49 of 50 States Have Lost Jobs Since Democrats' Stimulus
Every time Barack Obama, Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi say that the "stimulus" is working, they insult your intelligence.
From a post by Rep. Dave Camp, ranking Republican on the House Ways & Means Committee:
While the President recently claimed his February 2009 stimulus bill will "save or create 1.5 million jobs in 2010 after saving or creating as many as 2 million jobs thus far,” the table below compares the White House's original projections of state-by-state job creation with the actual change in state payroll employment through February 2010, using the latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor. The data show that only Alaska and the District of Columbia have seen net job creation since the enactment of stimulus, and even those levels fall far short of what the White House originally forecast.
To see a state-by-state breakdown of job loses, click here.
Thirteen months later, the Obama/Pelosi "stimulus" package isn't doing much stimulating.
From the Philadelphia Business Journal:
Unemployment climbed to 11.4 percent in Philadelphia in January and to 8.9 percent across the state in February, levels not seen in more than 25 years, City Controller Alan Butkovitz said Thursday in his monthly economic snapshot.
Pennsylvania's unemployment rate was last at 8.9 percent in September 1984 and Philadelphia's unemployment rate was last at 11.4 percent in May 1983. The city's January unemployment rate, which is the most recent data available, increased nearly a full percentage point from December.
Can't wait to see the job loses once Obamacare gets roling.
On March 25, 1894, Jacob S. Coxey began leading an "army" of unemployed from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington D.C., to demand help from the federal government.
It's time for another march on Washington.
The Obama Recession is in its 13th month and Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have given nothing but lip service to the 17 million Americans out of work.
How's that Obamacare working out for you? As well as the Obama "stimulus" package?
Employers are already warning workers about higher health-care costs and reduced benefits, according to The Wall Street Journal.
From a new WSJ editorial:
Even before President Obama signed the bill on Tuesday, Caterpillar said it would cost the company at least $100 million more in the first year alone. Medical device maker Medtronic warned that new taxes on its products could force it to lay off a thousand workers. Now Verizon joins the roll of businesses staring at adverse consequences.
In an email titled "President Obama Signs Health Care Legislation" sent to all employees Tuesday night, the telecom giant warned that "we expect that Verizon's costs will increase in the short term." While executive vice president for human resources Marc Reed wrote that "it is difficult at this point to gauge the precise impact of this legislation," and that ObamaCare does reflect some of the company's policy priorities, the message to workers was clear: Expect changes for the worse to your health benefits as the direct result of this bill, and maybe as soon as this year.
And this is just the beginning of the havoc Obamacare will create.
Medicare is broke. Social Security is broke. The postal service is broke. The entire federal government is broke. Why am I having such a difficult time believing that Obamacare will end up reducing the federal deficit, just like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi say?
From POLITICO:
The Democratic health care bill would cost $940 billion over 10 years and cut the federal deficit over the next two decades — figures that should help ease the worries of fiscal hawks who have been reluctant about supporting the sweeping measure.
The bill would reduce the deficit by about $130 billion in the first 10 years and by $1.2 trillion over the second 10 years. It will expand coverage to 95 percent of Americans, according to Congressional Budget Office figures released Thursday by House Democrats.
Why do I have such a hard time believing the government? Would Obama lie?
Shocking AP Fact Check: Premiums Will Rise Under Obamacare
From a new "Fact Check" by The Associated Press on Obamacare:
Buyers, beware: President Barack Obama says his health care overhaul will lower premiums by double digits, but check the fine print.
Premiums are likely to keep going up even if the health care bill passes, experts say. If cost controls work as advertised, annual increases would level off with time. But don't look for a rollback. Instead, the main reason premiums would be more affordable is that new government tax credits would help cover the cost for millions of people.
I cannot believe Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have been lying to us all this time!
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review notes that Pennsylvannia lawmakers need to revisit Act 1 of 2006, Ed Rendell's bogus scheme to stem rising property taxes. The legislation has failed miserably, much like most of Rendell's schemes.
From the editorial:
The 2006 state law that was supposed to give taxpayers at least some say in school budget increases has instead led to continuing property tax hikes -- with marginal public recourse.
Unlike in most states, Pennsylvania's 501 school districts have carte blanche to nose-thumb taxpayers -- most notoriously in union contracts, which become public after the dealing is done.
Pennsylvanians deserve a meaningful say in what their school boards spend. And voter referendums shouldn't be the exception to the rule. That change begins by reforming Act 1.
The unemployment rates rose in 30 states in January, according to the U.S. Labor Department, as the Obama Recession enters its second full year.
Five states reported record-high joblessness in January: California, at 12.5 percent; South Carolina, 12.6 percent; Florida, 11.9 percent; North Carolina, 11.1 percent; and Georgia, 10.4 percent, according to The Associated Press.
Michigan's unemployment rate is still the nation's highest, at 14.3 percent, followed by Nevada, with 13 percent and Rhode Island at 12.7 percent. South Carolina and California round out the top five, according to AP.
For a state-by-state look at unemployment rates, click here.
Top Senate Democrat Harry Reid says it was "really good" news that 36,000 Americans lost their jobs in February. The person who should lose his job is Harry Reid.
The Obama Administration is working overtime to put a positive spin on the dismal February employment numbers. The official government unemployment rate is 9.7% but that only counts people who are still actively looking for work. Millions more have given up looking for non-existent jobs as the Obama recession continues.
The Associated Press calculates that the real U.S. unemployment rate is closer to 17 percent!!!
From an "Unemployment by the Numbers" feature compiled by AP Economics Writer Christopher S. Rugaber:
UNDEREMPLOYED
8.8 million: Number of part-time workers who would have preferred full-time work last month
2.5 million: People without jobs who want to work but have stopped looking
16.8 percent: "Underemployment" rate in February if you include the above two categories
17.4 percent: Underemployment rate in October, the highest on records dating to 1994
So much for change. The most secretive and least accountable administration ever continues to break campaign promises ... and the lap dog liberal media just rolls over.
The Washington Times notes that Barack Obama has gone 215 consecutive days without a formal press conference.
From a Times' article by Joseph Curl:
President Obama, who pledged to establish the most open and transparent administration in history, on Monday surpasses his predecessor's record for avoiding a full-fledged question-and-answer session with White House reporters in a formal press conference.
President George W. Bush's longest stretch between prime-time, nationally televised press conferences was 214 days, from April 4 to Nov. 4, 2004. Mr. Obama tops that record on Monday, going 215 days - stretching back to July 22, according to records kept by CBS Radio's veteran reporter Mark Knoller.
The president has seemingly shunned formal, prime-time sessions since his last disastrous presser, when he said police in Cambridge, Mass., "acted stupidly" by arresting a Harvard professor who broke into a home that turned out to be his own. The off-the-cuff comment took over the news cycle for a week, overshadowing his push for health care reform, and culminated in a White House "Beer Summit," where the president hosted white police officer James Crowley and the black Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr.
