Employment Data May Be the Key to the President’s Job

[Gerald]

WASHINGTON — No American president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has won a second term in office when the unemployment rate on Election Day topped 7.2 percent.

Seventeen months before the next election, it is increasingly clear that President Obama must defy that trend to keep his job.

Roughly 9 percent of Americans who want to go to work cannot find an employer. Companies are firing fewer people, but hiring remains anemic. And the vast majority of economic forecasters, including the president’s own advisers, predict only modest progress by November 2012.

The latest job numbers, due Friday, are expected to provide new cause for concern. Other indicators suggest the pace of growth is flagging. Weak manufacturing data, a gloomy reading on jobs in advance of Friday’s report and a drop in auto sales led the markets to their worst close since August, and those declines carried over into Asia Thursday.

But the grim reality of widespread unemployment is drawing little response from Washington. The Federal Reserve says it is all but tapped out. There is even less reason to expect Congressional action. Both Democrats and Republicans see clear steps to create jobs, but they are trying to walk in opposite directions and are making little progress.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/bu...s.html?_r=1&hp


Note: Published: June 1, 2011

[Onkel Neal]

Romney's in, where's my pom-poms.

[Lord Justice]

Originally Posted by Vendor

Roughly 9 percent of Americans who want to go to work cannot find an employer.

Then Let me advise them to become loyal subjects of the crown, and be shot at! for six pence a day, during any upcoming revolt.

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Romney's in, where's my pom-poms.

Thanks for the contribution Onkel Neal,

[Onkel Neal]

You're welcome, now we wait for the loony lefties to savage him, like they did their previous darling, McCain.

[Takeda Shingen]

I am not sure that Mitt Romney has the legs to win in the general election.

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

I am not sure that Mitt Romney has the legs to win in the general election.

He's the best candidate the GOP has at this point.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

He's the best candidate the GOP has at this point.

I agree with that. This is the weakest GOP field that I have seen in a long, long time.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

He's the best candidate the GOP has at this point.

Lol, well, with the Trumps & Palins, yeah.

Weaker candidate than Obama? Less qualified, less experienced?

[Torplexed]

Although the Republican field is weak, Obama is going have to do more than lift Bin Laden's severed head anytime he's asked, "what have you done lately?" Although I approve of OBL's demise even that's gonna get old after a while.

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Lol, well, with the Trumps & Palins, yeah.

Weaker candidate than Obama? Less qualified, less experienced?

I see him as fairly moderate as the modern day Republican party goes, and so I think it's going to be hard to differentiate himself enough to give the voters a compelling reason to vote for him. If he tries to run on the "vote for me, I'm not the other guy" platform, all he has to do is look back on 2004 and see how well that worked out for John Kerry.

[Gerald]

[Gerald]

After several months of strong job growth, hiring in the United States slowed sharply in May, suggesting the economy is running out of steam once again.

The Labor Department reported on Friday that the nation added 54,000 nonfarm payroll jobs last month, after an increase of about 220,000 jobs in each of the three previous months. May’s job gain was about a third of what economists had been forecasting.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 9.1 percent from 9.0 percent in April.

“The economy clearly just hit a brick wall,” said Paul Ashworth, chief United States economist at Capital Economics. “It’s almost as if it came to a complete standstill.”

Friday’s dismal job numbers capped a week of disappointing economic news on manufacturing, housing and retail activity. Pressure is now mounting on the Obama administration and Congress to delay deficit-reduction measures, which economists think will put a further drag on the fragile recovery. Already liberal groups have renewed their calls for more aid to the states and more aggressive action from the Federal Reserve — even as a warning from Moody’s about the country’s sterling credit rating has galvanized Republican support for spending cuts.

In some ways the moment is reminiscent of last spring, when the economy also braked abruptly just as it seemed to be gaining momentum. At the time, the slowdown was attributed to worries over the European debt crisis, just as Friday’s numbers have been attributed in part to temporary stresses from higher energy prices and natural disasters. Last year’s downshift was ultimately followed by additional federal spending and another round of asset purchases by the Federal Reserve.

The latest jobs numbers sent markets tumbling, with oil prices and bond yields declining. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 133 points, or 1.1 percent, within minutes after the opening bell, though stocks later recovered some of those losses.

The biggest employment gains were in professional and business services and in health care services, which grew steadily even during the recession.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/bu...s.html?_r=1&hp


Note: Update Record, Published: June 3, 2011

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

I am not sure that Mitt Romney has the legs to win in the general election.

Don't you mean Palin? oh wait, that's not what you're talking about.

[Gerald]

WASHINGTON — A run of disappointing economic data, punctuated by Friday’s employment numbers, is emboldening Congressional Republicans in their standoff with the White House over the best way for the government to encourage growth.

Republicans said the slow pace of hiring in May underscored the need for sharp cuts in federal spending and regulation to spur corporate investment. They have refused to increase the debt ceiling, the maximum amount the government can borrow, without an agreement to make such cuts.

They argue that Democratic efforts to revive growth through public spending programs have failed as the economy remained weak and unemployment high almost two years after the end of the recession.

“You talk to job creators around the country like we have,” House Speaker John A. Boehner said Friday. “They’ll tell you the overtaxing, overregulating and overspending that’s going on here in Washington is creating uncertainty and holding them back.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/bu...assess.html?hp


Note: Update Record, Published: June 3, 2011