Romney spun the 'government-centered' line yesterday and Rep. Cantor refuted it.

The government creates the conditions for businesses to grow and expand. 4 million private sector jobs have been created over the last two years. Manufacturing is up for the first time since the 1990's. GM is #1 in the world. American Auto is back, no thanks to folks like Romney who wanted to let it and a million jobs in auto lie down and die.

8.2% is GOOD by the way.

120,000 new jobs.

That sucks.

The pathetically anemic slow-bama “recovery” continues to limp along like Barry’s Super PAC fundraising efforts. Now I’m sure the FR lefty liberal Obamabots will focus all their attention on a 0.1 percent decline in the unemployment rate and cheer-lead Barry’s GREAT SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!! But even his own USDOL put a pretty dismal spin on that news calling it “little changed” in their press release:

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 120,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

As America approaches the third anniversary of the official end of the recession in June 2009, a dismal 120,000 new jobs with GDP growth in the slow 2.0-2.5% range may be signaling a more ominous permanent structural change in the US economy. I have thought for a long time that America’s best years may be in the rear view mirror (Since the R’s started acting like D’s by passing a massive unfunded entitlement with Medicare Part D). And the lefty liberal push to make America more like the failing socialist European mediocracies with ClunkerCare doesn’t bode well for a vibrant growing US economy. Today’s pathetic jobs numbers are one more nail in the coffin of America as a great world power, just like other former world powers of the 1500-1900’s such as Spain, France and England.

Sad, but, true.

LOL!!! Doom and Gloom. These wingnuts are something else.

They ignore the independent economic analysis that shows the Presidents policies helped the economy. They ignore the positive trends. They cling to any and all not so great news, and try and spin it as bad news.

They are desperate. Desperatly clining to a projection based narrative they were all fed during the 2008 campaign, never let go, and have been reinforcing with more delusional projections every since.

The have surrounded themselves with so much B.S., they have no choice but to continue with their collective delusion.

Well, stupid is as stupid does.

Treasonous bastards!

______________________________

Actually, Nasty DumbFux, the correct term would be "Realists". The economy is showing it's very sick over the long term. Past deep recessions have all been followed by rapid and strong recoveries.

Something is different this time.

And all the lefty liberal cheerleading for Barry and accusations of "treasonous bastards" isn't going to change that FACT.

Rob? Rob? Hellooooo!

"The problem of course 88 million people have given up searching for a job."

Rob? 88-million? Are you blaming President Obama for unemployment problems in every foreign country on the planet too? What the hell. Why not? You blame him for everything else.

By the way, whatever you're smoking makes Maui Wowie Purple Zowie #22 look like dirt weed.

Joe in Delusional Land.

The recovery is slower than most because of the nature of the recession. A recession that was well under way when this President took office. The independent economic analysis shows his policies helped the economy, and the over all trend is positive.

I understand, given your delusional view of the world, why you would see one jobs report that was not as great as the three previous ones, who make you claim doom and gloom. You, and many of the parrots like you, simply cannot accept that all that crap you were willfully fed just isn't true.

At some point, however, you will have to move past the initial political naivete that got you interested in politics, and attempt to actually learn something.

Well, it's the end of the week, and time for another installment of FUN FACTS FOR FRIDAY.

As we know, according to Republicans, continuing job growth absent any promised action on jobs from the Republican-led Congress is bad. A stock market that continues to go up is bad. Winding down our involvement in Iraq is bad. Not starting a new war in Iran is bad. There's just nothing the President can do that isn't bad. Nothing.

Only Republicans get it right. However, I had this nagging feeling that maybe that just wasn't quite true. It was just this undefined, nebulous impression that maybe something was just the teensiest bit out of alignment. So, I did what a terrific Republican would never do - I checked out some facts.

What really happened the last time the Republicans had total control of the government, I wondered? So, I went back to the turn of the century when the Supreme Court gave the Presidency to George W. Bush.

When Bush took office on January 20, 2001, the 107th Congress had already been sworn in. At that point, the right wing - pretending to be Republicans - controlled all three branches of the United States government: The Supreme Court, the Presidency, and both houses of Congress.

The 107th was controlled by 223 Republicans. The Senate was split 50-49 Republican, but the lone Independent aligned with Dems. Of course, Darth Cheney held the tiebreaker. Average length of service was more than nine years in the House, and more than eleven in the Senate, budget genius Paul Ryan was entering his second term, and the delightful Eric Cantor was sworn in for his first. This stellar group immediately noted that there was going to be too much money flowing to government, so they cut taxes. And the flow of red ink began.

Two years later the 108th Congress was sworn in. Having done such an excellent job, they picked up four more seats in the House, and controlled the Senate without the aid of Deficits Don't Matter Cheney. We are embroiled in two new foreign occupations, which fortunately will be paid for with the oil from Iraq and are, as a consequence, FREE. Average length of service continues to increase in both the House and the Senate. The red ink flows mightily.

With success like that, President Bush is re-elected and the 109th Congress takes over. Republicans pick up more seats in the House, and four more in the Senate. We now have tax cuts bleeding the economy dry and free drugs. In the six years they will have controlled ALL government spending, President Bush will not veto a single spending bill. Not one. Bless their hearts, we also now have a law that forbids state law enforcement types from investigating the collapsing financial services sector. Average length of service continues to increase in both the House and the Senate. The red ink is gushing.

Six years of this and Democrats take back both houses of the 110th Congress, but the housing market is collapsing, we are learning new terms like Collateralized Debt Obligations and Credit Default Swaps and the economy is going into free fall, and in two years we will discover it's all the fault of that guy with the dark skin.

Joe in Delusional Land.

No Joe. The correct term is delusional. You only think you are a realist, because you believe so very strongly in the delusional reality you were clearly spoon fed.

8.2% is GOOD by the way.

