Administration At A Loss To Explain Continued Rise in Unemployment

How does the White House continue to spin this thing and maintain continuity of logic and believeability? It is going to take some rather ignorant and uneducated voters to buy the explanation. It does help the administration in that they have the dominant liberal media industrial complex in their hip pocket. That is a big plus in propagating a lie. However, the problem this White House has comes from within. Hillary is slowly and in a subtle way marshaling her forces for a primary challenge in 2012. Because of the debt crisis brought about by the present congress and this president, this current skyrocketing unemployment is with us to stay for years regardless if the current congressional leadership is removed via the ballot box come November, and regardless if the president is voted out of office in 2012. That Obama/ Pelosi/ Reid China-Debt Stimulus Jobs Bill was a "game changer" as far as the US economy and the American way of life.

We might as well be adults about it and stop playing these Larry "the looser" Summers shell games with these unemployment numbers and face reality head on. The neo-Keynseian MIT Economics Department model of spending by the national government simply does not compute and did not factor in the economies of other nations creating channels to siphon off all that stimulus spending. I am sure the computer model worked great in a vacuum in an iovry tower on some university campus but this is the real world. The Obama economic wizards of smart like Larry the looser and Timmy Geithner appear to be dumbfounded as they have managed to take the nation to the drop-off of the economic abyss. Over the past 20 months this congress and president have placed our nation in the precarious position of being debt slaves to a nation that is our sworn adversary (China is our adversary in every conceivable way ...militarily, economically you name it they are out to destroy the USA). This imprudent debt and spend policy by the leadership of our national government has placed our country and the entire world in a state of insecurity that threathens peace around the globe. This created economic crisis will not be solved in one or two economic cycles and a change in congressional leadership. It is as if some sort of economic judgement has been placed on our nation for all the congressional spending, wealth redistribution, and debt that has been piled up and the only solution to our woes must come from within. It points to the fact we have no right to steal the wealth of future generations and to redistribute wealth earned by the sweat of the brow of current generations.

Don't get me wrong on the November elections. We desperately need to change directions on a dime and do a 180 when it comes to the out-of-control spending by congress and the incessant Treasury Debt issuance by the president. However, our economic debt and spending crisis will take generations to solve and keeping focused on the solution over a long period of time is going to be a daunting task, especially when you have members of congress in both parties that will continue to ask for higher taxes, more borrowing, and more debt in an attempt to make the national government the solution to every problem we face in life.

Quote

Job losses continued to mount in the U.S. economy last month, though at a more modest pace than expected, putting further pressure on policy makers to take action to spur growth and employment.

A separate report indicated the U.S. nonmanufacturing sector expanded at a much slower pace last month.

Nonfarm payrolls fell by 54,000 last month, matching the level of revised losses recorded the previous month, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday. The revision in July layoffs to 54,000 followed an original estimate of a 131,000 drop in payrolls.

The U.S. economy has shed jobs for three straight months, though the losses in August were about half the 110,000 predicted by economists in a Dow Jones Newswires survey.

The unemployment rate, calculated using a separate household survey, edged up to 9.6%, as expected, after holding at 9.5% for previous two months.

The report is likely to cause renewed debate during the long Labor Day weekend over what new steps the Federal Reserve and Congress should consider to jump-start the job market.

The unemployment rate, calculated using a separate household survey, edged up to 9.6%, as expected, after holding at 9.5% for previous two months.

The report is likely to cause renewed debate during the long Labor Day weekend over what new steps the Federal Reserve and Congress should consider to jump-start the job market.

Last month, the Fed moved to stop any premature contraction in its balance sheet, effectively taking its foot off the brake pedal by reinvesting proceeds from any maturing mortgage securities into Treasurys.

While the central bank has held off on stepping on the gas--either by resuming asset purchases or other unconventional measures--Fed officials expressed concern during the Aug. 10 meeting about the sluggish labor market and debated potential causes.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke declared his readiness a week ago to pursue further moves if "unexpected developments" derail the economic expansion. The "painfully slow recovery" in the jobs market was a central policy concern, he said, given the risks it poses to consumer confidence and the broader economy.

President Barack Obama, who has pushed Congress to support more job-creating measures, plans to speak Monday at the Milwaukee Laborfest. In addition to a small business bill languishing on the Hill, the administration is coming up with new ideas to promote job growth.

The report Friday showed that private sector hiring wasn't enough to offset cutbacks in job losses in the government, which continued to let go temporary workers hired for the 2010 census.

Private-sector companies added 67,000 jobs, following an upwardly revised 107,000 gain in July.

Manufacturers shed 27,000 jobs, after adding 34,000 the previous month.

Professional and business services payrolls rose 20,000. Construction, a sector of the economy that has struggled, added 19,000 jobs, as well.

Total government employment, which includes state and local jobs, fell 121,000. The declines were a result not just of the letting go of 114,000 census workers, but also job cuts by state governments facing budget pressures.

In a positive sign, the report showed 42% of unemployed Americans were out of work for more than six months in August, down from 45% in July. It becomes harder to find a job as time goes by, as skills are lost and employers may view long periods of unemployment with suspicion.

An indication of slack in the market, and thus potential inflation pressures, moved slightly higher. Average hourly earnings of all employees increased by $0.06 to $22.66 in August. The average workweek was unchanged at 34.2 hours.

Service-Sector Growth Slows
The Institute for Supply Management's nonmanufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 51.5 in August, from 54.3 in July.

Forecasters surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected the August PMI to slip to 53.0. Unlike its manufacturing counterpart released Wednesday, the non-manufacturing index was worse than expected.

Readings above 50 indicate expanding activity.

The ISM said its August business activity/production index fell to 54.4 from 57.4 in July, but the level indicates production is still expanding.

The new-orders index dropped to 52.4 last month from 56.7.

Nonmanufacturing employment worsened in August. The ISM's nonmanufacturing employment index fell to 48.2 in August from 50.9 in July.

The ISM report runs counter to data within the employment report. Earlier on Friday, the government reported that private-sector services jobs rose 67,000 in August and construction payrolls rose by 19,000.

Price pressures increased last month. The prices index jumped to 60.3 from July's reading of 52.7.

The ISM report is comprised mainly of comments from service-sector companies that make up the bulk of the U.S. economy, but it also includes construction and public administration.