Jobs Report Is Dismal
The jobs report is out and it’s bad news. I said last night that the official unemployment rate was 8.3%. This morning it’s 8.1%. Good news? Uh, no. The figure reflects people looking for work, and it appears more people have given up. From noted right-wing shill CNN:
The labor market lost momentum last month as job growth fell to a disappointingly slow pace.
The unemployment rate fell, but that was largely due to people who stopped looking for jobs.
The economy added 96,000 jobs in August, down from 141,000 jobs in July, the Department of Labor said Friday.
Economists polled by CNNMoney were expecting 120,000 jobs to be added in the month.Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 8.1%, from 8.3% in July.
The drop in unemployment was caused because 368,000 people stopped looking for work and therefore were no longer counted in the survey.
Barack Obama and Bill Clinton can talk and talk and talk. But the facts speak for themselves, and the story they tell is not pretty. More from James Pethokoukis.
Thanks to elissa and gary gulrud.
Ding.
Patterico (83033d) — 9/7/2012 @ 7:40 amThe Man can stop the rise of the oceans, but he can’t stop the rise of the unemployment.
Elephant Stone (65d289) — 9/7/2012 @ 7:50 amNot to worry, Dems. The First Lady is on the case.
Michelle Obama: People ‘growing to understand’ Obama’s accomplishments
The Dems are executing their media strategy of just completely ignoring reality in favor of their own preferred narrative, and calling Romney and Ryan liars whenever the truth comes out of their mouths.
Steve57 (40573d) — 9/7/2012 @ 7:53 amThose of us who have the misfortune of being on the DNC’s email list have received something like three email messages from Bill Clinton over the past few days. Can someone remind me again who their nominee is for President?
JVW (edec8d) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:10 amBush’s fault.
Rodney King's Spirit (aeda60) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:12 amThe more information we get, the worse this looks. June and July jobs numbers revised down; losses in every sector; four Americans drop out for every one new job; and an effective unemployment rate of 11.2%.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:14 amProbably the first and last time I’ll ever cite Peggy Noonan:
WSJ: The Democrats’ Soft Extremism
I have to admit I was surprised when I realized the Democrats weren’t even going to try to spin the facts in their favor. That was the weekend of O’Malley v. O’Malley, when the MD governor at first agreed that, no, Americans aren’t better off than when Obama took over but it’s all Bush’s fault. Then he was taken to the woodshed, and the next day he was onboard with the program, saying Americans were in fact better off.
The racism was to be expected, but it could have worked with either strategy. As in, “the only reason you’re blaming Obama for Bush’s failures is because Bush is white and you’re a racist.”
But instead, they’ve decided to go with, “you’re really better off and the only reason you keep citing those bogus statistics and those meaningless personal experiences such as how you’re making less money and are being squeezed by high prices is because you’re racist. You just can’t stand having to thank a powerful black man in a leadership position for your good fortune.”
Wow.
It could work, I suppose, if the media is all in the tank. And much of it is. But I think it all would have to be in the tank. When Anderson Cooper and his panel is openly laughing at the DNC chairwoman, saying she lives in an alternate universe, when she tells a reporter that we really didn’t see what we all saw on the convention floor, that breaks whatever spell the rest of the Democratic-media complex is trying to conjure.
Steve57 (40573d) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:14 amBut the Captain of the Titanic says we’re headed in the right direction.
CrustyB (69f730) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:14 amCNN’s Brianna Keilor: Shouldn’t we turn so we don’t hit that iceberg?
DWS: It is Captain Obama’s personal view that there is no iceberg. Our course reflects his personal view. And I am proud of our Captain and his strong commitment to the safety of this ship,the passengers, and the success of this voyage.
CNN’s Brianna Keilor: Who gives a s***! We’re heading right for that iceberg.
DWS: You don’t see an iceberg.
CNN’s Brianna Keilor: Yes I do, it’s right there in front of us, big as a mountain.
