As expected, Reuters reports yesterday that the latest rise in jobless claims is “unexpected.” There are none so blind as those who will not see bad news during a Democrat administration.
As expected, Reuters reports yesterday that the latest rise in jobless claims is “unexpected.”
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment aid unexpectedly edged higher last week, stoking fears of a stalled economic recovery even as a separate report showed record exports in April.
Initial claims for state jobless benefits increased 1,000 to 427,000, the Labor Department said. However, economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims dropping to 415,000 from a previously reported count of 422,000.
There are none so blind as those who will not see bad news during a Democrat administration.
Damn those unpatriotic college kids. Why are they out partying in Fort Lauderdale when they should be back in school stimulating the economy?
In the past the media has blamed the weather, the Japanese tsunami, Republican policies and everything else they can think of, so Reuters economic reporters are now forced to get really creative in an attempt to blame the on-going “unexpected” unemployment numbers on anything but Obamanomics.
We don't know if the economy's getting stimulated, but we are
But Reuters’ latest excuse is laughable:
New U.S. claims for unemployment aid unexpectedly rose last week to touch their highest level in eight months, pushed up by factors ranging from spring break layoffs to the introduction of an emergency benefits program, a government report showed on Thursday.
Damn those unpatriotic college kids. Why are they out partying in Fort Lauderdale when they should be back in school stimulating the economy?
Food prices are not up just because increasingly wealthy Indians and Chinese are putting strains on worldwide food production. It’s also because insane Federal policy has destroyed the Breadbasket of the World.
You may have noticed – and seriously, how could you have missed it – that food prices are soaring.
It’s not just because increasingly wealthy Indians and Chinese are putting strains on worldwide food production. It’s also because insane Federal policy has destroyed the Breadbasket of the World.
Reason Magazine describes the disaster that has become the California’s Central Valley:
California’s Central Valley is a 450 mile long stretch of flat and fertile land that produces much of the food that we enjoy every day. But the people in small towns like Mendota (the cantaloupe capital of the world) are suffering these days, in part due to two federal policies.
In order to protect a threatened fish species called the Delta Smelt, much of the water that used to be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to farms on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley is now allowed to flow into the ocean. The result is predictable: hundreds of thousands of acres of farm land lies fallow and tens of thousands of jobs have been lost. In Mendota, the unemployment rate is over 40% and food lines are the norm.
But people going hungry in a region dominated by agriculture is only one of the contradictions in the Central Valley.
Nearly all the valley’s farm workers are immigrants from Mexico and Central America, and many of them are undocumented. These people are crucial to the valley’s economy, but they’re breaking the law according to the federal government.
Watch the video. It will simultaneously break your heart and piss you off.
Those may not be verbatim quotes, but they’re close enough. After two years it appears that damn near everything is above the President’s pay grade.
Those may not be verbatim quotes, but they’re close enough. After two years it appears that damn near everything is above the President’s pay grade.
"Goolsby understands these unemployment numbers," the President said. "And he's hung like a horse."
Politico reports the latest incident of the President voting present:
After reading his prepared remarks on the economy at a window manufacturer on Friday, President Obama sought to take some photos with workers when a pool reporter caught up with him and asked him to explain the connection between the drop in the unemployment rate and the lower-than-expected number of jobs added in December.
Obama’s response, according to the pool:
“You know, you’ve got to talk to Austan Goolsbee. That’s his job.”
Don’t you just know that no matter how many unemployed we have, President Obama, deep in his heart of hearts, wishes he could add one more to the number.
Don’t you just know that no matter how many unemployed we have, President Obama, deep in his heart of hearts, wishes he could add one more to the number.
Ohio Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown says people need their unemployment benefits so they’ll have enough money to pay their property taxes. In other words, “Let’s just take this money out of one pocket and put it in the other.”
Consider this video a demonstration of Democrat economic genius on full display.
Ohio Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown says people need their unemployment benefits so they’ll have enough money to pay their property taxes. In other words, “Let’s just take this money out of one pocket and put it in the other.”
