The Obama-conomy: “It’s worse than you think”

Of course, it’s all Bush’s fault:
The U.S. economy is not only shedding jobs at a record rate; it is shedding more jobs than it is supposed to. It’s bad enough that the unemployment rate has doubled in only a year and a half and one out of six construction workers is out of work. What truly troubles President Obama’s economic advisers is that, even adjusting for the recession, the contraction in employment seems way too high. As one administration official said, “This has been a very steep job loss.”
…The Federal Reserve now expects unemployment to surpass 10 percent (the postwar high was 10.8 percent in 1982). By almost every other measure, ours is already the worst job environment since the Great Depression. The economy has shed 6.5 million jobs — nearly 5 percent of the total, far outstripping the 3 percent that were lost in the early ’80s. Economists fear that even when the economy turns around, the job market will be stagnant. Keith Hall, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, sums it up as “an ugly picture out there.”
…But layoffs are only part of the story. The problem isn’t just that so many workers have received pink slips but also that companies are failing to hire…In terms of its impact on society, a dearth of hiring is far more troubling than an excess of layoffs. Job losses have to end sooner or later. Even if they persist (as, say, in the auto industry), the government can intervene. But the government cannot force firms to hire. Ultimately, each new job depends on the boss’s belief — or hope — that sufficient work will materialize.
To paraphrase the Left: Obama lied. Hope died.
The economy is in the tank. Obama’s popularity is sinking.
What’s a flailing president to do?
Go golfing and lease a $20 million farm on Martha’s Vineyard.
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Shocker!
Dumba$$ Voters 08′
Nor can Obama make us spend our money … yet. Of course, I hope everyone realizes he is working on rectifying these ‘lil problems.
I know this sounds so unfeeling and politically incorrect, but will the parasites ever admit that they’ve excessively weakened the host?
granite said:
They will feed on the host until it is dead. They will drop off and search for another host but by then, there will be nothing left.
Companies are not going to hire with so many uncertainties out there. What is the government going to do next? How much am I ultimately going to pay and when are the laws forbidding me to lay off people going to be enacted? People asked for more government intrusion in business, they got it. This is what happens.
Obama has been carpet bombing the private sector since he began his campaign in 2007. This is the harvest he has sown.
When people are broke, hungry and selling off what they own to survive Axelrod and company can spin all they want. People are not listening.
As opposed to a community organizer, Presidents can be fired at the pools.
I really hate obama for what he’s doing to this country.
The really sad part is that they have no clue that is the policies and government meddling from this administration that is responsible for this. They just refuse to adopt reality!
Michelle I wish you or someone would investigate the ongoing Friday takeovers of banks by the FDIC
Nearly every Friday a number of bank names are released as being insolvent, requiring the FDIC to step in and get another bank to take control
So far this year we are at ~64 and counting
It seems that the FDIC has a long list of banks they have to told to hold on as they lack enough regulators to get to them fast enough. It is smart of them to try to do this in an orderly fashion so as to not create a panic.
But it is very serious as the failures continue to mount.
On the brightside, government will be managing the healthcare of all the victims of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
The public was told that millions of jobs would be “saved or created”
Thank goodness Dear Leader’s plan “saved” those millions of jobs. Otherwise, unemployment might be 20% by now.
/sarc off
Yep, the honeymoon is over, and after six months in office, Pres Obama owns it. He owns Iraq, Afghanistan, Gitmo, the economy, federal judicial nominations, protecting the Nation from terrorism, smarter financial institution regulation, etc.
Yep, he owns it all.
FIFY
Remember, The One has NO PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE. He is applying theories he has discussed and embraced over the years. he’s no a leader, he is an idealog. He’s experimenting with his theories using 304 million people and the world’s largest economy as if we were somethin in a petri dish.
Throw in his hubris and arrogance and we have what we have.
Obama: “Aah, the mewling spawn, how I despise them!”
I wonder if all those that voted for “hope and change” find the unemployment line a pleasent “change” for themselves.I don’t think so!
Why ?sarc off/?
Your comment accurately reflects what these dangerous clowns continually say to us voters when their dangerous, stupid “policies” don’t work.
These dangerous idiots – ?domestic antagonists? – try to convince us of their absurd notion, that the fire that they started in the first place would have been worse if they had not poured so much gasoline onto it.
