ShareThisDoes Barack Hussein Obama continue to lie about the economic stimulus plan?
This is an article from the Washington PostWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama promised Monday to deliver more than 600,000 jobs through his 7 billion stimulus plan this summer, with federal agencies pumping billions into public works projects, schools and summer youth programs.
Obama is ramping up his stimulus program this week even as his advisers are ramping down expectations about when the spending plan will effect a continuing rise in the nation’s unemployment.
Many of the stimulus plans that Obama announced Monday already were in the works, including hundreds of maintenance projects at military bases, about 1,600 state road and airport improvements, and federal money states budgeted for 135,000 teachers, principals and school support staff.
The administration had always viewed the summer as a peak for stimulus spending, as better weather permitted more public works construction and federal agencies had processed requests from states and others.
But Obama now promises an accelerated pace of federal spending over the next few months to boost the economy and produce jobs.
"We have a long way to go on our road to recovery but we are going the right way," Obama said in a written statement prepared for his public announcement of the additional summer stimulus activity. "Our measure of progress is the progress the American people see in their own lives. And until that progress is steady and solid, we’re going to keep moving forward. We will not grow complacent or rest. Surely and steadily, we will turn this economy around," the statement said.
The announcement comes days after the government reported that the number of unemployed continues to rise; the unemployment rate now sits at 9.4 percent, the highest in more than 25 years. Hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to lose jobs each month, although fewer jobs were lost last month than expected.
Just how much of an impact Obama’s recovery program had on the pace of job losses is up for debate. Obama has claimed as many as 150,000 jobs saved or created by his stimulus plan so far, even as government reports have shown the economy has lost more than 1.6 million jobs since Congress approved funding for the program in February.
Republicans remain critical of the stimulus spending, slamming it as a big government program that ultimately will do little for recovery. With only a fraction of the federal money actually spent thus far, it’s premature to give the stimulus plan credit for economic trends, congressional Republicans said last week.
"I think the economy is just as likely to begin to recover on its own, wholly aside from this, before much of this has an impact. So I’m very skeptical that this massive sort of spending binge that we’ve engaged in is going to have much of an impact," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Obama initially offered his stimulus plan as a way to put people back to work, a promise that 3.5 million jobs would be saved or created. The administration’s predictions that unemployment would rise no higher than 8 percent already have been shattered, leaving Obama’s advisers to caution that job growth takes time, even as recovery spending intensifies.
Federal agencies will release billions of stimulus dollars to states in the coming months.
Health and Human Services will provide funding for 1,129 health centers to provide expanded service for 300,000 patients; Interior will begin improvements on 107 national parks; Veterans Affairs will start work on 90 medical centers in 38 states; the Justice Department will fund 5,000 law enforcement jobs; the Agriculture Department will begin 200 new rural waste and water system projects; and the Environmental Protection Agency will begin or accelerate the cleanup of 20 Superfund sites.
At the same time federal money for these projects is released, the nation’s unemployment rate likely will continue to increase, said Austan Goolsbee, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
"I don’t think there’s any question it’s going to be a rough patch not just in the immediate term, but for a little bit of time," Goolsbee said Sunday, "because you’ve got to turn the economy around, and jobs and job growth tend to come after you turn the economy around. So it’s likely going to be a little higher."
Obama senior adviser David Axelrod argues that the stimulus program is working and points to fewer jobs lost in May than the month before as a hopeful sign of economic recovery. Improvements in unemployment numbers naturally come later, he said.
"It’s going to take some time for these unemployment numbers to turn around, for the momentum to completely stop and turn in the other direction," Axelrod said. "It feels as if we’re moving and the stimulus package now is not nearly done, it’s just really at its beginnings."
Goolsbee spoke on "FOX News Sunday;" Axelrod was interviewed on CNN’s "State of the Union".
Where are the skilled craftsmen and construction workers for Haiti?
It’s still July 12th where I am – six-month anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. Only about 10% of the money given to the World Bank has been distributed to Haiti as of this date, according to CBS Evening News. Where’s all manpower, equipment and materiel needed to rebuild Haiti? Why isn’t it being done at a faster pace?
There should have by now been large flotillas of the things I’ve mentioned.
What does each .1 of a percent represent in numbers of people in unemployment numbers?
Unemployment shot up to 5.1 percent from 4.8 in February, continuing the string of bad economic news that suggests the economy has entered a recession after years of poor jobs growth under President Bush. The mismanaged, weak economy is continuing to take a toll on working families.