DWS: No you don’t.
CBC Chairman Emanuel Cleaver: Racist!
Steve57 (40573d) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:20 amIt could work, I suppose, if the media is all in the tank. And much of it is. But I think it all would have to be in the tank. When Anderson Cooper and his panel is openly laughing at the DNC chairwoman, saying she lives in an alternate universe, when she tells a reporter that we really didn’t see what we all saw on the convention floor, that breaks whatever spell the rest of the Democratic-media complex is trying to conjure.
Sort of cries out for recycling the late Christopher Hitchens’ classic summation of the Clinton years: No one left to lie to.
JVW (edec8d) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:21 am____________________________________________
Barack Obama and Bill Clinton can talk and talk and talk.
I don’t think it’s being too glib or sarcastic — and that’s what unnerves me — to muse that a certain percentage of the left in America would love to respond to harsh reality in a way similar to (and are chomping at the bit to emulate) what’s going on in Argentina, with their current version of Eva Peron.
Mark (e03145) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:27 am#11 Sadly Argentines are Leftists. So no surprise.
Surprise, they keep getting loans which get squandered and they get indignant when they have to pay back and then get religion and then lose it then get it and then squander again.
Just pathetic really.
Rodney King's Spirit (aeda60) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:30 am“First lady Michelle Obama said Thursday that people are “growing to understand” just how much better off the country is now than it was four years ago.”
People at the top of the political food chain, that are riding on the taxpayer dime (like Ms. Obama) are doing better (endless rounds of golf, multi-million dollar vacations to Spain and whatnot). Those of us who are paying for these parasites, and aren’t getting all kinds of government handouts, aren’t better off.
Dave Surls (46b08c) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:37 amGreat quote, JVW.
Re the jobs report, I guess people are now anticipating the Bernank is firing up the printing presses! When in the history of the world has this ever worked??? Are these people insane?
Patricia (e1d89d) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:48 amOne thing the Dems and the Obama administration have “accomplished” with the hundreds of billions of dollars they’ve stolen is that they helped Mexican drug gangs acquire thousands of weapons, so they could murder dozens of people and bolster their drug smuggling operations.
Nice work Dems. You probably sewed up the crackhead vote with that bold federal government program.
Dave Surls (46b08c) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:54 amFirst lady Michelle Obama said Thursday that people are “growing to understand” just how much better off the country is now than it was four years ago.
I fear this will be how the Obama group in particular (and Democrats in general) proceed should the win another term. They have worked to make us more like a European social welfare state, so once we have the chronic unemployment and anemic growth that those states have traditionally had, the Obamas and their media allies will assure us that this is the new normal and “the price of progress.” Hey, their rationale will go, it’s true that unemployment may never again be under 8%, but at least you now have health care coverage including contraception. Congratulations to us on becoming the newest honorary member of the European Union.
JVW (edec8d) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:54 amThe best journalist in the Murdoch empire?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443686004577635422609097482.html?mod=rss_opinion_main
You’re very welcome.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/7/2012 @ 9:08 am“February 20, 2012”
“First lady Michelle Obama’s weekend jaunt to Aspen, Colorado for a President’s Day ski holiday with her daughters Sasha and Malia makes the 16th time members of the first family have gone on extended vacations during their three years in office.”
Some people are sure better off.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/michelles-ski-trip-marks-16-obama-vacations/article/294051
Sadly, the poor Obamas had to cancel their annual (paid for by the taxpayers) summer trip to Martha’s Vineyard this year, not because President Vacation had work to do, but so he could campaign for re-election.
Things are tough all over.
Dave Surls (46b08c) — 9/7/2012 @ 9:13 am(Shameless plug)
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 9/7/2012 @ 9:21 amAs I point out on my new blog, there is a jobs number that Obama does NOT want to talk about: the disability rolls which have increased twice as fast as jobs since the “recovery” started.
