There is the predictable woofing coming from the White House on the heels of the Commerce Department report that joblessness has stagnated in the 9+% range. Most wouldn’t think that is a great accomplishment but I guess you have to look for the good news where you can find it.
“This morning, we received additional signs that the worst may be behind us,” Obama said.
“We are losing jobs at less than half the rate we were when I took office. We have pulled the financial system back from the brink.
“While we have rescued our economy from catastrophe, we have also begun to build a new foundation for growth,” Obama said, but he also warned that tough times lay ahead before the economy would be restored to full prosperity.
The facts speak for themselves. There has been a loss of 2.87 million private sector jobs on Mr. Obama’s watch. The number of Americans who have been without work for at least 27 weeks, and are still bothering to look, has increased by a bonejarring 88%. The number not bothering to look stands at 796,000, oddly enough roughly the same as the population of Indianapolis, reflecting an 8.4% increase since January.
Or in the words of Robert Reich:
The economy is getting worse more slowly. That’s just about the only clear reading that’s coming from the economic reports, including this morning’s important one on employment.
This kind of cheap hucksterism is going to come back to haunt Obama. We’re shedding private sector jobs at an alarming rate and the only reason the current month’s unemployment rate dropped was because the public sector added some jobs, the auto industry had shuttered factories earlier in the summer, and some 2.3 million Americans have simply been deleted from the rolls of job seekers. None of these events are sustainable. Nothing here represents a viable economic policy. No catastrophe has been averted. As my old man would say in response to a statement like this, “don’t feed me baby**** and tell me it’s butterscotch.”
Dan McLaughlin
Moe Lane
Neil Stevens
Steve Maley
So...
NightTwister (Diary) Friday, August 7th at 4:01PM EST (link)5.5% unemployment is a depression (May 2008, remember the campaign rhertoric), but 9.4% is a recovery?
They aren’t even moving the goalposts anymore. They’ve been completely removed.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. – Winston Churchill
Well....*yeah*. Can't you count?
eburke (Diary) Friday, August 7th at 5:46PM EST (link)I mean, 9.4 is less than….
wait a minute….
I’m *so* confused…
“All that need be done for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
Unified Patriots
Tell that to the 250,000 that lost their jobs
izoneguy (Diary) Friday, August 7th at 4:21PM EST (link)What a time – Obama says the economy is recovering while ONLY
250,000 lost their jobs…..
Mr. President – the economy will never recover under your Marxist economic theories.
Please resign now – and take Joe & Nancy with you.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
I'll spare you the "I told you so"
Bill S (Diary) Friday, August 7th at 5:42PM EST (link)but….
I did.
There was not a doubt in my mind that any number that bore even a remote resemblance to good news would be reason for Kitten to claim that his stimulus was working and that the end of the economic crisis is near.
“It’s such a fine line between stupid, and clever.” – David St. Hubbins
Smells more like 1984 to me
GarWil Friday, August 7th at 5:47PM EST (link)After listening to part of his statement today I told my husband that they could have put up a recording of what he said months ago and there would be virtually no difference. The “same old tired rhetoric” about which Obama loves to complain is his own. He hasn’t had a new idea to share since his campaign days. What he does have to say is nothing but fluff and obvious but empty generalizations.
I wouldn’t be surprised if and when he comes up with something new it will be to tell us that our chocolate rations have been increased by 25% rather than cut by 25%. Doubleplusgood, eh what?!
Well, GarWil, when you say
TNJim (Diary) Friday, August 7th at 8:01PM EST (link)that you told your husband that they could have put up a recording of what he said months ago and there would be virtually no difference just remember he’s a campaigner stuck in perpetual campaign mode. It’s all he knows how to do, it’s all he’s ever done. He certainly can’t lead, unless it’s to lead us deeper into the hole.
Ah, for the “catastrophe” that was 5.5% unemployment.
There is more unemployment than you might think...
Viator Friday, August 7th at 8:26PM EST (link)US unemployment and it’s measurement
U3: Official unemployment rate per ILO definition. What most of us think of as the unemployment rate.
U4: U3 + “discouraged workers”, or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.
U5: U4 + other “marginally attached workers”, or “loosely attached workers”, or those who “would like” and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.
U6: U5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons.
The SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated “discouraged workers” defined away during the Clinton Administration added to the existing BLS estimates of level U-6 unemployment.
http://www.shadowstats.com/imgs/sgs-emp.gif
thanks for the tutorial, slick
streiff (Diary) Saturday, August 8th at 7:57AM EST (link)If you read the story, yoiu’d recognize a few of those terms.
“What keeps me here is the reek of beer, the ladies and the craic”
We have pulled the financial system back from the brink
izoneguy (Diary) Saturday, August 8th at 1:05AM EST (link)Not so fast there slick -
Fannie Mae seeks $10.7 billion in new US aid after posting $15.2 billion second-quarter loss
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fannie-Mae-seeks-107B-in-US-apf-3979081619.html?x=0&.v=10
In all the whirlwind of news today this kinda got lost….
Obama wanted to bury this ugly little fact…..
If National Health Care passes – America will be seeking $10 Billion per week to shore up all of the costs to “insure” every American.
Bottom line? America is broke and we just cannot afford it.
Something has to give…..
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
Also
Husker (Diary) Sunday, August 9th at 3:30AM EST (link)Wait until the next round of Alt – A’s, Option ARM’s, and Unsecuritized ARM’s become due from about May 2010 lasting 18 months until November 2011. How many of these do Freddie and Fannie hold?
Will it be as bad as the subprime meltdown that crashed the markets? That will be the trillion dollar question.
I know I won’t get back in the markets until after all this hashes out.
I can't wait to pull out my pom poms and
dsmurf (Diary) Saturday, August 8th at 12:17PM EST (link)start begging for more Orwellian statements from our new King on our busiest street corner.
I think the market is rallying on in inverse proportion to Obama poll numbers and whether or not their taxes go up.
In the words of Karl Rove
avgamerican (Diary) Sunday, August 9th at 2:42AM EST (link)If the economy has stabilized while only 10% of the stimulus bill has been spent, then why did Obama and the dems want an $800 billion stimulus?