No need to comment much on any of the following links. I’ll just provide them and excerpt a few bits and allow you all to complete the essay as you see fit.
— Though I do request that you please allow me the last line. As a kind of rhetorical bow.
There’s no good way to spin the news that came out of today’s monthly U.S. jobs report. The economy generated only 18,000 total new jobs, the unemployment rate increased to 9.2 percent, and the number of unemployed Americans has gone up by 445,000. In other words, the recovery appears to have slowed markedly. President Barack Obama’s stimulus-infused “recovery” refuses to ignite, unsurprisingly to all but him.
And to make matters worse, May’s paltry job growth numbers were revised even farther downward, from the initial estimate of 54,000 to 25,000. Sadly, the record continues—the Obama recovery remains the weakest recovery of the post–World War II era. In past recessions, employment fully recovered within two to three years. Today, U.S. job growth is stopped dead in its tracks.
If you want a comparison of what job growth could look like, go back to the 1980s’ Reagan recovery. By the 20-month mark, the unemployment rate had dropped from 10.8 percent to 7.5 percent – a 3.3-point drop. In contrast, under Obama, the unemployment rate has risen a full percentage point to today’s 9.2 percent.
The Heritage Foundation’s James Sherk puts the pace of recovery into perspective, noting that “The economy needs to add between 100,000 and 125,000 jobs per month to keep pace with population growth. Unemployment will rise if employers consistently create fewer jobs than this.” Unfortunately, that’s where we’re at today. And if the economy keeps up this trend, Americans can expect unemployment to remain permanently high.
I really can’t stress how ugly it is. There is no way to sugarcoat it. The economic policies used since October of 2008 are an abject and total failure. Not only that, but they have put the finances of the country in a precarious position that was not unforeseen.
[…]
Progressive/Liberal/Keynesian Economists will call for more stimulus. This will make it worse. Government spending, and activist government policy at all levels are putting a chokehold on private expansion. The competition for an investment dollar between government and the private sector is being won by government. That’s why T-bill rates are so low.[…]
This isn’t rocket science. But it does require the progressive wing to give up their reliance on economic theory that only works in a textbook. Economics is a social science and a study of human behavior. Keynes postulated a theory and we have numerous empirical examples of that theory failing miserably. How long will it take?
Einstein said the theory of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. There, my friends, is the core principle of Democratic policy. Insanity.
The way out is through aggressive tax cuts, privatization of large swaths of all governments, and reform of benefits. Without it, we will go broke. The math doesn’t add up.
“Jobs and the Punting of Responsibility”:
Today’s shocking jobs report represents a modern record of 29 straight months with unemployment above 8 percent, and falls on the 800th day since congressional Democrats have passed a budget. This report is more proof that job creation in America is nowhere near where it needs to be for a strong recovery to occur, and that immediate action is needed to change course. Reports recently issued by the House Budget Committee and the minority staff of the Senate Budget Committee demonstrate that the federal government’s dramatic overspending and enormous debt burden are directly hurting job creation. Employers large and small know that today’s excessive borrowing will be tomorrow’s tax hikes and interest-rate increases. This lack of confidence in the future puts a chilling effect on hiring and investment right now.
A study by University of Maryland economist Carmen Reinhart and Harvard’s Kenneth Rogoff, endorsed by Treasury Secretary Geithner, shows that when a nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 90 percent, economic growth is reduced by one to two percentage points. The president’s Council of Economic Advisers estimates that a one percentage point loss in economic growth translates into one million jobs. Today, the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio is 95 percent, having crossed the dangerous 90 percent threshold months ago.
While the House has passed a serious, credible budget that tackles this debt crisis head-on, 800 days — and $7.3 trillion dollars — have come and gone since the Democrat-led Senate has adopted a budget. Not only is a budget a concrete fiscal plan, but it expresses a philosophy of governing. Democrats’ refusal to pass a budget — and refusal to put their big-government economic theories on paper — is of extraordinary significance. Making matters worse, the only budget submitted by the president is a fundamentally unserious plan that doubles our debt and speeds us to economic decline.
“Economic Stagnation Explained, at 30,000 Feet”:
he man in the aisle seat is trying to tell me why he refuses to hire anybody. His business is successful, he says, as the 737 cruises smoothly eastward. Demand for his product is up. But he still won’t hire.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t know how much it will cost,” he explains. “How can I hire new workers today, when I don’t know how much they will cost me tomorrow?”
He’s referring not to wages, but to regulation: He has no way of telling what new rules will go into effect when. His business, although it covers several states, operates on low margins. He can’t afford to take the chance of losing what little profit there is to the next round of regulatory changes. And so he’s hiring nobody until he has some certainty about cost.
It’s a little odd to be having this conversation as the news media keep insisting that private employment is picking up. But as economists have pointed out to all who will listen, the only real change is that the rate of layoffs has slowed. Fewer than one of six small businesses added jobs last year, and not many more expect to do so this year. The private sector is creating no more new jobs than it was a year ago; the man in the aisle seat is trying to tell me why.
There you go. Write your own essay. But just be sure to end it this way:
“And yet this guy is still hovering at around 50% approval? The fuck?”
