Obamaconomy!!!

[Pidgey]

Note Obama was bragging about how well the economy was growing over the past few days!

Well... it IS... if you're a banker!

 

[asur]

More Obama CHANGE! Feb 8, 2010

The Dow fell 103.84, or 1 percent, to 9,908.39. On Thursday, the Dow traded below the psychological barrier of 10,000 for the first time since November. It hadn't closed below that mark since Nov. 4. and first closed above 10,000 in March 1999. The Dow is still up 51.3 percent since last March.

 

[top gun]

U.S. Economy: Unemployment Falls to 9.7%
Feb. 5 , 2009

The unemployment rate in the U.S. dropped to 9.7 percent in January, indicating the labor market may be poised to climb out of its deepest slump since World War II. (AKA The Bush Recession greatest economic downturn since The Great Depression)

More than half a million Americans found work, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington, helping push the jobless rate to the lowest since August. A separate survey of employers showed payrolls declined by 20,000 as construction companies and state and local governments cut back.

Manufacturers hired more workers for the first time in three years, expanded hours and boosted pay, which may lift consumer spending and sustain growth. Revisions to previous data increased the number of jobs lost in the recession to 8.4 million, adding impetus to the Obama administration’s push for fresh government measures to boost employment.

“Companies just can’t meet demand requirements with their existing labor force, so they have to increase the number of workers,” said Carl Riccadonna, a senior U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York, whose forecast for a 9.8 percent unemployment rate was the most optimistic in a Bloomberg survey. “This report does seem to indicate the economy is moving in the right direction.”

The jobless rate was forecast to be unchanged at 10 percent, according to the median estimate of 84 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Payrolls were projected to increase by 15,000.

Companies such as Cisco Systems Inc. plan to add staff as businesses update equipment and stimulus plans revive sales worldwide. San Jose, California-based Cisco, the biggest maker of networking equipment, predicted accelerating sales growth and said it will hire 2,000 to 3,000 people in the next several quarters.

“Almost every country is saying their momentum is better than it was before, and almost every business is saying it’s more optimistic,” Chief Executive Officer John Chambers said in an interview this week. “It shows a capital spending trend that’s hard to deny, on a global basis.”

Household Survey

The survey of households showed employment increased by 541,000 workers last month and the number of people in the labor force rose. The gain brought the participation rate, or the share of the population in the workforce, up to 64.7 percent from 64.6 percent.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis called the decline in the unemployment rate a sign of “very cautious confidence.”

“It’s still unacceptably high and we’re going to continue to work on that,” Solis said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

President Barack Obama has called job creation his top priority this year as administration projections forecast the unemployment rate to average 10 percent through 2010.

Obama will today back a temporary increase in Small Business Administration Loans from $350,000 to $1 million to encourage small business hiring, an administration official said. The president has previously endorsed $33 billion in small business tax cuts and incentives for hiring as well as a plan to use $30 billion of bailout money paid back by Wall Street financial institutions to help community banks make loans to small businesses.

“The long winter of this Great Recession seems to be drawing to a close,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. “There is no ‘new normal’ or structural impediment to this recovery.”

Dallas-based Texas Instruments is hiring 250 workers to open a new chip-manufacturing plant in Richardson, Texas, that will eventually employ 1,000. It’s also expanding three other plants in the state.

Factory payrolls increased 11,000 in January, the biggest gain since April 2006. The median forecast by economists called for a drop of 20,000.

Capital spending will increase the total productive capacity of the U.S. economy above its pre-recession level of December 2007, helping gross domestic product grow at a 2.7 percent annual rate in 2010, according to the median forecast of 67 economists in a Jan. 14 Bloomberg News survey. That would be the fastest rate since 2006.

Government payrolls decreased by 8,000 in January, today’s report showed. State and local governments reduced employment by 41,000, while the federal government added 33,000. The increase at the federal level reflected in part the hiring of temporary workers to conduct the 2010 census.

Payrolls at builders fell 75,000 last month after decreasing 32,000. Financial firms reduced payrolls by 16,000, after a 7,000 decline. Service industries, which include banks, insurance companies, restaurants and retailers, added 40,000 workers after subtracting 96,000 in December.

Retail payrolls increased by 42,000 after an 18,000 decline.

The number of temporary workers increased 52,000 in January. Payrolls at temporary-help agencies often turn up before total employment because companies prefer to see a steady increase in demand before taking on permanent staff.

