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Subscribe to RSSThe rough economic news continues: Employers added just 54,000 jobs in May, the fewest in eight months, while the unemployment rate increased to 9.1%... Genuine economic concern at the White House… But it’s optimistic about the state of the auto industry, and Obama delivers remarks at the Chrysler Group’s Supplier Park in Toledo, OH at 1:25 pm ET… Congress turns its attention to Libya… Romney’s good and bad day yesterday… GOP presidential hopefuls address the Faith and Freedom confab in DC… Why Gingrich won’t be there: He’s on vacation… Huntsman spends his afternoon/evening in New Hampshire… John Edwards likely to be indicted… And farewell to NBC’s Savannah Guthrie!
*** The rough economic news continues: It was about a year ago when a combination of the Greek debt crisis and the BP spill sent the jobs market in a tailspin. In May 2010, fueled largely by U.S. Census hires, the economy gained more than 450,000 jobs. Then the next month, it lost nearly 200,000. Is something similar taking place this summer -- after high gas prices, the disaster in Japan, and more instability in Europe? The latest jobs report shows that the economy added just 54,000 jobs in May, the fewest in eight months, the AP says. (Private employers added 83,000 new workers, while local governments cut 28,000 jobs.) What’s more, the unemployment rate ticked up from 9.0% to 9.1%.
*** Genuine economic concern at the White House: There's genuine concern at the White House about the economy, and it's not just because of the round of bad data circulating this week. Rather, it's from the stagnant data over the past six weeks. The top-three areas of concern from their view: 1) gas prices and the effect its having on consumer spending; 2) the European debt crisis, and 3) the political stalemate here over the debt ceiling. However, there’s optimism about the rest of the year -- due to Japan’s recovery efforts, business investment is still on the rise, and exports have been improving. Even under the guise of "worst case scenario," the phrase "double dip" isn't being uttered around the West Wing. The real fear is something akin to Japan in the '90s -- flat or stagnant growth leading to few jobs created over a number of years, in other words, "a jobless recovery."
*** But optimism about the state of the U.S. auto industry: Some good economic news that the Obama administration wants to highlight is in the auto industry, and that’s why the president today delivers remarks at 1:25 pm ET at the Chrysler Group’s Supplier Park in Toledo, OH. Here’s the news Obama will discuss: “Italian automaker Fiat SpA agreed late Thursday to acquire the U.S. Treasury's stake in Chrysler Group LLC for $560 million, ending the Obama administration's involvement with the Auburn Hills automaker,” the Detroit News reports. “The U.S. exit ends a 30-month involvement of two administrations in saving the company from collapse, beginning with the Bush administration's decision to bail out Chrysler with $4 billion in December 2008.”
*** Congress turns its attention to Libya: The White House also has to worry about congressional attitudes about Libya. Per the New York Times, the House will vote on “two measures that are strongly critical of President Obama’s decision to maintain an American role in NATO operations in Libya.” One resolution, sponsored by Congressman Dennis Kucinich, would direct the president to end the United States’ limited involvement in Libya in the next two weeks. The other resolution -- introduced by GOP leaders fearful that Kucinich’s measure would pass and would send the wrong message -- states that the White House has not received congressional authorization for the use of force in Libya and it asserts that Obama must provide Congress information about the mission there within 14 days. A question to ponder: Is this real war fatigue that's been building over a decade, or is this a case -- among Republicans -- if Obama's for it, it's easier to be against it?
*** Romney’s good and bad day: If he’s going to be the eventual Republican nominee, then Mitt Romney had a good day yesterday. He was on message with the big story of the day: the U.S. economy. But it also was a bad day in his attempt to get the GOP nomination. Sarah Palin, in Massachusetts of all places, took a shot at Romney’s health-care law. "In my opinion, any mandate coming from government is not a good thing,” she said from famous Bunker Hill. Rudy Giuliani, who’s mulling a presidential bid, also piled on. “The reality is that Obamacare and Romneycare are almost exactly the same, it’s not very helpful trying to distinguish them,” Giuliani said while in New Hampshire. Since your authors have been covering presidential politics, we can’t remember a time when high-profile members of a political party took a shot at their own on his/her announcement day. In fact, the 2008 vice-presidential nominee (Palin) tried to kneecap the party’s 2012 front-runner. Truly stunning.
