As more bad economic news comes in, advisers bail, Obama stumps, Michelle vacations

[PeshakJang]

More worse-than-expected employment news came out today, suggesting that the economy may be headed south again. This happens the day after Obama's top economic adviser quits, which happens a couple weeks after the head of Obama's Office of Management and Budget quits.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-06/romer-resigns-in-second-departure-from-obama-team.html

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nonfarm-payrolls-drop-131000-in-july-2010-08-06?dist=beforebell

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. employers continued to hire but at a sluggish pace that adds to pessimism about the economic outlook and may put pressure of the Federal Reserve to take more steps to support the economy.

Private sector payrolls rose by an estimated 71,000 in July, the Labor Department said.

Total nonfarm payrolls fell by a seasonally adjusted 131,000 in July, but all the lost jobs were temporary jobs at the U.S. Census.

The number of temporary Census workers dropped by 143,000. There are still 196,000 census workers on the payroll.

The nation's unemployment rate held steady at 9.5%.

The increase in private payrolls was weaker than the 100,000 increase that had been expected by Wall Street economists surveyed by MarketWatch. See calendars and forecasts of major U.S. indicators
Adding to the sense of weakness in employment, private payrolls in May and June were revised lower by a cumulative 34,000.

Private job growth has averaged 51,000 over the past three months. This is down from an average growth of 154,000 in February- April.

Meanwhile, Obama tours the country, campaigning for corrupt Chicago politicians, reminding everyone that this is all Bush's fault, not his, and that we are back on the right track... the economy is growing stronger every day.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/08/obama_shows_off_new_stump_spee.html

...

But we're not going to be able to get to where we need to go unless we understand how in fact we got here. We spent nearly 10 years on an economic agenda that was pretty straightforward: You cut taxes for the wealthiest among us, folks who didn't need tax cuts and weren't even asking for them; you cut rules for special interests; and you cut working folks loose so they've got to fend for themselves.

That was the philosophy of the last administration and that was the philosophy of their friends in Congress. And basically what they said is, if you can't find a job, tough luck -- you're on your own. If you don't have health insurance, too bad, tough luck -- you're on your own. If you're a young person who's trying to get to college, tough luck -- you're on your own.

...

And between now and November, you're going to hear a lot of promises from a lot of politicians. And they're going to be saying to you, you know what, if we just do this, or we just do that, all your problems will be solved. I can't do that because not only did I run for President promising that I wouldn't just tell you what you want to hear, but tell you what you need to know. But now that I am President, and the sober realities of this job are ones that I've experienced over the last two years, I will tell you, I can't stand here and just tell you what you want to hear. We're going to have to work our way out of this hole that's been dug. It's going to take time.

But here's what I also know. Even though it's going to take years to repair all the damage caused by this recession, I am absolutely convinced that this nation is finally headed in the right direction. Our economy is growing again. (Applause.) We are adding jobs again. America is moving forward again, and the last thing we can afford to do is go back to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place! (Applause.)

...

That's the choice in this election. You've got a pretty simple choice. Either you can support those policies that got us into this mess, or you can support those policies that are getting us out of the mess. (Applause.)

...

[10 more minutes of "It's not my fault, it's the Republicans!"]

And while the economy continues to look worse, Michelle takes her daughter and "several longtime family friends" to the most luxurious of Spanish resorts for their 5th or 6th vacation of the summer, ahead of their planned vacations to Panama City and Martha's Vineyard later this month.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upsho...dy-under-fire-for-her-glitzy-spanish-vacation

As her husband celebrated his 49th birthday in Chicago with Oprah, first lady Michelle Obama[COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important][/COLOR][/COLOR] was halfway around the world, on vacation with her 9-year-old daughter, Sasha, in Spain. The two are traveling on what the White House has described as a four-day "private trip" with several Obama family friends along the country's ritzy southern coast.

...


