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Subscribe to RSSMore Americans applied for unemployment benefits in the latest week as the end of the holiday shopping season meant layoffs for some workers. But 2011 was a record year for retail sales, which rose 7.7 percent, even though the year ended on a weak note.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that seasonally-adjusted initial claims for first-time jobless benefits rose 24,000 to 399,000. It was the highest in six weeks and suggested the labor market remained spotty despite signs of recent growth. The four-week moving average, considered a better indicator of labor market trends because it smooths wrinkles in the data, rose 7,750 to 381,750 from a revised 374,000 the prior week.
Applications typically soar in the first two weeks of the year. That's because many companies lay off temporary workers who were brought on to help during the holidays. The department tries to adjust for those patterns. But the task is difficult because the data can be volatile.
On a positive note, claims remained below 400,000 which many economists see as a crucial signpost for the direction of the job market.
"What this does say is even with this large clawback we're still under 400,000 so it's clear that we've seen a new underlying decline in jobless claims," FTN Financial economist Lindsey Piegza told Reuters.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that retail sales rose 0.1 percent in December, the weakest pace in seven months, as consumers pulled back late in the holiday shopping season, cutting purchases at department stores and spending less on electronic gadgets. Excluding autos, sales fell 0.2 percent, the first decline since May 2010. Novemerb's number was revised upward to a 0.4 percent increase.
"The jobless claims are certainly not going in the right direction. You have people that have been encouraged that the economy is headed in the right direction so this is not what you want to see," Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading said. "Retail numbers aren't so great either."
The gain in December was enough, however, to push sales to a record level for 2011. It was the largest annual increase in more than a decade.
Another report showed business inventories rose 0.3 percent in November, reinforcing the view that fourth-quarter economic growth could get a boost as companies restock their shelves.
Some Federal Reserve officials earlier this week signaled more help for the U.S. economy may be necessary despite recent data that suggested the recovery was picking up steam going into 2012.
Many economists see the economy growing by at least a 3 percent annual rate during the last quarter of 2011 after growing 1.8 percent during the July-September period. Growth, however, is expected to slow during the first three months of this year.
A report from real estate data firm RealtyTrac showed foreclosure activity slowed last year following claims in 2010 that lenders had relied on "robo-signing" where documents were signed without a review of the case files.
A wave of foreclosures has kept downward pressure on home prices, and economists say the market might need to clear before it can mount a convincing recovery and provide a significant boost to the overall economy.
The central bank has tried to boost the sector by lowering interest rates and buying mortgage securities, which helped bring the average rate on 30-year fixed rate mortgages down to a record low this week.
The U.S. central bank is not expected to take any action at its next meeting on January 24-25.
Within the retail report, the upward revision for November sales suggests consumers frontloaded their holiday shopping as retailers discounted heavily and extended store hours in the days following Thanksgiving.
By the end of the season, however, consumers cut back, with spending at electronics and appliance stores down 3.9 percent in December. Shopping at department stores slipped 0.2 percent, while receipts at gasoline stations dropped 1.6 percent.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Here is an article that shows which groups of Americans saw the greatest increases in unemployment during the Great Recession and which groups have seen the greatest improvement in their overall job prospects since 2010:
What is rather surprising is that men over 55 years of age have seen the greatest improvement in their overall job prospects.
In light of these terrible results after 3 years of Trillion dollar deficits and "stimulus" spending on can somebody please explain why President Obama does not approve the XL pipeline today for the immediate creation of at least 20,000 jobs by the private sector at no cost to taxpayers and an additional benefit to government from new tax generation?
Madison, because he is a Marxist.
Here are some of the reasons. Of course profit at any cost is not on the list.
http://docs.nrdc.org/energy/files/ene_11020401a.pdf
And on the other side of the border..
http://www.care2.com/causes/half-of-canadians-oppose-keystone-xl-pipeline.html
Not all politicians can be bought.
I'm ok with Obama rejecting the pipeline if there are valid environmental concerns, but what I'm not ok with is pushing the decision off until after the 2012 elections. To me, this says he's more worried about politics than jobs. I understand the pipeline is difficult for him politically since unions want it, and environmentalists don't want it (and both groups are part of his base). But these are the types of decisions leaders make. If he doesn't want to make these types of tough decisions, he needs to step aside and let someone else take over.
Come on Ron, that is just double talk, of course it is politics. The President just wants to emphasize how a certain party will put the needs of their corporate masters ahead of or hold hostage the needs of the American people. Of course, he could be betting that there will be a lot fewer of them around after the election and we will get a better view of what the people want.
Wow, what a surprise. Well, at least for the people who actually bought into the whole "we're creating jobs now!" argument coming from the liberal rags like MSNBC and the White House. Meanwhile, everybody else who knows how to use the gray matter between their ears saw this coming last month.
