What happened to all of the doom and gloom economic threads?

[Ham Murabi]

Lets see, kind of like, what we're dealing with right now.....

Actually, I think if Obama and Congress had done NOTHING we'd be better off.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Only 395 billion of the 792 billion has been spent, or 49.8%. 240 billion hasn't even been touched yet; not even in the process of being spent as of right now.

Source: http://projects.propublica.org/tables/stimulus-spending-progress

Remember when you right wing nuts were dismissing the stimulus as a failure when it was a mere 12% spent? Irrational as hell, but most of you still stick to it.

But, wait...

It was an emergency! We had to have that money to SPEND to kickstart the economy...

Or was that money actually a Democratic walking-around money set-aside for the elections? Too bad about that oil slick.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

We were told it would hold unemployment at 8%...

 

[firespin]

We were told it would hold unemployment at 8%...

...the fine print mentioned "among Democratic incumbent congressmen."

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

...the fine print mentioned "among Democratic incumbent congressmen."

We do see the administration has been very busy trying to create and save jobs for them...




*snicker*

**** bless Blagojovich!
__________________
If you still have a job, it was "saved." If you don't have a job, it's being "created."
A_J, the Incredulous

 

[Beco]

Actually, I think if Obama and Congress had done NOTHING we'd be better off.

Thats the general consensus, they've done more damage than good. Lets be real, Obama was focused on his health care plan, not creating jobs or fixing the economy. He might pay for that in 2012

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Thats the general consensus, they've done more damage than good. Lets be real, Obama was focused on his health care plan, not creating jobs or fixing the economy. He might pay for that in 2012

Looks like he also ignored all the warnings about the dangers of "Bush's deregulation of his oil cronies."

Instead of regulating them, he went about making them "his cronies..."

Ayers, me matey, we're ALL Kagan now!

 

[Beco]

Looks like he also ignored all the warnings about the dangers of "Bush's deregulation of his oil cronies."

Instead of regulating them, he went about making them "his cronies..."

Ayers, me matey, we're ALL Kagan now!

Thats what happens when you surround yourself with govt insiders....

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Thats what happens when you surround yourself with govt insiders....

Oh, we're big rock singers,
We've got golden fingers,
And we're loved everywhere we go...

 

[Ham Murabi]

Thats the general consensus, they've done more damage than good. Lets be real, Obama was focused on his health care plan, not creating jobs or fixing the economy. He might pay for that in 2012

In Reagan's second term the market took a huge shit one day, especially IBM. Everyone in Washington was screaming about doing something, anything.
Reagan did nothing - and it worked.

 

[overthebow]

In Reagan's second term the market took a huge shit one day, especially IBM. Everyone in Washington was screaming about doing something, anything.
Reagan did nothing - and it worked.

Was that before or after Reagan's Alzheimer's kicked in?

 

[overthebow]

Oh, we're big rock singers,
We've got golden fingers,
And we're loved everywhere we go...

We sing about beauty and we sing about truth,
At ten thousand dollars a show.

 

[Ham Murabi]

Was that before or after Reagan's Alzheimer's kicked in?

Reagan wasn't perfect, but when he addressed the GOP convention in 1992 his delivery was flawless.
Does that answer your question?

 

[IrezumiKiss]

In Reagan's second term the market took a huge shit one day, especially IBM. Everyone in Washington was screaming about doing something, anything.
Reagan did nothing - and it worked.

http://people.mozilla.com/~schrep/ApplesAndOranges.jpg

 

[Beco]

A shadow fell across America’s economic recovery on Friday, as the Labor Department’s monthly report showed that job growth was weak in the private sector, provoking a precipitous sell-off in the stock market.

The headline numbers for May suggested reason for optimism — employers added 431,000 jobs and the jobless rate fell to 9.7 percent, from 9.9 percent in April. But the underlying numbers showed that almost all of the growth came from the 411,000 workers hired by the federal government to help with the Census. Most of those jobs will end in a few months.

By contrast, the private sector created 41,000 positions, far short of expectations for 150,000 to 180,000 jobs. And the number of long-term unemployed, those Americans out of work for 27 or more weeks, remained at its highest level since the Labor Department began collecting such data in the 1940s.

The ailing American labor market and continued threatening economic news out of Europe — this time from Hungary, where a government spokesman raised the prospect of default — set the stock market on edge, as the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 323.31 points, or 3.2 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index tumbled 3.4 percent, and the Nasdaq composite slid 3.6 percent.

Currency and commodity prices fell in tandem. The euro spiraled downward, dropping below $1.20 for the first time since early 2006. And the price of oil dropped to $71.51 a barrel.

The financial world has cast a wary eye at Europe for months, with attention fixed on the southern tier stretching from Greece to Spain and Portugal. But Friday offered a reminder that Eastern Europe was a frail reed, as a spokesman for the Hungarian prime minister said that the previous government had manipulated economic figures and that Hungary was in “a very grave situation.”