__________________________________

Outhouse: Yeah, as long as YOU are not one of the 8.2%.

Think gas prices had to do anything with it? Too bad we have a president that doesn't have anything to do with those prices. Soon enough he'll claim he also doesn't have anything to do with the economy.

Headline you will see on FR: "Cantor comment potentially undercuts Romney attack"

Headline you won't see on FR: "Poor economy reports potentially undercuts Obama's econmic claims"

Ah, how typical. The Country adds 120,000 new jobs and the Repugs call it a disaster. It was OK when Bush was losing 700,000 jobs a month, but not OK when our President "ONLY" adds 120 thousand. What kind of Math and thinking is that? Only the Republican losers can come up with such "Stinkin Thinkin". They just can't stand it. Their whole election campaign was built around a failed Economy. Now that we're in a steady recovery from the Bush catastrophe, they have nothing to run on. I love it.

Obama in 2012.

The new faces on TV. The fact that they are on TV at all is a remarkable testament to their individual determination to change America.

Here's hoping all democrats participate in this year's elections at all levels. Especially the newer and younger generations. It is easy to be lulled into complacency and because America is bombarded with propaganda by Fox and other right wing outlets, I worry that most of America's youth will not hear or understand how much the white male wealthy Republican infrastructure is attempting to take away from them. They are taking away all that made the middle class prosper after WWII. As someone said this week, what the GOP is basically saying is that all that helped the middle class thrive was a mistake.

I would be more hopeful if Lawrence, Rachael, Martin Bashir, Chris Hayes or Melissa Harris Perry became the host of a network Sunday morning show or director of news at Fox. Perhaps MSNBC, together with DailyKos and Think Progress is enough, but I do not believe so. As we have seen, the force of money and power will always try to quiet anyone who says you must share --just ask Jesus, whose torture and death is being celebrated this week. We don't ever celebrate his life, which was a humble one and one that any activist/progressive/liberal should be proud to emulate.

Please do not be complacent this campaign season. The outcome of the November elections will determine your future. Don't let voter suppression stop you. Beat them. Don't let Obama bashing stop you. Help him get re-elected. Don't let woman hating propaganda silence you. Speak out. Don't let minority bashing trouble you. Stand with them. Look at what is happening in your community and participate.

Your generation is diverse and exciting. Don't be complacent. You will regret it. Now is the time to turn around 30 years of slowly seeing the dismantling of the middle class. Don't let it happen. For your future and your children's sake, don't let it happen.

Rob wrote: Hey our JOBS President is really delivering, huh. He got our unemployment rate down to 8.2%!

Joe Albany wrote: The pathetically anemic slow-bama "recovery" continues to limp along

RationalOne: This is due to our presidents failure to lead and his government-centered policies.

If you were honest--which none of you are--you would admit that at least half the reason the economy is still struggling is that the Republican Party has fought the President every step of the way. I would assume that it is the GOP Joe Albany was referring to when he wrote: "Treasonous bastards!"

RationalOne: You really need to change your moniker because you are anything but.

Backhouse, excellent points. While Europe is in a catastrophe, here in America we are heading in the right direction.

Feisty, Romney is a nightmare. Great post.

So, how do you have an increase of jobs below population growth numbers, (150,000 per mont), and still have a tenth of a percent drop in unemployment?

Easy- shove 184,000 people out of the labor force.

Every other news outlet is reporting this as a troubling jobs report- indicative that the recovery is limping.

NBC? Must be good news for Obama.

Of course, this is the network that doctored an audio tape to make it seem that a racist statement was made, so what can you expect.

and I am sure everyone has seen the GNOP plans to boost the economy.....those plans that came out in Nov 2010....written in invisible ink....

Oh - my bad....I forgot....more tax cuts for those businesses getting tax refunds...more tax cuts for the "job creators" and bupkus for those not in the 1%......

Jack, they will not only never admit it, they don't care. So dishonest are they.

Cali Tom.

You hit the nail on the head. The right wing will jump on any and all not so great news, because they, and their presumptive canidate, are vested in this narrative. They have been saying for so long that Obama is hurting the economy, if it continues to improve, they look stupid (to the entire country, and not just those of us who know the facts).

They are losing the economic narrative. And it was really the only one they had. They are desperate.

I would assume that it is the GOP Joe Albany was referring to when he wrote: "Treasonous bastards!"

___________________________________

I was quoting Nasty DumbFux, just like I'm quoting you above. You really should work on your reading comprehension skills.

The U6 number indicates that the 180+ thousand may have retired as it dropped from 14.9% to 14.5%.

Well said Pat: There is too much at stake for Democrats to become complacent. I'm thinking about Obama replacing some Supreme Court Justices in the next 4 years. That alone should bring out the women's vote.

One of the few faces on TV that I liked this week was Joe Scarborough relating how he new no one within the GOP who actually thought that Romney could win in November.

Great post California Tom.

Absolutely Ron. We need integrity back in the Supreme Court. Who would have ever thought that the Supreme Court would become so political.

"If you were honest--which none of you are--you would admit that at least half the reason the economy is still struggling is that the Republican Party has fought the President every step of the way."

Generic DNC talking point #12.

When the Left can't defend the results of the failed Obama administration, it reverts to lame talking points like this one. I guess it comforts them in some bizarre way. Weak.

You really should work on your reading comprehension skills.

You wouldn't know sarcasm (not to mention satire or throwing someone's words back in their face) if it snuck up and slapped you in the side of the head. Which it apparently did one day one day when you weren't looking--and that explains everything about you that has happened since.

Poor Dennis. The civilian labor force is defined as those between the ages of 16 and 65, not institutionalized, ready,willing, and able to work.

Get it?

Your constant chant "maybe they all retired" makes as much sense as maybe they all hit the lottery.

Stick to cut and paste- but, from now on, make sure you include attribution. What you did the other night is a big no-no.