Dismal Employment Numbers: 80,000 Jobs Lost
By David Madland
April 4, 2008
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For the first time in five years, the U.S. economy lost jobs for three consecutive months, according to figures released today by the Department of Labor. Unemployment shot up to 5.1 percent from 4.8 in February, continuing the string of bad economic news that suggests the economy has entered a recession after years of poor jobs growth under President Bush. The mismanaged, weak economy is continuing to take a toll on working families.
In March, employment was down by 80,000 jobs, and since the start of the year the economy has lost 232,000 jobs. The last time the economy saw three straight months of employment decline was April 2003. Today’s release also indicates that job losses in January and February were worse than initially reported: Employment in those months was revised downward by 67,000 jobs.
The number of unemployed persons rose to 7,815,000 in March. The last time the number of unemployed was so high was in December 2004, and the number of unemployed has not increased as much over the course of a year since August 2002. While the unemployment rate increase of 0.3 percentage points is a significant jump from February, it should more accurately be viewed as a continuation of a year-long trend of rising unemployment.
These most recent job losses come on top of a period of very weak job growth, making today’s news that much more troubling. Over the past year, the economy has created only 536,000 jobs—far less than the pace needed just to keep up with population growth. In contrast, the economy created about 2 million jobs in 2006, which was a relatively weak year of economic recovery. In the late 1990s, the economy was creating 3 million jobs per year.
Job losses were widespread. The collapsing housing market continued its downward pull on the economy, but significant losses were felt in many other sectors, especially manufacturing and professional services. Job losses were led by the struggling construction sector, where 51,000 jobs were lost in March. Since March of last year, construction has lost 356,000 jobs.
Manufacturing continued its long slide, losing 48,000 jobs for the month. Manufacturing has lost jobs nearly every month for the past several years. For the past year, losses in the sector total 310,000 jobs.
Professional services, a sector that had been growing in recent months, declined by 35,000 jobs in March. Over the past year, the sector has still produced 161,000 jobs. Temporary help services fell by over 21,000 for the month, indicating that hiring is likely to be weak for some time. Increases in temporary employment can indicate a growing need for workers.
As has been the case for some time, jobs increased in health care, restaurants, and government, but gains in these sectors were not enough to prevent the overall employment figures from appearing grim. Healthcare added nearly 23,000 jobs in March, and has generated just over 360,000 new jobs over the past year. Restaurant employment increased by 23,000 for the month, and has added nearly 290,000 jobs for the year. Government added 18,000 jobs, and has added 244,000 since March 2007.
The Department of Labor report also indicates that the economic downturn is hitting the Latino community particularly hard. The employment-to-population ratio—a good measure of the overall strength of the labor market—fell the sharpest for Hispanics in March, declining to 63.7 percent from 64.3 percent. In contrast the employment-to-population ration for whites held steady at 63.3 percent. The ratio for African Americans also fell, but by a lesser amount, to 58.2 percent from 58.4 percent.
The job market has been particularly hard on those with less skills—workers with a high school degree or less—a category that includes many immigrants. The employment-to-population ratio fell for the month to 42.3 percent from 43.0 percent for people with less than a high school diploma, and to 59.1 percent from 59.7 for those with a high school degree.
In contrast, the employment-to-population ratio for those with more education held steady or increased: For those with some college it remained about the same, going to 69.3 percent to 69.4 percent, and for those with a bachelor’s degree or more it increased to 77.0 percent from 76.5.
All told, today’s jobs figures paint a bleak picture of a weak economy. There is no way to put a positive face on today’s job figures. The labor market has been in the doldrums for years, with well below average job growth, flat wages, and declining benefits. This has forced families deeper and deeper into record amounts of debt. And just as families are beginning to ponder how they are ever going to repay this debt, the rug is pulled out from under them as jobs become scarcer. The weak labor market is inflicting the greatest harm on those who are the most vulnerable.
Policymakers who have ignored the trouble signs brewing in the labor market for years need to craft an economic recovery plan that addresses the current nosedive in the labor market, but also the long-term weakness that preceded it. The recently enacted economic stimulus plan will help kick-start the economy when checks go out to taxpayers this summer, but it needs to be followed by a reorientation of our longer-term economic policies to make the economy work for real people with real economic problems—not just financial markets dealing with mostly self-inflicted pain.
David Madland is the Director of the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress.
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