I really wish John McCain hadn’t backpedaled so furiously when Barack Obama smacked him for saying the fundamentals of the U.S. economy are strong. Despite the turmoil in the financial services sector and the debt and equity markets, the plain truth …

When the most recent unemployment numbers were released, the media bleated about the highest percentage increase in the jobless rate since 1986. For example, The New York Times lamented:
The unemployment rate surged to 5.5 percent in May from 5 perce…

In March, private payrolls dropped for a fourth month, as factories, home builders and retail outlets all slashed positions. The only increases came in education and government jobs (my emphasis), as well as the leisure and hospitality industries.

Now don’t you think there is something seriously wrong with that picture

MB4 on June 6, 2008 at 9:35 PM

You sir are RIGHT…!

[ahh, ere... CORRECT...!] :)

The Democrats meddling with the economy when they increased minimum wage last year, that’s what. Unsurprisingly, the largest portion of the unemployment rate increase was due to the increase of……

It will all then be shown to have been “miscalculated and perhaps exaggerated” should Barry ever win.

Statistics are being twisted like silly putty to make Obama seem like the savior of this (illusory) “disaster”.

The real economic troubles are being caused by those who keep us from drilling for oil, developing new sources of energy, and who now want to tack on a gigantic bureacratic nightmare – based on dubious hysterical “science” about “Global Warming” “Climate Change”- with their “Cap and Trade” (Tax and Spend / Bait and Switch) follies.

The government getting in the way, is the problem. No drilling in Anwar, no drilling offshore, no new refineries… Johan Klaus on June 7, 2008 at 12:39 AM

A government of the elite, by the elite, and against the people. You get it.

I think that is part of the problem. We want government to take care of things like this, but we also want them to stay out of the way.

A

Terrye on June 6, 2008 at 7:50 PM

The government getting in the way, is the problem. No drilling in Anwar, no drilling offshore, no new refineries…

No they just lacdk the balls to tell the environwackos to sit down and STFU.

Terrye on June 6, 2008 at 8:17 PM

See my earlier comment -

Well that may well be, although Republicans controlled the Presidency and Senate and House for 6 years, but energy prices and “mortgage meltdown” and jobs being taken by illegals are still all bigger factors than a minimum wage increase of dimes per hour on the unemployment rise, so I still say amen.

MB4 on June 6, 2008 at 7:33 PM

I do not agree that nothing is more important.I think some people look at as if all our problems from crime to disease to terrorism could be solved if only we got rid of the illegals. Now that is a narrow focus.

It would be a “narrow focus” or some such thing, but no one is saying that it is all.

However, I do think it is important, I just do not think that they are responsible for a one month of half a percent increase in the unemployment rate. And how many young people do you know that want to pick lettuce in Arizona? Or work in a Hotel as a maid? It is not as if they refuse to hire Americans.

As I said before energy, “mortgage meltdown” and illegal “immigration”. And now you sound like McCain with his, “Americans won’t pick lettuce for even $50 an hour. You can’t do it my friends”. People would take those jobs if they paid a competitive, legal wage and didn’t have to compete with serf labor.

My focus is not too narrow. These numbers supposedly represent a drop in jobs primarily for people between 16 and 24. If the problem is illegal immigration, why weren’t we seeing these kinds of numbers before?

Because, as I said, energy and “mortgage meltdown” also play a roll, right now probably mostly energy.

The numbers of people leaving the country are going up. More and more people are being returned and or stopped at the border. I agree we need to stay after it, but we let this problem go for decades and yet we did not see these kinds of numbers unless there was a general down turn or slow down in the economy.

Terrye on June 6, 2008 at 8:17 PM

Not nearly enough of the illegal invaders are leaving and there are way more than there were decades ago.

But thermal solar (www.ausra.com/) and other disruptive technologies can change the playing field and cut the knees out from the Middle East.

bayam on June 6, 2008 at 8:55 PM

I think that solars eyes have always been bigger than it’s stomach.

And what are the Democrats doing about those high prices? Are they letting us build more refineries? Drill? Build nuclear power plants? I agree that the high price of energy is part of this, but it is not all of it.

The high price of energy is all of it. The effects of increasing the minimum wage are truly irrelevant in comparison to energy. If you don’t believe me, listen to Wall Street. As the president of Dow recently said, the United States is experiencing an energy crisis.

I wasn’t blaming only Bush- I was pointing the finger at everyone- Bush, Congress, Democrats. All have been worthless at dealing with the incredibly painful effects of run-away energy prices. Look at how past leaders responded to less important challenges, such as putting a man on the moon. This is a bigger challenge to our future prosperity and threat to the nation’s standing. Response? Nothing.

Drilling in ANWAR and every conceivable location off the coast will not even begin to meet the surging demand for oil coming from the developing world. You’re thinking too small- the oil problem won’t be resolved by more oil. It also won’t remove our dependency on the Middle East and an economic system that transfers wealth from the Western world to the sheiks of the world.

Nuclear is great, but even with less regulation nuclear power plants take too long to build. But thermal solar (www.ausra.com/) and other disruptive technologies can change the playing field and cut the knees out from the Middle East.

This is not news of economic catastrophe but rather an indicator of full employment. If you get below 5% unemployment, then you need to import workers to fill jobs.

I do not agree that nothing is more important.I think some people look at as if all our problems from crime to disease to terrorism could be solved if only we got rid of the illegals. Now that is a narrow focus.

However, I do think it is important, I just do not think that they are responsible for a one month of half a percent increase in the unemployment rate. And how many young people do you know that want to pick lettuce in Arizona? Or work in a Hotel as a maid? It is not as if they refuse to hire Americans.

My focus is not too narrow. These numbers supposedly represent a drop in jobs primarily for people between 16 and 24. If the problem is illegal immigration, why weren’t we seeing these kinds of numbers before? The numbers of people leaving the country are going up. More and more people are being returned and or stopped at the border. I agree we need to stay after it, but we let this problem go for decades and yet we did not see these kinds of numbers unless there was a general down turn or slow down in the economy.