The so-called underemployment rate -- which includes part- time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- fell to 16.5 percent from 17.3 percent.

The average workweek for all workers rose to 33.9 hours in January from 33.8 the prior month. The increase signals companies are turning more part-time workers into full-time employees. Average weekly earnings increased to $761.06 from $757.46.

 

[Hobo1]

This only proves that the government can temporarily create jobs by throwing money into a government jobs program. This will improve the jobs number. That should be obvious.

As far as creating long term jobs... that is a whole different story. I have been a small business entrepreneur my whole life (a successful one at that). I created three companies that have grown and have the potential to continue to grow. But, with the prospect for massive tax increases in the near future, I would NEVER hire more workers right now - that would be like drinking poison.

The banks are still in terrible shape. I recently went to the bank I have been using for 30 years for a loan for a piece of equipment. Despite a near perfect credit rating (credit rating= low 700's), they turned down my loan request. The bank manager said with the current recession, small businesses are just too risky!

I reminded him that my tax dollars went to fund his banks $25 trillion bailout and his CEO's obscene bonus. No difference - no loan.

As long as the banks are acting stupidly, this recession will never be over. I am not the least bit optimistic. As soon as the stimulus plan is past, the employment will climb again.

 

[asur]

More Proof of Economic Trouble in the US.

It's ~ six job seekers for every job opening on average.

But in the construction industry it is much worse.
It has been reported to be 51 seekers for every construction job opening.

Yet that is where Obama's stimulus money has been supposedly spent.
Remember all the shovel ready jobs he brags about creating, even though
he hasn't created any real jobs?

 

[Mr. Shaman]

"The latest evidence that manufacturers are helping lead the economic recovery emerged Wednesday in a report that industrial production posted its seventh straight increase in January.

The report from the Federal Reserve showed gains in all three major categories: manufacturing, mining and utilities. It was the first such collective show of strength since August 2009. Manufacturing output rose 1 percent, led by a nearly 5 percent gain in auto production.

Manufacturing has been a major contributor to the early stages of the economic rebound. In the fourth quarter, for example, roughly two-thirds of growth came from a burst of manufacturing activity. Factories have been churning out goods for businesses that had let their stockpiles dwindle as a way to save cash.

A separate sign of strength Wednesday came in a Commerce Department report on housing construction. Home building posted a better-than-expected increase last month. Activity reached its highest point in six months."

Right HERE, Teabaggers!!!​

 

[Mr. Shaman]

"British Airways (BAIRY) and the U.S. bioenergy company Solena are to establish Europe's first green jet fuel plant in the East End of London.

When it is up and running in 2014, the factory will turn 500,000 tonnes of landfill waste – including household and industrial rubbish – into 16 million gallons of carbon-neutral aviation fuel every year.

It will produce enough fuel to power all of BA's flights from nearby City Airport twice over. And with 95 per cent fewer emissions than traditional kerosene, the plan will be equivalent to taking 48,000 cars off the roads.

There are four sites under consideration for the plant, which will be built and run by Washington DC-based Solenahttp://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2010/gb20100216_652044.htm, with BA guaranteed to buy all of its output. It will employ up to 1,200 people."

 

[Mr. Shaman]

"On a call with reporters, Council Chairwoman Christina Romer said she expects an average of 95,000 jobs a month to be created this year, and that the nation's GDP will expand at a 2.5% rate.

The report, which is delivered to Congress, looks at the actions President Obama took to deal with the recession over the past year. It also discusses the economic challenges that lie ahead for the nation, but offers little insight that's new.

Overall, the analysis enthusiastically supports the administration's handling of the economic crisishttp://www.whitehouse.gov/blog and its proposals to strengthen the country's fiscal standing in the future.

Romer called the report "a page-turner" and noted that it's available for download to Kindle and other e-readers.

The report places blame on the Bush administration for running up debts and cutting taxes."

 

[asur]

Obama and Biden lied on Feb 17, 2009 about creating jobs again.

Despite Obama's bold claims, unemployment remains stubbornly high
ans the bill hasn't been paid for all Obama's spending.

They like to pat themselves on the back publicly for destroying
millions of jobs. But the bill has yet to be paid.


His administration had promised the $800 Billion mistake would stop the
jobless rate from passing 8 percent. But weeks after the stimulus became law,
that threshold was broken.

 

[Gipper]

BO is making himself irrelevant with his constant lies. The American people are catching on.

