U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%[W: 831]

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Conservative said:

Sorry, but it does appear that you have no understanding of our private sector economy and what it takes to stimulate and grow it. Let me help you, govt. economic policy that doesn't penalize individual wealth creation and dampers investment capital creation.

Name for me one positive economic policy Obama has created?

What you fail to recognize is that every President in history has had opposition and the sign of a good leader is the ability to work with that opposition. Obama's "my way or the highway" attitude isn't condusive to positive economic policy and growth. In fact Obama had a filibuster proof Senate during his first term.

Seems that Obama supporters are oblivious to reality.

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I understand that it is your opinion that only supply side policies will work. To argue that by disagreeing with your assertion that I have no understanding of what it takes to stimulate growth is clear evidence that you don't understand that supply-side theory is a philosophy or an opinion that you happen to agree with but is not remotely the only accepted theory. I udnerstand supply-side theory (I used to be a supply-sider) and I understand Keynesian theory. I don't believe either is the right course all the time, I believe the correct policies is dependent on current conditions, and in my opinion, the current conditions warrant Keynesian policy.

I say this because supply-side policy can effectively add capital to the market but the market is not short on capital, there is an excess of capital and a shortage of demand.

I would not disagree that political dysfunction is adding the uncertainty that is keeping capital on the sidelines, but I am very confident that actual policy decisions, even Keynesian policy decisions, would settle some of the uncertainty as well as boosting demand, and the capital would flow back into the economy.

I think it is ridiculous to argue that supply-side policy is necessary when there are trillions of dollars in capital out there, supply side policies would just add to the capital that is sitting on the sidelines.

The stimulus was a positive economic policy, and pretty much the last policy Obama could get through as he did NOT have a filibuster proof Senate but for a few months broken over three periods in 2009.

Obama is a Democrat, the Senate has a Democratic majority. So who's policies should move forward with, the GOP policies of the House?

It is the GOP that is making the petulant stand of my way or the highway.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Helix said:

i'm concerned about all of it. you see, i want our economy to succeed regardless of which half of the superparty is in charge.

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How is the economy going to succeed when we have a President who lacks positive leadership traits and doesn't understand how a private sector economy works yet has the support of some many who have the same ideology? You don't grow a private sector economy by taking money out of it through higher taxes and regulations. Obama is transforming American into a European model of low economic growth, high unemployment, declining labor force, and high debt. Is that really what you want?

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Conservative said:

How is the economy going to succeed when we have a President who lacks positive leadership traits and doesn't understand how a private sector economy works yet has the support of some many who have the same ideology? You don't grow a private sector economy by taking money out of it through higher taxes and regulations. Obama is transforming American into a European model of low economic growth, high unemployment, declining labor force, and high debt. Is that really what you want?

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i'm not arguing hyperpartisan caricatures with you. have a good one.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

mtm1963 said:

the usual bad news when it comes to jobs.

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Uhm.... the unemployment rate has dropped most months since around 2010. You sure about that?

the labor force participation rate continues to fall. down to 63.3% from 63.5% in feb.

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The labor force participation rate has had a downward trend since 2002.



It's mostly the Baby Boomers retiring. It's a long-term demographic trend, not a short-term event attributable to government policies.

On a side note, I find it hilarious that a small rise in the unemployment rate is a sign of doom, whereas any drop in the unemployment rate is mercilessly hammered as a flawed and politicized data.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

CaptinSarcastic said:

I understand that it is your opinion that only supply side policies will work. To argue that by disagreeing with your assertion that I have no understanding of what it takes to stimulate growth is clear evidence that you don't understand that supply-side theory is a philosophy or an opinion that you happen to agree with but is not remotely the only accepted theory. I udnerstand supply-side theory (I used to be a supply-sider) and I understand Keynesian theory. I don't believe either is the right course all the time, I believe the correct policies is dependent on current conditions, and in my opinion, the current conditions warrant Keynesian policy.

I say this because supply-side policy can effectively add capital to the market but the market is not short on capital, there is an excess of capital and a shortage of demand.

I would not disagree that political dysfunction is adding the uncertainty that is keeping capital on the sidelines, but I am very confident that actual policy decisions, even Keynesian policy decisions, would settle some of the uncertainty as well as boosting demand, and the capital would flow back into the economy.

I think it is ridiculous to argue that supply-side policy is necessary when there are trillions of dollars in capital out there, supply side policies would just add to the capital that is sitting on the sidelines.

The stimulus was a positive economic policy, and pretty much the last policy Obama could get through as he did NOT have a filibuster proof Senate but for a few months broken over three periods in 2009.

Obama is a Democrat, the Senate has a Democratic majority. So who's policies should move forward with, the GOP policies of the House?