Let us save you some pain. The quote comes at the 6:00 mark of the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8tJu9hwYB8
“The other reason to maintain unemployment benefits is all economics. Senator McCain, when he was candidate for President, his chief economic advisor said the best way to grow the economy – the best stimulus dollar you can spend – is unemployment insurance. Because when you put a dollar in a laid-off worker’s pocket from Lima, Ohio or Zanesville, Ohio she will spend it at the local grocery store, the local shoe store, pay her property tax, pay her gas bill, whatever. That money is recycled in the economy.”
Do not make the mistake of thinking Senator Brown simply misspoke. He has given variations of this speech numerous times on the floor of the Senate and always uses the “pay her property tax” line.
Sherrod Brown is, of course, a successful graduate of the Obama School of Economics, where they teach that it’s a rational use of taxpayer money to buy General Motors, order them to make electric cars, give money to General Electric so they can buy the electric cars from General Motors, and then announce that the whole shebang is a huge success.
Round and round the little ball goes and where it stops nobody knows. Well, actually, we do know where it stops – third world status for the United States.
CNN’s human gaffe machine insisted – vehemently insisted – that the White House had never said unemployment would remain under 8% if the $timulus bill were passed.
Once a week or so, we are forced to issue a Rick Sanchez stupidity alert. Today is the day.
CNN’s human gaffe machine insisted – vehemently insisted – that the White House had never said unemployment would remain under 8% if the $timulus bill were passed.
Of course, he was proven wrong within moments and had to make the following mea culpa.
May we suggest that Rick make apologies a regular part of his proram. You know, kind of like Ed Schultz does Crazy Talk, Rick could do Apology Talk, a segment at the end of each show where he apologizes for all the stupid things he said that day.
Ahhh, why aren’t we programming CNN? We couldn’t do worse than the current people.
Leave it to Andrew Bolt, a damn foreigner, to come up with a way to describe America’s current economic situation in a mere four words.
Hoist a beer and salute the clarity of Aussie Andrew Bolt
Leave it to Andrew Bolt, a damn foreigner, to come up with a way to describe America’s current economic situation in a mere four words.
Can’t work:
“New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week, yet another setback to the frail economic recovery. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 500,000…”
Won’t work:
“The Obama family will begin their sixth holiday of the year today, an 11-day sojourn in Martha’s Vineyard, the island destination of the wealthy and well-connected American elite.”
Barack Obama said we need to extend unemployment compensation for women like Leslie Macko. He didn’t know she was fired for prescription drug fraud.
We actually wish this was a joke, but it’s not.
On July 19, President Obama called in the media to promote the Democrats’ latest extension of unemployment benefits. To help make his point, he brought in one of his patented human props, a Florida woman named Leslie Macko, who has been out of work for more than a year now.
Cue the gnashing of teeth and let the Democrat wailing begin. “Oh, poor Leslie Macko. We must do something for the Leslie Mackos of the world.”
“We need to extend unemployment compensation benefits for women like Leslie Macko, who lost her job at a fitness center last year, and has been looking for work ever since,” the President ominously intoned. “Because she’s eligible for only a few more weeks of unemployment, she’s doing what she never thought she’d have to do. Not at this point, anyway. She’s turning to her father for financial support.”
Unfortunately, no one at the White House bothered to research why Leslie Macko was unemployed. They should have.
Turns out Macko was canned from her job as an esthetician after being was convicted of prescription drug fraud.
Just like these clowns should all be canned for Hope and Change fraud.
Wow. Just wow. Nancy Pelosi on Thursday made herself the odds on favorite to win the award for “Stupidest Quote of 2010.” We realize we’re only half way through the year, but this one is going to be tough to beat.
Wow. Just wow. Nancy Pelosi on Thursday made herself the odds on favorite to win the award for “Stupidest Quote of 2010.” We realize we’re only half way through the year, but this one is going to be tough to beat.
In the words of Gateway Pundit, “Only a government bureaucrat would think paying someone for not working is a job creator.”
NOTE: As a result of the Botox injections, Nancy says everything with a straight face. So there is a possibility that she was making a joke, but no one could tell. One can only hope.
