Saturday, July 7, 2012

Joblessness and the Poor Economy Continues

Michelle-Obama-Jobs-Stork-SC

Check this last set of statistics: The percentage of each past president’s cabinet who had worked in the private business sector prior to their appointment to the cabinet. (You know that the private business sector is a real-life business, not a government job.) Here are the percentages.

Economy Stalls: Dismal Jobs Report as Minorities, Private Sector Take Hits

Newsmax:

The economy continued its mid-air stall on Friday as another disappointing jobs report showed that minorities and the private sector continue to take hits, leading GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney to lament: “America can do better and this kick in the gut has got to end.”

U.S. employers added only 80,000 jobs in June, a third straight month of weak hiring that shows the economy is still struggling three years after the recession ended, and falling short of forecasts though a tad higher than a revised May reading of 77,000.

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.2 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. The economy added an average of just 75,000 jobs a month in the April-June quarter — one-third of the pace in the first quarter.

While most political analysts point to the economy as the number one issue on the minds of American voters in 2012, the Obama administration insisted that “there are no quick fixes” from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

“There are no quick fixes to the problems we face that were more than a decade in the making,” said White House chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Alan Krueger. “President Obama has proposals to create jobs by ending tax breaks for companies to ship jobs overseas and supporting state and local governments to prevent layoffs and rehire hundreds of thousands of teachers.”

For the first six months of 2012, employers added an average of just 150,000 jobs a month. That's fewer than the 161,000 average for the first half of 2011.
Job creation during the month of June wasn't enough to bring down the country's lofty 8.2 percent unemployment rate. The report appeared sure to fuel concerns that Europe's debt crisis is shifting the U.S. economy into low gear.

Hispanic and Latino unemployment continued to hover well above the national average at 11.0 percent, reports Business Insider, while the unemployment rate for white men and women was slightly lower than the national average at 7.4 percent.

African Americans were particularly hard hit by the difficult economy with 184,000 more jobless black Americans in June and an overall unemployment rate at a staggering 14.4 percent.

And, Business Insider also noted that more workers joined the federal government's disability program in June than got new jobs, according to the Social Security Administration.
In June 85,000 workers left the workforce entirely to enroll in the Social Security Disability Insurance.

Since 2009, the economy has created 2.6 million jobs while 3.1 million workers signed up for disability.

In a televised address after Friday’s numbers were released, Romney blamed President Barack Obama’s failed economic policies and lambasted the president’s “Forward” campaign slogan.

“Forward doesn’t look a lot like forward to the millions and millions of families that are struggling today in this great country. It doesn’t have to be this way,” said the GOP standard bearer. “The president doesn’t have a plan, hasn’t proposed any new ideas to get the economy going, just the same old ideas of the past that have failed. I have a plan. My plan calls for action that will get America working again and create good jobs — both near term and long term.”

Romney pointed to the stalled Keystone XL Pipeline project; the need to open new markets for American trade — particularly in Latin America — and the need to lower marginal tax rates.

“This is a time for America to choose whether they want more of the same, whether Unemployment above 8 percent month after month, after month is satisfactory or not,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be this way. America can do better and this kick in the gut has got to end.”

Europe's debt crisis is also weighing on U.S. exports. And the scheduled expiration of tax cuts at year's end has increased uncertainty for U.S. companies, making many hesitant to hire.

Job creation is the fuel for the nation's economic growth. When more people have jobs, more consumers have money to spend — and consumer spending drives about 70 percent of the economy.

The market opened sharply lower after the jobs report was issued. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 146 points — about 1 percent — in the first hour of trading. Other stock indexes also sank.

As an employer, the government isn't helping.

The number of jobs at all levels of government fell 4,000 in June. Only local governments added jobs — and it was a scant 4,000. State governments cut 1,000 jobs. They shed 13,000 in the April-June quarter.

"In the first quarter it looked like state and local government job losses were coming to an end," says Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services. "That turned out to be a temporary halt . . . Apparently, there's no end in sight."

The federal government cut 7,000 jobs in June. It hasn't added jobs since March 2011.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

The Blaze:

‘Don’t Read Too Much Into it’: June Jobs Report Marks 31st Time the White House Advises Voters to Ignore Data… Obama’s Obviously Too Worried~

Dont Read Too Much Into it: June Jobs Report Marks 31st Time the White House Advises Voters to Ignore DataAfter the Labor Department announced on Friday that only 80,000 jobs were added in June, the Obama administration was quick to assure voters that this is somehow a “step in the right direction” and that we shouldn’t read too much into the data.

