Economy Picking Up Steam

[Dave_In_Norfolk]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/business/economy/us-adds-200000-jobs-unemployment-rate-at-8-5.html?pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

 

Employers in the United States added 200,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, a report that came on the heels of a flurry of heartening economic news and signaled gathering momentum in the recovery. Consumer confidence lifted, factories stepped up production and small businesses showed signs of life. The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, its lowest level in nearly three years.

 

Hopefully, the worst of the Bush recession is over and Obama will enjoy a strong economy in his second term

[Wisconsin Bills Fan]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/business/economy/us-adds-200000-jobs-unemployment-rate-at-8-5.html?pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

 

 

 

Hopefully, the worst of the Bush recession is over and Obama will enjoy a strong economy in his second term

 

The only chance Obama is leading during a strong economy is if his healthcare disaster is overturned and the democrats lose the Senate.

[Dave_In_Norfolk]

The only chance Obama is leading during a strong economy is if his healthcare disaster is overturned and the democrats lose the Senate.

Healthcare disaster?

[/dev/null]

The Unemployment Rate has dropped to 8.5. Sparkles and Sunshine!

 

Meanwhile the real jobless rate remains unchanged.

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/real-jobless-rate-114-realistic-labor-force-participation-rate

 

The last line sums it up perfectly:

It won't surprise anyone that as of December, the real implied unemployment rate was 11.4% (final chart) - basically where it has been ever since 2009 - and at 2.9% delta to reported, represents the widest divergence to reported data since the early 1980s. And because we know this will be the next question, extending this lunacy, America will officially have no unemployed, when the Labor Force Participation rate hits 58.5%, which should be just before the presidential election.

Edited January 7, 2012 by /dev/null

[B-Man]

The headline New York Times after yesterday's job report was: "U.S. Economy Gains Steam as 200,000 Jobs Are Added." At the Associated Press: "Nation adds 200,000 jobs in December hiring surge."

 

Telling millions of news consumers that it's so doesn't make it so.

 

 

 

 

In her story, the Times's Shaila Dewan failed to even mention that the reported positive numbers were seasonally adjusted. At the AP, Paul Wiseman and Christopher Rugaber got to it in their 26th of 38 paragraphs, and then only cryptically: "Economists cautioned that some of the month's gains reflected temporary hiring for the holiday season. The government adjusts the figures to try to account for that seasonal factor, but doesn't always get it exactly right."......................................................... No kidding.

 

 

 

The raw numbers show that the job market, in the context of the high unemployment rate and labor underutilization, is at best sluggishly improving. It is definitely not in a "surge," or "gaining steam."

 

 

.

Edited January 7, 2012 by B-Man

[/dev/null]

Healthcare disaster?

Yeah I mean Obamacare is so awesome that the Unions love it

http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/06/labor-unions-primary-recipients-of-obamacare-waivers/

[Dave_In_Norfolk]

The Unemployment Rate has dropped to 8.5. Sparkles and Sunshine!

 

Meanwhile the real jobless rate remains unchanged.

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/real-jobless-rate-114-realistic-labor-force-participation-rate

 

The last line sums it up perfectly:

Oh, I see, we should measure unemployment differently now that we have a Democratic president. Ok

 

Anyways, you clowns should be thrilled. Most of the new unemployed were government workers. So to complain about getting what you want is hypocricy

 

The gloomiest portion of this chart, however, is reserved for government hiring. In a year without the cushion of stimulus spending, local, state, and -- yes -- federal government employment rolls all shrank, shedding a total of 280,000 workers. Public schools let go 113,000 workers alone. To put that in perspective, the loss of government jobs eclipsed the entire growth of manufacturing and construction combined.

 

 

Why are you idiots not happy about this? Its what you scream about all the time. Throw a friggin party or something. !@#$s

 

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/01/we-added-16-million-jobs-in-2011-where-did-they-come-from/251001/

[B-Man]

What the plunging unemployment rate really means for Obama’s reelection

By James Pethokoukis

January 6, 2012, 10:00 am

 

Will the Obama reelection campaign take the bait and start running hard on the president’s economic record?

 

New job numbers out today from the Labor Department show the unemployment dropped to a near three-year low of 8.5 percent in December. What’s more, nonfarm payrolls increased by 200,000 last month, way above economists’ expectations for a 150,000 gain. Those two employment statistics, when added to a likely fourth-quarter GDP number of 3-3.5 percent (which would be the best showing since the second-quarter of 2010) — sure make it tempting for the White House to engage in at least a smidgen of economic triumphalism. Something like: “It’s been a long road and we have a lot further to go, but our plan is working. Four more years.”

 

But such a feel-good campaign strategy would be risky. Those headline economic numbers are terribly misleading, hardly reflecting the devastation most Americans still see every day. An 8.5 percent unemployment rate? Please. If the size of the U.S. labor force was as large as it was when Barack Obama took office, the unemployment rate would be 10.9 percent. But since so many people have gotten discouraged and stopped looking for work– and thus disappeared by government statisticians — the jobless number has been artificially depressed. A better gauge of the jobs picture is the broader U-6 rate, which includes part-timers who would rather have full-time jobs. It stands at a whopping 15.2 percent.

 

 

 

Let me repeat that, so the Daves of the world can (possibly) understand it;

 

If the size of the U.S. labor force was as large as it was when Barack Obama took office, the unemployment rate would be 10.9 percent.