From a new editorial at Investor's Business Daily:
Is the president right when he says the stimulus kept the U.S. from falling into a depression? No. In fact, too much government tinkering and spending, not too little, has given us the jobless recovery we have now.
Democrats in charge of both the White House and Congress are firing all their guns at once to tout the benefits of the $862 billion stimulus package passed a year ago this week. They've even planned a 35-city tour to support it. Their message?
"One year later, it is largely thanks to the recovery act that a second depression is no longer a possibility," President Obama said Wednesday. The stimulus act has created 2 million jobs, he claimed, predicting 1.5 million more this year from the program.
Is it just a coincidence that the 3.5 million jobs he is claiming is exactly what the White House predicted early last year? We doubt it. But whatever the case, Obama's claims are false.
Start with this: Stimulus didn't save us from an economic cataclysm. Obama himself said so back in March, noting that the economy was "not as bad as we think," and that he was "highly optimistic." It's clear he didn't think we were on the brink of a Depression.
Pat Meehan, a Republican seeking Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District seat, posted this commentary at his blog on the one-year anniversary of Barack Obama signing the so-called "stimulus" bill into law:
Today marks the one year anniversary of enactment of the federal stimulus bill, which Democrats promised would help reverse rising unemployment rates. Are you and your family better off today than you were a year ago?
According to the latest information from the Department of Labor, unemployment has only increased locally. As of December 2009, in Delaware County, unemployment has risen to 7.9 percent – a 39 percent increase in 12 months. Chester County has seen unemployment rise 32 percent over levels from a year ago while Montgomery County has seen unemployment rolls grow by 31 percent.
Where are the jobs we were promised as a result of the $1 trillion stimulus bill? With 30 to 40 percent more people unemployed this year compared to last, it is clear that the stimulus bill is not having the desired impact.
Instead we have witnessed what I call crony capitalism. Favored pet industries of legislators, questionable government programs, and numerous wasteful projects have been the beneficiary of the stimulus funding.
In December CBS News reported on various examples of some $7 billion in wasteful stimulus projects. Included in the report was stimulus money to fund a new martini bar, stimulus dollars to study rat sex on hard drugs, and taxpayer dollars funding a $9 million footbridge in Massachusetts that benefits a private developer, among many other projects. Is this realty the best use of taxpayer dollars? And how is this helping local small businesses that are struggling to make payroll or workers locally looking for jobs?
This type of waste and abuse is clearly not the best use of taxpayer dollars. We need to do more to stimulate consumer spending and encourage new business creation.
You can read more about my specific job creation ideas here.
The Obama Ministry of Propaganda is working overtime today, the one-year anniversary of failed "stimulus" bill, to convince Americans that their jobs were "saved" by massive government spending.
Ed Rendell, loyal Obama minion that he is, claims that 84,000 jobs in Pennsylvania were "saved" by the Obama debt package. Why stop at 84,000? Why not 840,000? It's just a number Democrats pluck from thin air.
Unemployment remains at a 30-year high in the United States with more than 17 million Americans looking for work. That's the Obama legacy.
Investor's Business Daily is still waiting for those "stimulus" jobs Obama promised to materialize.
From a new editorial:
How many jobs will the recovery bring? Not enough, if the latest forecast from the president's top economists is to be believed. So it doesn't go without notice, this is an admission that the stimulus has failed.
You get the feeling people have had enough of The Chosen One?
TV ratings for Barack Obama's first State of the Union address were down 7 percent compared to ratings for George W. Bush's first speech.
Doesn't make sense. The media keeps telling us Obama is the most popular person on the planet. There's more people in the U.S. than there were in 2002 and there's more TVs. You'd think Obama's ratings would go through the roof. Nope.
From The Associated Press:
About 48 million viewers watched President Barack Obama's first State of the Union address on 11 networks, with Fox TV drawing the biggest share.
The Nielsen Co. said viewership for Wednesday’s speech was 7 percent lower than for President George W. Bush’s first such address in 2002 but 5 percent higher than for President Bill Clinton’s inaugural State of the Union speech in 1994.
From 9-10 p.m. EST, more than 9.7 million people watched the hour-plus speech on Fox, with ABC drawing 7.6 million viewers, NBC 7.2 million and CBS 6.2 million, according to preliminary Nielsen figures Thursday.
Among the cable news networks, Fox News was the leader with 5.7 million, followed by CNN with 3.3 million and MSNBC with 2.4 million. The speech also was carried live on Telemundo, Univision, BET and CNBC.
What is "Plan B" for a political party with no new ideas?
Now that Bush-bashing has backfired for the Dems in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts, what will the party run on in November?
It's now the Obama recession. It's now Obama's wars. It's now Obama's deficits.
From POLITICO:
After three consecutive losses in statewide races, some top Democrats are questioning a tactic aimed at boosting the party's candidates in each of those contests: Bush-bashing.
"Voters are pretty tired of the blame game," said longtime Democratic strategist Steve Hildebrand, a top aide on Obama's presidential campaign. "What a stupid strategy that was."
The Obama Recession continues -- 12 consecutive months of futility by the best and brightest the Democratic Party has to offer.
From The Associated Press:
Unemployment rates rose in 43 states last month, the government said Friday, painting a bleak picture of the job market that illustrated nationwide data released two weeks ago. The rise in joblessness was a sharp change from November, when 36 states said their unemployment rates fell. Four states — South Carolina, Delaware, Florida and North Carolina — reported record-high jobless rates in December. New Jersey's rate, meanwhile, rose to a 33-year high of 10.1 percent while New York's reached a 26-year high of 9 percent. Analysts said the report showed the economy is recovering at too weak a pace to generate consistent job creation.
President Obama's job approval rating has fallen to 46 percent, according to a new CBS News poll.
That rating is Mr. Obama's lowest yet in CBS News polling, and the poll marks the first time his approval rating has fallen below the 50 percent mark. Forty-one percent now say they disapprove of Mr. Obama's performance as president.
In last month's CBS News poll, 50 percent of Americans approved of how the president was handling his job, while thirty-nine percent disapproved.
CBS is a charter member of the Obama Media and it must pain Katie Couric and the rest of the far-left ideologues to report on the poll.
Read more about Obama's declining poll numbers here.
A comprehensive examination of "stimulus" spending on infrastructure has revealed "no effect" on unemployment, providing further evidence that the "stimulus" package Democrats rushed through Congress in February 2009 was nothing more than a massive pork-barrel spending spree.
From a report by Matt Apuzzo and Brett J. Blackledge of The Associated Press:
A federal spending surge of more than $20 billion for roads and bridges in President Barack Obama's first stimulus has had no effect on local unemployment rates, raising questions about his argument for billions more to address an "urgent need to accelerate job growth."
