Washington Extra – 9 below
Don’t underestimate the PoliPsych impact of the unemployment rate falling below 9 percent for the first time in nearly two years.
That number is the one which resonates with the public when candidates talk about jobs on the campaign trail.
The economy is still shaking off the doldrums so the White House did not want to be seen as publicly reveling in what must have been a privately gleeful moment after the 8.9 percent February unemployment rate was revealed.
President Barack Obama said the employment report showed progress in the economy, “but we need to keep building on that momentum.”
Republicans were certainly not going to praise economic data with a Democrat in the White House and a presidential election next year.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said the unemployment rate “is still too high and we need to continue our efforts to make sure private sector employers have sure footing to invest in new employees and expand their businesses.”
Congress will be looking for creative ways to cut the deficit.
Washington Extra – It’s my party
It’s Friday, when some people start thinking PARTY! Even in Washington.
The first employment report of the year, which was for December, gave the administration something to party about. The unemployment rate fell to 9.4 percent from 9.8 percent. That is the number that resonates with the public, so a four-tenths of a percentage point drop can be politically useful.
“Now, we know these numbers can bounce around from month to month. But the trend is clear,” President Barack Obama said. “We saw 12 straight months of private sector job growth. That’s the first time that’s been true since 2006.”
Gene Sperling has something to party about, he’s just got his old job back. Obama announced additions to his White House economic team and named Sperling as director of the National Economic Council (a post he held in President Bill Clinton’s administration).
We imagine the winners of the NFL playoffs that start this weekend will be dreaming of starring on big screen TVs at Super Bowl parties.
And closer to home, we’re giving Washington Extra’s FF (Founding Father), Simon Denyer, a party today to wish him all the best as he leaves for a new posting in India.
Cheers everyone.
It was just a game of golf!
Ever since he played golf with President Barack Obama last week, New York newspapers have been rife with speculation that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is being wooed by the administration to replace Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary.
The White House dismissed the speculation as fantasy and Bloomberg dismissed the idea. But still as summer draws to an end, what else is there to talk about going into the Labor Day holiday weekend except the lackluster U.S. economy?
More bad news for Obama on Friday with the unemployment rate rising to 9.6 percent. The economy is not creating jobs fast enough to reduce the unemployment rate and give Democrats more comfort going into the Nov. 2 congressional elections with their majority in Congress at stake.
Some pundits suggest the gossip may be less about Bloomberg, who is serving a hard fought third term as mayor, and more about Geithner, who has come under fire from both the right and the left about his advice to Obama on the economy and the role he played in the 2008 government rescue of Wall Street.
As White House economic adviser Christina Romer leaves her post on Friday, following the departure of Peter Orszag as head of the Office of Management and Budget at the end of July, Obama so far is standing by his treasury secretary.
Would he really want to follow the advice of House Republican Leader John Boehner and fire Geithner and his National Economic Council Chairman Larry Summers just before an election that could put Republicans in charge of the House of Representatives?
Besides, some of the sourcing on the raft of speculation about Bloomberg has been thin as noted by a New York Magazine item pointing to a source used by another publication as ”one Democrat, who may or may not be the mayor’s hairstylist.”
Reuters/Ipsos poll: Obama approval hits new low, but Republicans catch blame too
President Barack Obama’s approval rating sank to a new low of 45 percent, while his disapproval rating rose to 52 percent, according to a Reuters-Ipsos poll. It was the first time more Americans disapproved than approved of Obama in an Ipsos poll since he became president.
But Republicans had little to crow about because they were blamed more than Democrats for Washington being broken, according to the August national poll.
Among registered voters the readings were about even when looking ahead to the November midterm elections, with 46 percent likely to vote for Republican candidates and 45 percent for Democrats.
Unemployment topped the list of economic worries with 92 percent of those surveyed expressing concern. The unemployment rate in June and July was 9.5 percent.
“Ninety-two percent, that’s a very, very high number,” Ipsos pollster Cliff Young said. “We’re seeing (an interest in) a jobs agenda that we haven’t seen in almost two decades.”
Of those surveyed, 62 percent believe the country is on the wrong track.
And 78 percent believe Washington was not working effectively because of fighting between the parties, for which 36 percent blamed Republicans, 28 percent blamed Democrats and another 28 percent blamed both parties. Since late February, the biggest shift has been the increase in the number of people blaming both parties.
The media seems to be running the country. The people can’t think for themselves or look for both sides of the picture. Proof positive that the school system is a disaster. Some of those candidates sound like reincarnations from the middle ages. Can you see Rand Paul or McDonnell negotiating with Iran?
