For the last couple days, Republicans have been trying to spin the job numbers into negative propaganda against Obama, but as always, when we learn the rest of the story, we also realize just how full of Republicrap their talking points are. The private sector under Obama has now replaced every private sector job that Bush and the Republicans destroyed during their regime. Job weakness in the public sector is holding back the recovery, and we know who is behind that, don’t we?
This week’s economic news was mixed, but the employment report on Friday was unmistakably weak. The economy added only 115,000 jobs in April, versus 154,000 in March and 200,000-plus in each of the three months before that. Even taking into account that unusually warm winter weather probably distorted the recent results, the underlying trend shows an economy that has been creating about 175,000 jobs a month — enough to keep the recovery crawling along, but too weak to appreciably raise hiring or wages.
Nor is it clear where more growth will come from. Manufacturing picked up last month, but activity in the larger service sector slowed. Recent auto sales were up, and home sales have been slowly, if fitfully, improving, but home prices continue to fall. Consumer spending, in general, rose in the first quarter, but it appears to be driven by people who are profiting from a rising stock market. Increased market volatility, like Friday’s 168-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average, would make them nervous and less inclined to spend.
Election-year politics are bound to further confuse the economic picture and the way forward. On Friday, Mitt Romney blamed President Obama for the April jobs figures, saying that in a normal recovery “we should be seeing numbers in the 500,000 jobs created per month.”
The truth is that the economy has not seen job growth like that in nearly 30 years. More to the point, the policies Mr. Romney espouses — notably deregulation and tax cuts for the rich — were the favored policies under President George W. Bush, years when job growth and wage gains were, at best, anemic. And then the economy barreled into the Great Recession… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Rachel Maddow documents how the Republicans are big on Public Sector job growth during their administrations but starve the public sector during the Democratic administrations. Pay particular attention to the graphs.
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I cannot believe that Republicans do not know that with every policeman, fireman, teacher, librarian, etc. that they put out of work, and with every public sector initiative they obstruct, they are forestalling the recovery. This is yet another example of Republican projection. That is, they are causing the problem, but blaming Obama for causing it. They don’t care how many Main Street Americans they harm in their quest for power.
6 Responses to “About Those Jobs Numbers”
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When the question of why ? comes up—-powerful motivators indeed are power and greed- Answer is not elusive is it ?
Not at all. It’s quite obvious.
They don’t care if they have to consign their own relatives to the streets. It’s all about a Narcissistic pursuit of wealth and power.
Exactly!
“…Mitt Romney blamed President Obama for the April jobs figures, saying that in a normal recovery “we should be seeing numbers in the 500,000 jobs created per month.””
The truth is that the economy has not seen job growth like that in nearly 30 years. More to the point, the policies Mr. Romney espouses — notably deregulation and tax cuts for the rich — were the favored policies under President George W. Bush, years when job growth and wage gains were, at best, anemic. And then the economy barreled into the Great Recession…
Rmoney really doesn’t understand economics at all! Nor does he understand history! Trouble is, those that don’t heed the lessons of history are bound to repeat the mistakes of the past!
Just listening to Rachel’s commentary and listening to Rmoney, he has no idea what he is doing and saying as far as the jobs market goes. But what is worse, he doesn’t care! “Oh, so sorry to hear that you had to take a second job to make ends meet Mr FDNY employee.” and then to a gathered crowd somewhere, talks about the overpaid government workers.
I have a few choice words for Mr Rmoney — You are a two-faced, unintelligent, willingly ignorant, lying bastard!
I also have a few choice words for Mr Obama — You’re doing great — keep it up! Everything is not within your control, but you are doing better than that idiot Baby Bush did as he created the recession with his bankster buddies!
I have a few choice words for Mr Rmoney — You are a two-faced, unintelligent, willingly ignorant, lying bastard!
For him, those are complements.