An Associated Press analysis of stimulus spending found that it didn't matter if a lot of money was spent on highways or none at all: Local unemployment rates rose and fell regardless. And the stimulus spending only barely helped the beleaguered construction industry, the analysis showed.
With the nation's unemployment rate at 10 percent and expected to rise, Obama wants a second stimulus bill from Congress including billions of additional dollars for roads and bridges — projects the president says are "at the heart of our effort to accelerate job growth."
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood defended the administration's recovery program Monday, writing on his blog that "DOT-administered stimulus spending is the only thing propping up the transportation construction industry."
Road spending would total nearly $28 billion of the Jobs for Main Street Act, a $75 billion second stimulus to help lower the unemployment rate and improve the dismal job market for construction workers. The Senate is expected to consider the House-approved bill this month.
But AP's analysis, which was reviewed by independent economists at five universities, showed the strategy of pumping transportation money into counties hasn't affected local unemployment rates so far.
"There seems to me to be very little evidence that it's making a difference," said Todd Steen, an economics professor at Hope College in Michigan who reviewed the AP analysis.
And there's concern about relying on transportation spending a second time.
"My bottom line is, I'd be skeptical about putting too much more money into a second stimulus until we've seen broader effects from the first stimulus," said Aaron Jackson, a Bentley University economist who also reviewed AP's analysis.
Gov. Ed Rendell has put out one of those idiotic press releases that Joe Biden has become famous for, claiming that federal stimulus money has created "more than 4,200 full-time equivalent jobs" in Pennsylvania.
What the hell is a "full-time equivalent job" and what about the 200,000 jobs Pennsylvania has lost during the Obama recession?
If you want a good laugh, read Rendell's press release below.
Time is running out for Barack Obama and his socialist agenda. The American people want their country back ... and they're not taking prisoners. That's why some big-name Democrats are running for cover instead of facing the voters.
From POLITICO:
The grim outlook for Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections just got a little worse.
Four top Democrats — including veteran Sens. Chris Dodd and Byron Dorgan — all prepared to pull the plug on their campaigns in a 24-hour period that began Tuesday, and in the process, offered an unnerving glimpse at the perilous election year ahead.
With Dorgan's stunning retirement announcement Tuesday evening, Democrats are now facing their bleakest election outlook in years — and the very real possibility the party will lose its 60-40 Senate supermajority after the November elections. On the House side, the prospect of a 20 to 30 seat loss is already looking increasingly likely.
"It's not good news for Democrats," said Roy Temple, a Democratic strategist. "The reality is this is going to be a challenging year, and this is an additional challenge you would prefer not to have. Because of the success of the last two cycles, there are a lot of seats to defend. This is just an additional complication."
The Democrats' Dirty Dozen Debacles of 2009 A Year-in-Review of Democrat-Controlled Government
The Republican Study Committee released the following list of disappointments from 2009, documenting the 12 most destructive actions, policies, and events of the past year:
1) January 22: Obama Announces Closure of Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility In one of the first actions of his presidency, President Obama declared that international appeasement trumps common sense security by signing executive orders to shutter Gitmo. The facility has been used since 2002 to detain enemy combatants who pose a national security threat. As we learned on Christmas Day, releasing those held at Gitmo, as the President seeks to do, is a significant threat to the safety of the American people.
2) January 23: President Repeals Mexico City Policy, Freeing Up Tax Dollars for Overseas Abortions In a blatant flip-flop from the campaign trail, the President continued his use of the executive order, this time to funnel U.S. tax dollars to abortion providers overseas. As a candidate the President said he sought to reduce the number of abortions; instead, he put taxpayers on the hook for abortions outside our borders.
3) February 17: President Obama Signs the So-called "Stimulus" With promises of millions of jobs "saved or created" and unemployment under 8%, the President shackled generations of Americans to reckless spending by signing a 1.1 trillion dollar package of political pet projects and misguided fiscal policy. As Republicans predicted, the so-called stimulus has done nothing but stimulate unemployment, debt, and bigger government.
4) April 2: House Passes Budget that Borrows, Taxes, and Spends Too Much Casting aside even the appearance of fiscal restraint, Democrats passed a budget resolution that proposed a record deficit in every year and would likely put a balanced budget out of touch for more than a generation. The smallest budget deficit over the next ten years is a stunning 28% higher than the previous record deficit.
5) April 17: Administration Releases Interrogation Memos Opening the U.S. counter-terrorism playbook to our enemies and the world, the Justice Department released documents detailing the methods our intelligence community uses to extract intelligence from terror suspects. This action set the stage for a year full of CIA politicization, most notably when the Speaker of the House called the CIA liars with no justification.
6) June 1: White House Buys Car Company In what represents the culmination of the new political economy, in which Washington, not markets, picks winners and losers, the administration upped its investment to $50 billion and took a 60 percent stake in auto giant GM. It's become clear that taxpayers will not be seeing their money back any time soon, if ever.
7) June 26: National Energy Tax Passes the House After twisting and perhaps breaking enough arms, Democrat leaders cobbled together the votes needed to pass a massive national energy tax that would cripple the American economy. The bill contains 397 regulations and 1,060 government mandates, is projected to cost American families more than $3,000 a year and would reduce employment by more than a million jobs.
8) October 28: Unconstitutional Thought Crimes Law Hitches Ride on Defense Bill With truly stunning cynicism for our military, the President enacted a law that puts justice for one classification of people before others by attaching it to a bill that is supposed to provide resources for our men and women in uniform. The bill was a grave abuse of both policy and procedure.
9) November 17: House Passes a Government Takeover of Health Care With more than three dozen brave Democrats joining Republicans in opposition, Democrat leaders in the House rammed through a massive government intervention into the health care system that has been completely rejected by the American people. The package is chock full of government decision-making, huge tax hikes, slashes to Medicare without real reform, limited access to care, and cost increases for American patients.
10) December 1: Obama Delays and Then Tips Our Hand on Afghanistan After his top commander said resources were needed and time is of the essence, the President "deliberated" for nearly three months on the way forward in Afghanistan. When he finally made his decision, he somehow managed to declare the beginning and the end of a new operation at the same time.
11) December 24: The Integrity of the Senate Put On the Auction Block In an historic disgrace to the great legislators who have graced the Senate before him, Majority Leader Reid engaged in a brazen operation of political bribery to pass a health care bill that is growing less popular by the day. The handouts that greased the skids to pass the government takeover of healthcare on Christmas Eve will surely haunt this Congress for decades to come.
12) All year long: Missed Opportunity to Work Together and Change the Tone Despite hollow speeches and faux sincerity, Democrats set forth one of the most partisan and opaque agendas in American history. Rejecting Republican input, and shutting the minority out of the legislative process in an unprecedented manner, Democrats jammed nearly all of their major proposals through the House on near party line votes, often only releasing legislation just hours before it came to the floor. The American people were looking for a new day, however what they saw was old Washington (and Chicago) on overdrive and a government that is not responsive to the American people.