If you were honest--which none of you are--you would admit that at least half the reason the economy is still struggling is that the Republican Party has fought the President every step of the way.

And you wonder why?

Candidate Obama said in 2008

“If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them,” Obama said, responding to a question about his cap-and-trade plan. He later added, “Under my plan … electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

Of course, cap and trade is long dead. But coal-fired power plants are powering down nationwide, and they are blaming the Obama Environmental Protection Agency. The president’s critics say proposed greenhouse gas regulations for future power plants are designed to cripple the coal industry.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/74892.html#ixzz1rGhryhjA

Just think if they hadn't fought him every step of the way and Cap and Trade had passed.

The U6 number indicates that the 180+ thousand may have retired as it dropped from 14.9% to 14.5%.

Do you think that all those that "retired" wanted to? Or did they have to retire early (as some of my friends have had to)? Even if they did want to, that's productivity being taken out of the economy that's not being replaced by younger workers. They are now a drain on the remaining workforce. That's a bad thing. We need a higher percentage of employment per population.

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12300000

We need MORE workers supporting our population, not less. Currently 58.5% of workers support everyone else, and hasn't changed much in two years. We need that number going UP.

Corporations abandoning Alec!

Congratulations to Color of Change, the organization that woke up Coke, Pepsi and others. They have recognize their duty to the larger society and have abandoned "pay to play." Poor Republicans....can no longer STEAL from these major players.

Absolutely Ron. We need integrity back in the Supreme Court. Who would have ever thought that the Supreme Court would become so political.

Yeah FDR threatening to pack the court wasn't indication.

No Joe,

Did you ever hear of early retirement (age 62) – guess not !!

Are you begging Tyler for help … again?

I’m sure you reported the violation … right ??

Petty

Pat (1.20) -- You said:

While Europe is in a catastrophe, here in America we are heading in the right direction.

The RCP Average for whether the country is going in the right direction would tend to be in disagreement with your opinion as it reports 60% of those polled believe we are on the wrong track in this country.

I could deduce that you are, as one of the 40% that believes the country is on the right track, in the minority.

Ahhhhh, American progressives:

Man pushes woman in front of bus, another man pushes woman out of way of bus, liberals say "Men are pushing women around".

Solyndra did pretty well (we gots to pay them lobbyists!)! The GSA! And GM (whoopty f%&king doo) did really good with billions in tax subsidys, but you won't hear Obama bash Government Motors! Where else in the world would an automovitve manufacturer cry for higher gas taxes?

For all those Republicans cheering for slowing job numbers.

Consumer spending was up 16% in March. More spending means more economic growth and hiring.

So sad, too bad for Romney!

I am just surprised we didnt have Fiesty and David calling First Thoughts bible thumpers for taking part of Good Friday off. Doesnt this offend your anti religious views? You certainly cant stand it when any GOP person does something in honor of religion.

Republicant and others, regardless of whether Bush was at fault or we can debate and argue over the various parties that participated in the housing bubble being poked, can you not get past your partisan campaigning for Obama and admit that Obama's policies have not really brought back a full sustained recovery? You guys think you have a mastery of the facts which we have seen with Backhouse, Fiesty and David, that is always never true but your opinions are just that opinions. Doesnt matter whose fault the original recession is, after 4 years Obama's policies have not worked. I dont think they have been absolute failures but to claim success is ridiculous. If you really think they were brilliant financial and economic policies, wouldnt he be campaigining on them? Instead of his and your constant personal attacks on Romney, wouldnt it be self evident to the world that he economic policies were brilliant and a great success by just campaigning on them? At best, his policies have tried to put a finger in the leak but most of his policies or lack thereof have actually been job killers whether its ACA, EPA regs, tax policy especially on foreign earnings, oil and gas drilling policies. If you guys are so confident that Obama has been brilliant so far in terms of economic policy, well why not run on that? Instead of taking the David approach which is to vilify all people who may vote for a GOP candidate as being incredibily stupid as if that technique has ever done anything but polarize people, why not campaign on here by providing why you think Obama's economic policies have been brilliant and provide all the evidence over the last 4 years as to how they have worked and change the hearts and minds. You know that hope and change thing. Republicant I know you can do it because you are the smartest guy in the room.

It should be recognized of all the work Michelle Obama and Jill Biden have done to secure thousands of jobs for our veterans.

They are two hard working ladies who we should all be proud of for their nonstop commitment to our veterans. It is working.

So once again, we see job growth is less than needed to keep up with population growth, abut the Unemployment Rate drops again.

The reason is obvious - More people got discouraged and stopped looking for a job than those that ctually FOUND a job.

Watch the Democrats tout this a 'great news'.

If the same criteria (Labor Participation Rate) was used to report the Unemployment Rate as was used in 2008 (Bush's last year), the REAL Unemployment Rate would be about 12%.

To all the libbies, note that the reich wingers are not conservatives, but fascists pretending to be republicans, like Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, etc. Be afraid ...

Apparently, someone needs to go back to take a history class. Fascism is based in nationalizing it's business. More specifically, they wanted government to control businesses, not the private sector. It is eliminating competition, not creating it. That is neither a conservative viewpoint, or republican. On the contrary, it is extremely liberal based and socialist.

If you are going to try to create a pigeon-hole attack on someone, at least learn to do it correctly.

For all the FR lefty liberal morons (yeah I realize that’s redundant), here’s some “treasonous bastard” excerpts from the “realistic” MSDNC story on today’s jobs report (emphasis added):

LMAO@FRLEFTYLIBERALS: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

US unemployment rate slips, but job creation slows

The economy has lost about 5.3 million jobs since the start of the 2007-09 recession. At the recent pace of growth, those jobs will not be recouped before early 2014.

The painfully slow recovery in the labor market is a concern for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke who is keeping open the option of further monetary policy support for the economy if the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high.

