Thank you, President Obama!

[WillowTree]

ewe go obama

 

[JoeB131]

Economy Adds 243K Jobs In January; Unemployment Falls to 8.3 Percent

The U.S. economy added 243,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate has fallen to 8.3 percent, according to the latest jobs report from the Labor Department. The numbers mark the fifth straight month that unemployment has dropped.

Analyst expectations ranged from high 100,000s to low 200,000s, so the numbers exceed expectations.

White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Alan Krueger said the January jobs report provides further evidence that "the economy is continuing to heal from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression."

Economy Adds 243K Jobs In January; Unemployment Falls to 8.3 Percent | TPM Livewire

Hooo-boy. You know, the sad thing about having an election where you hate both candidates is that you are bombarded by bullshit on both sides.

The improving economy is happening despite Obama, not because of him. (And the same could be said for Bush-43 in the early oughts, Clinton in the 90's and Reagan in the 80's.)

Will he take credit? Yup. Does he deserve it? Nope. Will this essentially cut the legs out from underneath the Weird Mormon Robot's argument? Probably.

Now this is Rubber Meets the Road time for Romney. In 2008, Obama's main rationale for running was that he was the guy who thought the Iraq War was a terrible idea from the get-go and he was going to be the guy to end it. Then Bush went ahead and won the damn thing and he didn't really have anything to talk about. However, Obama was able to pivot and talk about the worsening economy, and then the bottom fell out in September 2008 and McCain looked like an old guy who couldn't multi-task. He was able to pivot.

The UE has dropped by .2% each month for the last three months. If this trend continues, unemployment could be at 6.5% on election day. Still not as good as it was when Obama got elected in 2008, but better than it was at the height of this thing, and that might be all he needs.

Of course, there are a lot of speed bumps on that road.

1) The EuroZone could collapse, shaking up the world economy.
2) War could break out between Israel and Iran, doing the same.

of course, the bigger problem is that the UR is an artificial number in and of itself. It shows the percentage of people looking for work who can't find it, not the number of people out of jobs. It's down to the lowest level it's been in Obama's presidency, which is 8.3% in Feburary 2009.

But that reflects a lot of people who hadn't given up in 2009 have given up by 2012.

Still, what does Romney do? His argument was always he was the job creator (even though he destroyed as many jobs as he created) but now the economy is creating jobs on its own.

 

[JoeB131]

so Obama get no credit and Bush getss no blame.

I see how the right operates.

with extreme stupidity and prejudice

Same way the left operates, really.

When unemployment went up in 2002, it was all Bush's fault. When it went down in 2004, it had nothing to do with Bush. When it went back up again, it was all Bush's fault again.

In 2004, one could point to the Bush's Tax Cuts as helping the economy. I personally don't think that was the case. I think what happened in 2004 was that the excess inventories of things were finally used up and we needed people to make more.

Ditto this time. I would challenge Obama's supporters to point out ONE POLICY this guy has done - him, not the Fed - that really contributed to this decline. Can't be the stimulus, that was over a long time ago.

 

[Oldstyle]

Saying that Barack Obama is responsible for this job growth is like saying someone who drove past a field is responsible for making grass grow.

Economies recover from recessions. Some Presidents get credit for quicker recoveries because of their policies...some get blame for slower recoveries because of their policies. Sorry, Progressives but it's four years after this particular recession began and we should have seen substantial growth by now. The job growth we have seen could best be described as "tepid" and very little of it is due to Obama policies but rather, "despite" Obama policies.

 

[Ravi]

The game partisans play is to pretend that the POTUS they didn't like somehow destroyed the jobs, or the one they do like somehow created them.

What I truly wonder is this?

Do you partisans really believe what you write?

Seriously?

All the nutters blame everything wrong with the country on Obama so I like to give him some credit on occasion.

 

[Full-Auto]

The game partisans play is to pretend that the POTUS they didn't like somehow destroyed the jobs, or the one they do like somehow created them.

What I truly wonder is this?

Do you partisans really believe what you write?

Seriously?

All the nutters blame everything wrong with the country on Obama so I like to give him some credit on occasion.

THEN LET HIM DO SOMETHING................You might be impressed with just dropping people for the count, Most are not.