_____________________________________________
When the left (and others—since envy knows no boundaries) bemoans the wealth of private-sector individuals and operations, at least in almost all cases — private utilities that supply electricity, as one exception — I’m not required or FORCED to pay for their salaries and perks.
But when it comes to just about all politicians (even LA’s former mayor, multi-millionaire Richard Riordan, took a small token stipend) and public-sector workers, I’m mandated (repeat: mandated) to pay for their salaries and perks, including huge pension benefits that are bankrupting cities and states throughout the US.
Worse of all, I may not get diddly squat from the government for just about all of the “goods” or services they’re offering but that I’m obligated to pay for.
Mark (e03145) — 9/7/2012 @ 9:44 amI suspect that one of the things that the Public Employee Party doesn’t like about Ryan’s Medicare vouchers is that the management of Medicare would go to private insurance companies and there would be a lot fewer government jobs at the Social Security administration.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 9/7/2012 @ 9:54 amNow add in all those aborted who would now be of earning age.
On the flip side, subtract out all those votes BHO loses from all those minorities aborted.
Ed from SFV (68f015) — 9/7/2012 @ 10:31 amI wonder about that, ed.
A lot of kids grow up to have completely opposite views to their parents. I wonder if that tendency is greater among kids whose parents would consider murdering them. that kind of selfishness has to manifest in other ways, too.
It’s probably not enough to change the powerful trends in some demographics to vote one way or the other, but who knows? How many pivotal leaders never had a chance to make a big splash on this country’s discourse because their mom aborted them?
Dustin (73fead) — 9/7/2012 @ 10:35 amNo worries, Patterico. Shortly some trolls will be by to explain that the numbers aren’t bad, were worse under Bush (somehow), and besides, squirrel!
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 9/7/2012 @ 10:44 amIt will be interesting to see (from SocSecAdmin) how many of those 368K who dropped out of the labor market have signed-up for SSDI, therefore continuing their receipt of government funds for not working.
AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (b8ab92) — 9/7/2012 @ 11:07 am“…One thing the Dems and the Obama administration have “accomplished” with the hundreds of billions of dollars they’ve stolen is that they helped Mexican drug gangs acquire thousands of weapons, so they could murder
dozenshundreds of people and bolster their drug smuggling operations…”FTFY, Dave.
AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (b8ab92) — 9/7/2012 @ 11:10 amHow low can global depression go?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443686004577635422609097482.html?mod=rss_opinion_main
German exports off 25%, imports from US off 7.5%, Japan, South Korea and China similarly idle.
Australia is in near panic and forecasters say the bottom in commodity prices will come in 2015!
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/7/2012 @ 11:28 amThe Empty Suit(tm) president has given up trying to improve our economy – after spending very little effort or political capital on it at all.
The post-administration books may be interesting to find out what Obama wasted his time on, when not golfing.
SPQR (d67f98) — 9/7/2012 @ 11:41 amAugust lost 120K of July’s employed and we’re “continuing recovery”?
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/09/07/White-house-Says-Economy-Improving
WTF?
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/7/2012 @ 11:46 amELECT Hussain Obama and
Dave Albaugh (15e229) — 9/7/2012 @ 12:00 pmget more similar news
Not to point out the obvious about the Democrat’s “accomplishments,” but it’s really easy to afford $9/month contraception when gasoline costs less than $4.00 a gallon.
You don’t need to stay on your parents’ health insurance until age 26 if you have a full-time job with benefits once you graduate college.
You don’t need food stamps if you can afford your own groceries.
Unless I’m the crazy one, all of the Obama “accomplishments” underscore how terrible a President he has been. None of this stuff matters during boom times.
bridget (a44b32) — 9/7/2012 @ 12:10 pmIt will be interesting to see (from SocSecAdmin) how many of those 368K who dropped out of the labor market have signed-up for SSDI, therefore continuing their receipt of government funds for not working.