The weak employment growth last month likely reflected the fading boost from unseasonably warm winter weather. The payrolls count for January and February was revised to show just 4,000 more jobs created than previously reported.

The drop in the unemployment rate, to the lowest level since January 2009, reflected a drop in the labor force. The separate household survey, from which the jobless rate is derived also showed a drop in employment.

Despite the weak employment gains last month, average hourly earnings rose 5 cents.

The workweek dipped to 34.5 hours from 34.6 hours in February.

8.2%, huh? I wonder what it would be if we weren't cutting public sector jobs like it was going out of style???

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/02/19/us/job-losses-in-the-public-sector.html

Actually, Dennis, I did NOT report it. I left that up to you. You, after all, are the one with the relationship. You, after all, are very busy scrutinizing posts to ferret out "reregs". I assumed, due to your strict moral code, that you'd actually report yourself.

Imagine my disappointment.

But Obama's policies have worked.

Google GDP graph, jobless claims graph, unemployment graph, and the DOW.

Despite Republican obstruction, Obama's policies have worked.

JoAnnaSmith1

When the Left can't defend the results of the failed Obama administration, it reverts to lame talking points like this one.

At leas Obama's record reflects dropping in unemployment. Romney's record reflects taking Massachusetts from a 10th place in job growth to the bottom of the barrel: 47th place.

So take you lame talking points about your "hero" Romney. He couldn't do it in a little Massachusetts, how the heck is he going to run a country.

8.2%, huh? I wonder what it would be if we weren't cutting public sector jobs like it was going out of style???

NP. Just borrow another 50B to keep the Public Sector going.

Rational one - the fascists-corporatists thrived under Hitler, Mussolini and Franco, including companies like Ford and VW.

Fascism does NOT call for nationalization of industry, but rather a collusion between government and industry. This is why some refer to capitalism as the middle ground between fascism and socialism!!!

James -

Steve Benen/MSNBC.com: US private sector has added 2.2 million jobs in last year, 3 million in last three years.

Dennis this is part of what Roy and I were trying to tell you yesterday! Getting overly glowing of a slowing of unemployment does us no good. We need 180,000 - 250,000 new jobs per month. You have more people who would like to be productive increasing their wealth and the economic of all instead adding to the demand on those still working wealth. You need more than that to replace the jobs losses.

What people are also trying to tell you is you can't give a one time $6,000 tax break hire someone when you add regulations that add up to costs exceeding that $6,000.

Coming in 2014, the HCL mandates will increase health insurance costs between $1000 to $2000 per person. That is on every employee, not just the person being hired. Many industries have received federal requirements requiring them to register to additional government regulatory agencyies ranging from $50 - $600 per employee per year. There are also now continuing education units that cost from $300 to $600 per employee per year. Add to that the increase in power coming from shutting down coal fired plants, continuing increasing fossil fuel because production off-shore is nearly shut down.

What you have is an environment where employers to stay in business are hiring people as non-employee compensated contractors like I am now. They aren't stuck paying for health insurance, only have to pay when they do have work, and don't have to pay overtime.

The way we are right now, the numbers don't really tell us anything real - unless we are willing to be decieved.

MSNBC.com: US private sector has added 2.2 million jobs in last year, 3 million in last three years.

____________________________________

Which means: last year the new jobs were less than enough to keep up with population growth (250,000 jobs/month) and, at an average of 1 million a year over the last three years, new jobs were only about 1/3 of the number need to keep up with population growth.

Alan,

Or, you know, fix the tax code and our trade policies so we don't have to give up things like education and police.

Imagine my laughter, no jo...this coming from you, when you give attributions, make claims for what they say, and lo and behold...they don't.

When you fix that, you may criticize others.

DB Akron,

What you have is an environment where employers to stay in business are hiring people as non-employee compensated contractors like I am now.

you either hire subs or you hire employees, there is no combination of both. Subs are not your employees, and if you are treating them as such, you are breaking the law. I know you wrote non-employee but reading your post one can conclude that you hire them as subs just so you can avoid paying taxes/benefits.

I hope that the economy is improving. I personally do not see it. If you had read a previous article, they mentioned that the increased spending was funded by people charging more and taking money out of savings. That is a huge part why we are where we are at now. Non sustainable spending.

I hope that I am wrong in that the next bubble will be our deficit. Yes Bush added to the deficit. Answer this though, how is lowering taxes any different that deficit spending? Yes he did both, President Obama has as well.

A one payer health care system is by definition nationalizing.

I will give credit to President Obama for signing the insider trading law. I have no idea why that was not done sooner.

DB,

Over the last 7 months we have added an average of 190,000 jobs a month – that includes today’s report.

Since 2009 Public employee sector (Federal, State and local) has lost 584,000 jobs.

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0000000001?output_view=net_1mth

subnormal

the increased spending was funded by people charging more and taking money out of savings.

That is partially due to 98% of people's stagnant incomes while everything is going up: from health insurance co-pays/deductibles to gas prices.

Yes, gas prices, and anyone who claims that it's because it's Obama's fault is for the government taking over the private oil industry. No industry in this country will ever sell any of their product cheaper if they can sell it for more somewhere else. And yes, the rest of the world is willing to pay for it so unless we totally regulate the industry, get used to high gas prices.

Sarah, education and the police are funded at the local level. If you look at the teachers union own website, they are predicting a 5% growth in teachers nationwide over the next few years after 13% growth in teachers over the last 5 years at the same time the number of students has not grown. Police and fire are all local budgets even though Obama in his stimulus bill and follow on spending bills, pushed a lot of money into the local community budgets in order to pay for shortfalls in local and community budgets related to their union health and retirement plans (not and editorial) which allowed the local communities from laying off other employees. The actual percentage of state government employee losses have been less than 1% which actual government services have shrunk far more and thats because a bigger portion of state and local budgets are being taken up by needing to fund state government union health and retirement benefits.