Go ahead. Vote the clowns in and see what happens. Obama is not only brilliant; he is a statesman. The majority of the country obviously cannot see that. He could do incredible things for the country if he were not being maligned and the subject of intense bigotry and racism. The world is laughing at America. But since America thinks they are the only country in the world, they just blunder along.
Unemployment falls, what’s the proper political response?
The unemployment rate fell in January to 9.7 percent, the lowest in five months and below that dreaded 10 percent in December. It also foiled analyst expectations for an increase to 10.1 percent.
So a jump-for-joy event in Washington right?
Well, not quite.
The White House publicly decided on a cool, measured response.
(We have to believe someone over there must have let out a cheer, or maybe even clapped, at 8:30 a.m.)
The official response from White House economic adviser Christina Romer was a caution that there would likely be “bumps in the road ahead” and that it was important not to read too much into one monthly report.
(Probably a wise path since those who are unemployed are likely not feeling heartened by a government statistics report)
Is the recession over? Obama’s advisers differ
Is the economic recession over in the United States? It depends on who you ask, even among President Barack Obama’s advisers.
“Today everyone agrees that the recession is over. And the questions are around how fast we’ll recover,” Larry Summers, the director of the National Economic Council, told CNN on Sunday.
But wait a minute. Not everyone agrees.
Senior White House economist Christina Romer, asked the same question on another television program, said “of course not.”
She acknowledged that the United States may have turned the corner under the official definition of recession, because economic growth has returned.
”But what the president has always said, and I firmly believe: you’re not recovered until all those people that want to work are back to work,” Romer told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
She said the U.S. jobless rate, now at 10 percent, might even go up again before it heads down.
I agree that the investor class has seen some gains but to call a return to 10,500 from 14,000 a recovery is clearly incorrect, the market has no gains to show for the last decade.
Employment always lags in cyclical recoveries and this one will be no different, in fact the chance that jobs will take longer to return has much less to do with Bush, Clinton or Obama and more to do with a major change in the technology that we use to do work.
These structural breaks are very tough to ride through as they require the right mix of Government incentive and private sector job creation.
Good day for jobs, sad for panda lovers
For all those who woke up to the sad news that Washington’s loveable giant panda cub would be heading back to China, here’s a bright spot for your Friday:
Job cuts in November were much lower than had been expected and the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 10 percent from 10.2 percent.
The stronger-than-expected numbers helped boost the U.S. dollar and global stock prices on hopes for a strong economic recovery.
The jobs figures came one day after President Barack Obama held a jobs summit at the White House and asked the corporate sector to help the administration with its job-creation efforts.
Now on to the sad news. Tai Shan, the first surviving giant panda cub born at Smithsonian’s National Zoo, will be packing his bags soon. He will return to China early next year as promised in an agreement between the zoo and the Chinese government.
Tai Shan’s parents are on loan to the United States but the deal called for any offspring to be sent to China. The Chinese granted an extension to the National Zoo but it will soon expire, the zoo said in a statement.
As a panda cub, Tai Shan became an instant celebrity in Washington. Nicknamed “butter stick” because of his size when he was born in 2005, Tai Shan drew millions of visitors and his image was plastered on souvenirs, stamps and toys.
The First Draft: Jobs (not), Jobs (not), Jobs (not)
The October employment report is in and it’s a shocker.
The unemployment rate jumped to 10.2 percent, the highest since April 1983 when it was also 10.2 pct. If you don’t want to do the math, that was 26 years ago. It was worse than expectations for 9.9 percent.
This is not good news for President Barack Obama who is struggling to pull the economy out of the worst recession since the Depression.
The employment numbers were also worse than expected with October payrolls falling 190,000, a bigger drop than the 175,000 decline expected.
It’s a day of mourning at Fort Hood in Texas after an Army psychiatrist went on a shooting rampage that killed 12 soldiers and one civilian and wounded 30.
“It’s difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil,” President Barack Obama said yesterday.
“I was saddened to learn of the tragic incident at Fort Hood. Laura and I are keeping the victims and their families in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” former President George W. Bush, who lives in Texas, said in a statement.
It would help if George Bush would go on TV and apologize for ingnoring the impending economic crisis. Bush ignored the impacts of 9/11, and two hurricanes, and missed the opportunity to mitigate this economic downturn.Bush deliberately ignored this impending economy destroying sunami in his last two years. Bush should either aplogize, or proclaim that he intentionally sought to facilitate this downturn.Bush shouldn;’t just hide in the shadows, pretending to be infantile–we know better.
