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News & ArtsFriday, January 6, 2012
Economy Jobs Up, Unemployment Down
Posted by Goldy on Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 7:09 AM
The US economy added about 200,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, its lowest mark since February 2009. That's marginally good news for workers, and marginally bad for Republicans counting on the economy edging worse, not better.
One of the better tidbits of news in the report was that we added 23,000 manufacturing jobs in December. A drop in the bucket compared to the losses these past few years, but a big move in the right direction.
3
I could have sworn that Good Unemployment News during the BushCo years had most Democrats in a hissy fit about how the unemployment numbers were misleading because they dont factor in the people who have exhausted all their benefits.
Of course Toby wont mention this, it would ruin his circle jerk moment.
Of course Toby wont mention this, it would ruin his circle jerk moment.
4
In other economic news, Walmart is being deoccupied by Netherland's biggest pension fund for "for noncompliance with the United Nations' Global Compact principles" which include "core values relating to human rights, labor standards, the environment and anti-corruption efforts. Sixteen other companies were blacklisted along with Walmart, nearly all of them excluded for producing chemical or nuclear weapons that violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."
Thanks Occupy Seattle! The World is Watching!
5
@1 Well the most obvious excuse at their disposal, seasonal hiring, is absent, so they are forced to confront the unavoidable fact tha- hahaha just kidding, they're going to flat out deny that the statistics are accurate, accuse the BLS of "gaming the numbers" or both.
Post-fact politics, people.
Post-fact politics, people.
6
Goldy,
I believe it is good news for all, unqualified. I'm a Republican and didn't vote for Obama. I hope the economy gets better. Very much better.
However, it is interesting how you or anyone else on the Left would "spin" this news if the situation was reversed (a GOP president at this time).
I believe it is good news for all, unqualified. I'm a Republican and didn't vote for Obama. I hope the economy gets better. Very much better.
However, it is interesting how you or anyone else on the Left would "spin" this news if the situation was reversed (a GOP president at this time).
7
Krugman had a good blog post earlier this week summerizing jobs creation under Obama:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01…
Obama inherited an economy that was, in Krugman's words, in freefall. The first graph in the post demonstrates that. The fall continued for a few months after his inaguration because it takes a while for changed policies to get reflected in reality, but improvement has been steady.
If the GOP had managed similar results, the conservative media would be trumpeting it as a brillient victory. In general, they're much better at politicking than the liberals are, which is why they're more successful at it, even though they're demonstrably much worse at the act of governing.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01…
Obama inherited an economy that was, in Krugman's words, in freefall. The first graph in the post demonstrates that. The fall continued for a few months after his inaguration because it takes a while for changed policies to get reflected in reality, but improvement has been steady.
If the GOP had managed similar results, the conservative media would be trumpeting it as a brillient victory. In general, they're much better at politicking than the liberals are, which is why they're more successful at it, even though they're demonstrably much worse at the act of governing.
8
@3, 6: Posters (not commenters) have repeatedly noted that official unemployment numbers understate reality because of people whose benefits have run out/ have given up looking/ are underemployed. This is true whether unemployment is "high" or "low," and it scales with the number itself (greater underreporting with higher unemployment). But the official number dropping is always good, and rising is always bad. That doesn't change the fact that even "low" unemployment, say 5% in the last twenty years, still represents millions of miserable people.
Unemployment under Clinton went from 7.3% to 3.9%; GWB exactly reversed that, with a strong upward trajectory over the last year of his term.
@3, in case you don't realize it (though I'm beginning to doubt), "Toby" has a long history as a racist smear, so unless you'd welcome that label, you might want to stop using it unless it's someone's given (and preferred) name.
Unemployment under Clinton went from 7.3% to 3.9%; GWB exactly reversed that, with a strong upward trajectory over the last year of his term.
@3, in case you don't realize it (though I'm beginning to doubt), "Toby" has a long history as a racist smear, so unless you'd welcome that label, you might want to stop using it unless it's someone's given (and preferred) name.
10
3 so true
if you applied the number of out-of-work Americans to the number in the workforce when Obummer took office the actual unemployment rate is over 12%
if you applied the number of out-of-work Americans to the number in the workforce when Obummer took office the actual unemployment rate is over 12%
11
So, G-Man, you're telling us that 91.5 percent of Americans who want, and are capable of working, are really unemployed?
You willing to place your life savings and all your assets on that one, G-Man??????
You willing to place your life savings and all your assets on that one, G-Man??????
12
I would like to congratulate manufacturers like the job-creating Theo's Chocolates in Fremont, Seattle, for showing the rest of the nation how it's done, and local banks and credit unions for providing the capital for small business to create most of these jobs.
Kudos!
Kudos!
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oh, and Canada is reporting their unemployment rate (which is more accurate than ours since it counts people we ignore) is lower but not as low as expected due to more people now looking for work who had previously not been. (source: CBC, do your own fsking research)
15
"Proof" depends on your capacity for empathy. Most people understand it as racist and/or intentionally derogatory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_A2o8ICc…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_A2o8ICc…
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