Madison, because he is a Marxist
And an incompetent idiot, fool, pupet, brown nose, narsiccistic political hack, .......
I have to say I'm more or less for the pipeline too, for the moment-- I haven't researched it and may change my mind when I can learn some of the democrats' objections, but considering the psychological impact of not going forth with it at this particular moment seems a mistake.
However, the right wing should not be so quick to find fault with the recovery now that job creation seems to have begun in earnest. It has based its criticisms of the president on the assumption that the weak economy would cause voters to take their arguments seriously. It doesn't seem to make any difference whether the right winger complaining focuses on stimuli, socialism, constitutional stuff or whatever-- the underlying feeling has been hate and envy of the president and a desperate passion to see him fail. They've been confident for one reason only-- the job market has been bad.
Now it no longer is-- and don't get happy about this rise in claims today, that means nothing-- and the right should recognize it has no real basis for challenging the president's reelection.
You mean the "growth" was just regular seasonal temp jobs? We are so shocked.(sarcasm) Thanks once again MSNBC for foolishly getting the sheeps hopes up with your political cheerleading.
Here comes the flip side of the Holiday Season (just as it does every year) and even now, the spinning is in full force. They'll be hell to pay if the Media can't keep Obama looking good!
(How much do they get paid for this? )
Over the last couple of months MSNBC was reporting that jobless claims dropped and made it seem as if it were a direct result of the current administrations policies when in reality it was truly just holiday hiring. DUH!
Soon you'll see a headline "Jobless claims UNEXPECTEDLY rose in January". As well as some story trying to demonize the republicans, making it seem as if the do nothing congress is the reason for the sudden rise in jobless claims. I'm no expert, I could have told you they would go up once the holidays where over. But somehow the unemployment number won't go up I bet. They'll find ways, as they've been doing, to keep it artificially lower then the reality.
I want to know if those record sales resulted in record profits because prices were cut to the bone. I know three managers in retail my daughter being one of them. They were giving the store away to get people in.
My daughter is NOT voting for Obama and considers her first vote for him the largest "I should have listened to you dad" moment in her life.
The trolls are out in force today.
Madison, 3 years of it? Really, is your memory that short?
And yes, I could explain the pipeline, but that doesn't mean you will listen since I don't have Fox News attached to my name. The biggest thing to remember is that most of those 20,000 jobs you are claiming are Canadian jobs, not American. But here goes nothing:
State Department in August put the number of construction jobs at just 5,000 to 6,000
Keystone pipeline jobs claims: a bipartisan fumble
Link: www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/keystone-pipeline-jobs-claims-a-bipartisan-fumble/2011/12/13/gIQAwxFisO_blog.html
jrae...you're leading them!
What ???....No impromptu Obama in the Rose Garden speech on the Unemployment Numbers touting how they were kept below "only" 400,000 people losing their jobs last week ??.....He sure found the time last week to crow how he is conquering the bad economy....Oh yeah, he's tired today........Did 3 separate FUNDRAISERS last night in Sh!tcago.....
" I can't prove it, BUT....It could have been worse" Campaign Slogan isn't gaining much traction....
Ron..."But these are the types of decisions leaders make."
What leader(s)?
GE owns MSNBC which SIMPLY ACTS AS A TAXPAYER FUNDED ARM OF THE OBAMA REELECTION CAMPAIGN run by GE Chairman Jeff Immelt Obama's Chief White House Economic Advisor IS IT ANY SUPRISE GE PAYS NO TAXES?
Obama is the most corrupt crony capitalist in the history of the earth having given away "stimulus" payoffs and granted Obamacare and tax waivers of over $1 TRILLION to companies and unions that support him.
Corrupt politics simply destroys jobs more and more as Obama drives the entire country in the direction of Detroit and Greece DIDN'T Rahm Emmanual say "never let a good crisis go to waste?"
The Keystone XL pipeline has several major problems:
1) The construction of the pipes and pumps themselves is "on the cheap" using the minimum engineering standards for both pressure containment and corrosion-resistance. These are things that can be fixed by using more expensive alloys in greater thicknesses. To date the consortium that wants to build it has steadfastly refused to incorporate better engineering standards, stating that "all engineering standards are currently being met" even though just barely. The TransCanada stance is that it is cheaper to clean up spills than to prevent them in the first place. But this only works if you do an Exxon and just walk away from the cleanup as Exxon did in Alaska. Since TransCanada is not an American company, they cannot easily be taken to court since they would have only front companies (calles pass-throughs) with no assets in this country.
