Like most of you I’m still trying to make sense of yesterday’s jobs report from the BLS — Bureau of Labor Statistics… They’re contradictory, something just doesn’t smell right about them but, I can’t put my finger on what it is. I’m not inclined to believe the conspiracy theories simple because as James Sherk explains […]
Economy
GDP Collapse Shows U.S. Economy in Danger of Slipping Back into Recession
Ouch, the government today released its final estimate of U.S. economic activity in the second quarter, and the news isn’t good, GDP was revised downward to 1.3% from the initial estimate of 1.7%: The fragile state of the US’s economic recovery was thrown into focus once more Thursday as the government announced growth was slowing […]
Awful: U.S. Added 96,000 Jobs in August; Unemployment Rate Fell to 8.1%
From MarketWatch: Nonfarm payrolls grew by a seasonally adjusted 96,000 in August, well below estimates and down from a respectable 141,000 jobs in July. The payrolls growth came in weaker than the 125,000 increase expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. The nation’s unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 8.1%, down from 8.3% in July, […]
Every State That Elected A Republican Governor in 2010 Saw Unemployment Drop
I saw this over the weekend and thought I’d share this morning… According to an Examiner.com analysis, the 17 states that elected a Republican Governors in 2010 hes seen unemployment drop at an average of 1.35% — well ahead of the national average of .9%. Here is how much the unemployment has rate declined in […]
Awful: Unemployment Remains At 8.2% in June; Just 80,000 Jobs Added
From MarketWatch: The U.S. created just 80,000 jobs in June as hiring slowed dramatically in the second quarter, confirming that the economy has hit another rough patch. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.2%, the Labor Department said Friday. The disappointing employment report adds to fresh worries about the U.S. economy at a time when […]
It’s Up To Us Now
Like many of you I’ve spent the last few days reading, re-reading and digesting the Supreme Court’s Obamacare ruling… If there’s a silver lining in it I can’t find it, the thing is a turd. John Roberts logic is so twisted it’s nearly incomprehensible, in short the only way the court — the only way […]
Video: “If I wanted America to fail”
Heh, If I wanted America to fail, I’d do pretty what Barack Obama has been doing for the past three years. H/T: Sarah Palin.
Video: 1,000 Days Without a Budget
We’ve reached something of grim milestone… It has now been 1,000 days since federal government has had an actual budget: I can’t say it any better than Tina Korbe: No matter what measure you use, government spending has increased since 1965. Total government spending has more than doubled. Federal spending per household has increased from $11,431 […]
Hous GOP Will Vote on Balanced Budget Amendment That Permits Unlimited Federal Spending
House Republicans expect begin debate on a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution as early as today. The measure of the, H.J. Res 2, which is part of the debt-ceiling deal Democrats agreed to in August is watered down political cop-out on the part of the Republican leadership. Apparently House Speaker John Boehner thinks this vanilla […]
Democrats to Push Tax Hikes First in Deficit Talks
From Reuters: Democrats want tax hikes to be the first item negotiated in “super committee” deficit-reduction talks, trying to force Republicans to confront an issue at the heart of this year’s budget fights, sources told Reuters. The tough stance by Democratic members of the powerful 12-member congressional panel reflects the party’s wariness that Republicans might […]
The fallacy of the 10:1 Mix of Spending Cuts and Tax Hikes Question
I suspect most of you have seen or heard about this exchange during the Republican Presidential Debate in Iowa last Thursday night: It was a bullshit question, first of all unless those spending cuts are immediate they’ll never materialize… particularly when the baseline for negotiations is that the taxes increase are made in the first […]
Thoughts on the Debt Limit Debate — Updated
What we’ve seeing playing out in Washington during the debt limit debate is in many ways akin to an addict facing an intervention. Washington’s policy makers, both Democrats and Republicans, are hopelessly addicted to spending and they don’t want to admit it or to change their behavior. As a result they’re lashing out ordinary Americans […]
Ouch: White House Chief of Staff Calls President’s Economic Policies “Indefensible”
From the Daily Caller: White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley took heat from business executives Thursday for the Obama administration’s regulatory expansions. Daley also said he didn’t have any good answers for some of what President Obama is doing and expressed frustration about the “bureaucratic stuff that’s hard to defend.” “Sometimes you can’t defend […]
The President’s Job Council Not So Good at Creating Jobs
President Obama says he’s 100 percent focused on creating jobs these days, so why is taking advice from a bunch of CEOs whose companies have shed thousands of jobs over the last decade? Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com Investor’s Business Daily has the highlights: • GE’s domestic workforce shrank by 25,000 — almost 16% […]
Breaking: Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Collective-Bargaining Law
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the controversial collective bargaining reforms passed by the State Legislature in March can go into effect. The 4-3 ruling found that circuit-court judge Maryann Sumi, exceeded her authority in overturning the law: The court found a committee of lawmakers was not subject to the state’s open meetings […]