Posted on 06/01/2011 5:40:33 PM PDT by Kaslin
Economy: As the president works on his golf game, the economy is coming apart again. Housing is taking another leg down, job gains seem to be tailing off and a fiscal iceberg lies just ahead. Will someone sound the alarm?
President Obama has busied himself with many things lately — angering longtime allies such as Israel, plunging us into an open-ended conflict in Libya without congressional approval, spending quality face-time with the British royals, golfing on Memorial Day.
On Wednesday, he even found time to declare June "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Month."
We know the president is busy, but maybe it's time he returned to thinking about our foundering, job-challenged economy.
Recent data show a shocking turn south. While some worry we might soon experience a double-dip recession, we're already in a kind of recession — a growth recession. That's where the economy is barely eking out enough growth to create jobs. And the number of jobs being created isn't enough to sop up the unemployed and new entrants to the workforce.
Consider these data, all from one day:
• ADP reported that, based on its payroll tally, 38,000 private jobs were created in May — 100,000 short of the minimum needed for healthy growth.
• Employment consultant Challenger, Gray & Christmas said businesses cut 37,135 jobs last month, up nearly 2% from April.
• Housing prices in the U.S. plunged 4.2% in the first quarter, the lowest since the financial crisis began.
• The Mortgage Bankers Association's mortgage application index fell 4% in the final week of May.
• The Institute for Supply Management reported its factory activity index tumbled from 60.4 in April to 53.5 in May — the lowest since September 2009
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Do you actually think Obama cares about anyone? He’s not a Democrat; Barack worships himself and nothing else. He’s in unless the party kicks him out, and they can’t because the race card is not worn out inside the Dem Party.
Congress and the Fed will take care of that soon with a raised debt ceiling and endless free money. Look for the next QE soon.
Bill Clinton was smart enough to drop the more public elements of his far-left agenda after that. Obama still seems set on pushing that agenda.
I absolutely blame Obama for the length of this recessionary cycle. “Free” trade is only part of the problem. The 800 billion dollar stimulus bust, the staggering deficits his administration is running, the cap on fossil fuel development, the myth of green jobs as his solution,saddling business with Obamacare,the unfriendly regulatory climate he has created hampering business. None of this existed before he came to office. Welcome to the Obama depression.
Centrist Democrat? Do they exist anymore? Closest thing to a centrist Democrat in spirit is Mitt Romney.
“His own party stands to lose a lot if he stays in”
It’s a mistake to think he won’t run. He’s all in.
I’m a little touchy because the economic ignorance is so deep around here.
It is true. Not his first time either.
Every day I hate him more - if that’s possible.
I agree. Look back to the great recession and you will note the similarities of government action and destruction. The great recession didn’t end until the 1950s when the Democrats were finally pushed out of office, but their influence and destruction continued later in congress.
“He’s in unless the party kicks him out, and they can’t because the race card is not worn out inside the Dem Party.”
They are in a delicate spot, and they’ll have to distance themselves from him, but that won’t suffice; maybe they find a token Hispanic woman as a primary challenger.
He may be all in, but there is a good chance he faces a primary challenge (not unheard of). With the job situation and inflation, he has a snowball’s chance in hell (despite his media mouthpieces telling us daily how much we love him); after 2009 & 2010, I don’t think the leftist Dems are going to take the lashes anymore for the far leftist Obama.
Bill Clinton went so far to the right he was better than Dole would have been; no Republican could have passed the welfare reform (and most of the other elements of the Contract with America) without being run through the wringer.
Obama knows his Bolshevism is reviled, so it is just omitted from his media coverage. His problem is that the average voter is MUCH worse off than 3 years ago, and no spin can hide that.
“He may be all in, but there is a good chance he faces a primary challenge (not unheard of). “
I see what you are saying. It happened with Carter, for example, when Kennedy was thought to be the savior to rid the poor libs of their albatross.
I just don’t see any libs willing to risk it, though. BO is so loved by the media that they know they can’t get a moment of airplay as long as he’s around.
Should be interesting in the next couple of months to see what happens. AFAIK no libs have even made noises about running against him.
The media knows he’s toast; there will probably be a face-saving way out of the race for him, but they will show him the door. They have too much to lose, and he’s brought them nothing but failure & election losses.
“there will probably be a face-saving way out of the race for him, but they will show him the door”
I hope you are right but I believe that this is just wishful thinking.
The next year will be very interesting in politics.
What’s important is that the rich get federal handouts from poor taxpayers. Life is good at the top of Goldman Sachs.
For the rest of you peons, you won’t be hearing about “income disparity” while a Democrat is in Office. Das ist Verboten.
I don’t think it is wishful thinking; any Dem politician that wants to keep their job can’t ignore the 2009/2010 election results. Repub governors were elected in states Obama had won a year before, and then they had their “shellacking” - these things end people’s political careers. If they let him run unopposed, it would be on the condition that he never show his face in any state where seats are up for grab (which is all 50 states, due to the House).
The fact that his budget was totally shot down in a bipartisan manner, and the Congress openly applauded a foreign dignitary who openly opposed him, speaks volumes.
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