The Obama entourage is staying at the luxury Hotel Villa Padierna, a Ritz-Carlton property often described as one of the world's top 10 hotels. Rates range between $500 and $2,500 a night. NOTE: It's reported elsewhere that they have 40-60 rooms at this hotel for the entire entourage. It's not clear that the Obama delegation picked this hotel specifically, or if the Secret Service - which often gets final say over where a protectee stays — made the accommodations call.


Either way, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that the first lady will pay her personal expenses — as will the friends who are traveling with her. But that only covers a small part of the ultimate expense, given that she has full-time Secret Service protection and has to travel with an entourage of staff. That cost, as well as her travel on board an official Air Force charter plane [COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important][/COLOR][/COLOR]is covered by taxpayers.


As the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet reports, by the end of the summer, the first lady will have taken eight vacations. That includes a June trip to Los Angeles, where she and her daughters attended the NBA Finals, as well as an upcoming trip to the Florida Gulf Coast next weekend and a 10-day visit to Martha's Vineyard later this month with the president.


Michelle Obama is hardly the only first lady to travel overseas without her husband. Laura Bush and her daughters, Barbara and Jenna, traveled to Africa in 2007, where they went on safari. Yet her trip was regarded as an "official" visit and included several public events. According to the White House, this trip is entirely private, save for a photo-op with the Spanish royal family, who has invited the first lady and her daughter for an official visit.

It's becoming pretty obvious that the Obama family is living in a different reality than the rest of America. Are they completely blind to this reality, or do they choose to ignore it? Perhaps they know Obama will be a 1-term president, so they are going to make the most of their position with as many taxpayer-funded vacations as possible.

We need to tighten our belts... they need multi-million dollar "private" vacations. 8 of them.

Being a failure must be pretty hard work.

 

[PokerGuy]

There is only one tiny tiny sliver of silver lining to all this. Obummer is getting exposed for the failure he is, so every day the chances of electing an actually qualified candidate to the white house office gets bigger. It's still an uphill climb given that Obummer's campaign staff also doubles as "main stream media" when they're not working for him, but every step helps.

 

[jpeyton]

Private sector jobs grew.

Public sector jobs shrank.

Doesn't the GOP get wet over that kind of stuff?

 

[Pens1566]

Wwybywb?

 

[HumblePie]

Wait from your quote....

The nation's unemployment rate held steady at 9.5 percent

So as jpeyton said, the temp census worker jobs went away, but the private sector somehow made up for that since the unemployment rate held. And I really don't care what the wife of the president does with her time. She's not exactly running this country and she wasn't elected to either. If she wants to tour the world for her own pleasure for the rest of her life I could care less.

 

[Deeko]

haha is a large part of your post here really criticizing the Obama administration due to the vacationing of his wife?

That's just silly and you know it.

 

[PeshakJang]

Private sector jobs grew.

Public sector jobs shrank.

Doesn't the GOP get wet over that kind of stuff?

Private sector jobs increased far less than expectations, which were already pretty low compared to numbers from earlier this year.

Public sector jobs shrank, all of which were temporary census jobs.

So we lost 131,000 public jobs, and gained 71,000 private jobs. Do the math.

Wait from your quote....

The nation's unemployment rate held steady at 9.5 percent

So as jpeyton said, the temp census worker jobs went away, but the private sector somehow made up for that since the unemployment rate held. And I really don't care what the wife of the president does with her time. She's not exactly running this country and she wasn't elected to either. If she wants to tour the world for her own pleasure for the rest of her life I could care less.

From the article:

The separate household survey showed a decline in employment of 159,000 in July, and a 24,000 drop in unemployment. But since the size of the labor force as calculated by the Labor Department fell by 181,000, the unemployment rate held steady.[/q]

Unemployment rate remained unchanged because the labor force lost 181,000 people. So we lost 131,000 public jobs, gained 71,000 private jobs, and 181,000 people stopped looking for work.

haha is a large part of your post here really criticizing the Obama administration due to the vacationing of his wife?

That's just silly and you know it.