Kirk,

Those jobs are gone, and they are considered in that 8.2% that gets blamed on Obama. End of story.

Considering the number of times I've seen one liberal or another post on it, they DO think police, firefighters, teachers, and street sweepers, are federal employees.

They are not interested in being corrected, either. If they actually learned the truth, they'd need to deal with this reality

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/04/05/uncovered_federal_government_worker_american_idle.html

Your tax dollars at work.

the fascists-corporatists thrived under Hitler, Mussolini and Franco, including companies like Ford and VW.

@Pat-1988241 - There were both government owned industries and government controlled private industry (collusion is a loose term if you wish). If you were one of the elitists within the government, yes, your company would thrive. If you weren't, the government could make it very difficult to doing business.

My point was that fascism discouraged competition, hardly a conservative or Republican viewpoint.

Or, you know, fix the tax code and our trade policies so we don't have to give up things like education and police.

Really? We're borrowing a 1T a year (rounded down). Clinton tax rates bring in 400B a year (assuming no down effect on the economy). Clinton tax rate for the top rate is a 5% increase from current rate and is estimated to bring in 70B a year.

So if we go back to the Clinton rates and put in a top rate of say 75% we would get around 750B a year. As a final step we could cut defense spending in half and voila, the budget is balanced. Except....

Clinton, and I love the guy, was lucky to get the dot com boom...

Did not have 10m Baby Boomers adding to Medicare, and mandatory spending in 10 years will be 1T a year higher than now (of course we could try and change Medicare but the President says we only have to tax the rich a little more...I have them being taxed at 75% and it's still not enough).

Have to pay interest on 15T of accumulated debt when interest rates can only go in one direction.

Of course by repealing all tax the cuts, Bush, ARRA and the payroll tax cut, it actually the working poor who will be hit the hardest.

The 10% bracket would disappear, and those taxpayers would move up to the 15% bracket, which would apply to all incomes below $34,550. The other tax rates would increase to 28%, 31%, 36% and 39.6% for the highest earners making more than $379,650.

Child Tax Credit
One major provision that will expire at the end of 2010 is the child tax credit, which EGTRRA doubled from $500 to $1,000 per child. Unless Congress votes to extend the child tax credit, the maximum amount will revert back to $500 for tax year 2011, and the number of families eligible for that amount will be much less as tougher eligibility standards that existed prior to EGTRRA will go back into effect.

ARRA

The “Making Work Pay” tax credit gave most workingpeople a $400 refundable tax credit. This credit isworth $800 to most working married couples. Morethan 94 percent of all working families and individualsreceived this tax cut.

Changes to the $1,000 per-child tax credit and theearned-income tax credit gave an average of $872 eachto 12 million, mostly low-income working families with children.

Relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax for 2009reduced taxes for 25 million mostly upper-incomecouples and individuals

Payroll Tax ends then most will see a 2% increase.

So fixing taxes is more complicated than it looks. As to trade, I presume you're talking about China? Good luck with that now that we owe them so much it would be mutual destruction if we tried to start a trade war. Maybe Donald Trump would be a good Treasury Secretary. He has had enough experience with bankruptcy and staring down his creditors.

Sarah, yes some jobs are gone and its unfortunate when that ever happens. But take the post office, they have started to address their financial woes and it looks like employees may lose their job, but do you think its the governments responsibility to keep them employed because technology replaced the need for their jobs? If anything over the last 20 years as the amount of mail delivered as decreased in half, jobs within the post office have actually increased? What other business can survive that way? I was responding to your point about fixing tax and trade policy as a means of stopping local government job losses or impacting education when they are impacted at the local level that was my point.

By the way, I dont blame Obama for the unemployment rate but I do not believe his economic policies have led to a robust economic recovery which could have created more robust job growth in the last 4 years. In fact, in some ways the unintended consequences of many of his policies have worked against job growth.

My two cents:

I don't know what the jobs numbers truly translate in terms of the overall economy. The reduction in the workforce available (resulting in a drop in the unemployment number) may be the natural progression of people into retirement. It may instead be that people are dropping out because they have gotten discouraged. WE DON'T KNOW what are the causes of the change.

The total collapse of the housing and financial sectors in 2008-2009 was the worst in our nations history since the 1930's. It would have been worse if not for the support of the banks and the auto industry (aka, the bailouts) and the actions of the Federal Reserve. The sustained record low interest rates have allowed businesses which otherwise would have shut their doors to stay open and many are now starting to thrive again.

When both parties work together, everyone benefits. The recently passed small business JOBS Act is a good example. This will allow what are really medium sized businesses to attract much needed capital to sustain and expand their growth. This was only possible because both sides of the aisle worked to pass this law. And both sides are able to take credit.

Goverment can make it possible for business to create jobs, they (Congress) just has to decide to put aside the partisan politics and do what is right for the country, even if it does result in the President or the Speaker of the House or the Senate Majority/Minority Leaders looking good.

A very unfortunate result of the George W. Bush method of waging war on the backs of the next three generations is that there will not be any post-war dividend. WWI and WWII were followed by a reduction in taxes (the wars were paid for by higher taxes) which allowed those coming out of the military to get jobs and spend.

Since we finance the current wars with debt, unless we want to go into default, we will not be able to make the tax cuts needed to stimulate the growth needed to absorb the influx resulting from the draw down of the military. Consequently, the continuation of the "Bush tax cuts" will, long term, result in fewer jobs and a longer timer for recovery.

That's my 2 cents.

Kirk,

Really? You don't see how a healthy federal tax code and trade policy would impact state and local levels? If that were true, we would have no real need for a federal government. Which we tried, and it didn't work. And that was back before globalization and mass communication/commerce.