2) The particular oil to be pumped comes from oil sands and is one of the most acidic (sour) ever found. It starts out as tar mixed with sand and is extracted using steam, water, and chemicals. Once extracted, even more "proprietary" chemicals are added to make it a liquid of an acceptable viscosity. If spilled, this oil would be about 40-60 times as difficult to remediate than the light sweet crude that was spilled in the Gulf by the BP spill.
3) There is still an unresolved issue in Canada itself with the environmental damage done by extraction of oil from oil sands. As of October, a Canadian audit of the environmental impact of the oil sands production has stated that the adverse impact on the environment is at least twice that projected by the oil industry and that the oil industry has systematically blocked the collection of the data necessary to paint a complete picture of the environmental impact. The ECC has, as a result, classified Canadian oil as "extremely dirty" and have already banned Canadian oil. This could well mean that the exploitation of Canadian oil could dramatically slow or even stop in the future, making the pipeline a huge white elephant.
4) The EPA considers that TransCanada has not dedicated sufficient reserves to cope with any spill along the pipeline. This is very similar to the situation in the Gulf when BP's "rapid response team" for that spill was a single skimmer boat, which happened to be beached for repairs at the time, located in Alaska. The EPA would rather see resources dedicated all along the pipeline so that a spill would be dealt with as quickly as is practical. TransCanada has proposed only a small team located in Hardesty, Alberta, Canada.
5) And worst of all, the Keystone XL pipeline would require that thousands of miles of land be confiscated under eminent domain and given to TransCanada, a Canadian company. While the objections from environmentalists on the left can mostly be fixed by just improving the engineering involved, the objections from the right cannot. TransAmerican wants nothing less than for the US Government to condemn millions of acres of mostly farmland and give it to them in the form of leases. Not only would the land for the pipeline betaken from the owners, they would also be subjected to millions more acres of easements and be forced to allow the building of roads and depots on their land without compensation.
6) The pipeline would not create 20,000 jobs as touted. The current estimates are only 5-6,000 thousand jobs with about 80% of the higher-paying jobs going to Canadians would would not even pay taxes here. And these would only last 2-3 years before dropping to a low of about 80 workers. This is essentially a jobs bill that would require the American taxpayer to create short-term Canadian jobs.
Do you blame Obama for not wanting to have his name on a potential environmental disaster and a taking of land for a foreign corporation that would be the biggest land grab in this country since the railroad boom of the late 1800's?
IR - you get too excited about finding the snipe "profit at any cost".
399000 first time unemployment claims "seasonally adjusted" down from the true 600000+ first time claims last week. And this 399K number will be quietly adjusted up next week. Only true Obama Presidential Staff polishers still listen to anything coming from this liar's administration.
Obama is a fool, MSDNC is his tool.
HUM. The Keystone Pipeline already exists and is in operation. What is being fought about is 2nd-4th phases of the Pipeline. Where was the OUTRAGE over the 1st part of the Pipeline? Why is it safer then the 2nd-4th phases? Here is a map showing the EXISTING Pipeline and the proposed new sections.
http://www.transcanada.com/keystone_pipeline_map.html
moved
Chris-749391
Excellent and rational post. Not that the trolls and barbie dolls will pay any mind. Thanks.
When will the American Taxpayer realize, they have been robbed, stolen from and left holding the "bag" by BOTH bought and paid for political parties! BOTH!
Look at the bailouts, Bush's or Obama's. Look at the fraud, the political paybacks, and who is left holding the bill, to keep the same crooks in power, whether it is the crooks in Congress, the White House, Wall Street or the Banks, the American Tax Payer!
Stupid is as stupid does America.
Wake up! You reap what you sow!
Divide and conquer, should be the political cry from BOTH major bought and paid for political parties!
Convenient to forget these (both crooked political parties) The theft of tax payers dollars! Keep believing the lies! BOTH Parties Lies!
http://projects.propublica.org/bailout/main/timeline
http://factreal.wordpress.com/bailouts/
I hate it when people post things that had nothing to do with the article.
If you really read the stats reported, what I see is not so much that the economy is recovering faster but that consumer spending is rotating between different sectors.
People needed to replace their cars after deferring that with repairs and maintenance for years. But, that meant they had to cut back somewhere and that showed up in the weaker December retail numbers. The only reason that gasoline sales declined was due to the drop in gasoline prices in that month but, unfortunately, due to the saber-rattling going on in the Middle East, prices have shot back up and that is going to eat into consumer spending even more going forward.
The reality is that global trade has killed wages in the U.S. If you don't earn it, you can't spend it. Period.
PS - I find it ever so convenient that this situation with Iran suddenly pops up after prices were doing down. I smell a rat.
an increase of 7.7% in retail sales will amount to nothing as long as inventories get replenished by off shore manufacturing
Agree 100%.