President Obama tried to put a gloss on the jobs report, telling workers at a trucking company in Hyattsville, Md., that the numbers showed an economy that was “getting stronger by the day.” Mr. Obama mentioned that Census Bureau hiring accounted for most of the new jobs, but he added that the nation had added jobs for each of the last five months. “These numbers do mean that we are moving in the right direction,” he said. “There are going to be ups and downs.”

In fact, the May figures suggested a job market wheezing after months of more vigorous growth. The economy must add more than 100,000 jobs a month just to absorb new workers entering the market. Those entrants — including a large batch of high school and college graduates — will join a labor pool swollen with 15 million Americans looking for work. As well, the report showed that hard-pressed city and state governments had begun to cut budgets and shed employees, a process that could accelerate sharply in coming months.

“It’s a very, very grudging labor market,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief economist for MFR Inc. “A growing amount of evidence now points to this recovery taking a long time.”

Several economists expressed concern about the shape of a future constrained by a weakening Europe and slow consumer spending. Robert Reich, who served as labor secretary for President Bill Clinton, placed the chance of the United States slipping back into recession at 50 percent; while his is a minority view, Mr. Reich gave voice to the more bearish take.

“The consumers are tapped out, we’ve got a fiscal drag from cities and states which are just beginning to lay off people in great numbers, and most of the buying has been consumers replacing household items — I just don’t see the oomph,” he said, in a view that drew some private assents from within the Obama administration Friday.

A sliver or three of hope could be found in the report. Manufacturers hired 29,000 workers last month, and both hours worked — 40.5 hours a week — and wages rose. Factory employment has risen steadily, by 126,000 jobs over the last five months, with fabricated metals and machinery particularly strong.

“Nothing in this report suggests that the recovery is in trouble — the markets need to get a grip,” said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group in New Jersey.

Growing numbers of Americans who had worked part time have found full-time work. And the Census jobs will put money into the pockets of the nation’s hard-pressed working and lower-middle class. As these workers have little margin for error, they will spend these dollars quickly.

 

[mercury14]

We were told it would hold unemployment at 8%...

That was a naive thing to say, especially since the stimulus was laid out to be spent over a few years.

That 8% figure was tossed out there before the administration realized how putrid lending had become.

 

[mercury14]

Actually, I think if Obama and Congress had done NOTHING we'd be better off.

So you'd be cool if we could magically have the 790 billion back (1/3 of which was tax cuts) and up to 2.8 million people suddenly lost their jobs?

And most of those 2.2 million suddenly filed for unemployment benefits? And many ran to become Medicaid welfare recipients? And many became CHIP/S-CHIP welfare recipeints? And TANF recipients? And many filed for bankrupcy? And foreclosure? And many of those 2.2 million filed for Section-8 housing vouchers from the government, or utilized other welfare housing?

And government revenue plunged?

And demand for private sector goods and services plunged?

And the lending market became even more stingy due to so many more defaults and foreclosures?

All while we we raise taxes by 250 billion from no stimulus tax cuts?

Really?

 

[mercury14]

A shadow fell across America’s economic recovery on Friday, as the Labor Department’s monthly report showed that job growth was weak in the private sector, provoking a precipitous sell-off in the stock market.

The headline numbers for May suggested reason for optimism — employers added 431,000 jobs and the jobless rate fell to 9.7 percent, from 9.9 percent in April. But the underlying numbers showed that almost all of the growth came from the 411,000 workers hired by the federal government to help with the Census. Most of those jobs will end in a few months.

By contrast, the private sector created 41,000 positions, far short of expectations for 150,000 to 180,000 jobs. And the number of long-term unemployed, those Americans out of work for 27 or more weeks, remained at its highest level since the Labor Department began collecting such data in the 1940s.

The ailing American labor market and continued threatening economic news out of Europe — this time from Hungary, where a government spokesman raised the prospect of default — set the stock market on edge, as the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 323.31 points, or 3.2 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index tumbled 3.4 percent, and the Nasdaq composite slid 3.6 percent.

Currency and commodity prices fell in tandem. The euro spiraled downward, dropping below $1.20 for the first time since early 2006. And the price of oil dropped to $71.51 a barrel.

The financial world has cast a wary eye at Europe for months, with attention fixed on the southern tier stretching from Greece to Spain and Portugal. But Friday offered a reminder that Eastern Europe was a frail reed, as a spokesman for the Hungarian prime minister said that the previous government had manipulated economic figures and that Hungary was in “a very grave situation.”

President Obama tried to put a gloss on the jobs report, telling workers at a trucking company in Hyattsville, Md., that the numbers showed an economy that was “getting stronger by the day.” Mr. Obama mentioned that Census Bureau hiring accounted for most of the new jobs, but he added that the nation had added jobs for each of the last five months. “These numbers do mean that we are moving in the right direction,” he said. “There are going to be ups and downs.”

