the first quarter of this year than in 2000. Meanwhile the number of immigrants with a job was nearly six million above the 2000 level.
Interestingly, in New Hampshire, where Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) recently won reelection, 71 percent of the job growth went to foreign-born workers, including legal and illegal immigrants. Shaheen was a member of the Gang of Eight that unsuccessfully tried to push through a comprehensive immigration bill.
Can we expect the White House press corps to get a backbone next year? Don’t hold your breath.