 

 

 

 

 

Then there is that 200,000 number. As Goldman Sachs points out:

 

Part of the strong gain reflected a 42k increase in employment for “couriers and messengers”, which likely reflects temporary employment for holiday gift delivery persons. A similar spike occurred last December and was reversed in the following month, indicating that the payroll statistics are not properly seasonally adjusting for this type of hiring. Taking this into account, December employment growth was still firmer than the preceding two months, but the underlying trend is likely still below 200k.

 

 

Run on the economy? Good luck with that.

 

 

The American Enterprise

 

 

.

[Wisconsin Bills Fan]

Yeah I mean Obamacare is so awesome that the Unions love it

http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/06/labor-unions-primary-recipients-of-obamacare-waivers/

 

Nothing to see here right Dave? If Obamacare is so great, why would any Unoin or business seek a waiver?

[Bigfatbillsfan]

Nothing to see here right Dave? If Obamacare is so great, why would any Unoin or business seek a waiver?

 

Government waivers may be due to the fact that they already have insurance through their employer.

 

Regardless of the fact that the labor force has shrunk or whatever, the economy added 200,000 jobs. I see nothing bad about that. Hopefully it's something we can build off of. That's the gist of it.

[3rdnlng]

Government waivers may be due to the fact that they already have insurance through their employer.

 

Regardless of the fact that the labor force has shrunk or whatever, the economy added 200,000 jobs. I see nothing bad about that. Hopefully it's something we can build off of. That's the gist of it.

 

 

Check this link:

 

 

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

 

The participation rate has gone down over the course of this year.

[DC Tom]

Government waivers may be due to the fact that they already have insurance through their employer.

 

Regardless of the fact that the labor force has shrunk or whatever, the economy added 200,000 jobs. I see nothing bad about that. Hopefully it's something we can build off of. That's the gist of it.

 

That is definitely not a bad thing, doubly so since it's the fourth substantial monthly gain in a row.

 

But I'm hesitant about celebrating an initial report of 200k jobs created during the holidays. Talk to me in March, when the numbers are adjusted and the holidays are well past.

[PearlHowardman]

200,000 new December jobs minus (-) 60,000 Christmas seasonal December jobs = 140,000 net new December jobs.

 

Not impressive.

[DC Tom]

200,000 new December jobs minus (-) 60,000 Christmas seasonal December jobs = 140,000 net new December jobs.

 

Not impressive.

 

But if you include jobs that were saved, instead of just created, it's like a few gazillion, which is pretty good.

[whateverdude]

And oil prices are picking up steam again. If oil continues up jobs will head down...we need a better energy policy.

[Dave_In_Norfolk]

And oil prices are picking up steam again. If oil continues up jobs will head down...we need a better energy policy.

True, but energy is a changing dynamic now. We are actually exporting oil now for the first time in decades, and the huge finds in natural gas are a real game changer. Solar power is coming of age faster than expected, also.

[1billsfan]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/business/economy/us-adds-200000-jobs-unemployment-rate-at-8-5.html?pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

 

 

 

Hopefully, the worst of the Bush recession is over and Obama will enjoy a strong economy in his second term

 

It was the collapse of the housing market that pushed us over the cliff. Fannie and Freddie. Sub prime loans pushed by the dems. The likes of Dodd and Frank and Wallstreet. Yes, the repubs played a part in it due to their wallstreet connections and that Bush was in power for eight years prior, but blaming the recession all on Bush is the biggest MSM lie out there. The MSM and the stupid American public who still believe in the MSM now treat this lie as fact.

 

BTW, doing cartwheels over an average of 4,000 jobs added per state during the holiday season is stupid.

[DC Tom]

True, but energy is a changing dynamic now. We are actually exporting oil now for the first time in decades, and the huge finds in natural gas are a real game changer. Solar power is coming of age faster than expected, also.

 

Idiot.

 

Refined fuels. Not oil.

[Magox]

True, but energy is a changing dynamic now. We are actually exporting oil now for the first time in decades, and the huge finds in natural gas are a real game changer. Solar power is coming of age faster than expected, also.

 

The reason why we are exporting more gasoline now is because of a lack of usual demand, implying a weak economy. I also happen to remember mentioning that as the perception of the economy picking up, that would dictate the price of gasoline.

 

In regards to the economy, without a doubt the data has been coming in relatively pretty good, but during this time of the year it is normal to see hiring surges and as GS points out, many of those jobs appear to be temporary.

 

Ás others have pointed out in this thread, something that I had mentioned many many times before the actual work force has remarkably shrunken over the past three years. With all the government help with extending the unemployment insurance (which I dont happen to fully disagree with) there is no doubt that this is adding to those woes, and that is something that really needs to be reformed moving forward. We are helping create a society of people who would simply rather not work and recieve gov. funds to help them muddle through life. I know for a fact that there are many people who are without jobs, able to work, who simply aren´t actively looking very hard for a job, simply because they are able to get by with what they are receiving with foodstamps and unemployment benefits.

[OCinBuffalo]

Yawn.

 

Look, the fundamentals of the American economy basically mean that we simply cannot stay down for very long. Sooner or later things will get going again.

 

The difference is: if Obama had done NOTHING, we'd be further along. There can be little doubt anymore that the net effect of Obama et al has been to impede growth. Yes, Obamacare is a big culprit, but there are a TON of other laws/regulations that nobody hears about, that are just as brutal for business.

 

The smart play for Obama would have been to get the economy moving again, and THEN, push the "social justice" agenda. Instead, we got the dumb play: all Obama has accomplished is introducing things that reduce investment, and therefore retard growth.

Edited January 10, 2012 by OCinBuffalo