At the rate the Census Bureau is creating jobs, it may singlehandedly wipe out unemployment. Of course, the whole damn thing is as phony as Obama’s birth certificate, but phony seems to trump reality in Washington, DC these days.
"You're hired. You're fired. You're rehired." Repeat 20,000,000 times and the unemployment rate goes to zero.
At the rate the Census Bureau is creating jobs, it may singlehandedly wipe out unemployment. Of course, the whole damn thing is as phony as Obama’s birth certificate, but phony seems to trump reality in Washington, DC these days.
The New York Post recounts the phony job count:
Last week, one of the millions of workers hired by Census 2010 to parade around the country counting Americans blew the whistle on some statistical tricks.
The worker, Naomi Cohn, told The Post that she was hired and fired a number of times by Census. Each time she was hired back, it seems, Census was able to report the creation of a new job to the Labor Department. . . .
Each month Census gives Labor a figure on the number of workers it has hired. That figure goes into the closely followed monthly employment report Labor provides. For the past two months the hiring by Census has made up a good portion of the new jobs.
Labor doesn’t check the Census hiring figure or whether the jobs are actually new or recycled. It considers a new job to have been created if someone is hired to work at least one hour a month.
One hour! A month! So, if a worker is terminated after only one hour and another is hired in her place, then a second new job can apparently be reported to Labor.
Do you ever feeling that we’re living in some sort of strange, alternate universe?
We’re thinking the Presidential motorcade may be rerouted in Buffalo, New York today. After all, his minions wouldn’t want the naked emperor to think that his subjects don’t love him.
We’re thinking the Presidential motorcade may be rerouted in Buffalo, New York today. After all, his minions wouldn’t want the naked emperor to think that his subjects don’t love him.
The Buffalo News reports the billboard bruhaha:
The Niagara Thruway billboard seems to sum up what everyone in Buffalo wants to tell President Obama when he arrives Thursday:
“Dear Mr. President, I need a freakin job. Period.”
Jeff Baker, the frustrated former owner of a small manufacturing company, and his brother put up the sign even before they knew that Obama was headed here.
We know the current unemployment rate is 9.9%. But unsubstantiated reports indicated that the freakin unemployment rate may be substantially higher.
Those French are just too goldanged sophisticated for our limited American intellects. To our feeble minds, the words “unemployed” and “on strike” seem mutually exclusive.
Those French are just too goldanged sophisticated for our limited American intellects. To our feeble minds, the words “unemployed” and “on strike” seem mutually exclusive.
Would someone please ask John Kerry to clarify this.
CNBC/MSNBC’s Erin Burnett gives a more realistic picture of that fabulous 9.7% unemployment number. And she’s hot, too, but that doesn’t effect our completely unbiased journalistic integrity. Much.
CNBC/MSNBC’s Erin Burnett gives a more realistic picture of that fabulous 9.7% unemployment number.
And she’s hot, too, but that doesn’t effect our completely unbiased journalistic integrity. Much.
Are America’s youth suffering buyer’s remorse yet? They gave Obama their votes en masse and he’s given them unemployment en masse.
Based on America's 18-24 year old voters, there aren't many red states
Are America’s youth suffering buyer’s remorse yet? They gave Obama their votes en masse and he’s given those youth unemployment en masse.
New stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics tell the grim tale:
“The unemployment rate for young Americans has exploded to 52.2 percent — a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. — meaning millions of Americans are staring at the likelihood that their lifetime earning potential will be diminished and, combined with the predicted slow economic recovery, their transition into productive members of society could be put on hold for an extended period of time.”
“The number represents the flip-side to the Labor Dept.’s report that the employment rate of 16-to-24 year olds has eroded to 46.6 percent — the lowest ratio of working young Americans in that age group, including all but those in the military, since WWII.”
Not to worry, because The Greatest President In History has this all figured out.
He’ll give half of them college scholarships and pay the other half to enlist in the Obama Youth Brigade.
