Has anyone seen this economic recovery I hear so much about?

The stock market is climbing and the Obama administration is pointing out all these jobs that are being created. I have heard reports of home prices rising and profits returning to companies that have been barely hanging on. On the other hand, I myself see more foreclosures, rising unemployment, and more banks and hometown stores going out of business. It appears to me that politicians and the news reporters are trying to blow smoke up our ass. I don't believe none of it. With rising unemployment comes higher unemployment taxes on businesses who have had layoffs. Do you really think that they can afford to hire new employees when they are barely making it and having to pay higher taxes. I'll give you a good example of how the economy is doing. I have been in construction for 10 years and have journeyman status in 3 crafts. I don't get many calls for work these days so I was excited when I did get a call from a recruiter. I was working out of town at a low paying job, but it was a job atleast, when my cell phone rang. She told me all sorts of good things like: the job is 10 miles from your house, 3 month duration, and for a Boilermaker craft. "Great" I said, "how much does it pay"? My mouth dropped when she told me. The job paid $18/hr and on top of that, we had to pay for our own drug test. Ok, for those of you who think $18/hr is good, its not. $18/hr was top pay 10 years ago and what most apprentices are paid now, and who ever heard of an employee having to pay for their own drug test. Average pay for journeyman is around $30/hr, or it was anyway. The bad thing about this is their were people lined up to take the job because of the lack of work. When people are forced to take jobs at almost half of their normal pay, 2 things happen. You either get a crew of unskilled workers that lied to get the job, which in turn makes the jobsite unsafe, or you get a crew of angry skilled workers that aren't going to do a damn thing because they are getting paid helper wages. Texas Workforce offices are still packed with job seekers along with most recruiter offices. Things are not better Obama, and the only way to make it better is job creation. Tax breaks are cool, but people have to earn money from a JOB before they are entitled to tax breaks.