Ahh... now we can all sit back and watch all the posts from those obama bashers while they congrat you late themselves on the doom and gloom!
And your answer?????
ItsAboutTime
Didn't you read the article? It wasn't all doom and gloom for god's sake. It said it was good news!!! The number didn't hit 400,000, it was only 399,000. I don't understand how all of you Obama supporters can always see doom and gloom in good news for our President.
Leslie there is no answer as long as American companies chase higher margins with lower manufacturing costs in order to report better numbers to Wall Street and their shareholders. Until American companies realize through whatever epiphany they have that the reason they exist in the first place is because of the free market economy and freedoms this country heaped upon them and that they owe the American populace first crack at these jobs, the employment numbers will be stuck on 9% reported and an additional 6-7% marginalized workers. First we outsourced manufacturing and we are now in process of outsourcing services in what has become unfortunately a service based economy. We should probably put in tax disincentives to companies that outsource labor or EXTREME tax incentives to companies that create and keep jobs here in America
Bruce,
I think there are valid options to bring more manufacturing back to the US. I would use a combination of tax incentives and trade agreement modifications. In particular, I'd pass laws that say if you want to sell your goods in the US then X% of your manufacturing cost of goods sold must be incurred in the US. This is what Bush I did for the Japanese car makers, and that worked pretty well for the US. I would also remove 95% of the tax loopholes (corporate and individual) and lower the overall tax rate (revenue neutral is my goal).
Telling companies to be good people and manufacture in the US even though their competitors use cheaper foreign labor isn't a realistic approach because the US companies would be at a price disadvantage and wind up going out of business (and the remaining US workers will lose their jobs). For proof, look at WalMart - they are successful because most consumers are more worried about price than where a particular product is manufactured.
Also, I think the term "American companies" is not really valid for most large companies. These are global companies with offices and consumers all over the world. A lot of them may have started in the US, but if a large percentage of their sales are in other countries and that % is increasing every year, I don't consider them "American companies"...I consider them "Multinational companies" instead.
If you looked at December sales.......only .1% improvement
Auto Sales are down
Department sales are down
http://www.suntimes.com/business/9967103-420/retail-sales-inched-up-in-dec-ending-record-year.html
Christmas didn't help much.....NO ONE HAS ANY MONEY TO SPEND.....
JH - Good news? How was this good news? The only reason the total claims is under 400,000 is because countless people have run out of benefits & aren't counted at all - even though they don't have jobs.
price over quality in my opinion
Bruce,
You may be right on quality, but for the company that goes out of business it really doesn't matter that the US manufactured goods may have had a higher quality...the company doors are still closed and the workers still lose their jobs.
inflation was higher then sales increases...
ron
all valid points
Bruce - companies have to perform or no one will invest in them. If I gave you $100,000 would you put it where you get $6000 in return or $6,100 in Return?
Isn't that why Ponzi schemes work? They might offer you $10,000 on that $100,000.
DB If i knew that being paid back 6000 instead of 6100 on my investment would add customers to my company's ledger because it would put more money in their pockets as consumers I would opt for the 6000. If I felt that taking that 100 dollar hit would add sustainability to my company Id opt for it every time knowing that in the long run I would be able to sell more product to more people
Surprise, surprise!! I'm surprised MSNBC is even printing this.
And just in the last few days we've been told by the MSNBC spin machine how the jobs situation is improving. It must nbe election year for all the NBC lies and propaganda.
When can we line these Media idiots up and B!TCH slap them??
And just in the last few days we've been told by the MSNBC spin machine how the jobs situation is improving.
The saddest part is that the majority of the public doesn't pay enough attention and actually believes that it is.
SI
im right behind u so i can be next to B!tch slap the media idiots.....LOL......WHO'S NEXT IN LINE?
Oops! That thud you just heard was the Obama reelection claim about job growth falling flat on it's face.
You mean the new comedy channel BSnbc.
I'm going to steal that one. I usually use DNC Network but I think BSnbc is more accurate.
So much for the "Winter of Recovery" Democrat marketing strategy... expect a new onslaught of class warfare headlines, anything to attempt to keep the clueless sheep in the flock.
Agree that this is not big news - temporary retail workers always get laid off after the holiday season.
Unemployment rules usually mean that most of them are not eligible for benefits, because the period of employment was too brief or total earnings too small.
In my state, the eligibility rule is complicated, but 6 weeks of holiday retail work probably would not qualify (if that was the only work all year.)
"Your base period is the first four quarters out of the last five completed quarters. You must have earned at least $2,750 in wages in the entire base period. You must have earned at least $1,650 in the last six months (two quarters) of your base period. The amount of money earned during your base period must be at least 1.25 times greater than the wages of your highest earning quarter. "
I am amazed at the number of people who seem to be really unhappy that the job situation is getting better.