Not even enough jobs created to keep up with basic population growth and the unemployment rate is still being reported as having declined! I guess the Dems and their lapdog cheerleaders will not realize how badly they have been conned until basic math leads to the inevitable conclusion that when everyone, with the exception of the GSA, IRS, and the Union Bosses,have lost their jobs,and no one is looking for work because there is none,(except of course, for those friends of Obama who run the green energy scam, who by that time will have filed for bankruptcy, taken hundreds of millions of dollars of the peoples money and departed for parts unknown),and then,they report the unemployment rate as zero!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/nfp-big-miss-120k-expectations-205k-unemployment-82

David Walker,

No not all of Europe....it's 88 million not looking for work that should be.

Bayllie,

That is partially due to 98% of people's stagnant incomes while everything is going up: from health insurance co-pays/deductibles to gas prices.

Stagnat wages,

yes wages are stagnat, I totally agree, Why though. I feel that a large part is due to Global competition. We cannot have cheap goods and high paying jobs. Are corporations to blame, maybe, but we have to take responsibility as well.

Yes, gas prices, and anyone who claims that it's because it's Obama's fault is for the government taking over the private oil industry. No industry in this country will ever sell any of their product cheaper if they can sell it for more somewhere else. And yes, the rest of the world is willing to pay for it so unless we totally regulate the industry, get used to high gas prices.

Big oil is probably the most regulated industry in the world. If they drill for oil on federal land they have to sell 50% of the oil in the US market. I do blame him for making it harder than it has to be, but President Obama is not totally to blame. But think about this, if you have a company that pays $1.40 in taxes for every $1.00 of profit. Would you do all you can to control your costs?

That is at least part of the issue. We need Oil period. Electric cars are great if you live in a gated community. Actually golf carts are better. People buy cars based on their expected needs. It could be vacations, how many kids they have, their jobs. There is a whole host of factors. I personally chose my car based how how many times I have all of my kids in the car, and how big the trunk was. I did look at mileage, but I did that last.

I see how a healthy tax code and not sure what you would suggest for a trade policy could impact individuals who then impact state and local levels. But take California and Illinois where I live, their economic policies which in many respects mirror Obama federal economic policies are going bankrupt and not because of federal tax and trade policy. If anything California's revenue is based on a very healthy 1% making a disproportionate amount of income so raising taxes on the wealthy as a fix to federal policy probably makes California's problems even worse. So you would have to tell me what you drastic changes you would make that could make a difference at the state and local levels. Another example is education in the education spending has increased dramatically under all presidents since Clinton with the largest percentage increase under Bush, has that fixed our education gap? No money wont fix our education issues and I assume reform may but societal and cultural issues probably would have a bigger impact so I dont believe a healthy federal tax code will make a difference on education. Am I missing your point?

I hate to break it to the "nobama" folks, but you have to look at the productivity rate in the country today in order to fully understand why some jobs are no longer available. I hope I don't have to explain to anyone that a hight productivity ratio is good for a company's profit margin.

http://aneconomicsense.com/2012/03/26/multifactor-productivity-growth-a-record-high-in-2010/

We need to create new industry, we need to retrain our workers. We do have jobs already vacant that aren't filled because of a lack of applicants. And as Sarah mentions above, all the frenzy to cut public sector jobs hasn't helped the unemployment numbers either. Hopefully, when we elect the Tea Party out, we can rectify this damage.

And lastly - the GDP is growing again - has been growing steadily for over two years. I know the "nobama" folks complain the rate is too slow, but it is diving off of a cliff like it was under Bush.

And you can feel it in our nation, can't you? Wall Street is over 13,000. Retail sales are up. People are buying homes. GOP candidates are going to have a really hard time trying to say how bad things are, when everything indicates just the opposite.

Pat-1988241

Reich, is usually used in German to designate a kingdom or an empire and also the Roman Empire.^[1] The terms Kaisertum and Kaiserreich are used in German to more specifically define an empire led by an emperor

You use the word Reich in reference to right wing politics probably because of the way it sounds but the way it was used by Nazi Germany it would refer more to left-wing politics

And Pat - it doesn't matter Fascism still calls for more government involvement which makes it a left wing concept.

That jobs figure, though, fell short of the expectation of about 200,000 jobs.

Who's expectations? If gas and energy prices continue to climb, with no end in sight, expect to see the jobs number continue to tank. Thank you President Obama for putting your ideology above the welfare of the citizens of this great country. I remember back in the day I used to drive around with a half tank of gas and figure I'll just wait a day or two and the price will probably drop. Now I fill up every chance I can because I know for certain gas prices will continue to rise. I think I'll submit this theory to the Nobel committee on economics. I'll call it the Obama Factor.

Rob? Rob? Helloooooooooo?

That 88-million number? That's not unemployed folks, that's people who are not in the work force.

Really! Honest! There's a big difference. I'm employed. I'm painting a bit of the house today, and doing the laundry as a good Domestic God does. However, I am not a part of the national labor force. I'm not looking for work outside our homestead.

You aren't just skewing numbers when you come up with crap like that. In the PC world that's called spinning. In my world, it's outright lying.

What I'm saying David is that unemployment of 8.2% is the spin. Why is there such a dramatic increase in the number of people leaving the workforce?

They have given up. They have depleted their unemployment benefits and stopped looking for work because there are no jobs. Instead they have gone on to the entitlement bandwagon or ssdi.

This is Obama's dream and entitlement society. This 88 million is his voting block.

Can Obama get anymore desperate?

President Obama suggested this evening that the Republican governing agenda will lead to "poisoning our kids" with pollution.

"I believe that it is part of our solemn responsibility to future generations that we look after this planet; that we make sure our air is clean and our water is clean; that we’re not poisoning our kids," Obama said at a campaign fundraiser tonight. That credo came as he explained that "the contrast between visions in this election could not be more stark, because I believe that America is stronger when we’re looking for one another."

