Posted on 12/24/2010 11:49:08 AM PST by libh8er
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economy is starting to fire on almost every cylinder these days but the one that matters most: Job creation.
Factories are busier. Incomes are rising. Autos are selling. The holiday shopping season is shaping up as the best in four years. Stock prices are surging.
And many analysts are raising their forecasts for the economy's growth. Goldman Sachs, for instance, just revised its gloomy prediction of a 2 percent increase in gross domestic product in 2011 to 2.7 percent and forecast 3.6 percent growth for 2012.
"The upward momentum has more traction this time," says James O'Sullivan, chief economist at MF Global.
If only every major pillar of the economy were faring so well.
Despite weeks of brighter economic news, employers still aren't hiring freely. The economy added a net total of just 39,000 jobs in November, the government said Friday.
That's far too few even to stabilize the unemployment rate, which rose from 9.6 percent in October to 9.8 percent last month. Unemployment is widely expected to stay above 9 percent through next year, in part because of the still-depressed real estate industry.
Job creation ultimately drives the economy, and it remains the most significant weak link.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Sure it is. I believe everything on AP. I am so glad. Heck the local Tampa paper had over 30 job listings. But it used to have a few hundred. The ones listed were all scams too.
Where? the unemployment is 14%+ here is So Florida?
This is just the media kicking off it’s campaign to re-elect Obama in 2012.
I have said since the time of Obama’s election that the economy, regardless of Obama’s actions, would have to get better by the 2012 election. People cannot put off buying needed car or washing machine or fridge forever.
The economy will get better. Obama will take credit. It doesn’t matter that he slowed down any recovery. The old saying will hold true. “The president gets all of the credit. The president gets all of the blame.”
exactly, watch for more of these ‘just-so’ handwaving stories of the ‘improving’ economy as we draw closer to 2012.....
That said, the small businesses I speak with are still too nervous about Obama ("Obama hates small businessmen/women...they are non-union") for them to hire or otherwise expand. Additionally, many investors seem to be waiting for the manure to hit the fan at the muni and state level before looking beyond Obama.
“Steady Gains”?? Where? At the car wash?
O’zombie’s 2012 campaign is now if full swing, and he will be running against Ronald Reagan this time.
Look at what people are buying in the malls: lots of clothing and other necessities. This is the new “normal”. There is no reason, including the recent election, for anyone to think we’ll ever be back where we were 10 years ago. Regardless of whatever the media prefers to broadcast, as long as there are so many homes around me with “For Sale” signs over a year old, and anyone I know who has replaced a lost job is earning 50-60% of what they were 3 years ago, and others I know still can’t find work even when their unemployment has been cut off, I know we have still not hit bottom yet.
The Washington, DC metropolitan area, including the Maryland and Virginia exurbs, of course!
"The lowest jobless rate among the large areas was recorded by Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., 5.8 percent."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-07/u-s-metropolitan-area-employment-report-for-oct-text-.html
“People cannot put off buying needed car or washing machine or fridge forever.”
People have certainly put off buying cars, and are financing any appliances they need; Americans have simply re-defined “need”. Anybody who wants to take credit for this economy is crazy (and will lose their next election).
these stories are always followed by 20 “unexpected” economic stories...sometimes by the same writer.
Associated Press: the propaganda arm of the Democratic National Committee.
These democrats spit in the face of the American People and tell us it s a refreshing rain.
The Washington, DC metropolitan area, including the Maryland and Virginia exurbs, of course!
“The lowest jobless rate among the large areas was recorded by Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., 5.8 percent.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-07/u-s-metropolitan-area-employment-report-for-oct-text-.html";
That's what I thought thank you for confirming it.
What won the Kenyan Pirate the election (and will cost him the next one) is that no matter what nonsense is spouted by the government or the Dem media, the average person knows they worse off in 2008 than in 2007, and they are still MUCH worse off in 2010 than they were in 2007. Things like real estate prices are most important to those buying or selling homes AT THAT MOMENT; the stock market is important for people buying or selling stock AT THAT MOMENT; what matters most to people is whether or not they can meet basic needs AT THAT MOMENT (and they often can’t).
Many people have begun saving, and paying down debt, so their personal balance sheets look healthier. Also, mortgages remain near historic lows, and there is pent up demand for new housing, if not existing houses.
Reports of consumer spending for Christmas suggest a recovery to 2007 levels if not better. Nevertheless, it could all change on a dime if the market corrects, and the dollar sinks more, raising energy and other costs. We are by no means out of the woods.
There are plenty of jobs out there. I see new faces at my place all the time to replace those who leave because they have found better jobs somewhere else (translation: in a low tax state). Plenty of company and head hunting firms send me emails pleading they have jobs they can’t fill and need me.
I see plenty of help wanted signs in retail, food service, warehouses and some (but not plenty) in factories. Chicagoland seems to need a lot of machinsts, tool&Die and similar types of skilled blue collar workers. An awful lot of helpwanted signs in front of those places in the industrial parks.
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