Unemployment Rate Drops To 7.8 %
#1
I was going to post this wonderful news from an article in the Washington Post, but Larry prefers MSNBC, so here is bit of opinion with that that good news.Rolling Eyes

The death of a talking point

By Steve Benen - Fri Oct 5, 2012


If I had a nickel for every time Mitt Romney has said the unemployment rate has been above 8% throughout the Obama presidency, I'd have, well, nearly as much money as Mitt Romney.

Today, however, the talking point died. The unemployment rate fell unexpectedly, dropping from 8.1% to 7.8%.

As we've discussed before, decreases in the jobless rate are not always good news -- the figure sometimes falls when discouraged Americans drop out of the workforce altogether -- but that's the case with the new data. The employment-to-population ratio went up, job creation went up, and the labor force went up.

In other words, the drop in the unemployment rate is heartening, not discouraging.

And given that there's a presidential election in 32 days, the figure carries a heavy political salience. In February 2009, President Obama's first full month in office, the jobless rate was 8.3% and climbing. As of today, it's 7.8% and falling.

Literally every day for a long while, Romney and his allies have said Obama must be a failure based on this metric alone. The Republican said in Wednesday's debate, "We've had 43 straight months with unemployment above 8 percent."

It's always been a ridiculous argument -- blaming Obama for the jobs crisis he inherited and helped alleviate is absurd -- but now it's also a bogus one.

Of course, the news also seems to lead to a follow-up question for Romney: if unemployment above 8% is proof that Obama should lose, does an unemployment rate below 8% prove that Obama deserves to win?

Live by the unemployment rate; die by the unemployment.

[Image: imagesizer?file=steve-benenAB9869D9-CDC8...&width=600]

[Image: imagesizer?file=steve-benen56D4EF17-8BB5...&width=600]
Reply
#2
I cant wait for some of my conservative friends to wake up and log on to this forum so that we can all celebrate this very good news. The stock market is up too. Surely, no one can hate Obama so much that they want to see the economy stay in the dumps.

Here is another article:

[Image: World_Trade_Center_Crane_Inspection_0d20c.jpg]

By Neil Irwin and Nia-Malika Henderson, Updated: Friday, October 5, 6:50 AM

The job market is finally showing some juice.

The unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in September, the Labor Department said Friday, from 8.1 percent in July, its lowest since January 2009. It is a surprising show of improvement in a job market that had seemed listless in recent months. Unlike in August, the number improved for the right reasons: Not because people gave up looking for jobs, but because far more people reported having one.

Employers reported creating 114,000 jobs in September, almost identical to analysts’ forecasts, but revisions to data from July and August brought improvement of that measure of the job market as well.

Add it up, and what had seemed to be a summer lull in employment increasingly appears not to have been much of a lull at all.

While it is that headline number — the drop in the unemployment rate — that will surely capture the most attention in the final weeks of a hard-fought presidential campaign, if anything the inner details of the survey on which it is based reveal an even rosier picture.

The unemployment rate fell despite more people — 418,000 of them — entering the labor force. That brought the ratio of the American population with a job to its highest level since May 2010. Some 873,000 more Americans reported having jobs in the survey of households, and 456,000 fewer reported not having a job but wanting one.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/e...story.html
Reply
#3
Good work (above) Clete.
I'm happy you are happy.

This stuff is hopelessly complex and hard to understand. We all know that our leaders are going to have to, one day, sit down and get serious.
But it's possible they never will. History is full of examples of societies that faded because of power plays that went to the brink...and then over.

We can hope.

So, you bet I'm happy about these numbers. Climbing out of the pit slowly is better than not climbing out at all.

Tell ya this much: The news made my coffee taste just a tiny bit better.

Have a great day by the way. Soon, the frost will be on the pumpkin and we will get to play in the leaves.
Reply
#4
I think it shows that stimulus works. Many people blasted the U.S. for stimulus early on in this crisis, while Europe tightened her belt and tried harder to live within her means (and now is really suffering). I realize this all seems counter intuitive, but such is the realm of economists and wizards.

