After another week of bad news about the strengthening recession, Obama went on the radio Saturday to urge voters to remain patient with his failing plan to save the economy. And to blame his incompetence on Bush.
"We must let it work the way it's supposed to," said Obama, "it" being the 'Stimulus' which has helpfully stimulated the jobless rate from 7.6 percent to 9.5 percent and knocked off another 2,000,000 jobs.
In June, when the jobless rate was lower, Obama said he was "not satisfied" with the pace of progress. One month later, faced with even more layoffs, foreclosures, factory closings, loan delinquencies, higher deficits and gas prices, Obama says he's satisfied with all the progress.
"In a little over 100 days, this Recovery Act has worked as intended," Obama said, drawing from his vast economics expertise as a useless community organizer.
In a Washington Post piece Sunday, Obama wrote (or was it ghostwriter, William Ayers?) that his disastrous stimulus was intended "to provide a boost necessary to stop the free fall. So far, it has done that." In fact, thanks to the stimulation plan: -- Now we're only losing a half a million jobs a month. We're actually doing better than expected -- Jared Bernstein, top economic adviser to Joe Biden. -- Consumer sentiment 'soared' in early July to the weakest level since March, when "confidence in the financial sector and economy were at a low ebb," (Reuters, 7/10). Not all of the recovery money has been put to work yet; we're making progress -- Labor Secretary, Hilda L. Solis. -- Retail sales last month were 'boosted' to sharply lower levels, the weakness cutting across all sectors, thanks to the 'boost' from shrinking wages and mounting job losses. The stimulus is on track -- White House Economic Council Director, Larry Summer -- The service sector of the economy shrank again last month, making it the 9th month in a row. The ISM service index come in at 47 (readings below 50 indicate contraction -- the wrong direction). I am absolutely confident that we are on the right track -- Joe Biden, touring Ohio to find a single job created by the stimulus. -- The bank of Wyoming was closed Friday -- 53 failed banks so far this year, more than double the total for all of last year. Some economists contend that a recovery is indeed in its early stages -- New York Times. -- But good news! Good news! The press claims that last Thursday's U.S. Labor Department report showed "progress" is being made because "initial jobless claims unexpectedly dropped 52,000," with only a mere teensy-weensy 565,000 filing first-time unemployment claims! This "was the lowest initial jobless claims total since January," (DailyFinance.com, 7/9). The only problem being that the number was "skewed lower, due to the short week which included the July 4 Independence Day holiday." Oops. On another upbeat note, the jobless rate for teenagers -- already 24 percent in June -- will be going higher just as soon as the new $7.25 minimum wage kicks in later this month. And with the overall jobless rate expected to soar to 10 percent this summer or fall, Obama claimed in his op-ed that the stimulus "will steadily save and create jobs as it ramps up over this summer and fall." In other words, you ain't seen nothing yet!
Anyway, that's...
My Two Cents...
"JohnHuang2"