Svenolafson? Gas prices are being driven by the global commodities market. It is not within the power of our President or even our Congress to "control", and if you believe in a "free market" as most good conservatives do then you would support those gas prices as a fair exercise of the free market to manage and manipulate prices.

De-regulation the commodities market, allowing speculators to "game the system" and artifically manipulate the price for a barrel of oil without ever taking delivery or contributing value.

So which is it that you want? Smaller "Gub'ment" or cheap gassoline?

New jobless claims reach a new 4 year low week after week. Unemployment continues to drop...so it's essential to spread the Liberal Fascism lies of Jonah Goldberg!

Meanwhile, someone made reference to the right track/wrong track numbers at Real Clear Politics. Outside the Conservative echo chamber it's important to look the trends in those numbers...wrong track down 16.5 percentage points since October 2011, right track up by the same number.

The American public recognizes how hard President Obama has worked on our behalf...and how disingenuous are the Conservative spin-meisters.

Rim,

The 88 million includes millions that are too young (under 18), many retired and several million that are disabled).

Kids under 18 do not vote … so there goes that theory.

Eric-913730

For all those Republicans cheering for slowing job numbers.

Consumer spending was up 16% in March. More spending means more economic growth and hiring.

So sad, too bad for Romney!

Eh um...

Was consumer spending up because of increased spending activity or because prices were up?

In other words... did we buy more 'stuff' or just pay more for the same stuff we were already buying? (Gas prices come to mind.)

(show me the clown nose, fisty!)

Euterpe ... not everything is bad, but not everything is good. GDP is growing slowly. Usual post recession growth hits 4 to 6% by now. We are hitting on about 2%.

To get back to 6% unemployment we need close to 400,000 jobs per month for at least 3 years and we are nowhere near that. Govts can create jobs only if they hire govt workers. They can only make the business environment more business friendly to make the private sector more apt to create jobs. There are very few things to point to that are business friendly that have come out of washington. There are many thousands of pages of new red tape in the Federal Register that has been put in recently.

As the head of Tupperware said on CNBC they are looking into becoming a swiss company with the compliance and tax costs current and proposed. Zug Switzerland is a common one there and eats our lunch with tax and compliance costs for formation.

Consumer spending counts inflation effects such as spending more for gas, food etc. It doesn't always correlate to economic and job growth when related to inflationary goods. i.e. if you fill up your tank for $60 one week and $66 the next, your consumer spending for that item is up 10% but there is no net effect on the economy. Except ...you now have less discretionary income for rocky road ice cream and twinkies.

Rob In Ma ####

Are you serious?

The total US population was 311,591,917 as of July 2011.

Since 311,591,917 represents men, women, children, and retirees, those actually in the employment market is less than 200,000,000.

Children under age 20 - 27.3%

Adults over age 65 – 12.8 %

Those two demographics represent 40.1% of the entire population.

Therefore, if 88 million people are still unemployed and looking for work that would mean the unemployment rate is over 40%.

In other economic news, Senate Majority "Leader" Harry still hasn't bothered to come up with a budget proposal. I may not agree with all of the details of Rep. Ryan's proposed budget, but AT LEAST HE HAS ONE !!

subnormal

I feel that a large part is due to Global competition. We cannot have cheap goods and high paying jobs. Are corporations to blame, maybe, but we have to take responsibility as well.

disagree, while corporations off shore jobs, enjoy tax deferrments, off shore addresses, etc., they expect Americans to pay top dollar for their Chinese crap. I do agree that we are to blame: we keep buying that crap thus feeding the beast. Some will say, we have no choice - it's all Chinese. I have friends that keep buying new cells every 6 months, TV screens everytime a new one comes out, why???. At the same time, the spending is slowing down - slowly, and it is visible that it affects revenues because companies keep looking for a new way to increase the wealth of their shareholders....and the vicious cycle continues....

Big oil is probably the most regulated industry in the world.

OK, let me rephrase that because I see where I was confusing - not regulate it - that's already done. The government takeover of the oil industry.

If they drill for oil on federal land they have to sell 50% of the oil in the US market.

regardless of what they sell to the US market, since it's a commodity, the prices of oil is determined by the demand of the market. Even though our demand is low, the rest of the world is high and that is one of the reasons why prices are what they are.

I do blame him for making it harder than it has to be, but President Obama is not totally to blame. But think about this, if you have a company that pays $1.40 in taxes for every $1.00 of profit. Would you do all you can to control your costs?

$1.40 in taxes on $1???? Is that how the world's six largest publicly traded oil companies had a combined $38.1 billion in first-quarter of 2011 profits? that six companies, 1 quarter, and all expenses paid.

That is at least part of the issue. We need Oil period.

Yes, we do so we need to get used to the fact that we are slaves to the oil industry. Unless, of course, we come up with a strong substitute.

Xray ... Reid frustrates me more than any politician on the hill and not because of ideology. Not only this year, but last year AND the year before that he has not bothered with a budget. I have no idea why unless his spending proposals would be so large he doesn't want to put them on paper to be scrutinized? The budget act REQUIRES him to do this.

Neither Reid nor Pelosi even proposed a 2010 budget when they had all 3 branches?

He rarely brings up anything the house sends up to him even though he could put in any ammendmants he wanted to go to conference.

Mine and your tax dollars pay him to do this, its his job, regardless of whatever political spectrum one might fall under.

BigATC,

Reid won’t waste the Senate’s time. None, not one, of those bills could get the 60 votes needed for cloture and allow them to get to the floor for a vote.

Neither side of the isle in the Senate has proposed a Senate written budget … why … because both know that no budget can get the 51 votes needed for passage and if one did it would be killed in the House. Reid cannot get 51 Dems to agree to a Dem budget.

To paraphrase the Peabody Award winning brilliance of the Colbert Report last night; it's getting better and while it's getting better it's not getting better fast enough, and that's bad.

If this Presidency is what failure looks like, then I would like four more years of "failure" please.

