Posted on 02/13/2009 8:13:18 AM PST by Michael Eden
In January, the US saw nearly 598,000 jobs go by the wayside, the most losses in a single month since 1974. That follows the 577,000 jobs that were lost in December.
The "conventional wisdom" blathered by the blatantly dishonest and foolish mainstream media is that these losses are the result of the economic downturn that hit the economy under George Bush.
But while there is certainly an element of partial truth to this view, it is by no means THE truth. And the mainstream media most certainly don't want you to know the rest of the story.
As a result of all of this continual decline in market confidence - and the decline in jobs that accompany such a lack of confidence - President Obama is cynically attempting to put as much blame on the Bush administration as possible:
January’s Employment Situation Report from Uncle Sam’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was even worse than expected. Seasonally adjusted employment fell by 598,000 jobs and the unemployment rate rose to 7.6%.And what is causing this incredible momentum to the economic meltdown under Obama's watch?In his Saturday address that followed this news, President Barack Obama was correct in pointing out that 3.6 million jobs have been lost since the recession, at least as “defined” by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), began. The recession, as normal people define it (”a decline in gross domestic product [GDP] for two or more consecutive quarters”), began in the third quarter of 2008 and became official late last month when the fourth quarter came in negative.
What Mr. Obama “somehow” forgot to tell us is that almost 1.8 million of those seasonally adjusted job losses have occurred since his election, when his non-stop economic no-confidence game went into high gear, and that 2.8 million jobs have gone away during the seven months that began in July 2008, the first full month of the POR (Pelosi-Obama-Reid) economy:
Let me quote myself - even as I quote from the September/October issue of Chief Executive Magazine:
People are most concerned about jobs right now; maybe they should stop listening to mainstream media ideologues and start listening to the people who actually create jobs:The Chief Executive Officers were very clear in their assessment: an election of Barack Obama would result in an economic disaster. And don't think that a significant part of the terrible climate for the economy, and for business and jobs, is who is running the show right now.Chief Executive Magazine’s most recent polling of 751 CEOs shows that GOP presidential candidate John McCain is the preferred choice for CEOs. According to the poll, which is featured on the cover of Chief Executive’s most recent issue, by a four-to-one margin, CEOs support Senator John McCain over Senator Barack Obama. Moreover, 74 percent of the executives say they fear that an Obama presidency would be disastrous for the country.“Disastrous for the country.” That doesn’t sound good. And that’s about as optimistic as the CEO’s get about Barack Obama:“The stakes for this presidential election are higher than they’ve ever been in recent memory,” said Edward M. Kopko, CEO and Publisher of Chief Executive magazine. “We’ve been experiencing consecutive job losses for nine months now. There’s no doubt that reviving the job market will be a top priority for the incoming president. And job creating CEOs repeatedly tell us that McCain’s policies are far more conducive to a more positive employment environment than Obama’s.”
“I’m not terribly excited about McCain being president, but I’m sure that Obama, if elected, will have a negative impact on business and the economy,” said one CEO voicing his lack of enthusiasm for either candidate, but particularly Obama.“Bankrupt the country within three years.” There. You want socialism, you can have it. “Spread the wealth around” so that country itself ultimately becomes as broke as the defaulting homeowners and the defaulting mortgage houses we keep hearing about.In expressing their rejection of Senator Obama, some CEOs who responded to the survey went as far as to say that “some of his programs would bankrupt the country within three years, if implemented.” In fact, the poll highlights that Obama’s tax policies, which scored the lowest grade in the poll, are particularly unpopular among CEOs.
A Politico story from October 22, 2008 put it this way:
Generally, financial analysts say the stock market likes Republicans more than Democrats. And while predicting market movements is as difficult as predicting the winner of the World Series in August, some experts say the market is already anticipating an Obama win on Nov. 4 and has at least partially accounted for it.In other words, a significant part of the massive sell-offs we saw even prior to the election were inspired by the belief that Obama would win the White House and start screwing up the economy with his socialism. And he has given them no reason to think anything else since.“Potentially, you could see a one or two-day rally on a McCain victory, and not much of a reaction if Obama wins, because that’s what’s expected at this point,” said Justin Fishkin, a partner at The Cypress Group, a financial services company in Washington, D.C. Fishkin, who earlier in his career was a hedge fund manager specializing in political, regulatory, and legislative event-driven investments, said the key issue on Wall Street minds is corporate taxation — which is why the market might prefer McCain and his promised rate cuts over Obama.