It is the GOP that is making the petulant stand of my way or the highway.

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The excess of capital in the market today is because of the printing of money and this house of cards is about to crumble.

Wall Street is doing very well whereas Main Street is suffering. You cannot have a labor force of 155 million with 143 million working and call that success. Nor can you have 51% of the income earning families paying for a 3.6 trillion dollar Federal Govt and expect the economy to grow, create jobs, and provide for economic security.

Supply side is the only economic policy that is viable and makes sense in a consumer driven economy. There are four components to GDP with the largest being consumer spending. Consumers need cash and get that cash when jobs are created. Things like Obamacare, massive regulations, and penalizing wealth creators isn't a prescription for economic growth.

The GOP is fighting for individual freedom, individual wealth creation, personal responsibility all principles upon which this country was built and which are proven to be successful. When you look at the budget you see an entitlement mentality with entitlements making up the lion's share of the budget. That is a prescription for failure as fewer workers are paying for more entitlement spending and a transfer of wealth from the individual to the govt. through higher taxes.

By all standards the stimulus was a complete and utter failure as the results show

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Helix said:

i'm not arguing hyperpartisan caricatures with you. have a good one.

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Nor are you arguing facts and actual performance. The negative results the last four plus years don't seem to matter to far too many today.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Conservative said:

Please explain what value a national poll offers for evaluating Congressional elections when nothing really changed in the last election, Republicans still hold the House and Democrats the Senate and WH? Congressional elections are local not national nor are they determined by national polls.

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It's a valid point, the national polls do not translate precisely into electoral results, but they are not completely irrelevant either.

It is interesting to note that in the 2012 Congressional elections, Democrats received more than 50% of the votes but the GOP still has more than 50% of the seats. This is the result of redistricting by the GOP as well as the population density in Democratic districts. Still, this does not bode well for the GOP that the majority party in government during a seriously economic period received under 50% in the combined House, Senate, and Presidential races.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Helix said:

not terribly surprising. didn't look to be a good month with the sequester, uncertainty, and all of the global BS. i was frankly stunned when they predicted 200,000. we need some new economists, because it's always "unexpected."

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Definitely a weak jobs report, the good news is that the private jobs continue to grow (+95K), the bad news is that public sector continue to decline (-7K). In fact, 720K public sector jobs have been loss since Obama became president, this because tax revenue is down.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data

if you look at the graph you see that public sectors jobs grew steadily when Bush was president.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

CanadaJohn said:

Name one credible source that can identify a single job that was lost in March as a result of the sequester.

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DOD has been cutting contractors and delaying contracts for the past month or so.

Go talk to some people in MD and VA, they'll fill you in.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

CaptinSarcastic said:

It's a valid point, the national polls do not translate precisely into electoral results, but they are not completely irrelevant either.

It is interesting to note that in the 2012 Congressional elections, Democrats received more than 50% of the votes but the GOP still has more than 50% of the seats. This is the result of redistricting by the GOP as well as the population density in Democratic districts. Still, this does not bode well for the GOP that the majority party in government during a seriously economic period received under 50% in the combined House, Senate, and Presidential races.

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Which just goes to show how poorly informed far too many are as they ignore the basic principles that this country was built on as they ignore the fact that the real obstruction is Harry Reid and the Democrat Senate. How many bills are sitting in Reid's desk passed by the House? Name for me one economic policy proposed by Obama that has had a positive effect on economic growth, job creation, and the debt?

We have an entitlement society today that Obama and liberals seem to want. That entitlement society has created a 17 trillion dollar debt that has created the fourth largest budget item, debt service and that will be the highest budget item when interest rates rise due to inflation.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Visbek said:

DOD has been cutting contractors and delaying contracts for the past month or so.

Go talk to some people in MD and VA, they'll fill you in.

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So you buy the liberal spin? You and others seem to believe we need a 3.6 trillion dollar federal govt. when the reality is it is the private sector suffering not the public sector. Small business owners aren't hiring because of economic uncertainty and can more than compensate for the decline in public sector jobs if given the incentive to do so. Higher taxes, more regulations, and Obamacare aren't prescriptions for economic growth and job creation

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Conservative said:

Which just goes to show how poorly informed far too many are as they ignore the basic principles that this country was built on as they ignore the fact that the real obstruction is Harry Reid and the Democrat Senate. How many bills are sitting in Reid's desk passed by the House? .

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Well why don't you tell us instead of playing 10,000 questions.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Fisher said:

He had the house and senate for two years and couldn't control the dems in the senate which resulted in the healthcare mandate he had opposed which resulted in him being political crippled by the ensuing polarization. That not withstanding, he this year got the 2% tax increase on every worker he wanted and he got the raise in the top end tax rate. Very little economically has been "vetoed" except uncontrolled spending.