No, they are unhappy that it isn't getting better the way it would have, had government not stepped in and "helped". More government intervention = longer slower recovery.
Convenient to forget these (both crooked political parties)
The theft of tax payers dollars! Keep believing the political lies! BOTH Parties Lies!
These links are definitely worth a read! Educate yourself, open them and read!
http://projects.propublica.org/bailout/main/timeline
http://factreal.wordpress.com/bailouts/
Anybody who believes White House and GE/Immelt owned Obama controlled MSNBC cheerleaders needs a reality check THE ENTIRE OBAMA ECONOMIC TEAM HAS QUIT AND GONE BACK TO ACADEMIA after utterly failing WHY BELIEVE THE LATEST RAH RAH coming out of the Leftist main stream media AFTER ALL every Obama Chief of Staff has QUIT
Anybody who believes that this economy can be saved by either Republicans OR Democrats before there is a lot more pain is in for a reality check over the next several years. Conditions have been building for at least 30 years and we need a whole new way of doing things, but that's not going to happen without a crisis.
HN, that may be true but I'll take my chances with somebody else who might not continue to add a trillion dollars a year to our national debt.
No one party can save the economy, but one party can keep DESTROYING the economy. For example, FRACKING oil and gas production in the US ihas been the largest new job producer over the past year. Business is booming. STATES REGULATE FRACKING. Problem is EPA WANTS TO PREEMPT THE STATES and is WRITING NEW FRACKING RULES EVEN AS WE SPEAK. End result? Obama will OUTLAW FRACKING if reelected (just like his XL pipeline delay) resulting in the loss of MILLIONS OF JOBS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. Why would High School and College students who want jobs and want to afford gas for their cars vote for Obama DIDN'T OBAMA SAY IN 2009, "UNDER MY PLAN ENERGY PRICES NECESSARILY WILL SKYROCKET?"
Madison From NY, there's a lot of truth in what you say, but do we really want O&G to be the source of employment we continue to 100% rely upon? I'm in the oil industry and it's historically been one of ups and downs. And when it's down, it really stinks. It's never been the most reliable form of consistent employment. People, or at least old-timers, who work in it are always making sure they have sufficient set aside to survive a 6-12 month lull in work. I'd also point out that while providing revenue from salaries, many states in order to lure drilling have provided huge tax breaks for those companies. For example, much has been made for years over the boom here in Northern Louisiana derived from drilling for gas. However it recently was well-publicized here that the state receives a big fat ZERO in terms of direct taxation or royalties from that drilling.
I'm not saying that it's not something that should be pursued, but it should not be what we base our economic recovery upon. And fwiw I agree 100% that the XL pipeline should be allowed. There already are in excess of 25,000 miles of pipelines crossing the area where the pipeline is intended for so one can hardly pretend it will expose pristine nature to something never before done.
BTW, I don't know how students in other states are thinking politically, but here Ron Paul seems to be the flavor du jour for college kids.
With world wide demand ever increasing oil can be a big portion of our recovery. China is set to top us as the worlds largest importer and India is also coming on strong. This means a long term bullish market on oil. I have a ton of Exxon stock myself, putting my money where my mouth is! :<)
Take a look at unemployment in N Dakota, there isn't any!
To be sure it can't be the whole story but there is no reason why it can't play a substantial part.
No one party can save the economy, but one party can keep DESTROYING the economy
I don't know about that. Dems will destroy it by spending too much. But Repubs will destroy it by continuing or increasing the policies that allowed it to get this bad... and throw in some curveballs at women's health care and the environment while they're at it. I'll be taking a good hard look at any independent candidates that come along.
This makes the wing-nuts very happy. They want America destroyed.
How about trying some new words in your predictable rantings? Hater, destroy, wing-nut, etc., are getting old.
Your obsession with Romney in your posts is weird.
What? How can this be? After last weeks report people like you were claiming your messiah had fixed the employment problem. You don't have a clue how bad things really are. The labor participation rate is at a 30 year low. This very significant underlying truth - a truth the mainstream media continues to ignore - is much more telling about the state of employment in this country. It's easy to bring down the "official" U-3 unemployment rate when you don't count those who have left the workforce. It is Obama and his clueless supporters who want America destroyed.
Typical liberal. Deflect, deflect, deflect.
wow! the seasonal jobs ended and unemployment is back up. whodah thunk?
So shocking that people are unemployed after SEASONAL job positions... wow..
I agree with the posts on here. A great economy is not made from temporary, $7/hour jobs.