I have to laugh for years now dems have shoved words from the CBO down our throats. Here is a little payback.


The Congressional Budget Office was so concerned about these people leaving the labor force that they warned that the current unemployment rate that reporters so breathlessly await at the beginning of each month is quite misleading.

Read more: The Bad News Behind The January Jobs Report | Fox News

 

[Old Rocks]

Thank you Obamacrats for destroying so many jobs since you were elected to power in 2006.

No, we did not hold the keys to power in 2007. Bush could and did veto anything that would have helped prevent the debacle. In fact, he and McCain were claiming the economy was healthy the Sunday before the Monday meltdown.

And the majority of the job loss was before 20Jan09. The loss after that was pure inertia, getting that changed was an acheivement in itself. So the last five months have represented a turnaround, and we are beginning the long slog back to prosperity. No thanks to the GOP at all, who have acted as obstructions at every turn.

That will be remembered in November.

 

[Full-Auto]

Thank you Obamacrats for destroying so many jobs since you were elected to power in 2006.

No, we did not hold the keys to power in 2007. Bush could and did veto anything that would have helped prevent the debacle. In fact, he and McCain were claiming the economy was healthy the Sunday before the Monday meltdown.

And the majority of the job loss was before 20Jan09. The loss after that was pure inertia, getting that changed was an acheivement in itself. So the last five months have represented a turnaround, and we are beginning the long slog back to prosperity. No thanks to the GOP at all, who have acted as obstructions at every turn.

That will be remembered in November.

Now you are just flat out lying like a little bitch.

 

[Old Rocks]

The game partisans play is to pretend that the POTUS they didn't like somehow destroyed the jobs, or the one they do like somehow created them.

What I truly wonder is this?

Do you partisans really believe what you write?

Seriously?

All the nutters blame everything wrong with the country on Obama so I like to give him some credit on occasion.

THEN LET HIM DO SOMETHING................You might be impressed with just dropping people for the count, Most are not.

I have to laugh for years now dems have shoved words from the CBO down our throats. Here is a little payback.


The Congressional Budget Office was so concerned about these people leaving the labor force that they warned that the current unemployment rate that reporters so breathlessly await at the beginning of each month is quite misleading.

Read more: The Bad News Behind The January Jobs Report | Fox News

LOL. Faux News. An ever so trustworthy source of news. They should be, they are evesdropping on more people than most governments.

Yes, things are still bad, but improving. In spite of all the efforts of the GOP to make things worse.

 

[Old Rocks]

Thank you Obamacrats for destroying so many jobs since you were elected to power in 2006.

No, we did not hold the keys to power in 2007. Bush could and did veto anything that would have helped prevent the debacle. In fact, he and McCain were claiming the economy was healthy the Sunday before the Monday meltdown.

And the majority of the job loss was before 20Jan09. The loss after that was pure inertia, getting that changed was an acheivement in itself. So the last five months have represented a turnaround, and we are beginning the long slog back to prosperity. No thanks to the GOP at all, who have acted as obstructions at every turn.

That will be remembered in November.

Now you are just flat out lying like a little bitch.

Really? Care to point out which statement is a lie? You cannot because none of them are.

 

[Full-Auto]

All the nutters blame everything wrong with the country on Obama so I like to give him some credit on occasion.

THEN LET HIM DO SOMETHING................You might be impressed with just dropping people for the count, Most are not.

I have to laugh for years now dems have shoved words from the CBO down our throats. Here is a little payback.


The Congressional Budget Office was so concerned about these people leaving the labor force that they warned that the current unemployment rate that reporters so breathlessly await at the beginning of each month is quite misleading.

Read more: The Bad News Behind The January Jobs Report | Fox News

LOL. Faux News. An ever so trustworthy source of news. They should be, they are evesdropping on more people than most governments.

Yes, things are still bad, but improving. In spite of all the efforts of the GOP to make things worse.

So you admit you are not smart enough to refute facts,.

When I need a knob polisher......YOURE THE MAN.................

At the end of last year, the CBO cautioned that the official unemployment rate was about 1.25 percentage points lower than the real rate. In January, that gap was about 1.6 percentage point

Read more: The Bad News Behind The January Jobs Report | Fox News

 

[Old Rocks]

I like how the narrative is changing from "Obama is destroying the economy" to "the economy is growing, in spite of Obama, if only a Republican were in office we'd be so much better off"

no, he still destroying the economy.