(thanks to GeoffB)
American fascism is the very very best kind of fascism cause it’s 37% more efficient and you save money month after month! Money you can use to put low cost nutritious meals on your family table!
My freedom isn’t for sale.
If GE wants to save the country money they’d stop financing TV shows pushing progressivism as hip and cool.
Can I finally start referring to Obama’s collective initiatives as his failed economic policies?
Do you think Moran will mind?
“Today’s shocking jobs report represents a modern record of 29 straight months with unemployment above 8 percent, and falls on the 800th day since congressional Democrats have passed a budget.”
“A study by University of Maryland economist Carmen Reinhart and Harvard’s Kenneth Rogoff, endorsed by Treasury Secretary Geithner, shows that when a nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 90 percent, economic growth is reduced by one to two percentage points.”
“the only budget submitted by the president is a fundamentally unserious plan that doubles our debt and speeds us to economic decline.”
If you squint real hard you might just see that in 2008 we didn’t go to “Dumb and Dumber go to DC” as the beginning of the film seemed to show. And definitely not the promised uplifting story of redemption that was in the pre-release trailer. Now we just have to decide if this is “Salo” or “The Damned” though the differences are slight.
New normal.
Some people evidently like normal.
Well, or at least making one up anyhow. Just how retrogression is progression, we’ve yet to understand.
Obama’s ‘generic approval’ is of the part unwillingness to be seen as hatin’ on a darkie, and part ‘well, he hasn’t taken an actual shit on my doorstep’ variety.
That, and some serious oversampling of select interest groups.
Nancy Pelosi and Meghan’s coward daddy’s fave hack propaganda whore economist Mark Zandi:
“chief economist for Moody’s Analytics” is the fanciest way of saying whore I ever heard my whole life
It’s getting to look like the Main Line environs has some hidden pernicious effect on people, turning nominal conservatives into zombie socialists. Some sociologist will eventually come along and give the phenomenon a clever name like WASP.
The idiot Obama is now telling us that uncertainty is keeping employment low.
Are you fucking kidding me? Now he admits it’s uncertainty?
I got a newsflash for you, you shovelheaded moron: When the day came when America had a choice between Global Warming Idiot McCain, and Communist Ghost Resume Obama, the economy went right into the shitter. There’s your uncertainty idiot!
So Bush policies, which gave us 4.7% unemployment had nothing to do with it. When you elect and economic retard, you’re going to have business owners puckering up.
I’m not sure Obama’s IQ is triple digits.
Zandi is doing an asspull to sprinkle rainbows and skittles on the “new normal.”
While the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and ongoing fight in Washington over raising the debt limit and cutting spending have created headwinds for the economy, Obama said officials must take steps immediately to bolster the recovery.
That is a LIE. A lie by omission, intended to deceive. A huge lie, a central lie of the 2012 campaign.
The uncertainty caused by the sovereign debt crisis and the uncertainty over the debt limit are not the primary drivers depressing our economy. It is not even the most important component of the overall uncertainty. Uncertainty did start this recession, when the smart money became uncertain over the prospects of the US under progressive governance. That question has clearly been answered: progressive governance = business death. That certainty is now the primary depressing factor on this economy. Uncertainty is secondary, and within uncertainty the uncertainty over how much control the government is going to exercise over your business or personal life, uncertainty over tax rates, uncertainty over our ability or even willingness to pay our debts in the long run, uncertainty over who is going to be the next Chrysler bond holder to have their assets expropriated, uncertainty over whether or not the US is going to survive Obama, are what brought us to these more transient uncertainties.
The anticipation of Obama started this recession; the actuality of Obama has maintained it, and the re-election of Obama will accelerate it.
And yet this guy is still hovering at around 50% approval? The fuck?
same page motionview
Actually, alp, it started in 2006 when we let the Copperheads take over the branch which actually spends money, and the Executive was under the control of a President, while his instincts were ok, was occupied with trying to defend the country and also couldn’t do anything about a bureaucracy organized as a Copperhead fifth column.
Oh, and who didn’t have an LSM willing to lie like a rug to cover up his ignoring the law and Constitution.
You know, all I hope is that the Democrats are starting to realize that after spending 4 years talking the economy down, and possibly actively torpedoing it(Soros) when possible, that it’s much harder to simply talk it back up.
While doing things that necessarily continue to push it underwater…
Saturday morning links…
The Big Apple Celebrates the King James Bible Housing Finance: For Once, Please Leave It Alone Ladies And Gentlemen, We Have A Totally New Scariest Jobs Chart Ever [Fill In Blank] Industry Furious At Obama Obama’s Plan for $10 Gas Krauthammer:…
“Obama said officials must take steps immediately to bolster the recovery.”
Right. Officials. Steps. Immediately!
I guess he’s thinking of officials with magical powers. The power to, uh, bolster! Yeah, that’s it! We tried boosting, so now we’ll bolster! Brilliant!
I’m sure these officials who know the right steps will jump right to it, since President Obama said they must.
Must!
And yet this guy is still hovering at around 50% approval? The fuck?
motionview @ 11:
So. Well. Said.