But that is what we have in our brave new world, I mean third word country.
this is not a shock.....im in line right behind combatMedic69, to b!tch slap the media idiots!....and more, those ppl will not be able to get unemployment benefits (in some states) like Michigan, because the laws for unemployment has changed........
Ain't seen nothing yet. A heck of a lot of seasonal workers are still hanging on...Jan is stock inventory time. Just wait till Feb. Then you have the likes of Twinkies going belly up, the great migration back home of our brave soldiers, states facing bankruptcy forced to lay off public workers...Fed doing the same.
But we won't hear/see the REAL numbers of unemployed as long as it's election year. The millions fallen off the radar. So do yourself a favor...when the propaganda machine tells you we have 8.5% unemployed (or lets just say in deep s##t)...double it. If you have surviving old grandparents that can still talk...ask them if this reminds them of a bygone era; circa 1929-1941.
You are 100% correct my friend.
Definitely correct about the military and government jobs that are going away. When the Army is reduced, there will probably be one civilian support job lost from the economy for every soldier eliminated.
When counting the federal jobs disappearing, don't forget the postal workers - USPS has been shrinking for a long time, but not fast enough. When Congress finally gets around to action (if), that workforce will fall off the cliff.
But i thought those employment numbers during the holidays were "seasonally adjusted"? I guess that's as big of a load of crap as the spin MSNBC puts on its stories. Everyone knew there would be an adjustment after the holiday hiring and firing.
Its Government BS.
DUH!!!!!!!!!!
I am in the staffing business so this is NOT NEWS to me.
But for all you sheeple thinking that Obama waived his Magic Wand or something, it's time to wake up!!!!!!
Please his marxist magic wand.
ya, potus did it all, bush, cheney, their lies and treason, and a republican controlled congress did nothing but give all their money and property to charity...yep....
bipartisan dumbarsses need to push with both hands, real hard..and their heads will pop out of their butts.
Bush/republican congress average unemployment 5%, Obama/democrat congress average unemployment 9%
There is a lesser of two evils.
Holiday season over, jobless claims jump.................Oh, come on. this must be a mistake???? what about 200,000 or 300,000 jobs created in the last month that Mr. President mentioned????
Gotcha, he never said permanent jobs...
When the European economic mess unfolds, we will be greatly affected. This is 'the other shoe' that our economy must deal with. By April or early May, the Equro shi** will hit the fan and we will be in deep sh**.
All of the politicians talk about the deficit but nobody has the balls to step up to the plate and fix it. The best thing for the Republicans to do is begin offering numerous bills that address the core issues of our economy. Let the Dems torpedo the bills *(which they will). Thus Repubs sweep into Senate and even more House seats. Obama will not stick his neck out for real reform because he's spending his energies on re-election.
OB is hand cuffed because anything signifincat will pizz off some of his base. Almost any move will cost votes that he can't afford so doing nothing is the logical path (kind of like the last three years)
The pipeline is a prime example. Piss of unions or enviro-nazi's? Neither, just delay the decision past the election.
I can hear the operatives now, "Don't worry unions, he just has to placate the environmentalists. We'll build it after the election", "Don't worry environmentalists, he just has to placate the unions. We'll kill it after the election".
That's leadership, progressive style.
Don't you mean brainwashed? The word went out about last April, that no one can say the economy is still bad or getting worse even if it is, politicians and the Media have been on a brainwashing campaign because they have run out of practical ideas to fix the problem so they just kept "saying " its fixed, in hopes that people will believe it in spite of what they see right in front of them.
Heres a question for all of you that "feel things are a little better", could it be that all that's happened is that you have adapted to the conditions, so now its more "normal" and doesn't "look so bad?"
So, when is all the "trickle-down job-outsourcing" crap supposed to kick in and make America economically successful again? When is the whole "don't tax the job-creators" thing going to start making jobs in THIS country again? Oh, I suppose it all must be the American worker's fault somehow...
I think the better question that you need to explain is how "taxing the job creators" is actually going to create jobs. Care to answer that please?
How about taxing the hell out the "job creators" unless they create the jobs HERE! If they bring the jobs back to the USA, then they get to keep the sweet tax cuts and loopholes, if not they get to help pay for the god-awful side-effects of the rotten economy that their out-sourcing has helped create. How about that?
War Beast,
That makes absolutely no sense ! You eliminate ridiculous and oppressive regulations. You reduce corporate taxes on manufacturing activities. You repeal the onerous and burdensome provisions of job-killing Obamacare. You might even consider something daring like a 3-year, temporary, minor reduction to the minimum wage to get companies hiring again by reducing costs. Mostly, however, you get rid of the "Rookie-in-Chief" who simply wants to promote the cancerous growth of government at every turn !!
Killing the private sector as some form of government "punishment" and control .... will only drive other firms overseas.