*** Gotta have faith (and freedom): Several GOP presidential candidates and other high-profile Republicans speak in DC at the Faith and Freedom Conference, organized by former Christian Coalition head (and Abramoff business associate) Ralph Reed. Slated to speak: Paul Ryan (9:37 am ET), Michele Bachmann (10:00 am), Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (10:15 am), John Boehner (11:27 am), Jon Huntsman (11:42 am), RNC Chair Reince Priebus (11:57 am), and then in the evening it’s Donald Trump (7:35 pm), Tim Pawlenty (8:48 pm), and Mitt Romney (9:13 pm). Notably, skipping the event: Newt Gingrich, who will send a video message instead.
*** Vacation … all I ever wanted: So where is Gingrich, who’s been especially quiet over the past several days? Well, he and his wife Callista are on vacation, per spokesman Rick Tyler. The couple always "planned to take this time" when they looked at the calendar, Tyler said. "This fits the schedule." Gingrich will be back on the trail June 8 in New Hampshire. He's doing a Republican Jewish Coalition event June 12 in Los Angeles, and then is doing the CNN debate June 13.
*** On the 2012 trail: In addition to his remarks at the Faith and Freedom Conference in DC, Huntsman heads to New Hampshire later today, where he delivers keynote speech at Belknap County GOP Committee's Annual "Lincoln Day" Dinner.
*** Edwards likely to be indicted today: Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is likely to be charged today over “the money used to keep his mistress in hiding during the 2008 campaign,” the AP reports. “A person with knowledge of the investigation said Edwards' attorney, Gregory Craig, planned to be in his client's home state Friday. Prosecutors are prepared to file charges, and the sides are still in discussions for a plea deal, so it's unclear whether Edwards will be indicted or agree to a negotiated charge.” NBC’s Lisa Myers reported on “TODAY” this morning that sources say he will reject the plea agreement and will be indicted.
*** Farewell to Savannah Guthrie: Finally, today is NBC’s Savannah’s Guthrie last day in the Washington bureau and as co-host on MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown.” She is headed to work full time on the “TODAY” show in New York. Savannah is a great colleague, friend, and contributor to First Read, and we’ll miss her. We wish her the best of luck in New York! Be sure to tune into today's “Daily Rundown” for some farewells and even a few surprises.
Countdown to Iowa GOP straw poll: 71 days
Countdown to NV-2 special election: 102 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 158 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 248 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up
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Can't say what's happening in the rest of the country, but our business works primarily other small businesses in Colorado.
Our customers are scared to death of new, unreasonable regulatory restrictions on their operations imposed by the government, both state and federal. The rules are changing monthly. Tax law is in flux. There is absolutely no investment which does not produce a return within a very short time, nobody can see beyond the end of the current business quarter. There is a definite element of fear and hesitation. Only equipment that is totally broken is repaired, no new machinery is being purchased, no new projects with long term benefits undertaken.
For these and other related reasons there is no general optimism and willingness to gamble on the future.
Forgot to note that nearly all our elected officials have absolutely no experience or grasp of business basics. I doubt that 10% of the bunch (legislators, president, and such) could get and hold a job in the private sector. Used to be well qualified, successful people devoted their expertise for one or two terms, then went back to their usual vocations. Now we have a bunch irresponsible clowns who couldn't get a job as a
Wal-Mart greeter. Yet the American people keep sending them back for another term.
Madness: Repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results...
amen and amen
Some still do. Much of that, however, shifted from "business executives" to investment bankers, as the economy shifted toward financial services. And, today, Wall Street pretty much runs Corporate America, who sold out a long time ago for runaway CEO salaries.
