Unemployment hits 9.8%

[mawilson 2,133]

No comment on how well the stimulus worked regardless of the amount? Tell me again how the stimulus saved everyones jobs.

How could it not? You throw a trillion dollars at the wall, something's gotta stick.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Heil Obama!!!

Not true. Hitler created jobs

[JohnSmith2007 353]

Today's report, which is being called bad numbers, we learned of 50,000 new private sector jobs and the loss of 11,000 more public sector jobs.

To me, this really does seem like a bad result. But conservatives in the audience need to recognize that we're getting what they say they want. The private sector is growing and the public sector is shrinking. If you're disappointed in the results, you can perhaps consider reviving your view of the desirability of executing this shift in the middle of a collapse in aggregate demand. But what you can't do is say that the bad economy is somehow being caused by an Obama-era slide toward socialism. The slide isn't happening. The explosion in government isn't happening. The public sector is shrinking.

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/

Nice attempt at a spin. Sorry it fell flat. Any way you slice it the economy has either gotten worse or hasn't improved. This is now the longest time unemployment has been over 9% since WW2. It even surpasses the Carter recession. Good job Obama, you are now worse than Carter.

How could it not? You throw a trillion dollars at the wall, something's gotta stick.

We just saw how it didn't. A trillion dollars have been wasted and the left calls it success. Gotta love those rose colored glasses they wear.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

No comment on how well the stimulus worked regardless of the amount? Tell me again how the stimulus saved everyones jobs. Tell me again how well this administrations handling of the economy has been such a success. Only a comment on my numbers. Interesting.

Well, you had your facts all screwed up again so I felt it was appropriate to point that out.

[JohnSmith2007 353]

Well, you had your facts all screwed up again so I felt it was appropriate to point that out.

No, I didn't. By the time we pay back the trillion dollars we borrowed it will be multiple trillions. Remember a little thing called debt servicing otherwise known as interest? The Chinese are making out like bandits on this debacle.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Nice attempt at a spin. Sorry it fell flat. Any way you slice it the economy has either gotten worse or hasn't improved. This is now the longest time unemployment has been over 9% since WW2. It even surpasses the Carter recession. Good job Obama, you are now worse than Carter.

Are you saying the government should create more public sector jobs? Or are you saying Obama can create more private sector jobs?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

No, I didn't. By the time we pay back the trillion dollars we borrowed it will be multiple trillions. Remember a little thing called debt servicing otherwise known as interest?

Okay, still inaccurate but closer. Say, how has this actual trillions of dollars of waste that were the Bush tax cuts (that's trillions of dollars before debt service) worked out? And you're all supportive of pizzing another 3+ trillion (before debt service) down that same drain. You like the Chinese that much?

Edited December 3, 2010 by Mr. Big Dog

[mawilson 2,133]

We just saw how it didn't. A trillion dollars have been wasted and the left calls it success. Gotta love those rose colored glasses they wear.

You can't "waste" a trillion dollars. The money has been spent in the economy - it hasn't vanished into thin air.

Hence the term "stimulus".

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

You can't "waste" a trillion dollars. The money has been spent in the economy - it hasn't vanished into thin air.

Hence the term "stimulus".

(in theory 100% of it could go offshore, but like you said at least some of it has to stick. Probably at least 2/3 of it was pumped into the US economy)

[JohnSmith2007 353]

Okay, still inaccurate but closer. Say, how has this actual trillions of dollars of waste that were the Bush tax cuts (that's trillions of dollars before debt service) worked out? And you're all supportive of pizzing another 3+ trillion (before debt service) down that same drain. You like the Chinese that much?

The one small problem with that idea is this. Tax cuts create greater tax revinue rather than costing money. Tax cuts stimulate the economy while the stimulus did nothing. I know you don't agree with that but those are the facts. You are laboring under the false impression that all money belongs to the government. It belongs to the people. The only way the debt can go up is through spending. A tax cut means the people get to keep more of what they already own. You want to cut the debt? Reduce spending. Don't do it on the backs of the American people.

You can't "waste" a trillion dollars. The money has been spent in the economy - it hasn't vanished into thin air.

Hence the term "stimulus".

Show me where the economy was stimulated in any real way. If it didn't stimulate then it was wasted.

[LaL 418]

Show me where the economy was stimulated in any real way. If it didn't stimulate then it was wasted.

I don't know if this would qualify for you - but the 3 projects my husband is working on are all funded by the stimulus (energy grid).

[^_^ 5,021]

Also, the stimulus has resulted in more business for my employer (property insurer). New things are being built and someone has to insure them.

[JohnSmith2007 353]

I don't know if this would qualify for you - but the 3 projects my husband is working on are all funded by the stimulus (energy grid).

I understand that there are some projects in that huge mess that has worked. But there has been no national economic recovery. Unemployment is higher than what it was before the stimulus. It has lingered for 19 months now. The whole point of the trillion dollars in the bill was to keep unemployment below 8%. That is what was promised. That didn't happen. That is why the stimulus was a failure.

[^_^ 5,021]

I understand that there are some projects in that huge mess that has worked. But there has been no national economic recovery. Unemployment is higher than what it was before the stimulus. It has lingered for 19 months now. The whole point of the trillion dollars in the bill was to keep unemployment below 8%. That is what was promised. That didn't happen. That is why the stimulus was a failure.

The stimulus failed to meet its stated objectives with respect to the unemployment rate.

This is objectively true and no one is going to argue that.

However, that is quite different from saying that the stimulus failed to stimulate any economic growth.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Catepillar took stimulus money and I know of at least one person who works there, and who was worried about the possibility of a layoff.