And thats why it frustrates me Dennis. They are required to do it. But since when do written requirements mean anything in DC? LOL

The house could take the same approach ...just don't pass anything as the Senate won't take it up. I want to see some people put pen to paper in the Senate and propose something. Anything. One has to start somwhere. Politics has both sides so screwed up i am surprised they function at all.

john - i posted the rcp numbers (maybe someone else did as well)

you are correct, the number has gone down. that was not my point.

the original poster had posited that: While Europe is in a catastrophe, here in America we are heading in the right direction.

and yet we still have 60% (smaller than it was 6 months ago) that say we are on the wrong track.

during President Obama's term the wrong direction %age has been as low 45.8% (about 5 months after the inauguration to a high of 76.5% as you correctly state. something interesting may be that from the inauguration of President Obama to now the percentage thinking we are going in the wrong direction has gone from 69.3% to the current 60%. Clearly a reduction.

But where do you think the number needs to be for President Obama to be given a second term?

BigATC,

In deed DC is broken and McConnell’s promise to make our President a one term President as his #1 priority didn’t help. I assume we will see the same from the Senate Dems if Romney (any Republican) wins in Nov. Reid or whoever the Dem leader is (majority or minority) will not make a public statement but his actions will be obvious.

Another 4 years of nothing getting done.

Whoever is not in the Presidency always says that. Dems said the same thing about Bush when he ran for re-election. Doesn't mean squat to me when i hear one side say that as its just posturing that they all do. More hot air that gets a few excited and just makes me laugh at the kindergarden games they both do.

Eh um...

Was consumer spending up because of increased spending activity or because prices were up?

In other words... did we buy more 'stuff' or just pay more for the same stuff we were already buying? (Gas prices come to mind.)

This could not be more true! There is no measure of item specific inventory records, This is purely off the gross dollar amount...

Bayllie,

check out this link.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/news/1004/gallery.top_5_tax_bills/2.html

How would we nationalize something that we already own. Meaning that every major Union has money in the Oil industry already.

Why do you want to nationalize the oil industry? That will not make oil cheaper. We would lose tax revenue. Who would run it?

subnormal

How would we nationalize something that we already own. Meaning that every major Union has money in the Oil industry already.

We do not own the oil industry - saying that is just silly. If we follow your "logic", we own all industries because most are regulated and/or unionized.

Why do you want to nationalize the oil industry? That will not make oil cheaper. We would lose tax revenue. Who would run it?

I never said I wanted to nationalize the oil industry. I suggested that unles we do, we cannot complain about the price of their product because it is a private industry (regardless of your point that we "own" it).

James, that assumes that the right track/wrong track number all tracks to the President...which it doesn't. Given the fact that in recent polls up to 78% of Americans disapprove of the job being done by Congressional Republicans that's hard to dispute. http://www.pollingreport.com/cong_rep.htm

Since MSNBC, CNN, ABC, Sharpton, Jackson, Michael Baisden et al... all share responsibility for this attack...

Really? Did any of the above tell them to attack the guy?

...and I thought Republicans were supposed to be about "personal responsibility".

Happy Easter Damage . . . I am praying for you!

When you hold all black people accountable for the actions of any black person, that is racism.

Just an FYI. ;o)

You too Nashville. Please try to remember that almost ALL people who are successful have worked for that success and have NOT had it handed down to them from previous generations, per your reasoning why Black folk have such a hard time rising up from the ghetto. See the above posts re "personal responsibility."

Damage:

And you try to remember that you have an unhealthy obsession with black people which skews your thinking and makes you somewhat unpleasant to communicate with! :o)

Yes, Pizza Boy. The personal responsibility of the A-holes who have riled everyone up with lies, distortions, omissions etc...

Nashville, you have an unhealthy notion that so much of Black America is screwed up today because they didn't "have everything handed down thru generations" like (apparently) White folks did. It's a LOAD of bullsh*t.

Damage:

First of all, I don't think that most of Black America is screwed . . . that came from you. I think that black America . . . just like the rest of America . . . is a mixed bag. However, what you refuse to acknowledge is that there are circumstances that impact the black community that differ from the circumstances facing other groups.

Black folks are, and will be, just fine however. Misguided folks like yourself who think they "know" about black folks because they have heard some statistics can never "understand" because you aren't actually trying too. Which is cool.

I'm just saying, that as a real and authentic black person, I will continue to share my perspectives as I see fit, and I do not require your approval to do so.

If you are unable to process nuance, then that is a problem for you, not me.

@Nashville_fan Thank you for blasting Damage123 azz.

What Damage123 fail to realize is Whites brought us here to be slaves and as slaves we were treated less than animals let alone humans.

A dog was allowed to learn new tricks, black were not allowed to read or write it was the law. Dogs were allowed to eat with there masters, blacks were not and that was the law. Dogs were allowed to beg for what they wanted, black were not allowed to vote and that was the law. Dog were allowed to have bones, black were not allow to own property and that was the law. This happen for 400 years or so. We have only been free for 150 years or less depends on who you talk to. Black still got some catching up to do it's simple math we are getting there slower than other groups but still moving forward as you can see. President Obama 2012

Boo hoo hoo, Solutions. Yeah, and meanwhile, Koreans, Latinos, Chinese, Vietnamese, Middle Easterners and yes, AFRICANS who only came here 15-20 years ago with nothing but the shirts on their backs, no English, NOTHING...are thriving, owning businesses, working hard and acheiving at high levels. All done because they don't have a built-in excuse that they can use as a crutch and a bludgeon simultaneously. They make you people look bad. Real bad.

Like you said. That was 150 years ago. Get off your pity potty and join America or get the f**k out and go somewhere somebody gives a s**t.

lol

The mandatory "you people" blast for a perfect score! ;o)

P.S. Damage . . . based on your daily posts . . . you give a s**t.