Hardly. Dumb fucks like you that support all the efforts of the GOP to prevent millions of Americans from having jobs, just to put one man out of a job, are the people that are holding the economy back.

 

[Oldstyle]

Thank you Obamacrats for destroying so many jobs since you were elected to power in 2006.

No, we did not hold the keys to power in 2007. Bush could and did veto anything that would have helped prevent the debacle. In fact, he and McCain were claiming the economy was healthy the Sunday before the Monday meltdown.

And the majority of the job loss was before 20Jan09. The loss after that was pure inertia, getting that changed was an acheivement in itself. So the last five months have represented a turnaround, and we are beginning the long slog back to prosperity. No thanks to the GOP at all, who have acted as obstructions at every turn.

That will be remembered in November.

It's a "great" narrative, Old Rocks...if only it were true!

What did Bush veto that would have stopped the "debacle"? If you'll recall, W. was actually one of the few people cautioning that the housing bubble, sub prime loans and what Fannie and Freddie were doing was going to be a problem if we didn't take some steps to correct what we were doing. It was Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who pooh poohed that and said everything with housing was great and that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were being run just the way they should be.

It's funny how the GOP is the "obstructionists" at every turn when the Democrats had super majorities when Barry came into office. Even funnier now that Harry Reid has got over 30 House bills stacked up on his desk that he won't even let come to the Senate floor. Like I said...it's a great narrative...if only it were true...

 

[Valerie]

The game partisans play is to pretend that the POTUS they didn't like somehow destroyed the jobs, or the one they do like somehow created them.

What I truly wonder is this?

Do you partisans really believe what you write?

Seriously?

All the nutters blame everything wrong with the country on Obama so I like to give him some credit on occasion.

THEN LET HIM DO SOMETHING................You might be impressed with just dropping people for the count, Most are not.

I have to laugh for years now dems have shoved words from the CBO down our throats. Here is a little payback.


The Congressional Budget Office was so concerned about these people leaving the labor force that they warned that the current unemployment rate that reporters so breathlessly await at the beginning of each month is quite misleading.

Read more: The Bad News Behind The January Jobs Report | Fox News

The number of unemployed Americans last month fell by 339,000, the fifth largest drop since January 2009. But there was an even much more shockingly large number -- almost 1.2 million additional Americans were classified in January as not being in the labor force (see figure here). Unfortunately, that has been the consistent story that has made this “recovery” unique as more and more Americans have just given up looking for work.



This last number not only means that the official unemployment number is misleading, but it will also likely determine where the unemployment rate ultimately goes. Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office just last week released its projected unemployment rate for the next couple of years. They predicted that the unemployment rate will be at 8.9 percent during the last quarter of 2012 and rise to 9.2 percent for the last quarter of 2013.

The Congressional Budget Office was so concerned about these people leaving the labor force that they warned that the current unemployment rate that reporters so breathlessly await at the beginning of each month is quite misleading.

At the end of last year, the CBO cautioned that the official unemployment rate was about 1.25 percentage points lower than the real rate. In January, that gap was about 1.6 percentage points.

 

[JoeB131]

There are four goal posts Obama needs to pass-

8.3- The lowest level of his presidency.
7.8- The level when he was inaggurated.
7.2- The highest level a president can hit and still get re-elected.
6.6- The level it was at when he got elected.

He's finally hit the first one after three years in office.

Now, the unemployment rate CAN be higher than it was when you got elected and you can still get re-elected. For instance, Bush had an UR of 3.9 when he got "elected" (kind of) but was re-elected with a rate of 5.5. It was lower than the high point of 6.3.

Nixon got re-elected with a rate of 5.6 when he inherited a 3.4 rate from LBJ. Again, in both those cases, there were wars going on that were much bigger deals.

I'm sure Team Romney is double downing on the antacids this morning, though.

 

[Old Rocks]

Thank you Obamacrats for destroying so many jobs since you were elected to power in 2006.