Hell, no. Politicians become politicians because of what's in it for them. They know that a smart crooked politician can get rich quicker than in any other field. These people, all of them, are greedy for money and power and they don't give one tinker's damn for this country or its people. And we are on the verge of electing Obama for a second term, a man who has utterly fooled more than half of the American people into believing all his crappy lies. Even as they watch the house burn to the ground, they keep deceiving themselves into believing that things will get better so that they can give Obama the credit and justify their incredible stupid decision to put him into office in the first place. Someone show me an honest politician, Republican or Democrat, and prove me wrong. You can't do it so don't even try.
They are also in it for the great retirement plan. They don't have to depend on Medicare of Social Security.
congress is indeed in a tight spot, especially with all the brainwashed liberals who believe anything the democrats say. why isn't Obama doing anything? if he would cleanup all the wasteful spending in the fed government (and there is a lot) and cut spending i would vote for tax increases even though I believe they aren't needed and can't be counted on since it promotes bad spending habits. but by doing nothing he is hurting this country.
we are suffering under this inept Progressive Administration
Rob - How fast do you expect the economy to recover? How fast did it recover in 1929? The collapse is comparable only to 1929...so how fast?
Let me give you a clue,,,the collapse occurred in 1929 and we didn't get out of it until 1941.... BTW it's been 2-1/2 years, in that same time frame in 1929-1931 employment went from 4.2% to 23.9%.. In 2008 it went from 4.6% to 9.1%...
Republican's handled 1929 with the same polices you are calling for, Democrats 2008...(Actually 2009, Bush was in control in 2008 and initiated TARP,(the one smart thing he did in 8 years).
We still live in the best country in the world. Our problem is that we have a president that doesn't understand the economy. Time to downsize the government and see what the chinese are doing. We are soft as a nation and we have to many entitlement people. The liberals should just turn over their pay checks and have mr. Obama take care of them. The media will bail Obama out so we won't get a clear picture of how bad he is , he is so like FDR who was a failure.
Ben: Most historians rate FDR as one of the best presidents ever (top three).....You like Sara Palin (Paul Revere, Bells instead of lanterns) want to re-write history...
The only Republican candidate that I would even listen to or consider is Ron Paul of Texas, who is really not Republican at all but is a libertarian (which defies Republican agenda of taking away our rights, and instead wants to guarantee that Americans keep our rights as defined by the constitution and Dec. of Indep.) The majority of the Republicans should be calling themselves the Neo-con Fascists Nazi- party of Amerika. Sure the system needs fixing but we do not want to make the mistake of throwing the baby (our constitutional rights and hard to achieve and work for liberties of a free society) out with the bath water (all the things in our society which do not work and are costing us our jobs and standard of living and control over our own lives.
FEAR DOES NOT JUSTIFY GIVING UP OUR RIGHTS, NOR ALLOWING GOVERNMENT TO TURN THIS COUNTRY INTO A MILITARISTIC POLICE STATE. Tony Robbins describes fear as "FALSE EVIDENCE THAT APPEARS REAL"
What we need to do is instead counter this negative emotion with FAITH, faith in GOD, faith in ourselves and in our government that we can overcome our problems without taking away our fellow Americans respect, integrity, and right for self-determination. We need to create HOPE not fear. Anyone can survive tremendous odds and turmoil when they have hope, but take the opportunity for hope away and you won't make it through the day. Our government needs to find ways to create and sponsor hope and eliminate fear. We are in a spiritual battle for the survival of our country, and way of life. Let's fix the problems without blaming each other and find new ways to create hope in our future. Why for example can the people in Japan (government, labor, and management) work together and develop 10 yr plans for taking over whole markets, such as cameras, electronics and now automotive, but we as Americans can not seem to work together for 5 mins.? We need to @!$%#-can the selfish "everybody looks out for their interests at the expense of others mentality". We need to make sure that government is serving the maximum needs of the people not the 2% wealthy or special interests of the multinational oligarchy. They have become the new "King George" of this century and we as Americans need to declare our independence. (Follow the procedures set forth in the Declaration of Independence and if necessary abolish, modify repeal whatever is not working in our government and or processes and re-establish our country in the right direction.