As long as Mr. and Mrs. Obama can take Air Force One to dinner in Paris and New York the economy is doing just fine. Be of good cheer my friends–there is still plenty of money for the Chicago Connection to steal. How about driving across a bridge built in an Equitable Manner instead of by professionals?
White Male Construction Workers” Robert Reich says
Have a nice day , keep your powder dry and be careful which bridges you cross
Nationalization of private businesses,
Socialization of healthcare,
Cap and Tax schemes,
Increased regulation in almost every industry,
Taxation without representation through new fees,
Increased taxes on a targeted segment of the population,
International tensions growing faster than ever.
Gee, why would I want to risk hiring anybody?
If anything, I’m scaling back until it’s safe to grow again.
There had to be a significant number of voters who saw Obama as a means to no longer work, and to get Bubba’s share of the shrimpin’ biness.
I hold a glimmer of hope that people are realizing just how bad it is, as Obama’s Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking numbers have been in the negatives for about a week, and yesterday was at -11 and today is at -10.
I know it’s bad. We told them it’d be bad back before the election.
Now imagine if cap-and-tax and Obamacare go through. Things will be even worse!
If only we could put a special tax on just those idiots who voted this naive, inexperienced buffoon into office….
I still want to know who the Futures traders were and who they worked forthat bid up the price of Crude Oil to levels never seen before and that started this ball rolling down hill. You cannot tell me that this was not deliberate, in an election year? Knowing full well the the economy follows energy prices?
It isn’t just unemployment. It’s also that employers are cutting hours. My wife is now working 32 hours a week rather than 40. These figures don’t show anyplace.
“It’s worse than you think”,but exactly as intended.
I don’t disagree.
In fact, I’ve been saying that for about a year now….
Does the name George Soros, along with his cronies and his minions, ring a bell?
Not if you’re a Musician getting gig’s at the White House.
I’m sure when Obama gets done with his golf game he will tell Congress to get right on it, and by the way, hurry! The great delegator has better things to do. When is his next date night with his wifey? The obama economy is in the tank for the sole reason that he wants it in the tank. Otherwise, why would this administration do EVERYTHING that is wrong to fix it? Why would they do the exact things that have NEVER worked before? Hmmmm….this “bloodless coup” is accelerating. Personally, I’m not ready to live like a third world citizen because of the likes of this Kenyan interloper.
Ditto, friend. And millions more dittos from middle America.
For Obama, its never been about fixing the economy. Its never been about fixing health care. Its never been about saving GM and Chrysler. Its never been about saving the banks and insurance companies.
It always been about power and control. If the above go under, so be it. His first order of business is to set the stage for the statists to take over and keep that system in place for as long as Roosevelt’s New Deal or Johnson’s Great Society changes have been in place.
Our liberties are being taken away by a slow, continuous process and its getting to the point where it won’t be stopped as long as Obama and like minded people are calling the shots and stacking the courts.
The first order of business is to stop falling for the “political correctness” arguments and start doing some straight talking. If the statists want to call us racsists or homophobes, so be it. People need to take a stand and call right, right and wrong, wrong regardless of the name calling that follows by this grossly over influential minority. It’s time the dog started wagging the tail rather than the other way around.
Your comment is what I have been saying all along and I’m in complete agreement. It is all about control, control, control.
Ditto that!
Just thinking about all those bridges and roads built by affirmative action employees makes me want to build a fortress around my home and stay there. I can just envision 10 years down the road hearing a series of news stories about bridge and building collapses, such as they have in other countries. When the causes come to light, they are usually the result of shoddy materials used to save money and purchased by corrupt “leaders”. The “little people” are the ones who will suffer, but, as Chucky Shumer has said, we are only the “chattering class”. I am starting to feel my liberties disappearing. It is oppressive and frightening.
Obamas numbers are getting worse but we need to keep hammering Congress and keep their numbers as low as we can.
I don’t believe for one minute that he is “naive and inexperienced”. He knows exactly what he is doing. He is taking orders from the likes of George Soros and is fulfilling a life-long dream. He is a useful idiot, but a very smart, conniving one.
and as my Royal Air Force father-in-law says…’don’t fall into any big holes.’
