More economic good news: Unemployment rate drops

[ozzmdj]

The problem for the republicans now is that they voted against rescuing the banks, voted against saving the auto companies, voted against the economic stimulus plan all in an attempt to prevent an economic recovery.

Now we have the index of leading economic indicators up for the third month in a row, the stock market surging, housing sales up and the rise in unemployment subsiding. Leading economists are all predicting a reversal of the recession.

Without the economic disaster that republicans predicted to occur once Obama took office, what are republicans going to run on?
A birth certificate?

 

[rightwinger]

Regardless of how the right wing tries to spin things, their worst nightmare is transpiring...

The economy is improving and they had nothing to do with it.

That's not true.

The government gets a ton of credit for stopping the collapse of the financial markets.

But that is both Obama AND Bush.

How true...Bush and Paulson pushed for a rescue of the banks. He was opposed by members of Congress in his own party. Those are the same members who will be up for election in 2010. If the economy has rebounded, those same members will have their votes held up to them.

 

[nodoginnafight]

How true...Bush and Paulson pushed for a rescue of the banks. He was opposed by members of Congress in his own party. Those are the same members who will be up for election in 2010. If the economy has rebounded, those same members will have their votes held up to them.

THIS is where the hyper-partisan spin hacks absolutely lose their religion.

The Bush stimulus, the Obama stimulus ... it WOULD have been a McCain stimuluis had he won. Virtually any president would have done the EXACT same thing. But the party-before-country crowd just wants to try to spin it into something they hope to score some political points with.

Of course playing that game can backfire if most American voters perceive things to have worked out well. And so if things really ARE working out well - they have no choice except to try to convince others that it really isn't working out well. But when the numbers refute their claims - they are just stuck looking petty and not very bright.

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

Look at the bright side Pilgrim..
Our economy seems to be recovering. Isn't that great for the country??

It sure is and I hope it does recover.

However these numbers are very deceptive.

When you lose 250,000 jobs its not a good thing just becuase it is less than expected. If we have a month where we gain jobs i'll be giving big O a pat on the back for it, till then you guys are being fooled by a lack of knowledge and insight. I tried to help y'all out but none of you seem to care about facts.

As a side note, I found out how the unemployment percentage dropped while the number of unemployed rose. It has to do with how the unemployment number is garnered....the reported percentage of 9.4% is the percentage of previously employed people who filed unemployment claims. A lot of people lost their jobs before Obama became pres and those peoples unemployment benefits have run out, therefore they aren't calling in claims anymore.

Dont look at it ideologically guys just look at it as numbers.

Losing 250,000 jobs is not a good thing, .1% of the population running out of unemployment benefits and not filing claims is also not a good thing. Those people have no job and now have no income.

I understand that in this forum a lot of right wingers like to just slam obama any chance they get so y'all get really defensive over it....but this is one situation where its really just the facts.

 

[rightwinger]

Pilgrim..
Any way you spin it, the employment numbers are improving. Even if you want to look at a reduction in the unemployment rate increase. This is the first positive turn in almost a year. Doesn't mean the recession is over, only that trends are improving.
Housing sales are also up for the third month in a row
Stock market is up 15% since January

Cheer up Pilgrim.....Its good news for the country

 

[nodoginnafight]

people who are heavily invested in bad news will always try to turn good news into bad news.

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

You missed my posts celebrating the DOW staying over 9000 points for a week .

 

[editec]

If you don't know that people that have run OUT of unemployment benefits are NOT counted then you have allot to learn about the real state of the US economy.

That isn't how the rate of unemployment is tallied.

Believe it or not the unemployment rates are determined by a SURVEY, not by the number of people collecting unemployment.

But I do find it odd that we do not report the number of people who are collecting unemployment, and also the number of people for whom it has run out, too.

One might think that THOSE numbers might give us a more accurate accounting of our economic plight, right?

Except we don't do that.

Wonder why?

Me too.

 

[Darkwind]

always funny to see the zealots try to spin a positive into a negative to pursue hyper-partisan political aspirations.......

That's how the GOP lost THIS member

Yep. I watched it for the entire eight years of George W. Bush's term.

 

[Darkwind]

If you don't know that people that have run OUT of unemployment benefits are NOT counted then you have allot to learn about the real state of the US economy.

That isn't how the rate of unemployment is tallied.

Believe it or not the unemployment rates are determined by a SURVEY, not by the number of people collecting unemployment.

But I do find it odd that we do not report the number of people who are collecting unemployment, and also the number of people for whom it has run out, too.

One might think that THOSE numbers might give us a more accurate accounting of our economic plight, right?

Except we don't do that.

Wonder why?

Me too.