Politicians are like babies, they should both be changed often and for the same reason!!
Amazing how the media spins Obama's failed economic policies.
Remember "green economic shoots popping up all over"?? The "Summer of recovery"??
Never again in this century will Americans be so stupid as to elect another flaming liberal with absolutely no experience, and no qualifications, to such a high office.
Never again will Americans trust their future to a slogan spewing, idiot like Obama. Not only will he lose by a landslide of historic proportions in 2012, he will drag down all the other useless, Democratic flotsam with him. Watch the Democratic rats try to desert the sinking ship of state. Only problem with that is: they have no safe harbor to swim to. By wearing the dreaded "D" after their names they have excluded themselves from decent, civilized society.
Yea, you sound like decent, civilized society....
BTW - Obama's approval rating is 54%... Most of us (sane, rational people) understand the size of the problem he inherited from your brethern...
My brethern do not include Dodd, Frank, et al, Don. Get some new material.
Sorry white guy - You seem to think the problem originated with Freddie and Fannie, when it originated with Wall Street and CDO's.... Freddie and Fannie were late getting in, and bit players to Wall Street.
The problem was capitialism run amuck, with no regulation what so ever...
This is the Obombanator's economy, and it sucks rocks.
I am amused listening to you libtards contort yourselves in order to try to provide cover for your douche bag.
Bush, Cheney, Haliburton ain't cutting it anymore.
When the economy tanked in 1929 how many years did it take to recover....and btw, 2-1/2 years into it what was the unemployment rate?
The collapse in 2008 was actually worse..but it's comparible.
Blah Balh Blah
You guys are killing me.
787 billion reasons that your boy's an idiot.
Dodd! Frank! Weiner!
Pull your head out of Rachel Maddow's mangina.
Angry white - Well, instead of being a dick, explain why 1929 and 2008 are not comparable and what you think would have happened had their not been 787 billion reasons...
BTW,,,1/3 of the 787 was tax cuts (a republican idea). Those tax cuts are bad, right?
And another 1/3 was unemployment insurance (which at least some had to be paid out), and the rest was aid to local governments, (police, fire, etc).
And 1/3 was for infrastructure..
Wow now you're channeling Lawrence O'Douchebag too.
Angry,
I guess you think the nastier you are, the more your comments will be respected. Not so, they aren't even worth reading at this point. Bye.
The 9.1% of working age Amerikans who are unemployed vote too.
,'-D
McDonald's accounts for half of the 54,000 'jobs' created in May (not by the government, by an evil capitalist corp.)
He's going down and you know it. The pendulum is going to saaaaaaaa-wing hard, and the libtards in the White House are going to be among those looking for work.
Angry White guy,
In this Obama based economy, working at McDonalds doesn't sound too bad. Heated in the winter, air-conditioned in the Summer, clean and well lit. Get to eat your mistakes??
Probably qualify for food stamps and rent assistance. Still have enough to buy some dope and get high after work.
This would be the liberal's utopia.
No Don,
The 1929 collapse was far, far worse than anything we have ever experienced.
Try reading the book on the Great Depression by T.H.Watkins. I just finished it last week. 349 pages.
1929 was only worse because the federal government did not put 14 million people on food stamps and we did not have Social Security, Medicare, Welfare, MediCal, Food Stamps, HUD housing, Earned Income Tax Credit, discounted utilities, free education, free lunches, free transportation etc etc etc etc. We are literally in the same position as 1929 but we are borrowing ourselves and inflating our currency to stay afloat handing out trillions in freebies. The federal government also borrows to support literally 20% of the country with both direct employment or contract employment. This is all false employment and support that is borrowed with interest to support. It is a VERY temporary fabrication to avoid the reality of the situation.