Sorry, there is nothing ‘musical’ about hate-filled, racist-charged, bigoted ebonics poetry coming from crack smokin’ gansta rappers.
Be of Good Cheer happyscrapper
The New and Improved ObamaMobiles seats will be suitable as flotation devices when Robert Reich’s bridges do collapse. Feel better?
I do know one of our local utilities has to buy 10% of some materials from “favored minority suppliers”-not just supplier owned by a minority but a “disadvantaged favored minority”. As it cost too much to store the crap the “disadvantaged favored minority” sells them they just pay for not receiving it. I understand that it is an industry wide problem and is just written off as a cost of doing business.
granite said:
That rings a gong but I know there is something deeper, I am not very good at data mining but, I remember years ago that futures traders for oil and such were limited to what they could do here so the major investment firms moved them off shore. I think it was Dubai or Kuwait.
IS there a link to the federal reserve report? I couldn’t find the right ones on their site.
There’s your trouble. Get a clue.
This is a depression.
Agreed.
From what I have read about Soros, his money is offshore.
What would make one believe that his traders would not also be offshore?
Yet the stock market keeps rallying on abysmal trading volume. A government-rigged treasury bond market bubble and a TARP-inflated stock market bubble. I wonder how that is going to end given the astounding disconnect between the financial markets and reality. In the new centrally-planned economy, all thermometers read 78 degrees regardless of the real temperature.
BTW, is anyone puzzled as to why gas prices are climbing even though oil inventories are reportedly gushing? Gas prices, that spiked up last week, are forecast to gain 30-50 cents this week. I wonder if the “cash for clunkers” handouts have anything to do with it? I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.
When Obama first started saying this back in the start of his ongoing campaign, I don’t think the economy was quite that bad.
Since taking office though, he has drivin it to this level. It makes me wonder what is next on his roadmap of hope and change.
They can keep the White House. I want Congress. Turn it red in 2010 and start rebuilding our economy, our national defense and our Republic based on Freedom.
And the flip side, as a consumer, why would I want to risk spending any money unnecessarily, knowing I may be forced to ante up thousands more in taxes (outright and hidden) — assuming, that is, that I even have a job in a few months.
Last major purchase of the CJ household? A Troy-bilt tiller picked up at a yard sale, so we can expand the garden next year. That is the behavior of someone expecting the recession/depression to continue beyond this year–and you know what they say about self-fulfilling prophesies.
I agree that this is all about control. The worse things get, the more of a “crisis” it becomes, the more reason for government control to “fix” the crisis.
As we have seen, each of these grabs for government control has been preceded by a very convenient “crisis”. Since it is a crisis there is no time to discuss what to do, never mind discussing whether it is a crisis in the first place, which it never is.
Maybe Obama’s plunging numbers mean people are catching on. That only means the powers-that-be will have to ratchet up the next crisis. My bet is on an Iran/Israel event enabling all sorts of fun stuff for Rahm Emanuel to exploit.
Despite the Talking Heads and spin doctors there is NO Rally if there is no volume. There are not enough people and institutions buying to justify a RALLY. If the kid next door makes $20 cutting your lawn “Unemployment numbers fall” is a lie too. But Talking Heads and spin doctors lie about other things too–I heard that somewhere I did I did.
Oh, and another thing — if Republicans had ANY brains/balls, they’d be shouting from the rooftops that this begin AFTER the Dems took over control of congress. They’d be reminding voters that they first voted for CHANGE in ’06, and the economy began to tank in ’07.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at that statement. It is funny, but also might become true!! Yikes.
We have a good friend who has been a radiologist and is now “semi-retired”. He decided to go into partnership with other radiologists in North Dakota (he grew up in Minnesota, practiced medicine in Omaha, and now lives in a beautiful lake home on one of Minnesota’s amazing lakes. The reason I am telling you this is NOT OFF TOPIC. Bear with me.
This radiologist friend spends a couple weeks each month in North Dakota. He tells us that the area he is in is absolutely BOOMING. The people have money and a high quality of life. How can that be in North Dakota? OIL. They are drilling there. And they are prospering. Big secret. Don’t tell anyone.
Construction jobs? Few banks are lending money for housing starts. Wasn’t that supposed to be taken care of by TARP?