Why to hear Joe Biden tell it, he’s a regular job creating dynamo. Here’s how Bloomberg reports the story of this walking, talking economic miracle
Joe Biden has also saved or created 700,000 follicles
Why, to hear Joe Biden tell it, he’s a regular job creating dynamo.
Here’s how Bloomberg reports the story of this walking, talking economic miracle:
President Barack Obama’s clean- energy initiatives will help create more than 700,000 jobs and allow the U.S. to double its renewable-power generation in three years, according to a report by Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden, in a memo on administration efforts to shift to a clean-energy economy, said projects in the $787 billion economic stimulus package are contributing to “unprecedented growth” in renewable energy, such as wind and solar, and improving manufacturing for new clean-energy technology.
Hold your horses there, buckeroo. The Wall Street Journal noticed something a little odd about those jobs:
Take a look at footnote 3 on page 2 of the Biden memo:
All of the job estimates used in this document correspond to jobs that last for one year. Of course, some jobs could last longer–in this case the number of distinct jobs would be reduced proportionately. For example, a project that employs one person for two years would count as creating two jobs.
We suppose if the guy doesn’t get fired from either of his two jobs over the course of the two years, that would count as four jobs saved or created.
Of course. It’s like Biden’s hair plugs. He takes them from one part of his head and moves them to another part of his head and says he’s created or saved 700,000 follicles.
The frightening thing is watching how quickly so many counties turned purple over the course of the last two years.
President Obama said there are no red states and there are no blue states, just purple states.
We don’t know if that’s why AmericanObserver.net used the color purple to represent the highest unemployment rate on this animated map, but it wouldn’t have been a bad idea.
The frightening thing is watching how quickly so many counties turned purple over the course of the last two years.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that just 26% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President.
How about if we just get out of the way and let the pros at Rasmussen tell Obama’s sad tale:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 26% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14. That matches the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President.
Over the past month, the number who Strongly Approve of the President’s performance has generally stayed between 27% and 30% (with one exception in each direction). Today’s drop to 26% matches the lowest level of strong approval yet recorded.
The number who Strongly Disapprove has stayed between 37% and 41% every day for over a month. The only previous time that Obama’s Approval Index rating was this low came on August 23. It remains to be seen whether the current low is just statistical noise or if it is something more lasting.
Just 47% of Democrats now Strongly Approve of the President’s performance. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Republicans Strongly Disapprove, as do 43% of those not affiliated with either major political party. These numbers reflect the concern some Democratic analysts are voicing about an enthusiasm gap heading into the 2010 mid-term elections. See other recent demographic highlights.
In the words of Chubby Checker’s immortal Limbo Rock, “How low can you go?”
Barack Obama not only creates jobs where none exist, he creates entire congressional districts where none exist.
Obama's Imaginary Congressional District Czar researching the number of jobs that have been saved or created
No wonder his admirers think Barack Obama is The Greatest President In History. The guy not only creates jobs where none exist, he creates entire congressional districts where none exist.
“The Obama administration,” ABC News reports, “under fire for inflating job growth from the $787 billion stimulus plan, slashed over 60,000 jobs from its most recent report on the program because the reporting outlets had submitted ‘unrealistic data,’ according to a document obtained by ABC News.”
For example, Alabama’s Talladega County claimed 5,000 jobs had been saved or created from only $42,000 in stimulus funds. Ohio’s Belmont Metropolitan Housing Authority reported 16,120 jobs saved or created thanks to $1.3 million in stimulus money. Alabama’s Shelton State Community College used $27,000 in stimulus funds to save or create 14,500 jobs. And Alaska’s Alkan Builders used $11 mil to save or create 3,000 saved or created jobs.
Unfortunately, the reporting was bogus and all those jobs have been quietly subtracted from the 1,000,000 jobs Obama now claims he’s saved or created.
But the Obama administration, never sticklers for the truth, also claimed that Arizona’s 15th congressional district was able to use $761,420 to save 30 jobs. In one Iowa district, $10.6 million spent to create 39 jobs. And another 25 jobs were created in Connecticut’s 42nd district.