Try here for a long explanation, and here for a quick graphic.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 9/7/2012 @ 12:12 pmComment by SPQR — 9/7/2012 @ 11:41 am
Hasn’t Final Four mania gone 24/7/365?
AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (b8ab92) — 9/7/2012 @ 12:21 pmRight, Kevin, but will the major media even mention it?
AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (b8ab92) — 9/7/2012 @ 12:22 pmDoubtful, as it destroys the narrative.
The Washington Post had the audacity to publish an opinion piece from Robert Rector completely demolishing the Obama Administration’s claims that it did not gut the work requirement of welfare reform.
It is raining frogs where I live.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/7/2012 @ 1:07 pmThis jobs report really shouldn’t be a surprise.
The Euro zone is slipping into a serious recession (the ECB just now truied to come to the rescue) and this immediately impacts on the United States.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 9/7/2012 @ 2:20 pmComment by gary gulrud — 9/7/2012 @ 11:46 am
29.August lost 120K of July’s employed and we’re “continuing recovery”?
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/09/07/White-house-Says-Economy-Improving
WTF?
They never go by one month’s statistics.
They’ll continue to say recovery till the day the National Bureau of Economic Research pronounces that we are in a recession.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 9/7/2012 @ 2:23 pmWell put.
They are doling out crumbs. I guess if they feel it generates dependency on government, the big picture cost doesn’t matter as much.
This reminds me of a video I saw on Kevin’s blog where Margaret Thatcher expresses her discontent with a socialist’s preference for a world where the poor are poorer and the rich are less rich, so long as the gap between the groups is smaller.
That is the direction we’ve been on for the past few years. No group is better off for all of this, but that’s not the point.
Dustin (73fead) — 9/7/2012 @ 2:27 pmComment by Elephant Stone — 9/7/2012 @ 7:50 am
The Man can stop the rise of the oceans, but he can’t stop the rise of the unemployment.
He’s no longer hoping to stop the rise of the oceans, just droughts and floods and wildfires.
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/06/160713941/transcript-president-obamas-convention-speech
my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet, because climate change is not a hoax. More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 9/7/2012 @ 2:29 pmThis White House will finally acknowledge the Obama Recession on 20 Jan 13, when they all go down to file for unemployment.
AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (b8ab92) — 9/7/2012 @ 2:53 pmAmericans stop looking for work because the federal government has policies that are downright evil.
* All IT jobs go to India or Indians with H1B visa.
* All call center jobs go to India.
* All oil and gas jobs to anywhere but America
* All manufacturing jobs go to China
* All manual labor jobs go to illegal aliens.
* All government jobs go to cronies.
NO WONDER people cannot find work!
BeeKay (045e37) — 9/7/2012 @ 4:07 pmHow many people retire each month? They would legitimately account for some of this workforce shrinkage. I hope they are not lumped in with those who stopped looking for work.
Amphipolis (e01538) — 9/7/2012 @ 4:46 pmif ya didn’t know he had teh slut vote, you do now:
http://www.france24.com/en/20120907-madonna-backs-obama-literally
Colonel Haiku (0927a3) — 9/7/2012 @ 4:54 pmAmphibolis: According th this article Baby Boomer retirees account for about 5% of the “no longer looking for work” number.
kaf (81bcc7) — 9/7/2012 @ 5:54 pmAmphipolis, they don’t account for the shrinkage of the workforce because they are replaced by graduating young people looking for work. But also because retirees are actually not leaving the workforce as fast as they want to ….
SPQR (26be8b) — 9/7/2012 @ 6:07 pmAlthough the effect should be about complete, the 99 week limit has been breached state by state for a couple of months now.
The Ogabe Admin actually accelerated cutting states off of Federal matches so that these myriads would be off U3 numbers as in todays exit of 370K.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/7/2012 @ 6:14 pmSome Donk pollsters are touting the Bubba bounce.
I think Ace noted these polls do not weight His Unbearable Lightness and the Unemployment Report.