The Federal government is literally propping up this depression with unfunded entitlements and raising our deficit sky high. They are trying to borrow and print their way out of a depression which is totally futile. All this unfunded crap is falling on the back of the shrinking middle class who are primarily moving way down in income.
Creating trillions in debt is destroying our currency as the global standard. As our debt grows our currency becomes more inflated and less attractive. Countries with currencies that have lower debt against them will soon take over and that will make our current situation look like a lemonade stand that went bad.
But the current administration wants to keep shoving bubble gum in the hole in the Titanic while racing full speed ahead. It is the short term fix to get them through the 2012 election without popping any balloons for their lobby's or voter groups. It will turn out to the a very selfish wrong move with horrible consequences.
so Fiat bought out the fed's interest in Chrysler...so what do we taxpayors get out of the deal?...nada, zero...
It's funny to see the lefties on msnbc refer to "reproductive rights." Of course, the right in question is not to reproduce. It is the right to kill.
No it's standing on the shoulders of women and children. They cut back everything for women and kids by forcing women to keep the children, then blame them for having kids they cant afford. They are also protecting men by changing the definition of rape.
To prove rape, you have to be beaten to a pulp. Like I said, in the Republican/Tea party, women do not count as a citizen. Rather than taking away women rights, they should work on having the father take responsibility rather than making excuses for them.
We went from a $5.6 trillion surplus that George Bush inherited to over ... $11-plus trillion debt when George Bush left office."
There is some merit in Hoyer’s larger point -- that Bush came into office with a rosy fiscal outlook and left with one that was far less so. And he’s pretty close when he says that Bush left an "$11-plus trillion debt" when he departed the Oval Office.
Still, Hoyer left out enough qualifiers -- that the number was a projection, and that it covered 10 years -- that we believe viewers would take away an exaggerated impression of the fiscal picture Bush inherited. So we’re giving Hoyer’s comment a rating of Half True.
But wait theres still more.
• Debt vs. debt as a percentage of GDP: Some economists will tell you that it’s not the size of the debt per se, but rather the size of the debt relative to the nation’s gross domestic product. This helps minimize the complicating effect of economic cycles and inflation. So how do those numbers stack up? Using OMB statistics, here’s what we came up with, using public debt figures not adjusted for the president’s time in office:
Reagan: Up 14.9 percentage points
George H.W. Bush: Up 7.1 percentage points
Clinton: Down 13.4 percentage points
George W. Bush: Up 5.6 percentage points
Obama: Up 21.9 percentage points (through December 2010 only)
So by this measurement -- potentially a more important one -- Obama is the undisputed debt king of the last five presidents.
You know the lefties here just love to quote politifact.
I think Mr. Obama has made several mistakes during is 2 1/2 years, but none bigger than the so-called stimulus money borrowed to help the economy while he focused on health insurance reform which was and is not critical. The economy is NOT hitting a soft patch, but rather has weak fundamentals and a president that promises to raise taxes on everyone which is why it will not grow. We continue to see the record foreclosures in the housing market, record numbers of Americans on food stamps because they can't afford to eat, a record deficit and the fastest growing debt of any American president in modern history. Say what you want about what Mr. Obama inherited, but it's time to judge him and his administration on results and so far they haven't been good. He will not be re-elected in 2012.
OK, three years into the hopey, changey administration and the economy still sucks, unemployment is at 9.1%, Gitmo's still open, Imigration problems persist, Foreclosure's are breaking records. and it's all the Republicans fault. Anybody still buying that babbling bull$hit?
I have no idea why the federal government uses such an unemployment tracking system that captures so little of the actual picture. It is only 9.1% because they refuse to track all unemployed people. They only track those currently eligible and receiving unemployment benefits.