No, what's silly is to expect the president and his family to go a week without another "long overdue" vacation.

And my post in it's entirety shows just how out-of-touch the first family is with their own rhetoric. We all need to tighten our belts because the economy is suffering... but they can take 8 vacations over the summer, mostly on my dime. The economy is struggling, and looking to be heading lower, with a real chance of another recession, and the president on the campaign trail while his economic advisers bail on him.

 

[ayabe]

Yes out of touch, just like the beltway cockslurping journalists pushing that meme. Those people are in touch with the middle class and the unemployed, they occasionally run into them on the subway.

 

[jpeyton]

Private sector jobs increased far less than expectations, which were already pretty low compared to numbers from earlier this year.

Whose expectations? After eight years of net private sector job LOSSES under Bush, I'm curious what numbers Republican voters expect these days.

Public sector jobs shrank, all of which were temporary census jobs.

So we lost 131,000 public jobs, and gained 71,000 private jobs. Do the math.

So Obama should have offered all those temporary workers cushy full-time government jobs just to make you happy? But I thought the GOP was for smaller government?

Question: in the summer of 2020, after the next census, will we have public sector job losses? Don't think too hard on this one.

 

[ayabe]

OP is just jealous, class warfare!!!

 

[waggy]

who gives a flying fuck what his WIFE is doing? she is NOT the president. she can go on vacations every week for all i care.

i am getting sick of Obama going out and what seems like campaign mode. ok yes you inherited a bad situation. 2 fucking years later IT IS YOUR PROBLEM. stop blaming bush.

 

[khon]

It is worse than expected news, but what do you want him to do about it ? Constructive criticism is always welcome, pointless whining not so much.

 

[Fern]

Whose expectations? After eight years of net private sector job LOSSES under Bush....

8 years of job losses?

I don't recall that, I thought the recession only started in 2007/2008?

OK, a little googling shows your assertion to be incorrect by a large margin. Job losses started in 2007/2008.

Fern

 

[Fern]

Generally I don't care what the First Lady does (as long as they're not trying to run stuff.)

I really don't care here either. But am starting to wonder about the optics of it all.

I noticed Chelsea Clinton's wedding was extremely ostentatious. A million dollar wedding? That reeks of nouveau riche bad taste and pretentiousness, but to do so during a time of economic hardship and high unemployment is particularly excessive. Now Ms Obama's lavishishness? Our political elites are the aristocracy of the USA. I wonder if the MSM is gonna start calling them on it? "We in the USA must make sacrifices etc. Now pardon me while I run off to some uber expensive luxury resort..."

Fern

 

[PeshakJang]

Yes out of touch, just like the beltway cockslurping journalists pushing that meme. Those people are in touch with the middle class and the unemployed, they occasionally run into them on the subway.

If out-of-touch isn't defined by campaigning around the country telling everyone how good things are, even in the face of more and more negative economic data, while you and your family take multi-million dollar luxury vacations during what you previously called was the worst economic disaster since the great depression, while your advisers bail out... I think out-of-touch needs some redefining.

But don't worry, he can always just remind us that no matter what he does, anything bad that happens is because of the previous administration.

Whose expectations? After eight years of net private sector job LOSSES under Bush, I'm curious what numbers Republican voters expect these days.

So Obama should have offered all those temporary workers cushy full-time government jobs just to make you happy? But I thought the GOP was for smaller government?

Question: in the summer of 2020, after the next census, will we have public sector job losses? Don't think too hard on this one.

Pay attention now... focus like a laser beam. We gained 71,000 private jobs, which was about 30,000 less than we expected, and about half of what we gained earlier this year. That means growth is slowing, not growing. Does that concept confuse you?

Last month's numbers were revised drastically down, I would bet that sooner or later these will be too. 180,000 people also stopped looking for employment, which is the only reason the unemployment rate didn't increase with the decrease in government-paid jobs.

Is this too much for you to pick up? Ok... we'll try again after you have a nap.