So also, Silver notes, likely voter screens are now in place. Some on the Reservation will temporarily pass the screens and bloat the Dog and Punky act’s numbers.
On the 20th Greece has to pay its rent. We shall see just how much Bennie’s Bestest Bud Draghi wants Germany in the EU.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/7/2012 @ 6:22 pmFirst time I’ve seen the actual mechanism of the Chinese stimulus.
Bend over, as far as you can with your head between your knees and kiss your azz goodbye, Uncle.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/7/2012 @ 6:35 pm$4.25 for a gallon for gas (in California), millions of Americans out of work for many years, millions more working at low paying jobs they are way over qualified for, and the democrats have some nasty looking middle aged “unleash woman” complaining about not getting her “free” birth control (that real working underpaid overqualified people would be paying for) and when that only costs about $9.00 bucks a month?
If I could steal an old SLN phrase “Jane (or whatever her name is) you ignorant slut”…
MSL (f060a0) — 9/7/2012 @ 6:54 pmIf you vote for a democrat in this election cycle, you are that Jane (or whatever your name is).
I resent the widely repeated falsehood that those no longer counted in the labor force “have stopped looking for work.” There is no evidence of that and never has been.
Instead, they are unemployed workers whose benefits have been exhausted and, at two years, who government finds most convenient to drop from the list to make employment look better. There has never been any attempt to measure whether any of them are actually “discouraged workers” or have even “stopped looking” at all.
Estragon (13e813) — 9/7/2012 @ 7:24 pmEstragon
I agree. And I can’t but wonder what the “real unemployment rate” would be without the gimmicks. I wonder what that rate would look like if folks like myself who were formally self-employed and off the books as in can’t get unemployment and those who have run the course of their unemployment insurance. Would it be as much as 20% or more?
As you say and others like DJR have said, the real unemployment is much, much higher. Because as you know the government accounting tricks drop a portion of the unemployed they claim are no longer looking for work. When we still want and need to provide the basic essentials for our families. Basic essentials such as food and then housing, everything else can take a flying leap at this point.
Its no wonder that food stamps are at an all time high…..
MSL (f060a0) — 9/7/2012 @ 7:49 pmIt will be interesting to see (from SocSecAdmin) how many of those 368K who dropped out of the labor market have signed-up for SSDI, therefore continuing their receipt of government funds for not working.
And actually, given the 4.7 million who got onto disability between June 2009 and April 2012, the average is 140K/month which is generally larger than the number of new jobs.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:09 pmI picked the wrong time to give up payroll tax withholding!
Drunk Obama (e1d89d) — 9/7/2012 @ 8:33 pmComment by MSL — 9/7/2012 @ 7:49 pm
If you use the Labor Force Participation Rate that existed at the start of 2009 for today, the Official UE Rate would be 11.2%, not counting the components of U6.
AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (2bb434) — 9/7/2012 @ 10:52 pmhttp://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/09/the-awful-awful-august-jobs-report/
I heard Biden brag about all the private sector jobs his administration have created.
Only thing is that more private sector jobs have gone away.
Obama gets all the credit here.
AZ Bob (1c9631) — 9/7/2012 @ 11:02 pmEven if the claim of 12,000,000 jobs over the next 4 years were true (see newsbusters talking about NBC’s rebuttal to Ryan’s claim here),it still wouldn’t create a recovery.
Like the Carter years, no matter that it finally turned around, those years of productivity and financial gain were LOST to the American People and were never regained.
Now we’re at it again only worse and they think we can get out of this in only a few years? It’s easy to cut a job, it’s very difficult to create the circumstances that require a new job to exist.
There are those unemployed now who will die much poorer (and thus a burden on society) than they would’ve otherwise.
Clinton brags about HIS economy. What liar. The economy was recovering when he got elected, the country was also starting to reap the benefits of the collapse of the USSR AND the Republican Congress held spending down. (too bad they couldn’t do that during Bush’s tenure after 2000)
If this is the best that even Ryan can come up with then we are well and truly screwed because 12 meg jobs in 4 years does not a recovery make. (don’t get me wrong it’s better and more accurate than any promises or guesses by Obama.)
