Happy birthday, Barack

Happy birthday, Mr. President. You’re 52 today, still young enough to have plenty of fun on your birthday and we hope you enjoy it. Being the President is a tough job, and we wish you’d do it more often and much, much better.

Still, it is your birthday and everyone deserves a little R&R on their special day, just keep in mind that the rest of us probably won’t get it. You see, we’re too busy working extra hours to make up for the flat or declining wages of the past four years. We’re splitting time between two part-time jobs because we can’t find full-time work.

Why can’t we find full-time work? Well the health care reform law you signed forces nearly all employers to buy expensive health plans for full-time workers and as you can imagine, they don’t want to hire too many folks full-time.

Many Americans won’t get to throw themselves a big party this year. No rounds of golf with friends we flew in from Hawaii like you did this year, or star-studded concerts and parties like you threw yourself last year. Most folks will be too busy rebuilding the 401ks they lost in the recession – the one that supposedly ended four years ago.

You see, while you were busy throwing a bailout party for all your big business and Wall Street buddies you forgot to invite the rest of us. We didn’t get any of the billions you borrowed from China and that stimulus package you signed, well you really shouldn’t have.

Fifty-two isn’t a bad age to be, Mr. President, but it is the age when you’ve got to start paying real attention to your health. We’re glad you’ve got sterling health insurance and we hope you’re getting regular checkups.

We know it’s important to look after your health as you age, and it’s why the rest of us are worried. We’re worried because health insurance is going to get more expensive, a lot more expensive. Your health law is going to jack up premiums across the country and nobody out there in flyover country thinks Medicare or Social Security is going to be around much longer. We can all do the math.

Birthdays are also an occasion to spend time with family and loved ones, and you deserve to spend some time with your beautiful family. Our families deserve the best just like yours does, but we’re worried we can’t give it to them. Public education is failing – unaccountable teachers we have to pay but can’t fire are making our kids dumber. College is getting more expensive and you’ve made student loans easier to get – a policy that will only make the problem worse. You see, driving up demand only drives up cost – that’s basic economics.

Honestly, we all wish you the happiest of birthdays today. Enjoy your party, but please remember why the rest of us won’t be celebrating.

Matt Cover is Content Editor at Rare. Follow him on Twitter @MattCover