Poll: Just 29% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction
The American people left a lump of coal in Barack Obama's Christmas stocking this holiday season.
Just 29% say the U.S. is heading in right direction, according to Rasmussen Reports.
And the poll was conducted before the Senate approved the disastrous Obamacare bill that will raise taxes and increase insurance premiums for tens of millions of Americans.
From Rasmussen Reports:
Just 29% of U.S. voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, the lowest level measured since early February, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
The percentage of voters who felt the country is heading in the right direction remained in the narrow range of 31% to 35% from July to early November. For the previous three weeks, however, confidence in the country’s current course has held steady at 30%.
The majority of voters (65%) continue to believe the nation is heading down the wrong track. The latest finding is up slightly from last week and has remained fairly consistent for months. In the weeks just prior to Barack Obama's election, more than 80% of voters felt that way.
This time last year, 17% said the country was heading in the right direction, while 77% said it was heading down the wrong track. Following Obama's inauguration in January, voter confidence in the direction of the country began steadily increasing, peaking at 40% in early May. Since then voter confidence has steadily declined.
Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Republicans and 74% of unaffiliated voters believe the nation is heading down the wrong track, findings that have held roughly steady for months. Democrats are more closely divided on the question: 52% say right direction, 38% say wrong track. Just nine percent (9%) of GOP voters say the United States is heading in the right direction.
Newspaper: Obama/Pelosi 'stimulus' the costliest fiscal failure in U.S. history
From Investor's Business Daily:
This year's $787 billion "stimulus" is now the costliest fiscal failure in U.S. history. Put bluntly, it didn't work — in fact, it made things worse. So what do you follow it up with? Why, "Stimulus, Part II."
Government is by its very essence wasteful, but it doesn't have to be stupid. Yet, with more than a year's experience under our belt and no real progress seen in ending our jobless recovery, you'd think Congress would be hesitant to pass another big-spending, job-killing failure like the last.
On Thursday, however, the House passed another $175 billion "jobs" bill. Given what we know, this is an act of either total ignorance or breathtaking political opportunism — or a bit of both.
It amounts to a third round of stimulus. In 2008, President George W. Bush tried one, handing out some $152 billion — a bit under 1% of GDP — to Americans and inviting them to spend it to get the economy growing again. Instead, they saved it or paid down credit cards.
This year's mammoth stimulus, we were assured by the Obama White House, would be different. It would cap unemployment at 8% and kick-start the economy. But the unemployment rate soared above 10%, and we've lost 4 million jobs this year alone.
So it's no longer debatable: Based on what was promised, the stimulus has failed. Even so, we now may get another one (called a "jobs bill" this time), which no doubt will be just as wasteful.
Schroder blasts 'disgraceful' tactics by Rendell, Eachus
Rep. Curt Schroder, R-155th Dist., the Republican chairman of the House Gaming Oversight Committee, said in a prepared statement Thursday that Gov. Ed Rendell and House Majority Leader Todd Eachus (D-Luzerne) have destroyed any credibility they may have had with state universities and the public after insisting that legislation authorizing table games in the Commonwealth had to pass before state universities could be funded.
"House Republicans had insisted that the money needed to fund the universities of Pittsburgh, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln was there all along and that the universities were being used as pawns in Rendell's and Eachus's determination to expand gambling in Pennsylvania," said Schroder. "Now the majority leader, who for weeks had been towing the governor's line, admits that the money is indeed there and that the governor should sign the legislation on his desk to release the funding.
"For weeks, the universities, students and their families have had to endure the possibility that substantial tuition increases would be necessary if the state's appropriation did not come through. Students have had to entertain the possibility that they might not be able to afford to return to college for the spring semester. It was a cruel and unnecessary exercise - all to satisfy the gambling ambitions of Rendell and Eachus," Schroder said.
At a Harrisburg press conference earlier in the day, Rendell said he will sign legislation that the House passed earlier this week, releasing $700 million for the universities. The House did not take up table games legislation, pushing a possible vote on the issue until early 2010.
Small Business League: Obama Job Summit a 'Publicity Stunt'
The following statement was issued today the American Small Business League in response to President Obama's Job Forum:
The American Small Business League (ASBL) is concerned that President Obama's jobs forum is yet another publicity stunt designed to yield positive public relations, as opposed to creating new jobs.
The summit will include, "130 liberal economists, union leaders, Fortune 500 executives, and even a few small-business owners," according to Kent Hoover, Washington bureau chief for bizjournals.
President Obama's Forum on Jobs comes just weeks after the administration held a small business-lending forum with a mere seven handpicked small business owners invited to speak.
The ASBL maintains that if President Obama really wanted to stimulate the national economy and create new jobs he would support the small business community and honor the promises he made during the 2008 presidential election.
During the 2008 election cycle, President Obama promised to, "end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants."
To date, President Obama has failed to honor that promise.
The ASBL maintains that stopping the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants alone would redirect more than $100 billion a year in federal infrastructure spending to America's chief job creators, its small businesses. Firms with 20 or fewer employees are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data.
On October 26, Arianna Huffington took aim at President Obama's priorities by stating, "If this 'small business lending' were really a high-priority for the administration, it could, you know, actually do something about it."
The ASBL maintains that President Obama's rhetoric is inconsistent with his actions.
"If President Obama were really serious about creating jobs he would back H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act, which will redirect over $100 billion a year in federal infrastructure spending to the small businesses where most Americans work and where nearly all new jobs are created. H.R. 2568 is the simplest and most effective economic stimulus anyone has proposed to date," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "As George S. Patton said, 'A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.' Small businesses cannot afford the luxury of waiting for President Obama to become the man we all thought he was."
Independent reviews of Obama's claims of job created by the stimulus bill show that the government is making up numbers. As Rep. Joe Wilson so aptly said it, "You lie!"
From Watchdog.org:
Just how big is the stimulus package? Well for one, it has doubled the size of the House of Representatives, according to recovery.gov, which says that funds were distributed to 440 congressional districts that do not exist.
According to data retrieved from recovery.gov, nearly $6.4 billion was used to “create or save” just under 30,000 jobs in these phantom congressional districts–almost $225,000 per job. The Web site operates on an $84 million budget and is tasked with monitoring the distribution of the $787 billion stimulus package passed by Congress–which, for the record, counts 435 members–in early 2009.
It's clear you can't trust anything coming from the Obama Ministry of Propaganda or the state-run media that should be reporting on the most corrupt and deceptive administration ever.
By formally endorsing the House health care bill, President Barack Obama effectively announced that the central promise of his 2008 campaign was a lie, says Americans for Tax Reform, a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups.
During the campaign, Obama made a "firm pledge" not to raise "any form" of taxes on families making less than $250,000 per year but the Pelosi bill would impose those taxes on middle-class familes, ATR argues.
