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· October 5, 2012

The numbers are the numbers …

Quick Friday note on today’s good news that the unemployment rate in the U.S. is below 8 percent for the first time in quite awhile. According to the New York Times:
The unemployment rate fell because more people were working, not because discouraged job seekers stopped looking, the numbers showed. Adding to the positive news, job gains were revised upward by 40,000 for July (to 181,000) and by 46,000 for August (to 142,000), casting a slightly rosier light on what had been perceived as a summer slump.
Then there’s this according to former General Electric CEO Jack Welch:       Welch is also a hyper-partisan conservative. This is what it comes down to folks, in Election Year 2012 – if the numbers don’t add up (Romney Economics), obfuscate. If the numbers are just plain not going your way, (today’s unemployment report), make up some craziness. By the way – our research staff hit the BLS site earlier today and pulled out some Ohio state level data:                           As you can see, when President Barack Obama took office the trend was already in place in Ohio – we were losing jobs. But look what happened in early 2010 – as the stimulus bill took effect and Federal Reserve measures were well under way – and lest we forget – the auto rescue was working –  the trend reversed. Sure, we would all like the recovery to move along at a faster rate, but how many times have economists, and politicians of both parties, reminded us that the Great Recession was the worst economic event in the U.S. since the Great Depression? Perhaps our expectations that growth should follow patterns similar to “garden variety” recessions should be set aside for this one. Perhaps we should remember that despite a do-nothing House of Representatives, the Obama Recovery is just that – recovery.

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