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Obama’s Puzzle: Economy Rarely Better, Approval Rarely Worse (NY Times barf alert)
The New York Times ^ | Monday, January 27, 2014 | Jackie Calmes

Posted on 01/27/2014 7:38:24 PM PST by kristinn

— President Obama will pronounce on the state of the union for the fifth time on Tuesday, and never during his time in office has the state of the economy been better — yet rarely has he gotten such low marks from the public for his handling of it.

Not only have economic indicators shown progress toward pre-recession health, but many forecasters are predicting what one called “a breakout year” for growth. A new study from a Federal Reserve economist even put a more benign spin on a negative trend, the shrinking labor force, by attributing the decline not to discouraged unemployed workers who have quit looking for jobs, but to the first baby-boomer retirements.

Demand for labor is up and the unemployment rate is below 7 percent for the first time since November 2008. Consumers, buoyed by rising home prices and stock values, are spending more; so are businesses. Exports are growing as Europe regains health. The fiscal drag from state and federal spending cuts has abated. And contrary to Republicans’ claims, many forecasters do not see the health care law as “a job-killer.”

Economically speaking, said Scott A. Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West, “the state of the union is the best we have seen in years.”

Mr. Obama and his speechwriter could not phrase it better, or simpler. Yet taking credit is complicated, given the clear evidence in national polls that most Americans are not in a mood to give him any.

Mr. Obama’s ratings for his handling of the economy, never high since his first months in office, slipped throughout 2013 in national polls. As he began this year, nearly six in 10 Americans disapproved, nearly matching his lowest marks in 2011, a year of repeated and damaging fiscal fights with the new Republican...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: obama; obamasotu
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1 posted on 01/27/2014 7:38:24 PM PST by kristinn
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To: kristinn
“the state of the union is the best we have seen in years.”

The problem may be that union word. We are more divided than ever and Obama is probably the most divisive president ever. He's tearing this country apart and wiping his tukus with the Constitution. It would take one heck of a strong economy to cover those flaws.

2 posted on 01/27/2014 7:44:01 PM PST by Irenic (The pencil sharpener and Elmer's glue is put away-- we've lost the red wheelbarrow)
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To: kristinn

Green shoots, people. Enjoy another Summer of Recovery


3 posted on 01/27/2014 7:44:31 PM PST by griswold3 (Post-Christian America is living on borrowed moral heritage)
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To: kristinn

Hey NY Times...Doesn’t it suck went your bullsh-t propaganda just doesn’t work anymore?


4 posted on 01/27/2014 7:45:54 PM PST by tophat9000 (Are we headed to a Cracker Slacker War?)
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To: kristinn

What rubbish. Wherever nyt’s alternate universe is hiding, the one with jobs and obviously lots of hallucinogenic drugs, it’s nowhere near most of USA ( land of the Great Obama Depression. ).


5 posted on 01/27/2014 7:48:24 PM PST by faithhopecharity (C)
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To: kristinn

Basically, if he had done nothing, and excluding the ridiculous pointless accumulation of debt, and where Obamacare damage is going to take us, where the economy is today is about where it should have been late 2010...and the unemployment figures are structurally bogus. He’s been “fortunate” he has not gotten the credit he deserves.


6 posted on 01/27/2014 7:55:49 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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Main Stream Media - Rarely Trustworthy.


7 posted on 01/27/2014 7:58:02 PM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: kristinn
Economy Rarely Better

B F'n S!!!!!!!! The little guys are being burned at the stake by this a$$h01e!!!! Most of the economic statistics are essentially a fabrication. Bill Clinton was a better liar, but with the advent of Zer0, he is certainly not the biggest liar . . . not by a long shot.

8 posted on 01/27/2014 8:00:06 PM PST by RatRipper (The political left are utterly evil and corrupt)
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To: kristinn

This is the worst economy I have ever seen. I see no growth at all.


9 posted on 01/27/2014 8:02:33 PM PST by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: kristinn

I like Rush’s name better.....”State of the COUP”


10 posted on 01/27/2014 8:10:38 PM PST by goodnesswins (R.I.P. Doherty, Smith, Stevens, Woods.)
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Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

To: kristinn

When unemployment is at a real 4.5 percent, and the number of people on food stamps, unemployment and other assistance programs are what they were during the best of the Bush years, get back to me on the economy thing. Then we can talk about things like qualitative easing propping up Wall Street banks, the exploding national debt, trillion dollar budgets, waste and incompetence. But until then, let the little faggot take another vacation.

Gas went up $.22 today.


12 posted on 01/27/2014 8:13:14 PM PST by pallis
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To: kristinn

Economy Rarely Better?

Check your premise NYT, Check your premise...


13 posted on 01/27/2014 8:39:51 PM PST by null and void (We need to shake this snowglobe up.)
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To: faithhopecharity

I call it the Great Depressing. I’m with Rush; it’s intentional.


14 posted on 01/27/2014 9:14:57 PM PST by JohnBovenmyer (Obama been Liberal. Hope Change!)
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To: kristinn

And the NYT is making tons of money too.

Pray America is Waking


15 posted on 01/27/2014 10:13:30 PM PST by bray (http://www.braylog.com/id47.html)
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To: kristinn
Anyone who believes the economy to be in any kind of state describable as "good" is either delusional or lives in a protective bubble, never venturing out to see the closed stores, the sparse shopping center parking lots, and all the other obvious signs that people are NOT spending money--except the lots around thrift stores and dollar stores.

There is a local "grey market" store specializing in outdated food, including meat, which opens on Sundays in an unmarked building. You go in through a side entrance. It is heavily patronized, chiefly by people white and black over 50. Payment is cash only, no receipts. Yes, the economy is doing great.
16 posted on 01/27/2014 11:06:49 PM PST by Nepeta
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To: Nepeta

This economy is an artificially inflated bubble supported by a monthly injection of 85 billion dollars in monopoly money. The artificial setting of near zero interest rates guarantees that economic repair andand real growth will never happen. When interest rates rise to 4-6%, maybe they can talk of turning the corner, but even the mere mention of tapering QE and the economy starts acting crazy. We’re all racing towards a brick wall in a borrowed Ferrari with its gas pedal and steering column welded down.


17 posted on 01/27/2014 11:38:30 PM PST by Antioch (Benedikt Gott Geschickt)
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To: kristinn

The fiscal drag from state and federal spending cuts has abated.

Now just what the hell are they saying here?
If the State and Fed would just spend more money
every thing would be peachie???
Insanity.


18 posted on 01/28/2014 12:18:32 AM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: kristinn
Yet taking credit is complicated, given the clear evidence in national polls that most Americans are not in a mood to give him any.

Oh, I think he gets full credit for this economy all right.

19 posted on 01/28/2014 1:15:24 AM PST by Colorado Doug (Now I know how the Indians felt to be sold out for a few beads and trinkets)
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To: All

Unemployment at 8.1% per Gallup.
Underemployment at 18% per Gallup.

When it was at 5.0% under Bush, the MSM was saying it was all low-paying “McJobs”

And remember “The jobless recovery”?

FUMSM
FUBO


20 posted on 01/28/2014 1:37:28 AM PST by Rodney Dangerfield (http://therealwendy.com/)
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