I wanted to add to John’s fine summary of today’s jobs report.
It really is a very ugly set of data.
It’s not simply that unemployment has been above 8 percent for a record 39 months, which is bad enough. While news stories report that 115,000 new jobs were added in April, the true picture is much worse. More than 340,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force last month. The total employment level for April fell 169,000. Ezra Klein of the Washington Post, who is hardly a conservative and has been quite sympathetic to President Obama, admits that unemployment “went down for the wrong reason: people dropping out of the labor force.”
He’s quite right. The labor force participation rate (64.3 percent) reached its lowest level in more than 30 years, while the employment-population ratio (58.4 percent) is lower still.
According to Jim Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute, if labor force participation had stayed the same in April as it was in March, the unemployment rate would have risen by three-tenths of a percent (to 8.4 percent). And if the labor force participation rate today was what it was when Obama took office, the unemployment rate would be roughly 11 percent. The real unemployment rate, including those who are working part-time due to economic reasons, now clocks in at nearly 15 percent (14.5).
“In the weakest recovery since the Great Depression, more than four-fifths of the reduction in unemployment has been accomplished by a dropping adult labor force participation rate — essentially persuading adults they don’t need a job, or the job they could find is not worth having,” according to University of Maryland economist Peter Morici.
Any way you slice it, last month’s jobs report is dispiriting. The unemployment rate, which is already at historically high levels, is being kept artificially low because of growing despair and hopelessness. The will and energy of many Americans is being ground to dust.
We know what Obama sounded like in theory (hope, change, unity, prosperity). Now we know what Obamaism looks like in practice. It isn’t a pretty sight. And I’m afraid the president is affirming the observation of Camus, which is that destruction is an easier, speedier process than reconstruction. But at least let the reconstruction begin.
The prerequisite for that to occur, it seems, is for Obama to be a one-term president.
Agreed, our economy is nearly stagnate and more than a few Ameicans have lost as you say, the "will and energy" to keep tyring to find employment. n nBasically I believe, we have this because Obama wants this. That is, as a quasi-socialist, he despises, the successful, the wealthy, the more ambitous because such behavior automatically creates "differences" between people (the more succesful vs the less successful). n nFree enterprise and limited government are our only hope. But Central Planners like Obama won't let it happen. they want to ……… "control".
> We know what Obama sounded like in theory (hope, change, unity, prosperity). n> Now we know what Obamaism looks like in practice. It isn’t a pretty sight. n nIn other words, Wehner & co. are whining about Obama not cleaning up the mess that started while THEY were in charge quickly enough. n— nGranted, some of the Obama campaign's hyperbole from 2008 leaves him vulnerable to these kinds of accusations. But opinion polls still show a majority of Americans feel the Bush Administration is primarily responsible since the global recession started before Obama was elected. This probably explains why Obama's job approval is way better than one would think after examining the unemployment figures. Voters have NOT forgotten George W. Bush, Tom DeLay and the rest. n nMARCU$
Funny, but now all Obama's problems are blamed on Republicans in the house. Yet we never hear a mention of the fact that BOTH Houses were DEM during the last quarter of Bush's term.
What you are saying may be true. Hitler had a "big lie theory" also & if you repeat a lie often enough there is a certain large percentage of the population that will believe it. If that weren't true there would be no advertising industry. n nUnlike many, I guess, I was old enough to remember the economy of Jimmy Carter. In many respects that predicament was worse, because with high inflation, interest rates, and gasoline prices, there is no clear economic remedy (bail outs, "stimulus", money printing) as has been tried here because that will feed forward into the hideous inflation problem, and if the interest rates rose to 35% rather than 20% it would be self-defeating. I also don't recall a single peep from Reagan or any republican about the horrible mess inherited. That may have been because they didn't need to having simply solved the problem instead. n nBut many americans haven't lived so long. And many more have the memory and attention span of a 3rd grader. So we deserve such a creature as Obama. That explains how he holds on.
Oblamer 2008: "Hopey changey you can believe in!" n nOblamer 2012: "It's not my fault!" n nROFL!
"Never change horses in mid-stream." Abraham Lincoln
They weren't great but they weren't awful. With the last two months revisions (plus 55,000) we've been adding jobs at around 200,000 a month since the start of the year. Wehner is a partisan so he's not going to recognise this reality. GDP is back to pre recession levels so things are moving in the right direction but slowly which is not surprising given the depth and nature of the downturn we've experienced.
What you are saying may be true. Adolf H. i. t. l.e.r. had a "big lie theory" also & if you repeat a lie often enough there is a certain large percentage of the population that will believe it. If that weren't true there would be no advertising industry. n nUnlike many, I guess, I was old enough to remember the economy of Jimmy Carter. In many respects that predicament was worse, because with high inflation, interest rates, and gasoline prices, there is no clear economic remedy (bail outs, "stimulus", money printing) as has been tried here because that will feed forward into the hideous inflation problem, and if the interest rates rose to 35% rather than 20% it would be self-defeating. I also don't recall a single peep from Reagan or any republican about the horrible mess inherited. That may have been because they didn't need to having simply solved the problem instead. n nBut many americans haven't lived so long. And many more have the memory and attention span of a 3rd grader. So we deserve such a creature as Obama. That explains how he holds on.
Who would have thought a massive new job tax (Obamacare) would result in more unemployment? Oh that's right, anyone who has studied economics (businesses are forward looking).
What does the 26 cities over 250K and the greatest poverty level have in common? n nAll are heavy unionized and all have been controlled by Democrats for many many years! n nDoes this fact and the Blue States bordering on Bankruptcy penetrate the mental fog surrounding. the Liberal mind of most Democrat voters? n nOf Course NOT! n n Never have so many been oblivious to the obvious. n nThey still think the Democrat Politicians are concerned about their Welfare. n nThe same party and polities that reduced the black population into welfare bondage and the most dependable Democrat voters will work just as well for the rest of the population. n nJust reduced them to poverty and Depending on Welfare and you have a Democrat voter for life! nPresident Zero and the Democrats are pursuing the same polities and spreading poverty for the rest of the Nation that have turned those cities and blue States like Calif., Illinois, New York etc. into basket cases and made them dependable votes for the Democrats! n nThe more the Democrats can spread Poverty, Welfare and the Entitlement mentality the more Democrat voters they make and the closer they get to a Third World Socialist Paradise controlled Lock, Stock and Barrel by the Democrat party!
Bush 43 does indeed get blamed for the recession. The dishonest MSM has effectively deceived the general public. Voters should forget Bush and DeLay—but who ever said we live in a fair world? Still, the number one reason for Obama's fairly high standing in the polls is due to white guilt. The odds favor Mitt Romney—but only slightly. I predict he wins by a 52-47 margin.