In 2009, Administration economists predicted that as a result of the Democrats’ trillion-dollar stimulus plan, the unemployment rate would never rise above 8 percent and would decline to 5 percent by mid-2013.  The unemployment rate then soared above 8 percent for over three years, and has only recently declined because millions of people have simply given up even looking for work and aren’t even counted anymore.  

Yesterday, the Administration released its budget proposal, which predicts what many have long known but that the Administration is only now revealing – that we may never reach their promised 5.0 percent unemployment rate:

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2009 Romer/Bernstein Report, and the President’s FY2014 Budget.

Further, the Administration now predicts we will only escape “high unemployment” (defined as 6 percent or higher) in 2017 – after President Obama has left office.  (Coincidence? We’ll let you be the judge.)

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