MSN ran an article entitled, “Why Wall Street Fears Obama“:
Investors this summer have been placing their bets on an Obama presidency, and for the most part that hasn’t been good for the market.And as terrible as an Obama victory was for investors who sustain economic viability with their investment, what was even worse was the fear that Democrats would assume total control of the Congress. Basically, the more Democrats there are, the less the market likes it.Without giving him a chance to explain himself in detail on the campaign trail or at the Democratic National Convention, they are voting with their shares by tossing financial, health insurance, manufacturing and high-dividend stocks into the ash can, and are growing skeptical about energy companies as well.
It’s not that major institutional investors don’t like the man — far from it. He has many backers among the financial elite, including multibillionaires George Soros and Ron Burkle. And it’s not that there aren’t many other reasons for investors to sell stocks now, as the global economy tangles with the terrible twin beasts of bank deleveraging and inflation.
It’s just that Obama’s rhetoric on taxes and health care is scaring common wealthy people with large capital gains from investments made over the past decade, and a lot of them don’t want to wait around to see whether it’s just populist fluff that might be set aside once he takes office.
Joe Lieber, a political analyst at the consulting firm Washington Analysis who scrutinizes elections for his clients at hedge, mutual and pension funds, said an electoral lurch that gave the Democrats 60 seats could prompt a dramatic sell-off on Wall Street.But now we're supposed to believe that the nosediving market has nothing to do with the Obama presidency and the gains of Democrats in Congress?“We’re getting a lot more questions about the Senate than the presidential [race],” Lieber said, “because there’s almost nobody on Wall Street right now who believes McCain’s going to win.” A filibuster-proof Democratic majority (three-fifths of the chamber, or 60 senators) would not be well received by Wall Street traders, he added. “A lot of investment professionals don’t necessarily want to give one party the keys to the entire city. Free markets like gridlock.”
Let's go back to November 5, the day after election day:
NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Wall Street hardly delivered a rousing welcome to President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday,dropping by the largest margin on record for a day following a U.S. presidential contest.So while the mainstream media was singing the praises of Barack Obama and heralding, "The Messiah will heal the economy as easily as he walks on water!" businessmen and investors were saying, "Whatever you do, DON'T elect this clown!" And while the mainstream media was sharing their conventional wisdom that difficult economic times favored Democrats with all the seriousness of a six-year old explaining the workings of an internal cumbustion engine, people who actually understood the economy (and whose investments made it go in the first place) were shouting, "DON'T burden us with Democrats!"
But we trusted the media propaganda machine and refused to listen to investors and business leaders.
And as we allow Democrats to ram a massive "stimulus" bill through that will only stimulate every liberal social spending program under the sun, we won't bother to listen to the Congressional Budget Office, either:
President Obama's economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.And the negative evaluation of investors' and businesses' confidence in Obama has continued:CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing.
Stocks tumble after gov't unveils financial planAndBy TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer Tim Paradis, Ap Business Writer – Tue Feb 10
NEW YORK – Investors are frustrated with the government's latest bank bailout plan — and showed it by unloading stocks.
The major stock indexes fell more than 4 percent Tuesday, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which tumbled 382 points. Financial stocks led the market lower, a sign of how concerned Wall Street is about the government's ability to restore the health of the banking industry. Demand for safe havens like Treasurys and gold rose.
Traders and investors complained about what they saw as a lack of specifics from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on how the government will direct more than $1 trillion in public and private support to the financial system.
Oil slides toward multiyear lowsLiberals have no idea how to create wealth; all they know how to do is redistribute it even as the economy tanks as a result. And - for all the media propaganda to the contrary - people who understand how the economy and how business works know it.By MARK WILLIAMS, AP Energy Writer Mark Williams, Ap Energy Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Oil prices slid closer to a new multiyear low Thursday because of growing doubts that the $789 billion stimulus package will reinvigorate the economy and demand for energy.
So as the economy continues to drop like a brick in a glass aquarium under the leadership of Barack Obama and his socialists in Congress, liberals, I hope you hear a continuous chorus of conservatives, business professionals, and investors shouting over and over again until it becomes a permanent echo in your tortured and fractured psyches, "WE TOLD YOU SO! WE TOLD YOU SO! WE TOLD YOU SO!"
And it shouldn't be long before a version of the mindless liberal hatchet job that was continually applied to Bush gets applied to Barack Obama: "Obama lied, the economy died."
Get used to that shrill little voice. Because it's going to be with you for the next four years.
