Stimulus Success?
The White House received a well-timed boost to their case that the president’s February economic stimulus is not a failure and only needs more time to be allowed to seep into the staggered economy.
While the media and conservative critics of the president take shots at the stimulus, new data released today showed an unexpected drop in the number of weekly jobless claims last week to its lowest figure since January, arguably the heart of the recession.
The number of newly laid-off workers filing initial claims for jobless benefits last week fell to lowest level since early January, largely due to changes in the timing of auto industry layoffs.
Continuing claims, meanwhile, unexpectedly jumped to a record-high. While layoffs are slowing, jobs remain scarce and the unemployment rate is rising, which some economists worry could weaken or delay a recovery. The unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent last month and is expected to top 10 percent by the end of this year.
New claims for unemployment insurance plummeted by 52,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 565,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s significantly below analysts’ expectations of 605,000 for the week ending July 4, according to Thomson Reuters. The last time new claims were below 600,000 was week of Jan. 24.
Does this mean stimulus critics have lost their case?
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Despite the misleading headline of the AP article, it points out that continuing jobless claims are at an all time high, the unemployment rate is 9.5% (far worse than Honest Obe assured us the unemployment rate would be WITHOUT his cute little Porkulus) and is headed for 10% by the end of the year.
So clearly the stimulus is failing (unless you belong to the fraternity of special interests such as government employees, unions, and ACORN.)
The Porkulus is a train-wreck… these jobs figures are far worse than the ones the White House warned us about if we DIDN’T pass the bill- so it was passed, and then unemployment soars anyway?
Instead of creating jobs, interest rates were bumped up, the dollar slid… and it didn’t help anybody get any work. Much of this is due to the fact that Obama’s agenda has mortified almost every source of job-and-growth creation in the country.
The Dear Leader couldn’t deliver the type of “temporary, targeted, and timely” bill that he promised repeatedly. Regardless of his image in the MSM, Obama simply lacks the the political stature to control Pelosi and Reid… who hit the trough hard, while bickering like children.
And the lack of GOP co-conspirators exposed Obama politically… this legislation now looks to be a HUGE gamble. And when all this pork-n-welfare fails to generate any real economic gains, the Democrats face a bloodbath in 2010.
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