Jcw46 (b4329c) — 9/7/2012 @ 11:48 pm49. The link via Insty:
http://thediplomat.com/2012/09/07/are-chinese-banks-hiding-the-mother-of-all-debt-bombs/
The mind is gone, sorry.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/8/2012 @ 4:52 am#57, So Chinese Workers are better off taking US IOUs than Chinese IOUs. I knew that all along. Why do you think China keeps taking our dollar bills in exchange for their output? Chinese don’t have a consumption side of their economy to justify their own output and capital spending. If they did, Beijing would not be allowing the trade surplus, it would keep its output for its people’s material well being.
Rodney King's Spirit (aeda60) — 9/8/2012 @ 6:39 amRemember Katrina? Remember New Orleans?
The number of people who gave up looking for work in August was more than the entire population — every man, woman, and child — who lives in New Orleans.
Beldar (eed156) — 9/8/2012 @ 8:10 amThe number of people who’ve given up looking for work in the twelve months is greater than the entire population of Chicago.
Beldar (eed156) — 9/8/2012 @ 8:12 am^^^ “in the last twelve months,” I meant.
Beldar (eed156) — 9/8/2012 @ 8:12 amThe number of people who’ve gone onto Social Security Disability since the recession officially ended in June 2009 is larger than the populations of Wyoming, D.C., Vermont, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska and Delaware put together.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 9/8/2012 @ 8:29 amSammy, Obama has done just fine creating this mess all on his own. It wasn’t the eurozone crisis, the Japanese tsunami, instability in the ME, or whatever the excuse du jour is.
As a matter of fact, it is more logical to say that the stagnant US economy has exacerbated the eurozone crisis than the other way around.
When Obama came into office and announced that now is not the time for profits (“there will be a time…”) my initial impression was that he had effectively announced that there would be no economic recovery on his watch.
The fact that he largely ignored the economy to exploit various crises to “fundamentally transform” the US confirmed my initial impression.
I’ll pick a forgotten crisis he exploited; the BP oil spill. We are told by the Democratic-media complex’s Praetorian guard that R & R are lying every time Ryan does something like misattribute Reagan’s 30+ year old “are you better off” quote to a convention speech instead of a presidential debate.
But they’ve never asked a bunch of experts to review and sign off on a document, only to change parts of the document later to make it look like these authorities agreed with something they never saw.
Like the administrations oil drilling moratorium in the Gulf and off the coasts.
Experts Say White House ‘Misrepresented’ Views to Justify Drilling Moratorium Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/10/experts-say-obama-misrepresented-views-justify-offshore-drilling-ban/#ixzz25tQM64Mz
This is not to say that Obama’s reengineering of the US hasn’t had effects on the economy; they have and the effects have all been disastrous. Obama’s administration is not only the most dishonest (he makes Nixon look like a paragon of virtue) and secretive (he accepted a transparency-in-government award in a secret, unannounced ceremony closed to the press and public) administration in history, it is the most economically oblivious group of potheads ever to run the country.
You can tell when he tries to proclaim that a President can’t do anything to lower gas prices in the short term he has no clue as to how a futures market works (to borrow a phrase, the futures market has an immediate impact on prices). You can tell when he blames instability in the ME for bad economic news his dim little brain can’t make the connection (or if it can, he imagines no one else can) between his policies and the fact that it’s only due to him we are even so exposed to the effects of instability in the ME.
High fuel costs drive up the costs of everything. Fuel is used at every level of production and then bringing products to market. Everything costs more, thanks to Obama. And only profitable businesses hire. What business is going to hire when their own costs go up, as well as having less income because their customers have less to spend due high fuel costs?
