Progressives' War on the Economy

Several recent articles illustrate the painful economic consequences of liberal-progressive rule. Contrast these against the final article below showing the economy of Texas under conservative rule.

Real Household Incomes Fall 5.9% Under Obama — "From this analysis, Americans have lost real income gains during an economic recovery for the first time in American history."

ObamaCare Slows Hiring, Raises Prices in 5 States: Fed Survey — "In a Philadelphia Fed survey of regional manufacturers out Thursday, 18% said they employ fewer workers due to the Affordable Care Act than they would in its absence. Just 3% say employment levels are higher as a result. Further, 18% said part-timers make up a greater share of workers due to ObamaCare ... just 1.5% said they've scaled back part-time work in response."

Government Dependency in America Nears Tipping Point -- "New data on federal public assistance programs show we've reached an ignominious milestone: More than 100 million Americans are getting some form of 'means-tested' welfare assistance..." [chart right].

Now consider this from AEIdeas:

Chart of the Day: Texas Jobs — "The chart tells a powerful and important story about the strength of the Texas economy, which has experienced an employment increase of more than 1.3 million workers since late 2007. In contrast, civilian employment in the other 49 states is still almost 1.3 million jobs below the December 2007 level!"

Conservatives: Don't Panic

After Mitt Romney's loss, there's been plenty of talk about how demographic trends will require Republicans to move to the center if they want to capture the White House, writes John Merline at IBD. What's missing from all this handwringing is the fact that conservatives today account for a bigger share of voters than they did when Reagan won his 1980 landslide.

He uses exit polling data to make these points:

• The country remains center-right:  In 1980, 32% of voters were conservative, according to exit polls at the time. By 1996, when Clinton won reelection, that share had risen to 33%. This year, exit polls show that 35% of voters are conservative, far more than 25% who identify themselves as liberal. The share of moderates has remained relatively steady at 40% to 45%.
• Voters haven't suddenly decided they love big government. Voters who say government is doing too much climbed from 43% in 2008 to 51% in 2012. 
• This election exposed a glaring disconnect between voters' ideology and the person they picked to run the country.  51% say the federal government is too big and does too much, 52% said the country is seriously off track; 63% said taxes should not be raised to help cut the deficit; and almost half want ObamaCare repealed either in whole or in part. Yet substantial portions of these conservative-leaning voters actually cast their ballots for Obama, the one candidate who opposes them on each of these issues.

Concludes Merline:

All this suggests that if conservatives want to win presidential elections, they don't need to dust off their "compassionate conservative" hats, or make peace with high taxes and an intrusive federal state.

They do, however, need to learn how to communicate with today's voters and help them understand how a limited federal government and a thriving private sector will deliver unmatched prosperity to everyone.

Read the full article here, and bookmark Investor's Business Daily for always reliably insightful articles.