The unemployment rate in the U.S. rose to 10.2 percent today despite guarantees by Barack Obama when he signed the $787 billion "stimulus" bill in February that unemployment would never rise above 8 percent. Of all of Obama's lies, this one is the biggest.
More than 16 million Americans are out of work, while Obama continues to insist that his "stimulus" package has "saved or created" 1 million jobs.
The Obama Administration has offered no proof of those 1 million jobs and has been caught several times "cooking" the numbers. The Associated Press continues to report on massive fraud involving the so-called "stimulus" jobs, whereby agencies receiving government money are counting jobs more than once or counting minimal raises given to workers as "saved" jobs to please their Washington masters.
On the same day the Labor Department released the new unemployment figures, Obama signed a 20-week extension of unemployment benefits for 1 million out-of-work Americans whose benefits had run out.
But there are another 6 million Americans who are out of work and have exhausted all unemployment benefits including extensions. Those 6 million will have to put "hope and change" on the table to feed their families as the Obama Recession continues to get worse. (A record 23 million Americans are now collecting food stamps.)
Barack Obama came into office with a 62% job approval number, but that has dropped to 48% by October. Rasmussen offers a month-by-month look at Obama's failed presidency.
From Rasmussen Reports:
The president's ratings dipped slightly in October after stabilizing in September.
In October, for the third straight month, 39% Strongly Disapproved of the president's performance. The number who Strongly Approved fell two percentage points to 29%, the president's lowest full-month total to date. That leads to a Presidential Approval Index rating of -10, also a new low for Obama.
Also in October, the president's total approval slipped a point to 48%. His total disapproval remained stable at 51%.
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, who represents Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District, wants to set the record straight about the latest bogus announcement by the Obama Administration that it has "created or saved" 650,000 jobs.
Earlier this week, The Associated Press reported that the official count of "created or saved" jobs from the $787 billion stimulus was 25,000. It's amazing what you can do with numbers.
Obama released figures from his economic team stating that more than 40,000 jobs have been "created or saved" in Pennsylvania by passage of the stimulus bill, according to Pitts.
Nationwide 650,000 jobs have been "created or saved" at the cost of approximately $1.2 million each, Pitts says. Economists agree that the figure of jobs "saved" is misleading and is not a legitimate economic measure, Pitts says.
Pennsylvania has lost nearly 200,000 jobs in just the past year alone. Nationwide, more than 15 million Americans are out of work. The unemployment rate in the U.S. stands at a 27-year high.
Rep. Pitts' statement follows:
"Once again the administration is claiming that the wasteful $787 billion stimulus bill has 'saved' a distinct number of jobs. The White House has produced a number that is meaningless. There is no way to count jobs that weren't lost. I could just as easily come up with a formula to count the jobs that have been lost due this Administration’s policies on energy, health, and taxation.
"The truth is, unemployment is nearly two percent higher than the President projected. The administration’s website right now shows only one job saved in the entire 16th Congressional District. I understand that these numbers may be updated later today but they certainly won’t change very much. Right now this website shows that one job was created at the cost of $277,000 in government contracts.
"The government cannot create jobs, but it can make is easier or harder for employers to increase their payroll. With job-killing tax hikes in health care reform and the energy legislation being considered in Congress right now, how can we expect employers to invest in their business with confidence?"
News Item: 23 states report higher unemployment in September.
The Obama Recession continues ... and the state-run media is working overtime attempting to cover up the failing presidency of Barack Obama.
While the president and his loyal minions are wasting their time attacking FOX News for daring to criticize Obama's mounting failures, millions of Americans are losing their jobs while millions more have given up looking for work.
From The Associated Press:
Forty-three states reported job losses in September, while only seven gained jobs, the Labor Department said Wednesday.
Wednesday's report underscores the uneven nature of the recovery. The unemployment rate dropped in some Midwestern states as the manufacturing sector improved. But Florida and Nevada, two of the states hit hardest by the housing slump, reported record-high jobless rates.
Some of the states that lost jobs still saw their unemployment rates improve, as discouraged workers gave up looking for work. People who are out of work but no longer looking for jobs aren't counted as officially unemployed.
That trend was evident nationwide in September, as nearly 600,000 people dropped out of the work force, the department reported earlier this month.
The U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.8 percent in September, a 26-year high, from 9.7 percent. Some economists estimate it would have topped 10 percent if there had been no change in the labor force.
Harris Poll: Americans Give Obama Negative Ratings on 12 Key Issues
If this was a report card, Barack Obama would be flunking out of school.
The latest Harris Poll shows a majority of Americans give President Obama negative ratings on his handling of a dozen major issues.
Among the lowest numbers are for Obama's handling of unemployment, the federal deficit and the war in Afghanistan.
From the Harris Poll:
As President Obama's overall approval rating continues to slide, he cannot find much solace in Americans' opinions on his handling of 12 different issues as he does not have a positive rating on any of these.
The top one for President Obama is reducing the threat of terrorist attack with 41% giving his job on this a positive rating, down from 49% who said so in August. Two in five Americans also give the President positive marks on the environment (40%, down from 43% in August) and education (40% up from 37% in August).
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,293 adults surveyed online between October 5 and 12, 2009 by Harris Interactive.
President Obama is dealing with two different wars - one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan - and the American public is not pleased with his handling of either of them. In August two in five U.S. adults (42%) gave the president positive marks on his handling of the war in Iraq. Currently, that number has dropped to 34% while 66% give President Obama negative ratings on this war. The numbers for Afghanistan have gone down even more. In August, two in five (41%) gave the president positive ratings on the war in Afghanistan but now just one-quarter of Americans (27%) give him positive marks while 73% give him negative ratings.
The president has also spent a great deal of time trying to win the American public's support for his health reform plan but does not seem to be making much headway on this issue. Just three in ten Americans (31%) give President Obama positive ratings on his handling of health care while 69% give him negative ratings. In August, over one-third (35%) of U.S. adults gave the president positive ratings on this issue.
Looking at economic issues at least two-thirds of Americans give him negative ratings on all of these issues. On the economy overall, 67% give the president negative marks while one-third (33%) give him positive ones. In September, 40% gave President Obama positive marks on his handling of the economy. More specifically on his handling of regulating the financial system three in ten Americans (31%) give the president positive ratings while 69% give him negative marks. In August, 37% of Americans gave the president's job on this positive marks.
When it comes to the issue of taxes, three in ten Americans (29%) give the president positive marks on his handling of this issue while 71% give him negative ratings. Just one-quarter of Americans (26%) gives the president's handling of employment/unemployment a positive rating, down from 31% who felt this way in August. And, his lowest number is on the federal budget deficit where almost four in five Americans (78%) give President Obama negative marks and only 22% give him positive ratings.
So what?