You are right that about eliminating ridiculous regulations that hinder business, but you keep intelligent regulations that protect worker safety and other common sense policies.. As far as policies that you call punishment, I call them incentive. If you want to sell your wares in the US, you need to make them in the US, otherwise you pay out the nose for it. If you make your wares here, you get the tax breaks and all that happy stuff.. if you choose not to make your stuff here, you get no tax breaks and import tariff's galore.. VERY SIMPLE...
As far as all the businesses just pulling up stakes and leaving the US a desolate wasteland? Who in the hell do you think you're fooling? If there is one constant truth on this planet, it is that the business world hates a vacuum. As long as there is demand there will be commerce. It doesn't matter if all big businesses in the US threaten to pull up stakes, SOMEONE will take advantage of their absence and fill that void. This is a country full of resources and consumers, if it is made less profitable to produce the wares in another country, then the businesses will either bring the jobs here or new businesses will spring up and create them.
So, your idea is to start a trade war by raising tariffs on foreign goods coming to the U.S. ? Then, China, India, Malaysia, etc,etc, ad infinitum will simply increse tariffs on U.S. made products .... "I'll see you and raise you 200%" as the gamblers would say.
Furthermore, all the "sweet tax cuts and loopholes" is simply disingenuos. I'm a CPA and the constant blather about "loopholes" usually ends without a satisfactory example or real knowledge of what would constitute a loophole.
Tax the rich enough, they will simply move out of country, taking their money with them. You cannot "force" job growth in the U.S. through more control and mandates, you encourage job growth by allowing for competition to flourish here in the U.S. Less government control means more private sector opportunity.
If you are a CPA then you definitely know that taxes are at an all time low. So where are the jobs from the job creators. Is it trickling down to you yet. Oh no that is the so called job creators pissing on this country.
This 399,000 number is no surprise to many of us on this message board......if you read the last four to six week numbers, the "experts" were all giddy about the falling numbers......'a good sign that things are improving'.....how do they spin this now?.................if the financial economic experts' JOBS were dependent on their forecasts----they would tell a whole different story------or likely be one of the 399,000 filing for first-claim benefits themselves......
The spin is still there, the number is less than 400K!!!! Champagne bottles are popping!!!
The liberal press (like MSNBC) does it's best to spin articles in a way that favors their political point of view. We are in a slow growth, weak economy with high unemployment and stagnant wages. Those are the facts.
Uh, additional facts: The obama administration sent federal troops to close down a US guitar maker because it had vintage guitars made from "endangered wood". Problem is those guitars were made back in the 40s and 50s when the wood wasn't endangered and the obama administration did not care.
Point is the obama administration is deliberately hampering small business while taking 44 million from big banks and financial businesses for his re-election. How odd!
The real reason the Obama administration went after Gibson is because they have a history of donating to conservative candidates. This is what happens when you give a Chicago-style politics thug the White House.
Please a Marxist Chicago style thug.
Also, when Obama "bailed-out" Gm and Chrysler, our government needlessly forced-out many non-minority dealership owners. I am not sure what in the hell this had to do with MANUFACTURING, but many were forced-out.
As part of the bailout, however, he took care of his union buddies by making sure the union pension plans were funded .... by SCREWING GM BONDHOLDERS in the process. The unions own Obama.
Its funny how you people high five each other about people losing there jobs. I sure am glad this is not indicitive of the electorate. The IQ in this thread is super low.
msdnc -- in fairness i do not think we gave the Chicago-style politics thug the White House, he bought if for $750,000,000.
It does not matter to me who is in the white house, it is not just america, it is globally.
Nope it starts at home.
LMAO...just wait til next week when we hit 440,000 new files...wondering what they will come up with then..guess they are waiting for the BIG EASTER SEASON hirings.
Interesting. Nowhere did I read this is a republican or Bush fault. Yet. The obama administration WILL find and place blame somewhere. It will be the rich peoples fault. You know who will report the news? The hypocrites of NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, FOX, and the like. They all are paid big money to tell you the other rich people are at fault.
foe moe, isn't it interesting that as you say, those doing the reporting are the 1%. No doubt they have a 6 figure income if not more. Not that their salary bothers me, I'm not near the 1 % and I don't begrudge the fact that they make that much, but, I find it amusing that they can sit there with a straight face and talk about the 1%.....
Recycle, your eloquent words preceed you.
Everyone knows real unemployment isn't 8.5%. I'm shocked that more people haven't questioned those numbers in the media. I guess not really shocked but it would be nice to find out just how bad it really is. Guess state run media won't allow for that.
It is really U6 not U3. as the people now know. We are all NOT as stupid as the Marxist in chief would like us to believe.