No, we did not hold the keys to power in 2007. Bush could and did veto anything that would have helped prevent the debacle. In fact, he and McCain were claiming the economy was healthy the Sunday before the Monday meltdown.

And the majority of the job loss was before 20Jan09. The loss after that was pure inertia, getting that changed was an acheivement in itself. So the last five months have represented a turnaround, and we are beginning the long slog back to prosperity. No thanks to the GOP at all, who have acted as obstructions at every turn.

That will be remembered in November.

It's a "great" narrative, Old Rocks...if only it were true!

What did Bush veto that would have stopped the "debacle"? If you'll recall, W. was actually one of the few people cautioning that the housing bubble, sub prime loans and what Fannie and Freddie were doing was going to be a problem if we didn't take some steps to correct what we were doing. It was Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who pooh poohed that and said everything with housing was great and that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were being run just the way they should be.

It's funny how the GOP is the "obstructionists" at every turn when the Democrats had super majorities when Barry came into office. Even funnier now that Harry Reid has got over 30 House bills stacked up on his desk that he won't even let come to the Senate floor. Like I said...it's a great narrative...if only it were true...

Some inconveniant history.

USATODAY.com - Bush seeks to increase minority homeownership

Bush seeks to increase minority homeownership
By Thomas A. Fogarty, USA TODAY
In a bid to boost minority homeownership, President Bush will ask Congress for authority to eliminate the down-payment requirement for Federal Housing Administration loans.
In announcing the plan Monday at a home builders show in Las Vegas, Federal Housing Commissioner John Weicher called the proposal the "most significant FHA initiative in more than a decade." It would lead to 150,000 first-time owners annually, he said.

Nothing-down options are available on the private mortgage market, but, in general, they require the borrower to have pristine credit. Bush's proposed change would extend the nothing-down option to borrowers with blemished credit.

The FHA isn't a direct lender, but guarantees loan payments for mortgages on moderately priced owner-occupied property. The FHA guarantee now permits private lenders to finance as much as 97% of the purchase price of a home for millions of low- and middle-income borrowers.

 

[Oldstyle]

I like how the narrative is changing from "Obama is destroying the economy" to "the economy is growing, in spite of Obama, if only a Republican were in office we'd be so much better off"

no, he still destroying the economy.

Hardly. Dumb fucks like you that support all the efforts of the GOP to prevent millions of Americans from having jobs, just to put one man out of a job, are the people that are holding the economy back.

What jobs have the GOP prevented from happening? More "shovel ready" phantom jobs like in the first stimulus? The ones that even Barry finally had to admit never existed? More green energy jobs like Solyndra?

On the flip side you've got this Administration imposing a moratorium on all drilling in the Gulf putting tens of thousands of already hard hit Gulf Coast citizens out of work...you've got this Administrations DOJ taking Boeing to court for building a new factory in South Carolina keeping thousands of other workers from having a job...you've got this Administration postponing the Keystone pipeline for purely political reasons keeping tens of thousands of workers from having a job building that.

That "one man" you say the GOP wants to put out of job? He's been pretty cavalier about putting OTHER Americans out of a job. Kind of "turn about is fair play" if he was to lose his job because of that...don't you think?

 

[Old Rocks]

There are four goal posts Obama needs to pass-

8.3- The lowest level of his presidency.
7.8- The level when he was inaggurated.
7.2- The highest level a president can hit and still get re-elected.
6.6- The level it was at when he got elected.

He's finally hit the first one after three years in office.

Now, the unemployment rate CAN be higher than it was when you got elected and you can still get re-elected. For instance, Bush had an UR of 3.9 when he got "elected" (kind of) but was re-elected with a rate of 5.5. It was lower than the high point of 6.3.

Nixon got re-elected with a rate of 5.6 when he inherited a 3.4 rate from LBJ. Again, in both those cases, there were wars going on that were much bigger deals.

I'm sure Team Romney is double downing on the antacids this morning, though.

Given the rampant obstructionism of the GOP in this area, I think that the President only has to pass one and two. But should he pass all four, he will be re-elected.

 

[Full-Auto]

No, we did not hold the keys to power in 2007. Bush could and did veto anything that would have helped prevent the debacle. In fact, he and McCain were claiming the economy was healthy the Sunday before the Monday meltdown.