The President needs a win, whether it is health care reform, some good economic numbers that matter to the American people or a change in Afghanistan. But, until he has something that resonates with the American public in a positive light, there is a sense that a negative attitude will permeate over all issues. One thing to note, education has actually ticked up a little and the White House had put forth their new education initiatives recently. Maybe this is the one issue that they should focus on for the near term, as long as they don't take their eye off of the economy.
Pennsylvania employers shed another 10,300 jobs in September, according to new employment figures released today by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.
The Rendell Administration is attempting to put the best possible spin on the continuing bad news by pointing out that Pennsylvania's 8.8% unemployment rate "remained below the United States' unemployment rate, which rose one-tenth of a point to 9.8 percent."
Doesn't that make you feel better, especially if your unemployment benefits are about to run out?
The bottom line is that Ed Rendell, Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats have done a terrible job dealing with economic issues, resulting in record unemployment.
From the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry:
Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted civilian labor force -- the number of people working or looking for work -- rose by 9,000 in September to 6,368,000.
Employment was unchanged in September, while resident unemployment rose by 9,000.
The Pennsylvania labor force was down 55,000 from September 2008.
Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was up one-tenth of a percentage point to 8.8 percent in September.
The state rate remained below the United States' unemployment rate, which rose one-tenth of a point to 9.8 percent.
Pennsylvania's rate was up 3.2 percentage points from September 2008, while the U.S. rate was up 3.6 percentage points in the 12-month period.
Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs count dropped by 10,300 jobs in September.
The majority of the job losses were among service providing industries, however, the Professional and Business Services sector added 2,700 jobs.
Pennsylvania job count was down 198,100, or 3.4 percent, since September 2008. Nationally, jobs were down 4.2 percent over the same time period.
The Obama recession continues as the U.S. unemployment reached 9.8 percent in September.
It's the highest unemployment rate since June 1983, according to The Associated Press.
The Obama/Pelosi "stimulus" package, approved in February, has been a bust, with more than 15.1 million Americans out of work - 3 million more than when Obama took office.
From The Associated Press:
The Labor Department said Friday that the economy lost a net total of 263,000 jobs last month, from a downwardly revised 201,000 in August. That's worse than Wall Street economists' expectations of 180,000 job losses, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.
The unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent in August, matching expectations.
If laid-off workers who have settled for part-time work or have given up looking for new jobs are included, the unemployment rate rose to 17 percent, the highest on records dating from 1994.
All told, 15.1 million Americans are now out of work, the department said. And 7.2 million jobs have been eliminated since the recession began in December 2007.
The department said 571,000 of the unemployed dropped out of the work force last month, presumably out of frustration over the lack of jobs. That sent the participation rate, or the percentage of the population either working or looking for work, to a 23-year low.
The unemployment rate would have topped 10 percent if the labor force hadn't shrank.
Older, laid-off workers are dropping out and requesting Social Security at a faster-than-expected pace, according to government officials. The Social Security Administration said earlier this week that applications for retirement benefits are 23 percent higher than last year, while disability claims have risen by about 20 percent.
Poll: 60% view Obama's handling of economy as negative
A new Harris Poll released shows growing discontentment over Barack Obama's handling of the economy.
Three in five Americans (60%) rate the job the president is doing on the economy as negative while two in five (40%) rate his job as positive, according to The Harris Poll.
The numbers are virtually unchanged from last month when 39% rated President Obama's economic job performance as positive and 61% rated it as negative, according to The Harris Poll.
More from The Harris Poll of 2,334 adults surveyed online between Sept. 8-15, 2009, by Harris Interactive:
Confidence in the White House
Confidence in the White House and the Administration to produce policies to help fix the economic crisis has dropped in the past month. In August, over half of Americans (53%) had confidence while 47% did not have confidence. One month later, over half of Americans (52%) now are not confident that the Obama Administration can produce policies to help fix the economic crisis while 48% are confident they will.
Financial conditions ahead
Overall, two in five Americans (40%) expect the economy to improve in the coming year while just over one-third (36%) say they expect it to stay the same and one-quarter (24%) believe it will get worse. In August, almost half (46%) of Americans believed the economy would improve in the coming year.
When it comes to household's financial situation, about half of Americans (48%) believe it will remain the same in the next six months while one-quarter (23%) say it will get better and three in ten (29%) believe it will get worse. This is almost unchanged from last month when 48% said it would remain the same, 24% said it would get better and 28% of Americans believed their household's financial situation would get worse.
The job market
When it comes to the job market, attitudes are mostly negative. Two-thirds of Americans (68%) say the current job market in their region of the country is bad while just one in ten (10%) say it is good and 22% believe it is neither good nor bad. Last month, 71% of Americans said the job market in their region was bad and 8% said it was good. Those in the West and Midwest are most negative about the job markets in their region (77% and 70% saying it is bad respectively) while 15% of Southerners say it is good.
Barack Obama and his media allies are jumping on the slightest bit of positive economic news to tell the American people that the recession is over.
Just tell that to the 15 million Americans who are out of work. Millions of those jobs have been lost during the Obama administration and most of them will never come back.
Today's headline: 42 states lose jobs in August, up from 29 in July
From The Associated Press:
WASHINGTON — Forty-two states lost jobs last month, up from 29 in July, with the biggest net payroll cuts coming in Texas, Michigan, Georgia and Ohio.
The Labor Department also reported Friday that 27 states saw their unemployment rates increase in August, and 14 states and Washington D.C., reported unemployment rates of 10 percent or above.
The report shows jobs remain scarce even as most analysts believe the economy is pulling out of the worst recession since the 1930s. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said earlier this week that the recovery isn't likely to be rapid enough to reduce unemployment for some time.
The jobless rate nationwide is expected to peak above 10 percent next year, from its current 9.7 percent.
Employers have eliminated 6.9 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.
Texas lost 62,200 jobs as its unemployment rate rose to 8 percent in August for the first time in 22 years. The state's leisure, construction and manufacturing industries were hardest hit, losing 35,500 jobs.
Michigan saw 42,900 jobs disappear, including 15,000 in manufacturing, as the state continued to suffer along with its struggling auto industry.
Michigan's unemployment rate rose to 15.2 percent, the highest in the nation. When its jobless rate topped 15 percent in June it was the first time any state surpassed that mark since 1984.
Nevada has the second-highest rate at 13.2 percent, followed by Rhode Island at 12.8 percent and California and Oregon at 12.2 percent each.
The jobless rates in California, Nevada and Rhode Island were the highest on records dating to 1976. California and Nevada have been slammed by the housing bust, while Rhode Island has lost thousands of manufacturing and government jobs in the past year.
Georgia and Ohio reported the third and fourth-highest job losses, respectively, but their unemployment rates both fell as many of the unemployed dropped out of the work force.
The 900-pound gorilla in the health care reform debate appears to be the trial lawyers. Obama and Congress won't touch them. How many trial lawyers have bankrolled Congressional Democrats and members of the Obama Administration?