It doesn't account for part-time workers who want to work more hours but can't and it doesn't include those who have given up trying to find work. When the underemployed and the discouraged are added to the numbers, the unemployment rate rises to 16.6%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, a unit of the Labor Department, began tracking this alternative measure -- known as the U-6 for its department classification -- in 1995 after economists lobbied for a method comparable to the way Japan, Canada and Western Europe count their unemployed.
The truth is that even the broader measure of unemployment doesn't fully capture how difficult the job market is for U.S. workers. It doesn't include self-employed workers whose incomes have shriveled. It doesn't look at former full-time employees who have accepted part time or short-term contracts, without benefits, and at a fraction of their former salaries. It doesn't count the many would-be workers who are going back to school, taking on more debt, in hopes that advanced degrees will improve their chances of landing jobs.
That broader unemployment rate, or U-6, is up from 16.4% a year ago and from 9.7% in May 2008. It was 7.1% in May 2000. This is a mess of epic proportion this administration refuses to address because the banking industry and corporations are having a field day in this dismal market. The banks are buying up real estate, business's and stocks at 25 cents on the dollar and the corporations are treating all employees like their were illegal aliens with hacked wages, reduced benefits, if any, and no pensions etc. Not to mention much longer hours for salaried employees.
Herman Cain 2012
People on the right say we can learn nothing from the Obama administration. I disagree. We can learn a lot of what not to do in a recession. Throwing a wealth of new regulations and taxes at the business community does nothing but slow them down. We have learned you can't economically engineer an economy to your "politically correct" ideas of what they should be making. Why should the manufacturing community listen to a group of politician who have never manufactured anything on what are the best products to make. The Obama administration should spend more time listening to the manufacturing community rather than dictating to them. US manufacturers have invented millions of innovative products but I can't think of a single innovative product invented by Washington politicians. Let the manufacturing community tell them what they need. They don't need amateurs telling them what to make.
In order to achieve these things you speak of from manufacturing and private industry, you need to have a Government that understands that their role is to grease the skids as much as possible. Not block the track. Obama believes he's the smartest guy in the room because he won a nationwide popularity contest in 2008. That's unfortunate for the Country, for his party, and him. The results of his inability to govern, lead, and manage are near disastrous, but the media, and his party, will support him to the bitter end. It is far more important to them that they continue to try and convince the American People that the first black President is not a failure. They could use a little cooperation from Obama, however. Let's hope the people realize that Obama's skin color has nothing to do with his incompetence.
Herman Cain in 2012.
Excellent post Ron!
and Herman Cain is a great candidate!
It isn't necessary to actually do something for people, it is necessary only to make them feel good.
When I was a small lad, my father asked me what I wanted for Christmas.
I told him I wanted something to play with.
For my Christmas he paid a clothes store a thousand dollars of my money to cut a front pocket out of a pair of hand-me-down pants.
I felt good because I felt that my wish had been granted,
I felt good because what I could feel felt good.
And I felt that my father was wonderful
My father knew how to make people feel good; he was a true Democrat.
Obozo touting the auto industry is just too painful to listen to! Saying the auto industry has paid back loans to the gov't. is all smoke and mirrors! Obozo spends what little time he's willing to give the economy to laying in bed with union workers! He cares nothing about the 9.1 unemployment rate and talks about how hard he knows it is for WORKING Americans to put gas in their car. What about the NON-WORKING Americans??? About fell over when he made that unbelievable statement a few days ago. Media should re-play that statement until it rings in his ears forever!
Both parties suck. tea baggers go way to far and Democrats want to help everybody. Mostly both parties want to force what they believe to be right on us regardless of whats right. People run for office and and lie to get nomination doesn't matter if they believe it or not.
Of coarse economy is in bad shape to much debt and to much printed money. To big to fail please there is no such thing. Were out of the recession yay .Yeah right try living pay check to pay check for those that are lucky enough to have jobs.
Government sucks as it stands now it needs fixing i think.