“WE TOLD YOU SO! WE TOLD YOU SO! WE TOLD YOU SO!”
::::::::::
Just a message to the fools of the electorate that made this nightmare happen.
It was clear the morning of 11/4/08 that the republic was over. Our fellow-citizens did this - those who voted for Obozo and those who stayed home and did nothing.
Excellent article!
I believe that we have to go into overtime to work to hold Obama responsible for the economy RIGHT NOW. Otherwise, as it drags on and on, he will continue to use “Bush killed the economy, and I’m just a helpless victim of his terrible Republican policies” for a year, two years, four years.
People who understood the world of business and the market KNEW Obama would be a disaster and said as much.
It’s Obama’s fault.
Say, “Obama lied, the economy died. Make a lib go apoplectic.
Lo and behold, the unemployment numbers for every month since (and including) the election have been appalling. Chickens coming home to roost indeed.
It’s hard to feel sorry for my fellow Americans who voted for Change-O and now, suddenly they’re unemployed.
A Very True and Frightening Post!
“It may take a while but evidentially those people getting their extra $13 a week from Obama are going to start wondering if it was worth it.”
Great point. But we need to start laying the ground for that realization today. Don’t let the media redefine the economy to blame it all on “Republican mismanagement.”
Root out the evidence to build the case that shows people that the investors and CEOs and business people BLAMED Obama in advance - and knew what they were talking about.
Libs don’t care about “building” the economy. They want “fairness.” But “fairness” creates stagnation 100% of the time, because too many let others work do the work for them and hold out their hand for their “fair share.”
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Spending Money Today to Lose Money Tomorrow
Posted by: Michele Bachmann at 5:55 PM
As Congress readies itself to spend $300 million on golf carts as part of their multi-hundred-billion-dollar stimulus proposal, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has provided some very alarming numbers - and Congress should take heed.
According to the CBO, in 2009 and 2010, 98% of the tax cuts in the Democrats’ economic “stimulus” package will go into effect, providing for 1.4% growth in our nation’s Gross Domestic Product in that time. However, the other 2% of the stimulus tax cuts will go into the economy between 2011 and 2019 - along with about half the spending in the package. The problem with this equation is that the $1.1-trillion price tag (which includes the interest on the total package), our increasing debt and our crowding out of private sector activity will drive down our Gross Domestic Product to .2% less than it is today, prior to the stimulus.
So what you want to take away from these numbers is this:
Spending $1.1 trillion today will result in a loss of 0.2% of our wealth tomorrow. (Check out the Graph)
According to the peer-reviewed research and methodology of Dr. Christina Romer, the President’s head of the Council of Economic Advisors and the nation’s chief economist, The Republican Economic Recovery Plan creates twice the jobs at half the cost.
Americans know that tax cuts are a better way to immediately stimulate the economy than wasteful government spending.
http://560wind.townhall.com/Common/Print.aspx
They will not realize how dangerous Obozo is until it’s too late.
“America pulls out own teeth, counts on Tooth Fairy for retirement payoff.”
Headline Story
NEWSMAX.COM
Stimulus Sellout: 3 GOP Senators Slashed Billions in Tax Cuts; Specter Got $6.5 Billion
Thursday, February 12, 2009 6:32 PM
By: David A. Patten
The “gang of three” — liberal Republican Sens. Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins — who handed President Obama the stimulus bill he so desperately needed, apparently sacrificed billions in tax cuts during final negotiations over the measure in order to reduce its cost.
Economy tanking = Obama’s fault.
“People will be hunting Democrats with dogs by the end of the century” Phil Gramm (when asked what would result if Clinton’s proposals were passed.
Well Clinton went to the center, the repubs took over in 94, so we’ll see if Gramm’s remark’s are true this time around.
Oh, my dear God that is funny, Admiral Kirk!
Thanks for the laugh - and the genuine insight.
Does anyone have a comparison of the vote count for republicans between 2004 and 2008? I have seen numerous references to “those that stayed home”, and I wondered if the actual R vote counts reflected a large drop-off.
I’ll put that article in a file for future use. I AM TRYING TO ACCUMULATE A STOCKPILE OF EVIDENCE FOR FUTURE USE.
I have one from the Washington Post that says some of the same things.
We need to open up our cans of whoopass on Obama and the socialist turkeys running the country into the ground. And we need to do it now.
Things are going to get so bad under President BlackBerry that I won’t get any satisfaction rubbing the noses of those responsible in the mess they made possible.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.