Has it been 200 days since Barack Obama signed the centerpiece of his economic recovery plan, the $787 billion "stimulus" package passed the Democratic Congress?
How's that stimulus working out for you? No so well if you are one of the 2.2 million Americans who have lost a job since Obama signed the stimulus.
The Republican National Committee has compiled a 61-page recap of the Obama rhetoric and reality surrounding that stimulus plan.
From the report, CLAIMS VS. REALITY: Obama's Failed Economic Experiment:
It is appropriate on the 200th day of the stimulus to look back at exactly what the stimulus has accomplished. The answer is very little. What it has done, however, is give the American people a $787 billion bill they cannot afford. In this report, you will find 200 claims that President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, senior Administration officials and Congressional Democrats have made about the stimulus. None of these claims match reality.
When the stimulus passed, President Obama and Congressional Democrats promised the stimulus would be a targeted, timely and transparent effort to create jobs immediately. This compilation of 200 claims shows that promise has not been kept. Job losses continue, stimulus spending has been slow, and as even the Vice President has said, ― "we know some of this money is going to be wasted."
The Obama Administration and Pelosi-Reid Congressional Democrats have boldly declared that the stimulus is working and they have ― "rescued the economy," but facts are stubborn things. Unemployment is still high and the deficit is out of control. These are not reasons to declare victory.
I know the Kool Aid drinkers on the left will say that we have to give Obama more time, but 200 days is a long time to go down the wrong path. Eventually, we'll never find our way back unless we change direction.
Unemployment is rising, consumer confidence is lagging and the national debt is growing at astronomical rates under Obama. Are you better off today than you were six months ago?
From RNC Chairman Michael Steele:
"In the end, the stimulus is another failed experiment by the President that Americans cannot afford. Instead of creating jobs, millions are unemployed and billions have been added to our deficit. 200 days of this stimulus are 200 days too long."
You can download the full 61-page report in PDF format here.
Harris Poll: Americans Give Obama Negative Ratings on 12 Issues
Bad news across the board for Barack Obama and his failed presidency from the latest Harris Poll:
As President Obama's overall job approval remains just barely positive, when presented with a list of 12 issues he is currently facing, the American public believes that the job he is doing on all 12 of them is negative. The one that is closest to an even split among adults is reducing the threat of terrorist attacks against the United States where just over half of Americans (51%) give the president negative ratings and 49% give him positive ratings.
These are some of the findings of The Harris Poll, a new nationwide survey of 2,498 U.S. adults surveyed online between August 10 and 18, 2009 by Harris Interactive.
Looking at the economic issue overall, three in five Americans (61%) give President Obama negative ratings on the economy, while 39% give him positive ones. In June, 43% of Americans gave President Obama positive ratings on the economy. When it comes to specific economic issues, the news is worse for the president. On regulating the financial system, 63% give President Obama negative marks and on taxes two-thirds of Americans (67%) give him negative marks. Seven in ten Americans give the president negative ratings on employment/ unemployment (69%) and social security (70%) while over three-quarters (77%) give him negative marks on the job he is doing on the federal budget.
Looking at the environment, 57% of Americans give President Obama negative marks for his handling of that issue. When it comes to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the American public is of a similar mind. Almost three in five U.S. adults (58%) give President Obama negative marks on his handling of the war in Iraq and 59% give him negative ratings on his handling of the war in Afghanistan. More than three in five Americans give President Obama negative ratings on the overall job he is doing on education (63%) and health care (65%).
There is also a generation divide on these issues. The youngest generation, Echo Boomers (those aged 18-32) are less likely to give President Obama negative ratings on 11 of the 12 issues. On one, the environment, Baby Boomers are the most "positive" on the job the president has done. In comparison, Matures (those aged 64 and older) and more likely to give President Obama negative ratings on 11 of the 12 issues. On social security, Gen Xers (those aged 33-44) are the most negative.
John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, offers an excellent analysis of the growing anger exhibited by Americans toward the political class in Washington.
From his recent column in The Wall Street Journal:
Why are they so angry? The reasons are manifold, but the single biggest reason is the arrogance of our elected officials in Washington. Think about it. For the past seven months a small group of politicians has been meeting behind-closed-doors with powerful special interests to decide whether you will be able to keep your current insurance, where you will be directed to get new insurance and at what price, what fines you and your employer will have to pay if you don't conform, and how they're going to get your doctor to change the way he or she practices medicine. In the process, they never asked you what you thought about anything. If you are not mad about this, odds are you don't understand the situation.
Barack Obama's job approval numbers melting with the August heat. His approval rating has dropped 16 percentage points in just six months, worse than any other president in his first term in office since polling began.
The faltering economy and the ill-conceived health care plan have combined to drop Obama's job approval rating to 49%, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports.
"Last November, the President won 53% of the vote nationwide. His overall approval has now been below 53% among likely voters every day for a month," Rasmussen Reports states.
More from Rasmussen Reports:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8.
Forty-four percent (44%) of voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on health care. Forty-one percent (41%) trust the Democrats more. While those numbers are essentially a toss-up, they represent a significant shift in opinion. It’s the first time Republicans have held any advantage on health care in years of tracking the issue. In June, the Democrats held a ten-point advantage on health care.
The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. Overall, 48% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That's up a point from yesterday but down five points from a month ago.
Last November, the President won 53% of the vote nationwide. His overall approval has now been below 53% among likely voters every day for a month.
Responding to a questioner who expressed concern about Obamacare eliminating private insurance options, Barack Obama had this to say today at a town hall gathering in Portsmouth, N.H.: "I have not said that I was a single payer supporter."
That is not what Barack Obama said in an earlier forum on government-run health care. His exact words were: "I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care plan."
Do you get the idea now that you can't trust anything Obama says?
Barack Obama will use a prime-time televised news conference tonight to salvage his government-run health care plan. Good luck with that.
From Rasmussen Reports:
The health care reform legislation working its way through Congress has lost support over the past month. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 44% of U.S. voters are at least somewhat in favor of the reform effort while 53% are at least somewhat opposed.
Today's 44% level of support is down from 46% two weeks ago, and 50% in late June.
Opposition has grown from 45% in late June to 49% two weeks ago and 53% today. As in earlier surveys, those with strong opinions are more likely to oppose the plan rather than support it. The current numbers: 24% strongly favor and 37% strongly oppose.
The tide has turned. The more Americans learn about Obamacare, the less they like it. That's why Obama and Pelosi are trying to ram the bill through Congress before the August break. Like the stimulus bill and the cap-and-trade energy tax, the fewer membes of Congress who read the bill, the better chance it has of passing.
Poll: 54% say Obama taking nation in wrong direction
The honeymoon is officially over. On the six-month anniversary of start of Barack Obama presidency, a new Associated Press-GfK Poll finds a majority of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Asked if they would say the country is heading in the "right direction" or in the "wrong direction," 54% of Americans say the nation is headed in the "wrong direction." That's up from 46% in June.
