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Title: 1.9 Million Fewer Americans Have Jobs Today Than When Obama Signed Stimulus
Source:
CNS News
URL Source: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/aft ... onths-stimulus-spending-19-mil
Published: Jun 14, 2011
Author: Matt Cover
Post Date: 2011-06-14 12:56:58 by Happy Quanzaa
Keywords: Obama-doma-ding-dong, Obamanomics in Action, Obamatuer Hour
Views: 5029
Comments: 7
(CNSNews.com) – Twenty-eight months after Congress passed President Obama’s signature economic stimulus law, and nearly one year after he declared the summer of 2010 to be “Recovery Summer,” 1.9 million fewer people are employed.
In February 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that 141.7 million people were employed. By the end of May 2011 – the last month for which data are available – that number had fallen to 139.8 million, a difference of 1.9 million.
While the number of people with jobs has increased slightly from its low point during the recession – 137.9 million in December 2009 – those 1.9 million jobs have been lost despite $800 billion in stimulus spending.
This does not mean that the economy is not creating jobs, but rather that it is not creating jobs fast enough to keep up with a combination of layoffs and people entering the job market for the first time.
In a Washington Post op-ed, former White House chief economist Larry Summers noted that the percentage of the population that has a job has not improved, even though the economy is technically in recovery.
“From the first quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2011, the U.S. economy’s growth rate averaged less than 1 percent a year,” Summers wrote. “The fraction of the population working remains almost exactly at its recession trough, and recent reports suggest that growth is slowing.”
The fraction of the population with a job has in fact fallen in the 28 months since Congress passed the stimulus – down from 60.3 percent in February 2009 to 58.4 percent in May 2011.
The economy cannot create jobs fast enough to keep pace with layoffs and recent high school and college graduates seeking employment. If the trend continues, as Summers notes may happen, the economy will suffer further in the future as college graduates delay entry into the labor force, reducing their lifetime productivity.
“Beyond the lack of jobs and incomes, an economy producing below its potential for a prolonged interval sacrifices its future,” argued Summers. “Huge numbers of new college graduates are moving back in with their parents this month because they have no job or means of support.”
As both Summers and the BLS data make clear, the economy is not creating new jobs fast enough to make up for layoffs and new graduates, calling into question Obama’s oft-repeated claim that the economy is recovering and creating jobs.
In fact, by citing figures from the first quarter of 2006, Summers is understating the economy’s poor performance. According to BLS data, the number of people with jobs peaked at 146.6 million in November 2007, meaning that over the entire recession – which officially began in December 2007 – the number of people employed has fallen by 6.8 million.
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#1. To: Happy Quanzaa (#0) (Edited)
And without the stimulus, that number would be about 4.9 million. It would be even higher if the GOP allowed GM and Chrysler to fail.
Good thing the GOP wasn't in charge these last few years.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-08-30-stimulus30_CV_N.htm
It's no surprise that the administration would proclaim its own policies a success. But its verdict is backed by economists at Goldman Sachs, IHS Global Insight, JPMorgan Chase and Macroeconomic Advisers, who say the stimulus boosted gross domestic product by 2.1% to 2.7%.
It's impossible to determine precisely how many jobs or how much growth the stimulus program caused. In a nearly $14 trillion economy, economists can't go employer to employer counting new hires. And there are too many moving parts to confidently link any single factor with individual hiring decisions. Roughly one-third of the stimulus, for example, came in the form of tax cuts, which are designed to boost demand for a wide array of products and eventually result in related hiring.
But to estimate the answers to such questions, economists rely on models based on historical relationships between various policies and real-world results. Earlier this month, Zandi and co-author Alan Blinder, former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, released the most detailed assessment of the government's efforts to combat the so-called Great Recession. Neither economist is regarded as a partisan firebrand. Zandi, for example, backed John McCain in the 2008 presidential campaign and has advised members of both parties.
Their conclusion: The fiscal stimulus created 2.7 million jobs and added $460 billion to gross domestic product. Unemployment would be 11% today if the stimulus hadn't been passed and 16.5% if neither the fiscal stimulus nor the banks' rescue had been enacted, according to Zandi and Blinder. "It's pretty hard to deny that it had a measurable impact," Zandi said.
"Thats because your basically and idiot."
Badeye posted on 2011-04-29 10:30:22 ET
#2. To: Happy Quanzaa (#0)
...despite $800 billion in stimulus spending.
Not all of the stim was spending...
America...My Kind Of Place...
"I truly am not that concerned about [bin Laden]..."
--GW Bush
"THE MILITIA IS COMING!!! THE MILITIA IS COMING!!!"
--Sarah Palin's version of "The Midnight Ride of Paul revere"
#3. To: go65 (#1)
And without the stimulus, that number would be about 4.9 million. It would be even higher if the GOP allowed GM and Chrysler to fail.
The first assertion cannot be supported by any available facts, only absurd DNC talking points that voters are not buying.
The second is simply bullshit. GM and Chrysler would be in far BETTER financial shape today if they had gone through a bankruptcy. Just as occured with the airlines.
But hey, lets not let facts get in the way of excuse making for Owe-bama's economic policies failing, right?
Dumbass.
Proxy IP's are amusing.....lmao
#4. To: Badeye (#3)
He has you on bozo, Boofer.
America...My Kind Of Place...
"I truly am not that concerned about [bin Laden]..."
--GW Bush
"THE MILITIA IS COMING!!! THE MILITIA IS COMING!!!"
--Sarah Palin's version of "The Midnight Ride of Paul revere"
#5. To: war (#4)
He has you on bozo, Boofer.
Wow. You sure refuted his argument and left him gasping for air. You are a forensics genius. [snicker]
war has to do something for entertainment. The voices in his head aren't speaking to him and his imaginary friends have found reasons not to come over anymore.
#6. To: Badeye (#3)
Just as occured with the airlines.
The airlines filed banckruptcy as passenger miles flown were rising. USAirways had to screw their creditors and pensioners twice and then merge with a healthier airline to survive.
Tell us, oh titan of undsustry that you are, how the airline industry paralells the auto industry.
America...My Kind Of Place...
"I truly am not that concerned about [bin Laden]..."
--GW Bush
"THE MILITIA IS COMING!!! THE MILITIA IS COMING!!!"
--Sarah Palin's version of "The Midnight Ride of Paul revere"
#7. To: Rudgear (#5)
Thanks for that comment, Jiminey.
Now take yer cricket dick and go fuck yourself.
[snicker]
America...My Kind Of Place...
"I truly am not that concerned about [bin Laden]..."
--GW Bush
"THE MILITIA IS COMING!!! THE MILITIA IS COMING!!!"
--Sarah Palin's version of "The Midnight Ride of Paul revere"
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