In fact, the May figures suggested a job market wheezing after months of more vigorous growth. The economy must add more than 100,000 jobs a month just to absorb new workers entering the market. Those entrants — including a large batch of high school and college graduates — will join a labor pool swollen with 15 million Americans looking for work. As well, the report showed that hard-pressed city and state governments had begun to cut budgets and shed employees, a process that could accelerate sharply in coming months.

“It’s a very, very grudging labor market,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief economist for MFR Inc. “A growing amount of evidence now points to this recovery taking a long time.”

Several economists expressed concern about the shape of a future constrained by a weakening Europe and slow consumer spending. Robert Reich, who served as labor secretary for President Bill Clinton, placed the chance of the United States slipping back into recession at 50 percent; while his is a minority view, Mr. Reich gave voice to the more bearish take.

“The consumers are tapped out, we’ve got a fiscal drag from cities and states which are just beginning to lay off people in great numbers, and most of the buying has been consumers replacing household items — I just don’t see the oomph,” he said, in a view that drew some private assents from within the Obama administration Friday.

A sliver or three of hope could be found in the report. Manufacturers hired 29,000 workers last month, and both hours worked — 40.5 hours a week — and wages rose. Factory employment has risen steadily, by 126,000 jobs over the last five months, with fabricated metals and machinery particularly strong.

“Nothing in this report suggests that the recovery is in trouble — the markets need to get a grip,” said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group in New Jersey.

Growing numbers of Americans who had worked part time have found full-time work. And the Census jobs will put money into the pockets of the nation’s hard-pressed working and lower-middle class. As these workers have little margin for error, they will spend these dollars quickly.

At least we put on 29k manufacuring jobs. That surprised the hell out me.

 

[mercury14]

Thats the general consensus, they've done more damage than good. Lets be real, Obama was focused on his health care plan, not creating jobs or fixing the economy. He might pay for that in 2012

Eh?

You guys are panning Obama for doing too much with the economy and also panning him for not doing enough?

 

[Beco]

At least we put on 29k manufacuring jobs. That surprised the hell out me.

Why, nobody is/was buying, inventories have to be low, at some point, they had to start manufactuing, right? Even Ford is selling cars these days

 

[firespin]

So you'd be cool if we could magically have the 790 billion back (1/3 of which was tax cuts) and up to 2.8 million people suddenly lost their jobs?

And most of those 2.2 million suddenly filed for unemployment benefits? And many ran to become Medicaid welfare recipients? And many became CHIP/S-CHIP welfare recipeints? And TANF recipients? And many filed for bankrupcy? And foreclosure? And many of those 2.2 million filed for Section-8 housing vouchers from the government, or utilized other welfare housing?

And government revenue plunged?

And demand for private sector goods and services plunged?

And the lending market became even more stingy due to so many more defaults and foreclosures?

All while we we raise taxes by 250 billion from no stimulus tax cuts?

Really?

Dude, we're talking 1% of the workforce. It would barely register...twice that many lost their jobs last year alone. You make it seem like the apocalypse.

Love the line about "government revenue plunged"...how about "less government money was expended", since the "government revenue" is actually return of part of "government spending."

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

That was a naive thing to say, especially since the stimulus was laid out to be spent over a few years.

That 8% figure was tossed out there before the administration realized how putrid lending had become.

Does it not strike you yet that from day one there's been a pattern of speaking without having done ANY research?

Not just the "economy"
Closing Gitmo
Skip Gates
The Panty Bomber
The Arizona Law
The BP spill...
There are many more examples of this and it's not just the administration. We get a lot of that from its voters and supporters here on almost a daily basis...
__________________
"The System WORKED!"

"We had (Defense Department) resources there from Day One. This was a situation that was treated as a possible catastrophic failure from, from Day One!"
Janet Napolitano

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Dude, we're talking 1% of the workforce. It would barely register...twice that many lost their jobs last year alone. You make it seem like the apocalypse.

Love the line about "government revenue plunged"...how about "less government money was expended", since the "government revenue" is actually return of part of "government spending."

I wonder how they counted the graduating class of starry-eyed Obama voters who couldn't find their first job...

Maybe they should have picked a better career...
__________________
We left corporate America, which is a lot of what we're asking young people to do. Don't go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we're encouraging our young people to do that.
Michelle Obama

With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and Playstations -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.
Barack Hussein Obama

 

[GRC]

Those defending Obama and his team on their actions in dealing with the economic problem just need to remember this old saying "The proof is in the pudding".
Final judgement comes in 2012 when Obama is out of office,and the result will not be pretty for any of us.

 

[koalabear]

Britain and Germany cutting spending

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-britain-cameron-20100608,0,5322342.story