Unemployment Numbers...

[Okie Boarder]

Has anyone dug in to the unemployment numbers lately. I keep hearing they are going down, but I'm wondering the drivers. I'm about to start digging in myself, but wondered if anyone else has already.

[Neognosis]

This is something I never really trust because the figure is so skewed and it's hard to have a comprehensive understanding. How many of that are underemployed, as in ran out of unemployment and are parking cars with their engineering degree?

How many have just dropped off the rolls completely?

ugh.. stats.

[Nor*Cal]

We are slowly adding jobs so the numbers are getting better. The operative word is slowly.

[J-Ro]

Takes 250,000 jobs a month just to net out at zero.

cameraboy, I have heard everything from 12-16% real unemployment. Personally I would guess around 12% based on the data my firm gets.

[chavez]

[Suprahunter]

They make it up as they go. In an election year suddenly the unemployment rate goes down . Ask the people not working since we decided to ban drilling in the gulf. Ask the construction workers. if you were one of those waiting to start on the keystone pipeline those numbers mean nothing. This administration has done NOTHING to improve employment unless you work for the government.

[jryoung]

Evidently you missed the announcement last month about a 38M acre block of the gulf to be included in a lease sale, and that onshore oil and natural gas leases are up 20% over 2010 numbers.

[Suprahunter]

Who is responsible for the increase in oil production in 2010?

The increase is a result of a series of decisions made by policymakers over the last administration. It is not a result of the Obama administration’s policies alone.

Here is EIA spokesman Jonathan Cogan with an explanation:

“Over the last several years increased U.S. crude oil production has come from large offshore projects coming online in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, as a result of increased production from enhanced oil recovery using carbon dioxide at existing onshore fields, and from rapid development of production from North Dakota’s Baaken Shale formation.”

So you think Obama is responsible for the increase He has put more people on unemployment than any other president in history.

[jryoung]

[Suprahunter]

Just as in the great depression Obama has followed the same path as Roosevelt . Instead of making a climate for business to grow he hinders them with tax and regulation.Instead of helping the homeowners facing foreclosure he rewards the banks with bailouts. Instead of drilling and building refinery's he invested billions in failed solar and windmills.
Yes I blame Obama and his incompetent administration .George was no prize either but he was a genius compared to the fraud we have now.
God help us if he gets reelected.

[nmballa]

[Okie Boarder]

So can you share 3 examples of what this administration has done to reduce the national debt in its first term?

[jryoung]

[Nor*Cal]

With natural gas discoveries and increased delivery, if we used it or had more uses for it ::cough transportation cough:: this country could be energy independent TODAY.

[jjaszkow]

[Suprahunter]

I found this on another forum and I think it sums up the Obama presidency. It will be hard to sugar coat his record for the history books. Sorry for the long read but I think you should know before the election.


Barack Obama's 32 Month Report Card
by Rich Carroll

Mr. Hope and Change wants to create a nation humbled; humiliated, casting-aside capitalism and individual freedoms for one where we the people are government controlled. This would be a system that genuflects mediocrity, steals personal aspiration and opportunity, and punishes those who strive to succeed.

A gallon of regular gasoline the day Obama was inaugurated was $1.79 on average in the U.S. Today that price is $3.59, a 100.6% increase. The number of food stamp recipients has risen since Obama took office from 31,983,716 to 43,200,878, a 35.1% jump. Long term unemployment soared 146.2% during the same 32 month period from 2,600,000 to 6,400,000. Staggering hope and change isn't it?

American citizens living in poverty have risen 9.5% from 39,800,000 to 43,600,000, and the number of unemployed has jumped almost 25% from 11,616,000 to 14,485,000 as of August 31, 2011. The number of unemployed blacks has risen from 12.6% at the end of George Bush's term to 15.8% today, a 25.4% increase, and finally, our national debt is up 34.4% from 10.627 trillion to 14,278 trillion *

Keep these figures in mind as we recount the number of firsts for this presidency:

