Posted on 04/03/2009 1:19:57 PM PDT by reaganaut1
Looking at the numbers, the economy seems to be moving in two directions. First some spring-like signs of hope, then the dismal jump in unemployment with 13.2 million out of work.
Even under the best of scenarios the signs of recovery will be mixed, with employment among the last to improve. For President Barack Obama that spells potential trouble with a so far tolerant, even hopeful, public.
''The job market has fallen off the cliff over the past five months and the massive hemorrhage in the job market will continue,'' California State University economist Sung Sohn concluded grimly Friday.
Keith Hall, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was no less bleak.
''There are very few bright spots in this month's job report,'' he told Congress' Joint Economic Committee.
''Are there any anywhere?'' he was asked.
''To be honest, no,'' Hall replied. ''In fact, the decline has been remarkably consistent.''
Unemployment rates are notoriously poor indicators of economic cycles. Joblessness tends to peak long after a recession has officially begun and it tends to dip long after a recession ends. Markets need to stabilize and improve, orders for goods need to increase and employers need to gain confidence before hiring begins.
The 16-month recession of the 1970s ended in March 1975, but unemployment peaked at 9 percent in May 1975 and didn't dip below 8 percent until January 1976. Similarly, unemployment after the 1981-82 recession remained above 10 percent for seven months after it was declared officially over.
This time, Sohn predicts unemployment will exceed 10 percent well into 2010.
By then, the economy could be in recovery but millions of Americans would still be in pain.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
(1) Making it easier to sue employers for discrimination (already passed).
(2) Coercing workers into unions by abolishing elections to recognize unions.
(3) Raising *marginal* tax rates on everyone, not just the rich. His tax credits, which phase out at moderate income levels, put cash in some workers' pockets, but they still raise marginal rates because they phase out if the workers earn too much.
(4) Steep increases in the minimum wage (details here) .
(5) Cap-and-trade, a big energy tax on consumers and business.
discourages businesses from hiring and people from working.
A jobless recovery could hurt the Obamamessiah badly.
*sigh*
Just look at that headline! It's not a concern about the unemployed, it's a concern that the unemployed could hurt Obama's image and popularity.
Give me a frikin' break! Pathetic.
Just wait until his educated young supporters can’t find jobs when the graduate college. He is going to be in a world of pain. All of a sudden those greedy companies won’t seem so greedy anymore.
No such thing as a “jobless recovery”
The obama will not be hurt- he will deflect the anger of the masses against “the rich”
Why yes, they do.
Explains why Pinchy boyz driven a very old, formerly trusted institution clean into the ground.
We have to of course, mirror our fellow comrades in Europe.
His “educated young supporters” will be offered wonderful travel “exchange” trips to Cuba and Venezuela to learn how to run education programs at training camps for “GIVE” volunteer cadre formed of the millions of unemployed looking for a purpose to exist ... or at least 3 meals a day and a cot
Chrissy Matthews will report this with unbearable tingles of pleasure
(OK, I made up the Chrissy part)
The young supporters still want their “stuff” like I-pods, Blackberries,I-Phones, digital cameras, fancy computers. That costs money. Will the re-education programs provide them with that kind of booty? My guess is no.
not a problem with another trillion dollar stimulus plan passed every 6 months or so
The “poor” already have govt paid cell phones
I hope Obama isn’t hurt too badly by all this annoying dismal joblessness.
Don’t the jobless have any consideration for this man at all?
How dare they!
All Obama all the time!
Many small/med businesses see the ‘communist manifesto’ writing on the wall. They are the first to feel the contraction of the economy and the first to feel the pain the government will impose upon them to help out those at the top and those at the bottom.
sounds like the Times is trying to push him to create a gigantic WPA-style public jobs program (complete with isolated camps in remote areas...)
It will be a jobless recovery. Who will hire somebody on with unpredictable interest rates, taxes, and regulations?
“Analysis: Dismal Joblessness Could Hurt Obama”
Nay won’t hurt him at all cause he CAAAAARES **Group HUG - love you guys***
Anyway the Demwits have been all over TV with their talking notes saying how things are getting better just not in the joblessness area yet. That will take more time because it is a lagging indicator. The lemming will buy into it even if they are unemployed. The swallowed all of Clinton’s B.S. when he was Pres. You just have to say the right words, action do not matter.
Hussein’s goal: make us all wards of the state.
Once again, the NY Slimes trying to cover for Hussein. I don't recall them saying this during the Bush years. All we heard about were layoffs and the suffering people.
You must certainly can have a jobless recovery of the stock market which will reflect companies doing profitable business with smaller workforces in whatever the marketplace will bear.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.