We want him to continue with his lies and he will.

Remember, he is a Marxist. So everything he knows is wrong. So, he can't help but lie though he thinks he speaks the truth.

Funny how that happens to Marxists.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

BO is making himself irrelevant with his constant lies. The American people are catching on.

We want him to continue with his lies and he will.

Yeah....anything, to avoid references to Bushco.

​

"It's a simple and effective message, even though many economists say a financial sector rescue initiated by the Bush administration and by the Federal Reserve are also factors affecting the changing, positive turn.

White House officials maintain that the stimulus suffered a certain guilt by association with the unpopular $700 billion Wall Street bailout fund.

"People have conflated money lent to banks — much of it paid back with interest — to stabilize the financial system, or investments that had to be made in restructuring auto companies, with the recovery plans," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday. "I'm not sure exactly what could have been done to rectify that."

But Pew's Kohut says the public does distinguish between the programs, and while more disapprove than approve of both, people have a much more negative reaction to the bank bailout than to the stimulus."

How's that GOIN', FOR YA', SO FAR??!!!!

 

[Mr. Shaman]

"Hewlett-Packard Co.'s latest numbers show that corporations are spending more on technology in 2010 than they did last year - but only on certain things so far.

Businesses are bulking up on their back-end computing power. Sales of servers were up in HP's November-January fiscal first quarter, an encouraging sign for a part of the technology world that was hammered by the recession.

Sales of computer hardware have been weak the past year because corporations have clung to older equipment to save money, instead of replacing it."

 

[asur]

Today was more proof of how bad it's getting out there in the real world.


The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance unexpectedly surged last week, while producer prices increased sharply in January, raising potential hurdles for the economy's recovery.

Initial claims for state jobless benefits increased 31,000 to 473,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Financial markets had expected them to fall slightly to 430,000.

Another report from the department showed prices paid at the farm and factory gate rose a faster-than-expected 1.4 percent from December as higher gasoline prices and unusually cold temperatures helped boost energy costs.

The rise in jobless insurance claims dealt a setback to hopes the economy was on the verge of job growth and could increase political pressure on President Barack Obama, who has made tackling unemployment his number one priority.

Yeah right!!

There is no recovery!

It's called CHANGE!

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Regarding the "conservatives'"/Tea-Baggers' worst-case-scenerio screed.... ​

"Despite widespread cynicism about the President's new blue chip panel on deficit reduction, he did get two respected power brokers to sign on as co-chairmen, Erskine Bowles, a White House chief of staff under President Clinton, and Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator. This type of initiative has worked before. When federal budget deficits threatened a tide of red ink "as far as the eye could see" after Ronald Reagan's Presidency, his successors Bush and Clinton, along with enough members of Congress, managed with time to bring the budget into surplus.

Resilience is a hallmark of the American political system. A major strand of America's political history is that whenever widespread economic abundance is threatened, the political system adapts."

 

[Hobo1]

Despite widespread cynicism about the President's new blue chip panel on deficit reduction, he did get two respected power brokers to sign on as co-chairmen, Erskine Bowles, a White House chief of staff under President Clinton, and Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator.

Appoint a commission.. the number one way a President gets around making the heard decisions. Obama promised "no tax increase on those making less than $250,000 per year". How is he going to get around this promise? Simple, "My bipartisan, blue chip panel recommended these new taxes".

Pretend you are on the blue chip panel... how do you propose deficit reduction? It's not too difficult to figure out.

With over 60% of the spending going to Military, Social Security, and Medicare/Medicaid - and the debt payment on borrowed money raising fast... where would you cut money?

To me, the military is a no-brainer. If we need to pay for a war, we can't afford to build new airplane systems and navy ships. During the wind of the Vietnam war when Congress simply cut the defense budget, the word went out for a cross board cut of 20%. That didn't hurt our defense capabilities at all because there was more than 20% fat in the system.

We all know the age limit for retirement must go up to save money on Social Security. What are we waiting for?

Medicare is part of the Health care debate - so who can guess what will happen. Pretty sure the taxpayers are going to get a fat tax increase if they ever do anything with health care.

But even besides major cuts, taxes are going to be raised as well - if for no better reason that to say, "everybody must feel the pain of a balanced budget".

So there are the results of the blue chip panel - read it and weep. I guess Obama's magic wasn't powerful enough to save our country from 9 years of excessive spending.