All Obama would have to do is change his policies toward oil production and projects such as the Keystone pipeline and oil prices would drop tomorrow. Since traders would be assured of a steady supply of oil in the future, instead of being forced to rely on unstable sources per Obama’s current policies.
Of course, Obama is too clueless to be aware of this. Such is his combination of arrogance and ignorance, you couldn’t even persuade him of it. This economic idiot is convinced he’s a genius.
As we found when he told the CEOs of John Deere, Caterpillar, et al, they were lying when they protested they’d have to announce billion dollar losses if ObamaCare passed in its current form.
That’s another story. Point is, Obama may not have individually created this economic mess (he certainly contributed to it as Senator). But as President he exploited it and, in doing so, made it much, much worse.
All on his own. He didn’t need any help from the European. Hell, he’s pursuing the some policies as those idiots who’ve created the Eurozone crisis. The people who created the Euro, in fact, created a monetary system designed to fail. So they’d have a crisis of their own to exploit, in order to demand that member states give up their sovereignty. This crisis wasn’t just foreseeable, it was inevitable and in the view of its engineers desirable.
That’s why they gave Obama a Nobel Peace Prize. They recognize a fellow-traveler when they see one.
This economy is Obama’s doing. No one else’s.
Of course,
Steve57 (40573d) — 9/8/2012 @ 9:00 amseriously… has anyone ever seen these two in the same room?
http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/holmesandco
/files/2011/08/brave-thinkers-elizabeth-warren-wide.jpg
http://www.wallofshemp.com/images/shempbio.gif
Colonel Haiku (f4a616) — 9/8/2012 @ 9:01 amI hear that the President has a secret plan to end the recession in his second term.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 9/8/2012 @ 9:11 amThe following information is from Keith Hall (GWB’s former BLS Commissioner)
Technically, the Great Recession ended in June 2009 and the lagging labor market bottomed 8 months later in February 2010.
However, since then recovery has been anemic or non-existent as we’ve experienced the slowest growth in GDP in 60 years.
For the economy to be considered in true recovery we need to add at least 250,000 new jobs each month for 12 straight months.
ropelight (e18203) — 9/8/2012 @ 9:23 amI took the numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, placed them into an Excel spread sheet, and added one little calculation function, to calculate the percentage of jobs per population. There were 58.3 employed for every 100 people among the “Civilian Nonistitutionalized Population” in August of 2011, and the same in August of 2012. President Obama will talk about jobs created, but it’s all a lie: we have made zero progress over the last year!
How surprising. 🙁
The Dana who isn't ashamed to pimp his own site (f68855) — 9/8/2012 @ 10:27 amThanks for the answers.
I think retirees leaving far outpace new entries, but this still seems to be a very small portion of the whole. That fact ought to be better communicated, I see a smokescreen coming.
Amphipolis (e01538) — 9/8/2012 @ 10:34 am“I hear that the President has a secret plan to end the recession in his second term.”
Yeah, me too.
The government stands back and lets the economic cycle go forward until we’re in the growth part of the cycle again, which is going to happen whether they piss away hundreds of billions of dollars (futiley) trying to control the cycle, or they spend nothing at all (which is what they WOULD do if they had any brains…only socialists don’t have any brains).
But, I don’t think that’s Karl Marx Obama’s plan.
Dave Surls (46b08c) — 9/8/2012 @ 10:44 am________________________________________
Clinton brags about HIS economy.
I believe he also mentioned that more jobs have been created during all the years when the White House has been controlled by Democrats compared with all the years when Republicans have been in charge. I’ve heard that said in the past, and I’m not sure how many decades that applies to.
If it’s accurate — and the noticeably foolish liberalism of Republicans like Herbert Hoover notwithstanding — I’ve mused that could be due to the phenomenon of “party time!!” IOW, during periods of robust economic health (or synergy), people become very susceptible to sloppy, I’m-okay-you’re-okay idealism. They become soft-headed and drunkenly happy. They let feel-good liberalism take over.
