• American Economy,  economics,  Unemployment Rate

    Unemployment Rises to 9.8 Per Cent – Highest Rate since April 2010

    Matt Drudge is not giving President Obama kind treatment this morning showing his damaged basketball lip with the news that the economy under his Administration continues to struggle.

    The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in November and the unemployment rate rose to its highest level since April, underlining the continued weakness in the labor market 17 months into the recovery.

    Nonfarm payrolls rose by 39,000 last month as private-sector employers added only 50,000 jobs, the Labor Department said Friday. The October number was revised up slightly to show a 172,000 increase from a previous estimate of 151,000.

    The unemployment rate, which is obtained from a separate household survey, unexpectedly rose to 9.8% last month. More than 15 million people who would like to work can’t get a job.

    I would suggest that the Senate Republicans and Obama Administration should speedily agree to a compromise Bush era tax rate/cut bill and give stability to the financial markets.  They can extend them for one year if they wish and revisit the issue.

    But, do SOMETHING for small business, so they can put Americans back to work.

  • economics,  GOP,  Taxes

    Why the GOP Should NOT Compromise with Obama and the Democrats Over Tax Rates

    Why?

    Because it is bad for the economy and job creation.

    The Obama administration and members of Congress should study the record on how the economy reacts to changes in the tax code. The president’s economic team has launched a three-pronged attack on capital: They are attacking the income group that is the most responsible for capital formation and jobs in the private sector, and then attacking the investment returns on capital formation in the form of dividends and capital gains. The out-year projections on revenues from these tax increases will prove to be phantom.

    Republicans should not be complicit in a bad “compromise” plan in order to save Obama and the Democrat’s collective ass. Rather to let the Bush tax rates expire, re-enact them in January and let Obama take responsibility in vetoing lower marginal tax rates – if he dare do so.

  • Barack Obama,  Day By Day,  economics

    Day By Day by Chris Muir July 14, 2009 – Not Much Up on Top

    day by day 071409

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    The Obama Economic Stimulus has been a failure – at least so far. Even the President is backing away from his grandiose promises of jobs.

    President Barack Obama conceded Tuesday that the unemployment rate will keep growing for “several months” as he prepared to head to battered Michigan to unveil a plan to help train people for the next generation of jobs.

    Obama is proposing a multibillion-dollar investment in the nation’s community colleges, a $12 billion effort to help the two-year institutions reach, teach and train more people for “the jobs of the future.” He was to outline his program in a speech Tuesday afternoon at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich.

    Before leaving town, Obama was pressed on how high the unemployment rate might climb. In Michigan, the jobless rate is 14.1 percent, worst in the nation.

    “How employment numbers are going to respond is not yet clear,” Obama said after a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.

    “My expectation is, is that we will probably continue to see unemployment tick up for several months,” Obama said. “And the challenge for this administration is to make sure that even as we are stabilizing the financial system … are people able to find good jobs that pay good wages?”

    More than 2 million jobs have been lost since Congress passed Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package. Without that government intervention, Obama said, states like Michigan would be in even worse shape because they would have had to lay off more teachers, firefighters and other workers.

    Obama said renewed hiring tends to lag behind other signs of economic recovery. The White House has been criticized for being overly rosy in its projections of the economic rebound, particularly in terms of employment.

    Huh?

    I thought economic stimulus was to stimulate the economy to employ people – not to bailout states to NOT layoff school teachers and other unionized public employees.

    What a mess but at least Obama is consistent in his disdain for the private economy.

    Obama can urge patience but the unemployed voters will hold him and his party accountable beginning NOW.

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  • Barack Obama,  Day By Day,  economics

    Day By Day by Chris Muir July 13, 2009 – Stimulus Hope and Change

    day by day 071309

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    The likelyhood of another Democrat/Obama sponsored economic stimulus plan looks remote at this time. The American economy is not improving and the pork-laden first economic stimulus bill of almost $800 Billion is being considered ineffective at best and a complete failure at worst.

    The Democrats in Congress are in a bind. Only three Republicans supported the bill (including Senator Arlen Specter who changed over to be a Democrat soon after) and there is no political cover. If they try any of the ideas promulgated by the Repubican Caucus, they will be asked some hard questions as to why they didn’t implement these ideas in the first place.

    However, without a new direction by empowering the private business sector and individual taxpayers, the Democrats chances of any immediate success is limited. Good luck with trying to sell today’s economic climate as “hope and change” in the 2010 Congressional midterm elections – especially with Sarah Palin pounding on the limited government themes.

