The number of newly-laid off workers seeking jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week, as the economy recovers at a slow and uneven pace.
Layoffs have slowed and the economy began to grow in last year's third quarter, but companies are reluctant to hire new workers. The unemployment rate is 10 percent and many economists expect it to increase in the coming months.
“Unexpectedly”, as in, “it wasn’t supposed to be this way” and “they said it would never be this bad” and “we can’t keep providing cover for these incompetents much longer”.
We noted, anecdotaly, in a previous post some time back that during the Bush years, the GDP figures were constantly being revised upwards in a somewhat "unexpected" fashion also. We're not suggesting anything untoward but when GDP figures from last quarter where revised downward not just once but twice from 3.5 all the way down to 2.2, we were curious as to who was doing the books and wondering if they weren't swayed possibly by the false promises of high expectations.
In other economic-related news today...
Someone named Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist, was on O’Reilly’s show a couple nights ago and he was asked by the host, in the wake of the Massachusetts miracle and the apparent(?) demise of Obamacare, what should the administration should focus on.
After some perfunctory remarks, the Big Idea that the administration should pursue entering their second year, according to Trippi, would be to “go after the banks and the insurance companies.”
(sound of crickets)
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Terrific. Unemployment is at 10 percent and “expected” to rise and this clown is promoting more class warfare.
Exit question: Is it stupidity or merely rigid and inflexible adherance to ideology that creates a hostile business climate via horrible legislation (and even the threat of horrible legislation) and useless faux populist saber rattling at Wall St. which in turn puts a freeze on companies hiring people?
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4 comments:
I wonder if these people actually want to sink us. But in the name of self-preservation I have to conclude it's a rigid "team mentality" to a liberal ideology whose leadership doesn't even have the same values of a generation ago.
Will we ever see the day when the rank and file Democrat realizes his leaders have sold them out?
But...but... had Obama done nothing we might be at... 8% unemployment!
Oh, wait, that's what he said it would peak at. Nevermind.
That was me... you login thing below isn't working for google...
They are trying to use the massive unemployment, which Obama and the Democrats did not create, but certainly made worse, to fuel anger at the banks, hoping it will save their bacon. I believe that the public is much more sophisticated than that. Unfortunately, the truth of bank profits due to public subsidy does lend a certain cache to the idea of attacking the banks. Republicans better get serious on imposing limits on Federally insured banks and limiting the leverage (thanks W.C.) of the to big too fail banks. There may be other reasonable unobtrusive and fairly free market ideas out there, but this issue could get ugly.
Bloomberg is correct in blasting Obama's proposals as bad for the Big Apple.
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