I love the headline on AP's story on their own poll: "Great hopes for Obama fade to reality"
The reality is that Obama has made more mistakes in six months than presidents make over eight years. On the economy, social issues and foreign policy, Obama has made one disastrous decision after another.
And despite having the mainstream media run interference for him, the American people have finally figured out that Obama is all style and no substance.
From the Associated Press story by Nancy Benac and Trevor Tompson:
In Obama's case, the problems he's confronting domestically and internationally are legion, and his ability to blame them on his predecessor is fading. Challenges still abound in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unemployment, at 7.6 percent in January, hit 9.5 percent in June and is expected to keep rising well into next year. Almost 4 percent of homeowners with mortgages are in foreclosure, and an additional 8 percent are at least a month behind on payments — the highest levels since the Great Depression. The president is deep into the debate over how to overhaul the nation's health care system, and people are nervous about how their own insurance could be affected. Obama's critics are accusing him of conducting a risky "rand experiment" that will hurt the economy and could force millions to drop their current coverage.
And it's not just Obama who is slipping in the polls.
The job approval of the Democratically-controlled Congress — already historic low levels — continues to slide, dropping 6 percentage points to 32 percent, according to the poll.
First Joe Biden, then Barack Obama and now Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke are fessing up they don't know what they're doing when it comes to the U.S. economy.
The Federal Reserve predicted today that unemployment will top 10 percent, despite earlier assurances from Obama that it would not go higher than 8 percent if his stimulus package was approved.
With more than 15 million Americans out of work and an additional 500,000 losing their jobs every week, there's no end in sight for the Obama recession.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Mort Zuckerman, chairman and editor in chief of U.S. News & World Report, says the unemployment picture is much worse than the government is letting on.
From his column:
Job losses may last well into 2010 to hit an unemployment peak close to 11%. That unemployment rate may be sustained for an extended period.
Can we find comfort in the fact that employment has long been considered a lagging indicator? It is conventionally seen as having limited predictive power since employment reflects decisions taken earlier in the business cycle. But today is different. Unemployment has doubled to 9.5% from 4.8% in only 16 months, a rate so fast it may influence future economic behavior and outlook.
How could this happen when Washington has thrown trillions of dollars into the pot, including the famous $787 billion in stimulus spending that was supposed to yield $1.50 in growth for every dollar spent? For a start, too much of the money went to transfer payments such as Medicaid, jobless benefits and the like that do nothing for jobs and growth. The spending that creates new jobs is new spending, particularly on infrastructure. It amounts to less than 10% of the stimulus package today.
Read the full column, "The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think," at the newspaper's Web site.
He never had support from Republicans and now independent voters are waking up to the realization that "hope and change" won't put food on the table as the Obama recession continues.
From a story posted on POLITICO about Obama's declining job approval numbers:
In a potentially alarming trend for the White House, independent voters are deserting President Barack Obama nationally and especially in key swing states, recent polls suggest.
Obama's job approval rating hit a — still healthy — low of 56 percent in the Gallup Poll on Wednesday. And pollsters are debating whether Obama's expansive and expensive policy proposals or the ground-level realities of a still-faltering economy are driving the falling numbers.
But a source of the shift appears to be independent voters, who seem to be responding to Republican complaints of excessive spending and government control.
"This is a huge sea change that is playing itself out in American politics," said Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. "Independents who had become effectively operational Democrats in 2006 and 2008 are now up for grabs and are trending Republican.
"They're saying, 'Costing too much, no results, see the downside, not sure of the upside,'" he said.
Read the full story, "Independents begin to edge away from President Obama" at POLITICO
The latest Rasmussen Reports numbers corroborate Obama's declining popularity.
From a dead-on Karl Rove column in The Wall Street Journal:
In February, President Barack Obama signed a $787 billion stimulus bill while making lavish promises about the results. He pledged that "a new wave of innovation, activity and construction will be unleashed all across America." He also said the stimulus would "save or create up to four million jobs." Vice President Joe Biden said the massive federal spending plan would "drop-kick" the economy out of the recession.
But the unemployment rate today is 9.5% -- nearly 20% higher than the Obama White House said it would be with the stimulus in place. Keith Hennessey, who worked at the Bush White House on economic policy, has noted that unemployment is now higher than the administration said it would be if nothing was done to revive the economy. There are 2.6 million fewer Americans working than Mr. Obama promised.
The economy takes unexpected turns on every president. But what is striking about this president is how quickly he turns away from his promises. He rushed the stimulus through Congress saying we couldn't afford to wait. Now his administration is waiting to spend the money. Of the $279 billion allocated to federal agencies, only $56 billion has been paid out.
Rove asks why anyone in their right mind would trust Obama's promises on health care reform based on his six months of broken promises on every other issue.
The Obama energy tax passed the House by a 219-212 margin, but it can be stopped in the Senate. If you don't want to pay nearly $2 trillion in new taxes on electricity and other forms of energy to give more money to Al Gore and his global warming cabal, contact your U.S. senator and tell him to vote NO on "cap and trade."
How's that trillion-dollar "stimulus" package Nancy Pelosi pushed through Congress and Barack Obama signed in February working out for you?
If you're one of the nearly 3 million Americans who have lost their job since Obama took office, not so well.
Now Obama is talking about a second "stimulus" plan, one that would even more to the national debt, with no guarantee it would create a significant number of jobs.
A new Rasmussen poll says 60% of U.S. voters now oppose the passage of a second economic stimulus plan this year, a five-point increase in opposition since the issue was first raised in March.
Just 27% of voters favor a new stimulus plan, unchanged from the earlier findings. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Eighty-one percent (81%) of Republicans and two-thirds of voters not affiliated with either major political party (66%) are against passage of a second stimulus plan. Democrats are much more evenly divided, but a plurality of those in Barack Obama’s party (45%) like the idea.
Similarly, a sizable majority of conservatives (82%) oppose a second plan, but a plurality of liberals (45%) favor it.
The Washington Times is the latest newspaper to criticize Barack Obama's failed "stimulus" package, calling it "a stimulus for the rich" in a new editorial.
From the editorial:
President Obama billed the stimulus package as a national effort, one that would involve spending "in communities across America." But the money is not being doled out proportionally across the country. The most funds are not even being distributed to the areas with the greatest economic problems.
It is not surprising that political calculations play a major role when the government hands out money. But it is shocking that Mr. Obama and the Democrats are sending stimulus funds to those places that need help the least.
Tony Phyrillas is the city editor and political columnist for The Mercury, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper in Pottstown, Pa. Phyrillas has won several national and state awards for his columns. Phyrillas has been featured on National Public Radio (NPR) and in The New York Times and is a frequent commentator on radio and television programs. He co-hosted "Talking Politics with Tony Phyrillas & Mike Pincus" on WPAZ 1370 AM.
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