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That is awesome, the 2% tax increase you claim Obama wanted was the end of the Keynesian stimulus payroll tax holiday which Republicans opposed fromt he beginning and wanted gone every chance they got. Still it was always intended to be temporary, so by definition, it had to end some time. If Obama could have gotten it through, he would have extended it further, but there was no way he was going to get the GOP on board.

Very little has been vetoed? Seriously? You want to go with that?

The GOP House has voted to repeal Obamacare nearly three dozen times, they have passed three DOA budgets which had zero chance of becoming law, the GOP minority in the Senate has invoked a record shattering 360 filibusters since 2007.

When you say, "he this year got the 2% tax increase on every worker he wanted and he got the raise in the top end tax rate", I am reminded of that line from Princess Bride. "My brains, his steal, and your strength, against 60 men. And, you think a little head jiggle is supposed to make me happy?"

The GOp is content with allowing nothing to happen unless they get all they want, the only variations on this theme are when the only alternative is catastrophe from which they could not escape blame.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Visbek said:

DOD has been cutting contractors and delaying contracts for the past month or so.

Go talk to some people in MD and VA, they'll fill you in.

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Your impressions aren't statistics. The latest information I can glean from Maryland is for February, and they had job growth. In Virginia, the numbers are up as well for February. I can't find March numbers, but perhaps you have them since you claim jobs have been cut due to the sequester.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

CaptinSarcastic said:

That is awesome, the 2% tax increase you claim Obama wanted was the end of the Keynesian stimulus payroll tax holiday which Republicans opposed fromt he beginning and wanted gone every chance they got. Still it was always intended to be temporary, so by definition, it had to end some time. If Obama could have gotten it through, he would have extended it further, but there was no way he was going to get the GOP on board.

Very little has been vetoed? Seriously? You want to go with that?

The GOP House has voted to repeal Obamacare nearly three dozen times, they have passed three DOA budgets which had zero chance of becoming law, the GOP minority in the Senate has invoked a record shattering 360 filibusters since 2007.

When you say, "he this year got the 2% tax increase on every worker he wanted and he got the raise in the top end tax rate", I am reminded of that line from Princess Bride. "My brains, his steal, and your strength, against 60 men. And, you think a little head jiggle is supposed to make me happy?"

The GOp is content with allowing nothing to happen unless they get all they want, the only variations on this theme are when the only alternative is catastrophe from which they could not escape blame.

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Wow, where do you get your information, Think Progress, Moveon, or other leftwing sites? How do attempts to repeal Obamacare hurt the economy and economic growth?

How does lowering the cost of govt. hurt economic growth which is what the GOP budgets did?

360 filibusters? Where did you get that information and how many of any filibuster prevented Obama from enacting his economic policies?

Elimination of the payroll tax holiday was a good thing because payroll taxes is what funds SS and Medicare and never should have been implemented in the first place. Cut income taxes to see strong economic growth, i.e. Reagan and Bush.

The GOP is for getting back to the principles which made this country great and reversing the trend towards an entitlement society.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

iguanaman said:

Huh? Doctors who do nothing but give shots? What a waste of a education.

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Yeah, and handle Medicaid and medicare to.....huh? Plus some are doing research at the same time. Go figure, eh?

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Erod said:

They're not "buying it" because they're celebrating it. Free money and no work is quite popular among your voting bloc.

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There is more than one kind of welfare, and "your voting bloc" seems to avidly support the worst kind of wealthy, giving free money to those that don't need it but have the political clout to get it anyway. We spend 50% more on corporate welfare than we do on programs fro the needy.

I support sensible welfare support systems, and contrary to what most conservatives believe, almost all welfare is administered by the states and almost all welfare is temporary. The main variations being Veterans benefits (which are included in welfare numbers, but I would hardly consider them handouts, and permanent disability claims).

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

j-mac said:

Polls these days are very subjective...Just as you can cite a poll to back your opinion, I can find an equal one to back mine....They are meaningless.

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Yeah, that's what people on the wrong side of polls tend to say.

I do recall conservatives arguing that the polls surrounding heathcare reform should be taken as the Gospel of American opinion, but hey, that was then (and those polls included not only people who thought the reform bill went too far, about 38%, but the folks who felt it did not go far enough, about 14%)

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Another month of proof for four years running that this administration couldn't give a crap about private sector jobs. Forget what they say, all their actions and results prove that their priority is to grow and get more people dependent on government. The Obama malais continues, right on schedule.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

CaptinSarcastic said:

There is more than one kind of welfare, and "your voting bloc" seems to avidly support the worst kind of wealthy, giving free money to those that don't need it but have the political clout to get it anyway. We spend 50% more on corporate welfare than we do on programs fro the needy.