First President to refuse to show a valid birth certificate.
First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner.
First President to have a social security number from a state he has never lived in.
First President to preside over a cut to the credit rating of the United States .
First President to violate the War Powers Act.
First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico .
First President to defy a Federal Judges court order to cease implementing the Health Care Reform Law.
First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a third party.
First President to spend a trillion dollars on shovel-ready jobs and later admit there was no such thing as shovel-ready jobs.
First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of companies to his union supporters.
First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act through executive fiat.
First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S. , including those with criminal convictions.
First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his political appointees.
First President to terminate Americas ability to put a man in space.
First President to encourage racial discrimination and intimidation at polling places.
First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being present.
First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it.
First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly speak-out on the reasons for their rate increases.
First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state they are allowed to locate a factory.
First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath to protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN)
First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been properly issued years ago.
First President to fire an inspector general of Ameri-corps for catching one of his friends in a corruption case.
First President to appoint 45 Czars to replace elected officials in his office.
First President to golf 73 separate times in his first two and a half years in office.
First President to hide his medical, educational and travel records.
First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn it.
First President to coddle American enemies while alienating Americas allies.
First President to publicly bow to Americas enemies while refusing to salute the U.S. Flag.
First President to go on multiple global apology tours.
First President to go on 17 lavish vacations, including date nights and Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends, paid for by the taxpayer.
First President to refuse to wear the U.S. Flag lapel pin.
First President to have 22 personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his wife.
First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000.00 a year at taxpayer expense.
First President to repeat the Holy Qur'an tells us, and openly admit the early morning call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound on earth.

Remember that 32 months of Obama White House we the people have accumulated national debt at a rate more than 27 times as fast as during the rest of our nation's entire history, as the Obama's plan their next extravagant vacation to the Indonesian Island nation of Bali .

Hope and change anyone ?????????

* sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Wall Street Journal, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dept of Labor, Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller, Federal Reserve, US Treasury, Heritage Foundation.

[jryoung]

What's the over under on the truth or" in context "of those points above? 30%

[chavez]

[Faust]

[finkle]

Faust, I remember paying $2/gallon 3 years ago.


jryoung, chavez, I have gotten that same right-wing propoganda in emails several times verbatim. That is directly where that came from. I consider myself a republican but I keep an open mind to problems and solutions. There is no denying, however, that under Obama, our nation has indurred more debt than the under every president before....combined. Now is that partly a result of Bush Jr.? Probably, but I don't know. I still put a majority of the blame on Obama for digging the hole that he has though.

[eeven73]

Actually gas was below $2 in early 09, after being $4ish in 08

[Neognosis]

[chavez]

finkle, one thing you have to keep in mind, is that one of the first things done under the O admin, was to remove the accounting games being played by Bush Jr.

The Bush admin was literally cooking the books - playing accounting games based on assumptions that were not going to materialize and the worst part - he virtually excluded the cost of military activity in the ME from their budget numbers.

So anyhow, if you don't take "O caused far more debt" thing with a big ol grain of salt, you should.

[chavez]

[eeven73]

Aren't all of the projections from ObamaCare based on 4% annual growth?

[chavez]

eeven73, hey, many financial advisors and most state pension programs still project based on 7% or higher growth. Or, in other words, somewhere just below the historical annualized return of the SP500.

Anyhow, 4% GDP growth is, IIRC, something near the average GDP growth number, historically.

*Disclaimer* Past performance is not indicative of future results.

But, they gotta base projections on something, right.

[eeven73]

[Porterwake]

Someone has been drinking the Fox News kool-aid.

[Okie Boarder]

With all of the Bush aspect of things aside, I still struggle to understand why each year the budget is still a deficit spending plan. Maybe y'all can bullet out a few points that explains that.

[Neognosis]

I don't understand that either.

But, this is not a problem unique to any party.

As I understand it, Clinton was the only one in my lifetime to submit a budget with a surplus.

WTF?

[chavez]

[Baltfrog]

So clearly some of those points have less truth then others, but you can say the same about both sides.

"The Bush admin was literally cooking the books"

This is a left wing mud sling attempt. We ask him to back up his assumptions with facts but then make other wild ones without backing them up with fact.

The only point I am making is that Fox news spews bs, but so does CNN. Those who sit there and attack fox news tend to swallow everything cnn feeds them. Not everyone but most. You have to look at all media and understand the motivation, because no media is unbiased, not even NPR so don't try to argue that.

[eeven73]

[Okie Boarder]

eeven73, good point...LOL! "Proposed" budget is more like it. My question is why is the President turning in a budget proposal that continues to deficit spend? What happened to the idea of cutting the deficit?

[Neognosis]

All presidents have done this, except for clinton, in my entire lifetime. again, WTF?