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  • economics,  Joe Biden

    Oh That Joe: Biden Defends Economic Stimulus Plan in Ohio

    Joe biden 9 17 2008

    Vice President Joe Biden

    Another Biden gaffe?

    Vice President Joe Biden said the Obama administration’s efforts to rebuild America’s economy are working and he expressed frustration with those who say progress is too slow.

    “Remember, we’re only 140 days into this deal. It’s supposed to take 18 months,” Biden said in a speech after touring a redevelopment project in Cincinnati.

    Biden ticked off the programs funded through the $787 billion economic stimulus measure enacted in February. Thousands of jobs a day have been saved and interest rates have been kept low, saving middle-class families $1,200 to $1,600 a year in mortgage payments, he said.

    Ohio’s economy has been hit hard by the recession. The state’s unemployment rate in May was 10.8 percent, up from 10.2 percent in April and higher than the national average of 9.4 percent. The state lost 4.9 percent of its jobs between May 2008 and 2009, and manufacturing jobs plummeted by 16.7 percent during that period, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    The vice president’s trip follows a poll that found that President Barack Obama’s approval rating has dropped by 13 percentage points from two months ago in Ohio, traditionally a critical swing state in presidential elections.

    The survey by Quinnipiac University released July 7 showed 49 percent of Ohio voters approved of Obama’s job performance, down from 62 percent in a May 6 poll. The disapproval figure for Obama in the new poll was 44 percent, up from 31 percent in May.

    Ohio “has been hard hit through no fault of your own,” Biden told the crowd today. So far, $4.4 billion in Recovery Act funds have been set aside for Ohio, including $2 billion for education, $1 billion for health care and $445 million for transportation, he said.

    “These investments are already lifting up Cincinnati,” he said.

    Biden toured the site of the American Can Company, an abandoned factory on the city’s north side which is being converted into a complex of apartments, offices and stores. Stimulus funds will pay $1.6 million of the project’s cost and create as many as 100 jobs, Biden said.

    No, just an embellishment of the truth which is worse.

    There has been NO economic stimulus in Ohio or anywhere from the ridiculous spending in the Obama Porkulus bill that passed with only three Republican Senate votes (one of which then defected to become a Democrat).

    Biden and the congressional Democrats need to take responsibility for their poor performance and patience in this case is just another excuse.

    How about a real economic stimulus and cancel the rest of the pork spending, Mr. Vice President?


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  • economics,  Polling

    Poll Watch: Consumer and Investor Indexes Drop to Lowest Levels in Months

    This does not look good for the economy.

    The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, dropped three points on Wednesday to 67.0, its lowest level in over two months. The index is down six points over the past week and down nine points over the past month. Today is the first update based entirely upon interviews conducted since last week’s report showing higher than expected job losses in June.

    Nationally, 24% of consumers say the economic conditions in the United States are getting better, down five points from the end of last week. Fifty-two percent (52%) of adults say the economy is getting worse.

    The Rasmussen Investor Index, which measures the economic confidence of investors on a daily basis, fell to its lowest level in three months. At 70.3, investor confidence is down fourteen points over the past week and fifteen points over the past month.

    Among investors, 26% think the economy is getting better, down five points from yesterday. Most investors (51%) say the economy is getting worse, down from 43% before the job report was released.

    No wonder the Obama Administration is floating the idea of another economic stimulus bill. The fact is economic stimulus I or Porkulus has been a failure and unemployment remains sky high.

    Stay tuned……


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  • Barack Obama,  Day By Day,  economics

    Day By Day by Chris Muir July 8, 2009 – Run, Don’t Walk

    daybyday070809

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    President Obama’s and the Congressional Democrat’s propensity to TAX AND SPEND has already started with the failed Economic Stimulus I and add this to Cap and Trade, Obamacare, and Economic Stimulus II you have massive government spending.

    Who is going to pay for it?

    American taxpayers making more than $250,000 a year?

    Frak, there are NOT enough high earner folks to pay for it all.

    So, what happens?

    A Bill Clinton type reversal: A Middle Class Tax increase to pay for “INVESTMENTS.”

    And, the RIGHT was worried about the 2010 midterm Congressional elections? Flap’s only hope is that Harry Reid rams all of these new taxes through the Senate earlier rather than later this Fall.

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  • Barack Obama,  economics,  Socialism

    Here Comes the Obamanomics Socialism: Obama Administration to Rein in Executive Compensation in United States Private Business Sector

    control-pay

    Here comes the Obama socialism.