It's been sort of a hard lesson for me because I was sure all that stimulus would bring on high inflation. I'm still wondering about that part, too. But it seems they may have known just the right amount to apply for the desired effect also. Frankly my hat is off to them.
Reply
#5
Perspective from Nate Silver:

Quote:The decline in unemployment under Mr. Obama this year since December is the largest in an election year since Ronald Reagan’s re-election bid, when it declined to 7.3 percent in Sept. 1984 from 8.3 percent in Dec. 1983.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com...se-easier/
Reply
#6
Most conservatives that I know prefer form over substance. That is why they are still celebrating Romney's win. Romney really didn't say anything new and the lies he told went unchallenged by Obama.

It would be nice to think people would be happy to hear this news but the die-hard, right-wing voters will merely stick their fingers in their ears. They'll go off on election day and shoot themselves in the foot.
Reply
#7
See what just the thought of "President Romney" can do for this county. Imagine how great it will be when the Romney's replace the Grifters.
Reply
#8
If Obama is reelected do you promise to go away?
Reply
#9
(10-05-2012, 10:37 AM)PonderThis Wrote: If Obama is reelected do you promise to go away?
Do you promise to go away when Romney wins?
Reply
#10
It won't devastate my life like yours appears to be devastated.
Reply
#11
(10-05-2012, 10:59 AM)PonderThis Wrote: It won't devastate my life like yours appears to be devastated.

k, see ya around then.Smiling
Reply
#12
Four more years of hearing how Michelle's butt is fat. Laughing
Reply
#13
(10-05-2012, 11:09 AM)PonderThis Wrote: Four more years of hearing how Michelle's butt is fat. Laughing

It's not just her giant ass, it is her nasty unAmerican attitude..

plus, she is uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugly.

[Image: 128929804042779212.jpg]
Reply
#14
Yes, it's important to first demonize your enemy, before proceeding further. Ninja
Reply
#15
(10-05-2012, 11:33 AM)PonderThis Wrote: Yes, it's important to first demonize your enemy, before proceeding further. Ninja

I don't have any enemies left. Why would anyone waste time demonizing an enemy instead of dealing with the issue directly? I guess if that makes you feel all ninja, go for it.
Reply
#16
Unemployment is still ridiculously high. How is 7.8% unemployment good news?
Reply
#17
(10-05-2012, 11:38 AM)Simon Peter Wrote: Why would anyone waste time demonizing an enemy instead of dealing with the issue directly?

Says the man who posts Photoshopped pictures insulting people he doesn't like...
Reply
#18
(10-05-2012, 11:45 AM)csrowan Wrote:
(10-05-2012, 11:38 AM)Simon Peter Wrote: Why would anyone waste time demonizing an enemy instead of dealing with the issue directly?

Says the man who posts Photoshopped pictures insulting people he doesn't like...

You still my little puppy dog? That or you need the attention from a real man, kinda like scrapper does.
Reply
#19
(10-05-2012, 11:39 AM)cj2112 Wrote: Unemployment is still ridiculously high. How is 7.8% unemployment good news?

Because it is slowly, but steadily coming down.
It could still be going up. Would you prefer that?
Reply
#20
(10-05-2012, 11:52 AM)Simon Peter Wrote:
(10-05-2012, 11:45 AM)csrowan Wrote:
(10-05-2012, 11:38 AM)Simon Peter Wrote: Why would anyone waste time demonizing an enemy instead of dealing with the issue directly?

Says the man who posts Photoshopped pictures insulting people he doesn't like...

You still my little puppy dog? That or you need the attention from a real man, kinda like scrapper does.

Sorry, Simon. I'm spoken for.

Besides, real men would rather calmly talk with someone than shoot them full of rock salt.
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)