Arizona: the entire philosophy of our government right now is based on a book called “Animal Spirits” by economists Akerloff and Shiller. The gist of it was reflected by McCain’s then chief economic advisor Phil Gramm’s comment that called those who believed the economy was in recession ago as whiners suffering from a “mental” recession.
It’s economic policy by making people “feel good”. Total BS but that book is now our country’s defacto economic policy. and like I frequently point out, it’s not just Obama. He’s just the current salesman for the one-party government. The BS keeps changing but we keep heading in only one direction: fascist global government.
That’s why we need someone like Sarah to drive a wedge into the one-party system for conservatives. We need to change the narrative.
There are actually signs that the economy is beginning to recover. (Before LGM gets all excited, note that the economists producing the forecasts extended the date of the recovery after Obama passed the stimulus bill. It slowed us down.)
But they’re printing money like crazy and keeping interest rates too low. Inflation is coming – it has to happen.
correction to #51:
…those who believed the economy was in recession A YEAR ago…
Of course companies aren’t hiring! Why would they be?
They don’t know what they will have to pay in taxes/penalties for health insurance.
They don’t know where corporate tax rates will go.
The minimum wage (which is always the first line of people to be fired and hired) has just been raised.
Where is the incentive to hire? Where is the tax break for hiring new workers?
Instead, Obama and his minions are all about taking money from evil, greedy corporations, all the while lamenting that no one is hiring!
The reason no one is hiring is because the Obama administration and our legislative branch is so radical and unpredictable.
What’s the matter with you folks??? Every news organization, every TV channel, every newspaper, the economy is in the up-tick mode… Oh, by the way MSM folks, I have some OCEAN FRONT PROPERTY here in PHOENIX you would just love…
Cloward and Piven would be proud.
Someday, having found our way back to prosperity, we’ll all look back and tell our grandchildren how really bad it was and they won’t believe us.
Just don’t be cutting the price on our Ocean Front Condos and Beach Homes-Kalifornicators will to pay big bucks unseen-eastern dudes 2
Anyone see John Conyers saying “why read the healthcare bill?… it’s 1000 pages long and you need 2 days and 3 lawyers to tell you what it says.”
Video here:
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=51610&print=on
When you are a robot, you do not need to read, merely obey.
Besides, who gives a rip about what’s in it as long as you sieze control of it.
Pasadena, it is obvious that you really really really love Sarah Palin. But I would caution you not to put all your eggs into that basket. She is a wonderful conservative voice. But very polarizing and possibly damaged irrevocably. You said something similar to that about Liz Cheney, who I personally adore, and I feel the same way about Sarah Palin. She can be a good rallying voice for our cause. But I doubt she will ever be POTUS.
The reported unemployment rate in Michigan is 15.4%, with no end in sight. It hasn’t even begun to level out.
By the way, our BELOVED governor (Jennifer Granholm) was on our BELOVED president’s economic council during the period just prior and after THE ONE’S inauguration. In fact, she HEADED it, and THE ONE considered her for a permanent spot on his cabinet.
It is THE ONE’S intention to give the rest of America the same excellent economic outlook as we have in Michigan.
Another living treasure from the state of Michigan, and another reason why Michigan is in an uncontrolled downward spiral towards oblivion.
Be aware of any utterances from Obama or his crew of handlers who use the word “intent”, or any of it’s derivatives.
Ones “intentions” are subject to change, interpretation, re-interpretation, and vast amounts of “spin.”
We have seen throughout Obama’s ascension to the highest office in the land, his cavalier reworking of the meanings of words, and his daily changes in positions.
We should know by now, that anytime he illustrates with “I have always said…,” “Let me be clear…,” “It’s not about me…,” he is repositioning. He recently conceded that he “should have calibrated his words…” regarding his friend, the racist Professor Gates. Calibrated…uh, huh…calculated is what he was saying.
We all know, or should know by now, this man, his supporters in Congress, nor his appointees, can be entrusted with the truth. Truth is an inconvenient encumbrance when the ends justify the means.
Their rationalization is simple; How is this “messiah” supposed to save us, if he is not given Carte Blanche to trample all over our rights, and have a “free hand” to force us to do what needs to be done for our own good?
Was, (is) not Obama polarizing to the nth degree?