    The Obama administration says executive compensation must be better managed to prevent the sort of risk-taking that jeopardizes the economy.

    Gene Sperling, who advises Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, said Thursday the administration does not want to impose caps on executive pay. But he also laid out for the House Financial Services Committee a list of guidelines calling on publicly-held companies to link compensation to long-term performance, not short-term gains.

    Sperling said in prepared testimony that the administration believes compensation practices “must be better aligned with long-term value and prudent risk management at all firms, and not just for the financial services industry.”

    Remember what socialism is?

    Socialism is not a concrete philosophy of fixed doctrine and program; its branches advocate a degree of social interventionism and economic rationalization, sometimes opposing each other. Another dividing feature of the socialist movement is the split between reformists and the revolutionaries on how a socialist economy should be established. Some socialists advocate complete nationalization of the means of production, distribution, and exchange; others advocate state control of capital within the framework of a market economy. Socialists inspired by the Soviet model of economic development have advocated the creation of centrally planned economies directed by a state that owns all the means of production. Others, including Yugoslavian, Hungarian, German and Chinese Communists in the 1970s and 1980s, instituted various forms of market socialism, combining co-operative and state ownership models with the free market exchange and free price system (but not free prices for the means of production).[7]

    Social democrats propose selective nationalization of key national industries in mixed economies, with private ownership of property and of profit-making business. Social democrats also promote tax-funded welfare programs and regulation of markets. Many social democrats, particularly in European welfare states, refer to themselves as “socialists”, introducing a degree of ambiguity to the understanding of what the term means.

    No matter how Obama spins his program, he wants to nationalize American business and control the means of production while expanding the welfare state.

    Is this the hope and change Americans voted for? Or is it a radical program of changing American business by a left-wing extremist?


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  • Barack Obama,  economics,  Mitch McConnell

    GOP’s Mitch McConnell: Obama’s Economic Stimulus Package Will Have Little if Any Impact on the Economy

    Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky

    Duh and remember that there were only three GOP Senators (one who later switched to become a Democrat) who supported the $ 700 Billion Plus bill.

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that President Obama’s stimulus package would have little, if any, impact on the economy — and re-stated his opposition to including any public option in the upcoming health care overhaul.

    “I’m very skeptical that the spending binge that we’re on is going to produce much good and, even if it does, anytime soon, ” said McConnell. “And I think the economy is just as likely to begin to recover on its own, wholly aside from this, before much of this has an impact. So I’m very skeptical that this massive sort of spending binge that we’ve engaged in is going to have much of an impact.”

    Listen here.


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  • Barack Obama,  economics

    Obama Scrambles on Economy – Now Promises 600,000 Jobs

    President Barack Obama, seen here on June 07, announced Monday a boost to economic stimulus spending over the next three months in a bid to save or create 600,000 jobs through summer youth programs, schools and public works

    With the economy continuing to falter and unemployment at 25 year highs, President Obama today promises the creation of 600,000 jobs this summer.

    President Barack Obama promised Monday to deliver more than 600,000 jobs through his $787 billion stimulus plan this summer, with federal agencies pumping billions into public works projects, schools and summer youth programs.

    Obama is ramping up his stimulus program this week even as his advisers are ramping down expectations about when the spending plan will effect a continuing rise in the nation’s unemployment. (See pictures of the global financial crisis.)

    Many of the stimulus plans that Obama announced Monday already were in the works, including hundreds of maintenance projects at military bases, about 1,600 state road and airport improvements, and federal money states budgeted for 135,000 teachers, principals and school support staff.

    The administration had always viewed the summer as a peak for stimulus spending, as better weather permitted more public works construction and federal agencies had processed requests from states and others.
    But Obama now promises an accelerated pace of federal spending over the next few months to boost the economy and produce jobs.

    Obama has NO clue abut the role of government and the economy. Massive government spending and deficits will NOT spur the priovate economy and will lead to inflation and slow economic growth.

    American business is afraid to act or invest capital – even if they have it. They know that higher taxes are coming to pay for Obama’s massive governmental intrusion into the economy and they will have nothing of it.

    The economic stimulus bill was nothing about spurring on the economy. It was all about paying off Obama’s political constituencies.

    If the President had been concerned about stimulating the economy, why didn’t he adopt the GOP suggestion of suspending the payroll tax and deliver real relief for taxpayers.

    Now, he hits the campaign trail to what?

    Spin his failed economic policies, no doubt.


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