 

[IGBT]

and the more he blames bush, the more he exposes his fundamental weakness. What ever room the obama enters, he's the least experienced man in the room. How come he doesn't have news conferences any more??

 

[PeshakJang]

It is worse than expected news, but what do you want him to do about it ?

Print more money, obviously.

He's making a speech right now about how wonderful it is that they are passing a multi-billion dollar bill to ensure that government doesn't have to lay off any employees.

 

[PeshakJang]

who gives a flying fuck what his WIFE is doing? she is NOT the president. she can go on vacations every week for all i care.

People seem to care when big business CEOs use private jets, fly off to exclusive resorts, get huge bonuses.... especially when it has to do with government bailouts.

Why is it excusable when the president and his family do it? Michelle's little trip to Spain will cost us *millions* in taxpayer money, for a self-described *private* vacation.

Sure, she can do what she fucking wants, but so can privately wealthy individuals. Hypocrisy and flamboyant disregard for your own rhetoric isn't restricted to who you are married to.

 

[Svnla]

I am from the Gulf shore area and this ticks me off. BO and his wife were telling everyone to to visit/take vacation at the Gulf shore areas (because of the oil spill) and where did his family take vacation? MA area that is for the rich and powerfull.

Hope and change? More like same ole same ole.

 

[ayabe]

People seem to care when big business CEOs use private jets, fly off to exclusive resorts, get huge bonuses.... especially when it has to do with government bailouts.

Why is it excusable when the president and his family do it? Michelle's little trip to Spain will cost us *millions* in taxpayer money, for a self-described *private* vacation.

Sure, she can do what she fucking wants, but so can privately wealthy individuals. Hypocrisy and flamboyant disregard for your own rhetoric isn't restricted to who you are married to.

Michelle's vacation is not being paid by the taxpayer, stop frothing.

 

[hal2kilo]

If out-of-touch isn't defined by campaigning around the country telling everyone how good things are, even in the face of more and more negative economic data, while you and your family take multi-million dollar luxury vacations during what you previously called was the worst economic disaster since the great depression, while your advisers bail out... I think out-of-touch needs some redefining.

Speaking of out of touch....

"Our economy, I think, is still -- the fundamentals of our economy are strong." --Jacksonville, Fla., Sept. 15, 2008, John McCain.

 

[spidey07]

I especially liked how the asshole stood in front of ford employees and took credit for saving their company. I wonder how many were saying "fuck you asshole, we're succeeding IN SPITE of your efforts".

 

[ayabe]

I wonder if the MSM is gonna start calling them on it? "We in the USA must make sacrifices etc. Now pardon me while I run off to some uber expensive luxury resort..."

Fern

Yeah they are already, problem is they are on the same yachts, go to the same parties and lead the same insulated lives as the politicians they cover.

Cozy doesn't begin to describe it.

 

[umbrella39]

Gee, new walls of text from a sock puppet! Could the Obama haters start being a little more creative with their alts?

 

[Bowfinger]

and the more he blames bush, the more he exposes his fundamental weakness. ...

Yet it was somehow acceptable for you to spend the previous eight years blaming Clinton for everything that went wrong during Bush's tenure. You are the poster boy for partisan hack.


Fern, we lost several million employed during Bush's first few years, and that was even after BLS made a methodology change that magically increased the number of "employed" reported. I know some of that loss was recovered later in his term. I don't remember if we ever got back to where we started, however.


Re. the OP, so what? Employment is up, though the economy is obviously still struggling. Not wonderful news, but not a disaster either. If you'd actually listen to Obama's words, that's what he's been saying. He hasn't been blowing pure sunshine, no matter what your nutter masters tell you to bleat.

Michelle is taking another vacation. And? Afraid she'll be sipping cognac on your veranda PJ? ROFL! I'm going to Europe later this year too. Millions of Americans do every year. Exchange rates have improved. It's nowhere near the extravagance you want to pretend it to be. But please keep those nutter rage threads coming. You'll marginalize that persona just as quickly as your others.