I support sensible welfare support systems, and contrary to what most conservatives believe, almost all welfare is administered by the states and almost all welfare is temporary. The main variations being Veterans benefits (which are included in welfare numbers, but I would hardly consider them handouts, and permanent disability claims).

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Where are you getting this from?

Source?

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Jack Fabulous said:

Where are you getting this from?

Source?

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Good question, only in the liberal world is a company keeping more of what it earns an expense to the govt. thus a cost

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Conservative said:

The excess of capital in the market today is because of the printing of money and this house of cards is about to crumble.

Wall Street is doing very well whereas Main Street is suffering. You cannot have a labor force of 155 million with 143 million working and call that success. Nor can you have 51% of the income earning families paying for a 3.6 trillion dollar Federal Govt and expect the economy to grow, create jobs, and provide for economic security.

Supply side is the only economic policy that is viable and makes sense in a consumer driven economy. There are four components to GDP with the largest being consumer spending. Consumers need cash and get that cash when jobs are created. Things like Obamacare, massive regulations, and penalizing wealth creators isn't a prescription for economic growth.

The GOP is fighting for individual freedom, individual wealth creation, personal responsibility all principles upon which this country was built and which are proven to be successful. When you look at the budget you see an entitlement mentality with entitlements making up the lion's share of the budget. That is a prescription for failure as fewer workers are paying for more entitlement spending and a transfer of wealth from the individual to the govt. through higher taxes.

By all standards the stimulus was a complete and utter failure as the results show

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While I disagree, I appreciate the more sensible tone.

But you say "by all standards the stimulus was a complete and utter failure as the results show"

How do you support that contention?

The only way to know for sure is to have a view into an alternate reality where a different policy path was taken. Beyond that impossibility, all we can go on is the view of experts, professional economists.

So tell me what do economists say?

I can show you a poll of economists where 92% agree that the stimulus succeeded in reducing joblessness, but I could also find economists in the minority who disagree.

Are you suggesing that since a small minority of economists agree with you they must be right, because.... they agree with you???

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Conservative said:

So you are using the 143 million as a baseline and ignoring it was 146 million 6 years ago.

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Not at all. You're the one who is ignoring that it is not 143 miliion coming down from 146, but 143 coming up from 139.

Getting back to 143 million is very poor performance especially with a 155 million labor force.

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yeah, that makes an unemployment rate of 7.7% Which is a big improvement over the worst in October 2009 when it was 138.4 million employed and a labor force of 153.8 million (UE rate of 10%)

Being up from the worst decline but not even close to being back to 2007 numbers is the disaster I am talking about.

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but it's not. You keep talking like the numbers are the lowest they've been, and not an improvement over the worst. Too slow perhaps, but still an improvement.

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Jack Fabulous said:

Where are you getting this from?

Source?

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Here's a quick link...

Government Spends More on Corporate Welfare Subsidies than Social Welfare Programs | Think by Numbers

Re: U.S. Adds Only 88,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Falls to 7.6%

Conservative said:

Wow, where do you get your information, Think Progress, Moveon, or other leftwing sites? How do attempts to repeal Obamacare hurt the economy and economic growth?

How does lowering the cost of govt. hurt economic growth which is what the GOP budgets did?

360 filibusters? Where did you get that information and how many of any filibuster prevented Obama from enacting his economic policies?

Elimination of the payroll tax holiday was a good thing because payroll taxes is what funds SS and Medicare and never should have been implemented in the first place. Cut income taxes to see strong economic growth, i.e. Reagan and Bush.

The GOP is for getting back to the principles which made this country great and reversing the trend towards an entitlement society.

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Okay, so one conservative blames Obama for a middle class tax increase by ending the payroll tax holiday and another says that it was necessary because it funds the SS system.

So, which is it?

How many attempts to repeal Obamacare does the House need? I would suspect that since they KNOW that it will not get through the Senate, maybe one vote to get themselves on record might be appropriate, but how exactly is Congress doing the business of the nation by having nearly three dozen votes passing the same DOA bill? How does a pointless vote save us money?

Filibusters, read it yourself.... U.S. Senate: Reference Home >

I recognize that you believe that lower income taxes will stimulate economic growth, I just disagree and if you look at the data, America has always had economic growth, whether we have tax hikes or cuts, so eventually we will recover lost revenues to a point, but as the record shows, that point has never been enough to balance the budget, that is why we see record deficits during good economic times following supply side tax cuts. Reagan, Bush.