Doubts About Obama’s Economic Recovery Plan Rise Along With Unemployment

New York Times ^ | July 8, 2009 | Edmund L. Andrews

[reaganaut1]

...

With unemployment already at 9.5 percent and likely to exceed 10 percent, much higher than White House officials predicted back in February, Mr. Obama has been facing attacks that his $787 billion stimulus program was either too timid or wrong-headed or both. Now, just five months after Congress agreed on the plan, with only a fraction of the money actually out the door, Washington is debating the need for a second round of stimulus amid economic and political crosscurrents.

In Ohio, where unemployment is above 10 percent and where Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will visit on Thursday, Mr. Obama’s popularity has dropped sharply. In a poll by Quinnipiac University earlier this week, 48 percent of respondents said they disapproved of Mr. Obama’s handling of the economy, while 46 percent approved, down 11 percentage points since May.

“People are soured on the system, and that’s understandable,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio. “People want to see more money for water and sewers. They want to see more manufacturing growth. They want to see what we’re going to do beyond that.”

For the moment, Mr. Obama and his top economic advisers are fending off calls for more action, combining a message of hard-headed realism about the magnitude of the economy’s problems with more cheerful predictions about an imminent boost as the government spending begins to hit the streets.

“The stimulus is on track,” Lawrence H. Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Wednesday in an interview. “We planned for a program that would stimulate the economy over a two-year period, with a force that increases significantly over calendar year 2009. The implementation is on track to deliver that.”

[reaganaut1]

Larry Summers says "One of the president’s strengths is his extraordinary candor."

Bull!

[LibLieSlayer]

Anything out of the State run media or any DC mouthpiece should be considered a satanic lie until proved otherwise... evil controls America and our economy today... and evil incarnate sits in the Whitehouse.

LLS

[RexBeach]

Well, Mr. Obama is right on schedule. I am pleased to say that I opined on FR months ago that by June his support in the press and in the country would begin to wane.

It seems that all Mr. Obama can do well is two things: 1) orate(with a teleprompter) and 2) spend our money - even when it isn’t there.

What mess.

Just wait unteil jobless claims are reported this morning at 8:30 AM eastern time. Consensus calls for 610M! Another huge number.

[Libloather]

Didn’t Hussein promise that the stimulus would provide 3.5 MILLION new jobs? Whoops!

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

Meanwhile, the media obsession with Michael Jackson and other nonsense.

[TSgt]

The GOP is missing a great opportunity to beat the “It’s the jobs stupid” or “It’s manufacturing jobs stupid” drum. If they could devise a way to regenerate America’s manufacturing capability resulting in job creation 2010 and 2012 would be a no brainier.

[Boardwalk]

The sad part is there will be another stimulus if the democrats have their way. They don’t know what to do except spend more and tax more.

[uncommonsense]

Larry Summers says "One of the president's strengths is his extraordinary candor."

Who he meant is Joe Biden.

[Boardwalk]

Oh yeah, the Democrats are crying out “Obama saved jobs” because of the stimulus. Nice math.

[COBOL2Java]

Meanwhile, the media obsession with Michael Jackson and other nonsense.

Bread and circuses to keep the masses amused.

[TSgt]

http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/archive/2009/07/06/true-unemployment-rate-already-at-20.aspx

Deutsche Bank's chief U.S. economist Joseph LaVorgna wonders how much of this decline is due people exhausting their standard 26-week benefit. He says: "We are concerned about what will happen when a significant share of out-of-work individuals' benefits completely expire, because this could lead consumer spending to re-weaken, hence jeopardizing a fragile recovery."

Unless the economy starts getting traction here in the third quarter, we could face a situation where people find that they have no job and no unemployment benefits. For these people, 2009 will feel an awful lot like 1932. As a result, spending cuts will be deep and dramatic.

[RexBeach]

The GOP needs to get its message together - and fast. Time is running out on getting more of the public on its side.

However, Mr. Obama could be very helpful there...especially if there’s more talk about another “stimulus” package.

Yikes!

[bvw]

The figures are are lies. Unemployment is much higher than 9.5% and the “$787 Billion” is just a label, the real number is unknown but at least 2 Trillion.

[Juan Medén]

“People want to see more money for water and sewers. They want to see more manufacturing growth. They want to see what we’re going to do beyond that.”

They want to see Commander Zero stop pounding on the business sector! They want their jobs back! They want W back! Go back to Kenya, ya dope!

[dalebert]

I never expected less from an empty suit. Just where is the money from the stimlus. What happened to it. Shouldn’t we know this before jumping in deeper.
I think we would have been much better off if the government had stayed out of it. And now they want healthcare.

[bvw]

The SGS Alternate UE puts unemployment in excess of 20%.

That looks right -- according to the website:

The SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated "discouraged workers" defined away during the Clinton Administration added to the existing BLS estimates of level U-6 unemployment.

[Need4Truth]

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are going to help until they understand the basic problem with the economy which is described by this statement (imo):

“Ludwig von Mises describes the endgame brought on by reckless expansion of credit: “There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit (debt) expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit (debt) expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.””

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/07/no-amount-of-stimulus-will-work.html

[ScottinVA]

“Didn’t Hussein promise that the stimulus would provide 3.5 MILLION new jobs? Whoops!”

All those “new” jobs would come AFTER 15,000,000 go under, I guess.

[ScottinVA]

“If they could devise a way to regenerate America’s manufacturing capability resulting in job creation 2010 and 2012 would be a no brainier.”

They should be tying it to a massive energy production program — by doing so, they’d be attacking two problems at once.

[ScottinVA]

“Larry Summers says “One of the president’s strengths is his extraordinary candor.”

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!