And the majority of the job loss was before 20Jan09. The loss after that was pure inertia, getting that changed was an acheivement in itself. So the last five months have represented a turnaround, and we are beginning the long slog back to prosperity. No thanks to the GOP at all, who have acted as obstructions at every turn.

That will be remembered in November.

It's a "great" narrative, Old Rocks...if only it were true!

What did Bush veto that would have stopped the "debacle"? If you'll recall, W. was actually one of the few people cautioning that the housing bubble, sub prime loans and what Fannie and Freddie were doing was going to be a problem if we didn't take some steps to correct what we were doing. It was Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who pooh poohed that and said everything with housing was great and that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were being run just the way they should be.

It's funny how the GOP is the "obstructionists" at every turn when the Democrats had super majorities when Barry came into office. Even funnier now that Harry Reid has got over 30 House bills stacked up on his desk that he won't even let come to the Senate floor. Like I said...it's a great narrative...if only it were true...

Some inconveniant history.

USATODAY.com - Bush seeks to increase minority homeownership

Bush seeks to increase minority homeownership
By Thomas A. Fogarty, USA TODAY
In a bid to boost minority homeownership, President Bush will ask Congress for authority to eliminate the down-payment requirement for Federal Housing Administration loans.
In announcing the plan Monday at a home builders show in Las Vegas, Federal Housing Commissioner John Weicher called the proposal the "most significant FHA initiative in more than a decade." It would lead to 150,000 first-time owners annually, he said.

Nothing-down options are available on the private mortgage market, but, in general, they require the borrower to have pristine credit. Bush's proposed change would extend the nothing-down option to borrowers with blemished credit.

The FHA isn't a direct lender, but guarantees loan payments for mortgages on moderately priced owner-occupied property. The FHA guarantee now permits private lenders to finance as much as 97% of the purchase price of a home for millions of low- and middle-income borrowers.

OMG Its captain obvious. Odd you didnt mention the reform attempts....Strange.............

 

[Oldstyle]

No, we did not hold the keys to power in 2007. Bush could and did veto anything that would have helped prevent the debacle. In fact, he and McCain were claiming the economy was healthy the Sunday before the Monday meltdown.

And the majority of the job loss was before 20Jan09. The loss after that was pure inertia, getting that changed was an acheivement in itself. So the last five months have represented a turnaround, and we are beginning the long slog back to prosperity. No thanks to the GOP at all, who have acted as obstructions at every turn.

That will be remembered in November.

It's a "great" narrative, Old Rocks...if only it were true!

What did Bush veto that would have stopped the "debacle"? If you'll recall, W. was actually one of the few people cautioning that the housing bubble, sub prime loans and what Fannie and Freddie were doing was going to be a problem if we didn't take some steps to correct what we were doing. It was Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who pooh poohed that and said everything with housing was great and that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were being run just the way they should be.

It's funny how the GOP is the "obstructionists" at every turn when the Democrats had super majorities when Barry came into office. Even funnier now that Harry Reid has got over 30 House bills stacked up on his desk that he won't even let come to the Senate floor. Like I said...it's a great narrative...if only it were true...

Some inconveniant history.

USATODAY.com - Bush seeks to increase minority homeownership

Bush seeks to increase minority homeownership
By Thomas A. Fogarty, USA TODAY
In a bid to boost minority homeownership, President Bush will ask Congress for authority to eliminate the down-payment requirement for Federal Housing Administration loans.
In announcing the plan Monday at a home builders show in Las Vegas, Federal Housing Commissioner John Weicher called the proposal the "most significant FHA initiative in more than a decade." It would lead to 150,000 first-time owners annually, he said.

Nothing-down options are available on the private mortgage market, but, in general, they require the borrower to have pristine credit. Bush's proposed change would extend the nothing-down option to borrowers with blemished credit.

The FHA isn't a direct lender, but guarantees loan payments for mortgages on moderately priced owner-occupied property. The FHA guarantee now permits private lenders to finance as much as 97% of the purchase price of a home for millions of low- and middle-income borrowers.

That's from back in 2004, Old Rocks and one of the dumber things that W. did while President. It became rapidly apparent that giving out all those sub prime loans was leading to a problem and was why W. was calling for action to correct that.