Even with the jump I bet the percentage rate keeps coming down....Bamster's number crunchers will figure a way to cook the books to make sure that happens. And the media will praise his holy name again.
Leslie, since you use it often can you please define marxism without cutting and pasting please. Stop repeating things you don't know about it makes you look stupid.
I'm shocked...
During the seasonal hiring when the jobless numbers decreased, didn't we know this was going to happen?
I'm starting to believe we have a "journalism gap" in this country...
True, and the biggest "gap" is MSNBC.
MSNBC is straight propaganda without even attempting to give the American public the illusion of journalistic integrity. Unfortunately there are plenty who are dumb enough/politically owned enough to accept the garbage.
There is no journalism in this country anymore....All the reporters are nothing more than future supermarket check out rag employees.
The numbers are lower than this time last year and much lower than the year before. So things are getting better unless like many posters here you want the economy to get worse.
Yes it is getting somewhat better, but despite government, not because of it. About a year after democrats took over congress the economy began to tank, about a year after republicans took back the house the economy is beginning to recover. That is no coincidence.
It is progressive policies, (home ownership is a right!), that destroyed this economy, it is the blocking and hobbling of these policies that are leading to it's recovery.
BTW
The Unemployment rate is LOWER now then last year because 315,000 people dropped of the rolls in Nov. 2010 and 50,000 in Dec. 2010. That's why Unemployment is at 8.5% not because people are being hired.
Things will not improve until Mr. Obama is out whether it is in 2012 or 2016.
It will be this year.
You can keep dreaming. The only way things will improve is under a Democratic house and senate with a Democratic white house.
Obstructionism and then saying "oops - it's really the OTHER guys fault, not we who hold the purse strings" is pious bologna. Things will improve once the GNoP gets thumbs out of butts and starts doing the jobs we're paying them to do - and that doesn't include token bull@!$%# "this pipeline will save the economy" or "tax the minimum wage workers so they pay their fair share" crap that just instigates a fight.
Let them try doing some real work, and I'll be happy to support a Republican - but as long as they're spouting ideological garbage, causing problems, and then blaming the other side for it, I'll be treating them like I treat my children - Spank the one that caused the problem and give lollipops to the one who's doing right by the country.
(Here's a hint: the GOP ain't getting any lollipops from me or the silent majority of fed up people who will reelect the president).
You had that for 2 years...what happened?
Not to mention, Ebeneezer, that the House has passed SEVERAL bills for job creation, etc. It is the Dem-controlled Senate that won't even bring them to a vote (thanks alot, Harry Reid). The Senate should let these bills come to a vote and then reconcile any differences but they don't do that...and they have the balls to call the Repubs in the House "obstructionists?" And as WB52 stated, Dems had total control for 2 yrs and things didn't improve (couldn't even pass a budget with a filibuster proof Congress). C'mon...at least be intellectually honest.
And lastly, to those of you who say neither party can fix the economy without pain...absolutely true. But the Repubs have at least admitted that the required fixes to the economy are going to involve some pain. Dems don't have the backbone to inflict pain...they're too busy promising more and more entitlements to their voting blocks!!!
Compare the dozen years republicans ran congress, (last six of Clinton, first six of Bush), to the last five. No contest, democrats are completely incompetent. All those Clinton "successes" were with a republican congress.
Hey Jwilson1234 - ever hear of a Filibuster? You know how many votes you need to pass something in the Senate with Mitch "I'm a Turtle" McConnell threatening one every 5 minutes?
And p111 - All I can say is: GOP = Biggest increase in Federal Debt that somehow got blamed on the Democrats... How? Check the war funding out. Check the repeal of Glass-Steagall out and it's cost to the economy... Check out the First Stimulus bill (oh yeah - who proposed that sucker? Could it be Bubba Gump #43?
The first six years under bush is where the housing problem came into play.
jwilson please enlighten us on the jobs bills please.
It is time to send Barack Obama packing back to Kenya. He has been a disaster to the American economy.
Racists like you are the real disaster. Grow a brain and get an education.
What a meaningful comment Ebeneezer (sarcasm), go be an ignorant scrooge somewhere else if you have nothing worth contributing.
And the race card is played....surprise, surprise!!!!
It doesn't take long for the libs to play the race card. That is all they have; obama is an unmitigated disaster! ANYONE BUT obama IN 2012!
I think the card was played by Denise. Kenya, Really!!! If that is not telling everyone that you are a racist i don't know what is.
The only unmitigated disaster in this country's history has been the GOP. They've caused more wars, spent more money, and impoverished more people than any other political party in history. The sad fact is that they've managed to convince their faithful sheeple that the reverse is true - and that they too can one day be a patrician like Uncle Mitt - who thinks we're all just jealous.