Just had the dubious pleasure of hearing the Governor of Ohio on CNN boasting about his economic success and massive popularity in his state. While the whole interview wasn't softball, he got away clean with his boasts about his economic magic. The truth isn't so simple. A bit of data follows below the break.
But I'd also like to mention the respect shown by CNN stooges for Rick Santorum, described in glowing terms as the most credible Publican candidate. Unbelievable. Nobody mentions that he is an enemy of personal freedom, a religious fanatic, and a fierce opponent of science and modernity. He was followed by a weird report of Ms Fiorina stalking HRC, which handed her the publicity she so desperately sought. CNN allowed Fiorina to boast online about her executive expertise, which I recently reported on. Nobody called her on her well documented failure, and her place among the worst CEOs in history. Now Santorum is back again, boasting about (I feel my gorge rising) his support of American workers.
To examine Governor Kasich's claims about an Ohio economic miracle, I downloaded official US government data on non-farm employment from a mix of red and blue states, including west and easy coast, midwest, and southern states. I made no attempt to cherry pick, and have included the total US data. Let's start there. It's the top chart.
US non farm employment exceeded the peak pre- Bush Depression levels in late 2007-early 2008 early in 2014 and now exceeds those levels by 4,000,000 jobs, about 2.5% higher than the pre-depression peak. Similar plots for an assortment of states follows. In order, the plots are for Calfornia, New York, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.
The best recoveries by this measure were in large coastal blue states. The southern states did reasonably well, Florida outperforming Georgia. The midwest clearly did poorly; Indiana was better off than the other two. Ohio's job recovery most closely resembles Michigan. Ohio is the only state I looked at that has not yet attained early 2008 employment levels. Nobody sane is talking about the economic miracles of Georgia or Indiana. In fact, people in New York and California are not satisfied with their recoveries, which don't extend to all regions of those diverse states.
Why is it that people like Kasich get a free ride to claim credit for miracles that never happened? Why are losers like Santorum and Fiortina presented as if they were credible leaders?