Problem is, those congressional districts – and many others listed in the government’s report – do not exist. Well, to be 100% accurate, they do exist, but only in the minds of White House imagineers.
Now that Obama has created these districts, Nancy Pelosi will soon begin crowing that evil Republicans want to deny the districts’ voters their constitutionally-guaranteed rights. The ACLU will rush in to file a suit on their behalf. Dead people from Chicago will move en masse to those districts so they can vote. And the Democrats will gain another ten seats in congress.
The sad part is that you’re wondering right now if that last paragraph is a joke.
Thanks to a unique, new economic theory promulgated by the Obama administration, salary increases count as some of those “jobs saved” for which President Obama so proudly pats himself on the back.
Save a job. Give someone a raise.
Thanks to a unique, new economic theory promulgated by the Obama administration, salary increases count as some of those “jobs saved” for which President Obama so proudly pats himself on the back.
The Associated Press explains President Obama’s unique economic theory as best it can:
President Barack Obama’s economic recovery program saved 935 jobs at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, an impressive success story for the stimulus plan. Trouble is, only 508 people work there.
The Georgia nonprofit’s inflated job count is among persisting errors in the government’s latest effort to measure the effect of the $787 billion stimulus plan despite White House promises last week that the new data would undergo an “extensive review” to root out errors discovered in an earlier report.
About two-thirds of the 14,506 jobs claimed to be saved under one federal office, the Administration for Children and Families at Health and Human Services, actually weren’t saved at all, according to a review of the latest data by The Associated Press. Instead, that figure includes more than 9,300 existing employees in hundreds of local agencies who received pay raises and benefits and whose jobs weren’t saved.
The story continues:
But officials defended the practice of counting raises as saved jobs.
“If I give you a raise, it is going to save a portion of your job,” HHS spokesman Luis Rosero said.
And if Rosero parrots this crap convincingly enough, it could save his job.
Unemployment’s now at 10.2%. And he blames unemployment on employers. What’s the President’s solution? A jobs summit.
Unemployment’s now at 10.2%. What’s the President’s solution? A jobs summit.
Here’s what President Press Event had to say about eeeeeevil employers who are screwing up his dandy economy:
As I’ve said from the start of this crisis, hiring often takes time to catch up to economic growth. And given the magnitude of the economic turmoil that we’ve experienced, employers are reluctant to hire.
Small businesses and large firms are demanding more of their employees, their increasing their hours, and adding temporary workers — but these companies have not yet been willing to take the steps necessary to hire again.
Obama won’t rest until every American has a job. Except for his weekly golf. And all vacations. And trips to the burger joint with Joe. And TV interviews.
“We’re putting Americans back to work doing the work that America needs done,” the President said in a speech to the Democratic Governors Association, “Rebuilding roads, bridges, uhh, and new schools, and all manner of construction projects across all 50 states. I’m not going to rest. I know the governors and candidates here are not going to rest, and I know that the American people are not going to rest until everybody who’s looking for work can find a job.”
And then President Empty Suit flew off to Copenhagen while the unemployment rate rose to 9.8%.
On July 9, Joe Biden traveled to Ohio to tell the yokels how effective the “stimulus” had been. “Roads plus teachers plus cops plus jobs equals a community,” he said, “and that equals paychecks and prosperity.” Eight days later, it was announced that the state’s unemployment rate had increased from 10.8% to 11.1%.
"I swear the economy's getting better. Much better. Really better. Super better."
Hope like hell Joe Biden doesn’t come to your town to tell you how effective the “stimulus” has been.
On July 9, Joe Biden traveled to Ohio to tell the yokels how effective the “stimulus” had been. “Roads plus teachers plus cops plus jobs equals a community,” he said, “and that equals paychecks and prosperity.” Eight days later, it was announced that the state’s unemployment rate had increased from 10.8% to 11.1%.
On July 16, Biden visited Richmond, Virginia to deliver the same message of hope and change. The next day, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that Virginia shed 22,800 in June and that the state’s unemployment rate had jumped to 7.2%.
In the words of Aussie blogger Andrew Bolt, “It’s like the Gore Effect, only for unemployment.”
