Who Won the Second Debate

As much as this blogger wants to give the second debate win to Romney, it's hard to say. Romney was doing an excellent job, but kept rambling and going on and on about certain subjects when he really should have made his statement and moved on. Even so, Obama was not doing much better. He seemed like a little kid who wanted to just be like, "told you so, see," especially after liberal moderator Crowley made her statement on Libya (which was so wrong and anyone who knew anything about the whole ordeal and how long it took for President Obama to say it was a terrorist attack knew she was wrong). However, did this hurt Romney, no and here's why.

Everyone knows these town hall debates are staged and the questions are known by much of the news crew before hand. Which makes it no more real than if Obama had his teleprompter in front of him. Having said that, the first question was about jobs. Romney's answer was good, but he needed to improve on explaining more specifics about his plan on job creation (of course, it's technically not the governments job to create jobs, its their job to make sure business's are able to come in and create jobs which is what Romney was essentially saying). Obama talked about manufacturing plants, and the first thought going through my head was, we go to college to get jobs outside of manufacturing plants (unless you're an engineer, in business management or human resources). If college students wanted manufacturing jobs, they would not be in college.

Throughout the debate, Obama continued to bring up points he mentioned in 2008. Points on how he will turn the economy around, and what about that girl's question on women's rights in the work place? Women are out of work thanks to the job fall out and in ability to afford childcare during Obama's Presidency, and Romney's "binder" statement has been taken way out of context. Also, what was that statement about the gas prices about. The gas prices were low because the country was going into a recession? What a stupid statement, but the worst was definitely when Crowley butted in about Libya. Although, even her help can't hide the fact that Obama was lying and continuously trying to campaign like he had a clean record.

Overall, after rereading many reports, watching excerpts from the debate and thinking about how each candidate answered, Romney may have won. Even so, does it really matter? The big debate on foreign policy is Monday and this is the debate to watch but for the most part, doesn't everyone know where these candidates stand?

Jobless Rate Falls

The big news is, the jobless numbers dropping below 8%. The real news, jobless numbers for graduating college students, unchanged. More than 45 million are still on food stamps. Annual wage increase has dropped. It is being reported that layoffs be delayed until after the elections (especially those involving the military and Department of Defense contractors). IT has also been noted that the numbers are contradictory, and many wonder how it is that only 114,000 jobs were added when the Government is saying over 800,000 found work. Of course, it is also important to remember those who have given up the job search or who are considered by the census not to be actively seeking employment, and that contractors do not count (however, it seems seasonal jobs count alot because this seems to happen around this time of year). Another reason being reported for the fall is due to the number of people who "left the workforce," and that many jobs were part-time (showing the desperate need for jobs).

On a personal note, many of my college friends are asking, where are these jobs? There are several people I know with Master degrees and a great job history that have not even had a job for a year or more. Some have had temp or part time jobs that pay way below what they were making before their job hunt began. Others, with Masters degrees, have decided to go back to college for another Bachelors degree in a field that seems to be popular when looking for jobs. On top of that, it can be noted that there are areas of the country where it is evident that jobs are scarce, and many who are considered over qualified are overlooked or not even considered. If the market is really growing, where is it growing? Also, where are the wage increases. There are people who have been working for the same amount of money for almost 2 years now, as they watch the price of food and gas sky rocket.

The real jobless number is well over 10% and there is still a huge discrepancy in the numbers. Could this be a campaign thing? Of course. It's funny how the numbers just seem to work out the month before the election, and after a debate in which the President totally didn't show up for.

Reference:

Seidl, J. October surprise: Unemployment drops to 7.8%-but skeptics abound. The Blaze, October 5, 2012.