Well, new jobless claims come directly from the filings.

 

[nodoginnafight]

depends on what you are trying to measure. Is structural unemployment part of what you are trying to gauge?

 

[nodoginnafight]

Yep. I watched it for the entire eight years of George W. Bush's term.

Yes, both sides do it - I shake my head at all of them. When political partisanship keeps you from being able to enjoy a little good news because your afraid it might reflect positively on your political opponent, you're just gonna have a very unhappy life.

 

[Missourian]

If you don't know that people that have run OUT of unemployment benefits are NOT counted then you have allot to learn about the real state of the US economy.

That isn't how the rate of unemployment is tallied.

Believe it or not the unemployment rates are determined by a SURVEY, not by the number of people collecting unemployment.

But I do find it odd that we do not report the number of people who are collecting unemployment, and also the number of people for whom it has run out, too.

One might think that THOSE numbers might give us a more accurate accounting of our economic plight, right?

Except we don't do that.

Wonder why?

Me too.

Sorry Ed, your not allowed to wonder why in American anymore...

 

[nodoginnafight]

Missourian - what was that bizarre private message you sent me all about? Are you on meds or something?

 

[Darkwind]

Yep. I watched it for the entire eight years of George W. Bush's term.

Yes, both sides do it - I shake my head at all of them. When political partisanship keeps you from being able to enjoy a little good news because your afraid it might reflect positively on your political opponent, you're just gonna have a very unhappy life.

Of course. Just like I am enjoying the fourth straight week of the stock markets uptick. It makes My portfolio look much better and that makes Me very happy.

 

[nodoginnafight]

Of course. Just like I am enjoying the fourth straight week of the stock markets uptick. It makes My portfolio look much better and that makes Me very happy.

I am 100% down with that!

 

[Ringel05]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Employers throttled back on layoffs in July, cutting just 247,000 jobs, fewest in a year, and the unemployment rate dipped to 9.4%. It was a better-than-expected showing that offered a strong signal that the recession is finally ending.
The new snapshot, released by the Labor Department on Friday, also offered other encouraging news: workers' hours nudged up after sinking to a record low in June, and paychecks grew after having fallen or flat-lined in some cases.

To be sure, the report still indicates the jobs market is on shaky ground. But the new figures were better than many analysts expected and offered welcomed improvements to a jobs market that has been clobbered by recession.

Analysts were forecasting job losses to slow to around 320,000 and the unemployment rate to tick up to 9.6%.

The dip in the unemployment rate — from June's 9.5% — was the first since April 2008. One of the reasons the rate went down, however, was because hundreds of thousands of people left the labor force. Fewer people, though, did report being unemployed.

Not bad, however it must be put into perspective. I just finished listening to an interview with the economic editor of Politico (a D.C. based political reporting magazine) who qualified the drop in unemployment numbers. At least 400,000 people have either stopped looking for work or their unemployment insurance has lapsed, dropping them from the statistical count used to derive the unemployment rate. Obviously the numbers (as is usual with most numbers) don't tell the whole story, just the one's being counted.

 

[nodoginnafight]

Ringel - Maybe you didn't read too much of this thread before posting, but that issue has been covered. And it really doesn't matter as long as you are comparing apples to apples. If previously reported rates have been calculated in the same way, then we get information that is useful for comparative purposes.

Just saying the sun came up this morning doesn't include ALL the data either, but that doesn't make a sunrise any less enjoyable.

If they start adjusting the criteria right now, then that would make the data of little comparative value - but as long as they are comparing apples to apples, what's the purpose of demanding we consider a grape?

 

[Ringel05]

nodoginnafight
Sorry I missed that in my much to rapid scan of the postings. However, to get a complete picture of the state of the economy one must take into account all relavent data. If the numbers I quoted were much lower (or higher) during the previous count then this data is indeed relevent for it shows a much more complete picture. If these numbers are essentially unchanged then your argument is indeed valid.
In order for us to have a complete understanding of what is happening all available data should be taken into account, not just the data that we like or want to use for what ever reason we want to use it for.
Not trying to bust anyone's bubble, just injecting some statistical reality.

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

nodoginnafight
Sorry I missed that in my much to rapid scan of the postings. However, to get a complete picture of the state of the economy one must take into account all relavent data. If the numbers I quoted were much lower (or higher) during the previous count then this data is indeed relevent for it shows a much more complete picture. If these numbers are essentially unchanged then your argument is indeed valid.
In order for us to have a complete understanding of what is happening all available data should be taken into account, not just the data that we like or want to use for what ever reason we want to use it for.
Not trying to bust anyone's bubble, just injecting some statistical reality.

I got a hard time for trying to do that earlier