Then when the bills start rolling on in, and the party is ending, people wake up with a major hangover, look across the bed and realize that liberal/Democrat in the White House, etc, actually is one big smelly tramp.
Of course, if the people are as intrinsically self-destructive as they are in urban America (eg, Detroit or DC) or societies like Mexico, France or Argentina, a bomb could drop on their heads and they’ll still think (or vote like) they’re at one big party.
Mark (e03145) — 9/8/2012 @ 10:48 amI would like to see/push the meme that the “problems” started with the 2007 congress take over by Democrats (including Sen Obama).
While I will never forgive Pres Bush II for signing most of the crap that came out of that congress (actually Bush only signed one budget from the 2007 congress, he would not sign the second–Obama “built” that) tainted much of what ever good Bush II may have done.
Every economic charge starts taking a nose dive starting in 2007/2008. (not to say that there was not a lot of problems buried in decades of prior laws, such as those that caused th housing bubble then crash)
BfC (fd87e7) — 9/8/2012 @ 11:14 amThen there’s the report that Obama helped start the sub-prime mortgage scam by suing Citibank to force loans to poor people.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 9/8/2012 @ 11:56 amUgh… charge>chart; th>
BfC (fd87e7) — 9/8/2012 @ 12:26 pmteh>theMore new people went on food stamps than there were new jobs added. Plus, we didn’t even get enough to cover population growth. That was a constant drumbeat from the MFM under Bush. Labor force shrinkage, yet again.
JD (6a4dbf) — 9/8/2012 @ 1:38 pmThe Recovery –
AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (2bb434) — 9/8/2012 @ 1:58 pmIsn’t this the THIRD Summer of Recovery?
Things must be soaring.
If the Republicans weren’t such obstructionists the job market would be better – says Harry Reid. What’s the unemployment in Nevada – around 12%?
vech (76d9aa) — 9/8/2012 @ 3:50 pmYep, vech, Harry Reid tells a lot of lies. Certainly he can’t think of anything substantive that the Democrats want to do, that would actually improvement employment, that the GOP is stopping.
Its all Democrats trying to blame others for their complete failure.
SPQR (26be8b) — 9/8/2012 @ 3:52 pmHow many jobs bills is Hairy Reed blocking that have passed the House?
JD (6a4dbf) — 9/8/2012 @ 4:01 pmTHINGS COULD SUCK WORSE
OBAMA 2012
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2012 @ 4:29 pmThe WSJ dives into the data on the 368K who left the work force. Of them, over 425K were 16-24. About 275K 55-65 year-olds ENTERED the work force. In the prime working ages of 25-54, only about 66K left the work force.
THers is some question of how real this all is, given seasonal adjustment and summer work for students.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 9/8/2012 @ 5:28 pmTHINGS COULD SUCK WORSE
He might be able to sell the idea that McCain would have done worse. Neither McCain or Obama much understood economics. IF there is a silver lining to Obama’s term, it’s that if McCain did as badly as Obama in picking up “Bush’s mess” the Republicans would probably be history.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 9/8/2012 @ 5:31 pmThe absence of any loud noise from the press regarding Friday’s unemployment numbers says we are “on plan.”
This continues the Obama “LightWorker” strategy (i.e. Obama will run on the only thing he has, his popularity).
Notice that Obama’s speech on Thursday night didn’t tackle anything difficult (i.e. unemployment nada, entitlement reform nada). His polling indicated that a flat speech was his best plan of attack. He knows that all he has to do is offer the illusion of new programs (then blames Republicans when they don’t get passed) and stay away from the “heavy lifting” (let the Republicans go first). Then merely run on his popularity.
Neo (d1c681) — 9/9/2012 @ 6:48 amThis drop in unemployment is nothing but an accounting gimmick.
It is now time to talk about the 89 million people that have given up looking for work because of Obama’s policies. Atlas shrugged.
AZ Bob (1c9631) — 9/9/2012 @ 7:42 am