Infrastructure = Unemployment Office
New Jobs = New Jobs at New Unemployment Offices
BHO is too self centered to bother to fix anything. His plan is about as effective as trying to make the shallow end of a pool deeper by taking water from the deep end and pouring it into the shallow. It uses lots of energy to change nothing.
As long as there are opposing views in two party politics, and one party is willing to vilify the other, there will always be polarization.
The vast majority of left-leaning eligible voters are too emotionally involved with issues that effect their ability to recreate. In a nutshell, money.
A majority of right-leaning voters are too emotionally involved with issues that effect their ability to practice freedom of choice, and basic liberty. In a nutshell, money.
Those who would serve, do so with one goal in mind…how to get and maintain the power (or control) to steer a desirable outcome? It is the difference between power, and absolute power.
The conservative wing of governance desires power to guarantee God given freedoms and liberty.
The liberal wing desires absolute power to force people to act in accordance with their personal beliefs. So, we wind up in a quandary…
If power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, how do we choose our leadership without risking our rights?
I think the only answers are term limits, and prohibitions regarding total public service time.
I love the analogy!
***
The bad economy is ALL EVIL BOOOOOOOOOOSH’S FAULT!
***
When the Messiah saves a few more jobs unemployment rates will fall below ZERO and will move into negative number territory!
**
Like the car that added a new carburator that gave 50 percent better economy, an ignition system that gave 40 percent improvement, and aerodynamic improvements that racked up 20 percent gains.
***
Every 200 miles the car owner had to stop and drain his gas tank before it overflowed! Hope and change you can believe in!
***
John Bibb
***
Hmmm. Obamaconomy is strangely reminiscent of Carteroconomy. Peanut junior has already regressed to Peanut senior’s CAFE trick to continue the killing off of American car companies. Double digit inflation is a guarantee with the stimulususeses. Anyone want to bet on whether Hussein can top Carter’s 21.5% interest rate? Stagflation’s on the horizon. Cap and tax will create an energy crisis.
Economically, it looks like we elected Carter 2, Electric Boogaloo.
Has anyone heard the BREATHLESS MSM reporting over every sign of positive indications that the economy might be getting better? Home sales are up (thanks to bottomed-out prices on homes–which, by the way, have ruined millions of people’s lives), and the stock market is up (which, by the way, was IRRELEVANT to them when Bush was president).
Oh, and also they’re saying that because people aren’t spending their money and are putting it away, that they’re feeling POSITIVE about it. Propagandistic balderdash! If the election had gone the other way, and McCain were president right now with the exact circumstances, we’d hear nothing but now HORRIBLE and HOPELESS the economy is.
BTW, I’m listening to some liberal MORON on Hannity right now, who’s whining about how there STILL isn’t a “level playing field.” Level Playing Field means EVERYONE is equally poor, miserable, and beholden to their masters in Washington, DC.
This is about as perfect an analogy as I’ve ever seen to explain it. Government throwing money around has NEVER changed anything for the better for anyone, except for the power-mongers who want the federal government to control every aspect of our lives.
My collie says:
Rahm would be proud, collie.
Pray for all the MILLIONS of jobless families now suffering under the hapless Obama regime’s nation destroying policies.
I would have never thought it possible, but this Thug is making Jimmy Carter look like an economic genius. May God help us all.
So are you, sir.
“Ready to lead on DAY 1″ “With shovel ready projects”
Didnt realize that those shovel ready projects were for digging our own grave and then taking a shovel to the back of the head.
Everyone needs to realize, the economy (re: stock market) is about at the top of where its going to be this year. Then its going to get massively worse before Kwanza. (Oh yeh I bet we celebrate the crap out of it this year) but we already knew that we were going to hit this false high 6 months ago …. so eveyone quit being stupid like this is news.
Then miraculously the stimlus is going to hit next summer, and next fall its going to be balls to the wall like its 1928 again- ……. hmmmm oddly right before the 2010 elections. Just in time to celebrate Obamas salvaging of the economy. After that, we should be good until 2013, then hold on Sally…. its gonna be a bumpy ride.
Id probably start dumping whats left of everyones money into investments about Feb/Mar of next year.
No boss I know hires then hopes that work will materizalize.
They get orders, cannot easily keep up and hire when these new positions can be deemed profitable.
If I hire you then hope work materializes what good is that?