Good Morning Charles,
I did read that statistic last night from the NYT perhaps. However, I remain dubious that it is necessarily just good news. My understanding is the Unemployment Rate (UR) is still 6.3% and more people in the USA remain out of the workforce than ever. That is those that cannot be accounted for in the UR. So, while it is an achievement, I remain guarded about it.

So you're saying the republicans accomplish their goals twice as fast as democrats?

It's an achievement against a strong undertow of Republican obstructionism, sure.

But the population has grown quite a bit since the recession—one estimate is that there are now 15 million more people in the workforce to compete for those jobs.

And many of the "recovered" jobs are low-wage.

How many of those jobs are well paying jobs and not minimum wage?

far better than Europe, and in the face of 100% regressive GOP obstruction since 2010.

Sorry, Bill Clinton had as much to do with the crash than Bush. If he hadn't signed the awful financial industry deregulation bills in 2000 that Robert Rubin stroked Bill's balls in support of...it all might have happened a year later.

'Cause, obvs, Bush would have signed them in 2001 along with all the other stupid shit he did that year. But that doesn't mean the effects of the Dems' sprint to the right during the '90s should be stuffed down the memory hole.

@4,

Then there are all the people who have checked out of the workforce completely because getting on disability or making money in the gray market is less dehumanizing than working a minimum wage job. I know I couldn't get out of bed for $7.25/hour.

Both parties are to blame gawdammit.

And as 4 and 5 rightfully pointed out, this story is totally misleading because there are around 15 million more people in the country vying for these new low-wage jobs. Not to mention the fact that so many people have been forced out of the labor market that participation is at a 40 year low.

Add to that the most educated and indebted generation in history is about to graduate from college and into their parent's basement or a job at the Gap. The gummit doesn't care if you have a graduate degree and you're grossly underemployed as a bartender or an admin assistant.

The point I'm trying to make is Fuuuuuuuuccckkk thiiiiiisssss!!!!!!!

Reagan through Obama has been a continuation of the same neoliberal policy with booms and busts built in accompanied by the over all trend pointing down due to suppression of wages and elimination of good paying jobs in favor of service type jobs because we don't make anything any more.

This is a terrible gloss much like using GDP to determine "wealth", the report does not weigh quality.

While the total number of jobs may have recovered, the total earnings for those jobs is much lower, especially when adjusted for inflation.

Thank you Based Obama.

@8, it took my developmentally-disabled daughter almost a year to get on disability. She had me to represent her, and she'd been disabled since birth, and yet she was denied and we had to appeal. You obviously don't know a damn thing about difficult it is to get on SSDI.

@13,

Well, apparently it's easier than I thought because I thought the average process took two years.

I'm well aware of how difficult it is. I'm also aware that disability claims have skyrocketed in this economy. It's almost like people with limited mobility who could get by with a white collar job that has since disappeared can't manage a $7.25/hour job running around in a fast food franchise or a warehouse.

Come on @7. Tell us why old Billy Clinton did it. You know why. Stop holding back. The truth will set you free.

He was giving the Republicans what they wanted in exchange for something he wanted. So while you could blame him for giving in to them the economic shitpile is, and always has been, the fault of the Republican party and their corporate backers.

It's rather disappointing to read Charles ignore that the employment rate is essentially the same it was at the bottom of the recession: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS123000…

the countries with the most pro-biz labor policies have the lowest unemployment

@10 GDP is strongly correlated with length, quality of life

Charles is smart so he recognizes the importance of the least crazy mass party's wins in the national elections. Nader 2000 sucked

big contemporary problems where parties r different -

doctors paid too much
rent too high
global warming

the best treatments for the first two seem to b more neoliberalism. the third seems to require command treatments. doctors r largely repubs, anti-NIMBY pols mostly repubs, global warming believers r mostly dems. 2-1 dems r better

imperialism is a wash. repubs have more zeal for extraneous ground wars beyond hegemon project