“[I]t is important not to read too much into any one monthly report and it is informative to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available [emphasis added],” Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Alan Krueger writes on the White House’s official website.

Really? We shouldn’t read too much into the Labor Department’s figures? Okay, let’s play along for a moment and agree that, yes, one monthly report does not provide enough historical data to let us conclude that the job market is doing poorly. We would need several reports spanning several months to do that.

Actually, you know what? We do have several reports and we do have months of figures. And you know what else? Krueger advising on Friday that we shouldn’t “read too much into” the Labor Department’s June report isn’t even the first time this has happened.

The White House has been telling people that they shouldn’t “read too much into” unemployment figures since November 2009! In fact, the White House has said those exact same words 30 times over the last three years.

Don’t believe us? See for yourself [via obamaisntworking.com]:

June 2012: “Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report and it is informative to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available.” Romney: “Another kick in the gut for middle-America families!”

May 2012: “Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report and it is helpful to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available.”

April 2012: “Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report and it is helpful to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available.”

March 2012: “Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, and it is helpful to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available.”

February 2012: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report; nevertheless, the trend in job market indicators over recent months is an encouraging sign.” Rush Slams 'Corrupt' Obama Job Stats

January 2012: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report; nevertheless, the trend in job market indicators over recent months is an encouraging sign.”

December 2011: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.” Romney responded at the time on New Jobless Numbers: Obama ‘Will Have A Hard Time Putting Perfume On This Pig’

November 2011: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

October 2011: “The monthly employment and unemployment numbers are volatile and employment estimates are subject to substantial revision. There is no better example than August’s jobs figure, which was initially reported at zero and in the latest revision increased to 104,000. This illustrates why the Administration always stresses it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

September 2011: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

August 2011: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

July 2011: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.” Mitt Romney on jobless numbers then: 'Fire Plouffe'

June 2011: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

May 2011: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

April 2011: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

March 2011: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

February 2011: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

January 2011: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

December 2010: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

November 2010: “Therefore, as the Administration always stresses, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

October 2010: “Given the volatility in monthly employment and unemployment data, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

September 2010: “Given the volatility in the monthly employment and unemployment data, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.”

July 2010: “Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative. It is essential that we continue our efforts to move in the right direction and replace job losses with robust job gains.”

August 2010: “Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative.”

June 2010: “As always, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative.”

May 2010: “As always, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative.”

April 2010: “Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative.”

March 2010: “Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative.”

January 2010: “Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative.”

November 2009: “Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative.”

Naturally enough, the Romney campaign has pounced on this, turning the above list itself into an argument against the President on their website. And why not? Facts are facts, and given that the president’s staff — for almost the entirety of his first term — has treated over 30 lousy jobs reports as if each one was an isolated event and not, in fact, part of a troubling trend line, we‘d be surprised if the Romney campaign didn’t use this attack.

T. Roosevelt……………… 38%

Taft………………………….. 40%

Wilson……………………… 52%

Harding…………………….. 49%

Coolidge…………………… 48%

Hoover……………………… 42%

F. Roosevelt………………. 50%

Truman…………………….. 50%

Eisenhower……………….. 57%

Kennedy……………………. 30%

Johnson…………………….. 47%

Nixon……………………….. 53%

Ford………………………….. 42%

Carter……………………….. 32%

Reagan……………………… 56%

G. H. Bush………………… 51%

Clinton……………………… 39%

G. W. Bush……………….. 55%

Obama……………………… 08%

This helps to explain the incompetence of this administration: only 8% of them have ever worked in private business! That’s right! Only eight percent; the least, by far, of the last 19 presidents! And these people are trying to tell our big corporations how to run their business?

How can the president of a major nation and society, the one with the most successful economic system in world history, stand and talk about business when he’s never worked for one? Or about jobs when he has never really had one? And when it’s the same for 92% of his senior staff and closest advisers? They’ve spent most of their time in academia, government and/or non-profit jobs or as "community organizers”. They should have been in an employment line.

This one issue alone should make everyone vote for a change in the White House on November 6th 2012.  Mitt Romney is a successful businessman, who also has political experience as a governor (which is always consider better experience than having served in Congress) and he rescued the economically floundering Utah Winter Olympics.

AskMarion~

Related:

WSJ: Government Miscounting Unemployed

Women Joblessness Up 15.5% Under Obama

Economist Morici: US Job Creation Falling Far Short

US Jobs Report Reveals Struggling Economy

Obama’s Numbers Game (And Why You Should Be Concerned)

But not to worry… White House Payroll Up 14% Under Obama 

Unemployment Rate Dropped In Every State That Elected A Republican Gov. In 2010

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