Talk About A Snow Job

Presidential adviser Larry Summers is saying that we need to look past the next set of job numbers because unemployment will be affected by the blizzards we had in February. He said the construction industry would be hit particularly hard. Right.

It seems to me that the snowstorms would not cause unemployment. It just does not sound correct that the number of jobless would go up. Workers might have been told to stay home (like they did all week in DC) but I can’t imagine that bosses said “Well, blizzard, you are all laid off. No, it is more likely that they stayed home without pay or were allowed to use vacation time to get a paycheck.

This is a snow job and it is designed to soften the blow if the jobs numbers are worse than expected. And keep in mind, with this administration everything is not what they expected. Every bit of news is reported as [some statistic] not what expected. Jobless claims not what expected, GDP rises more than expected. They are always caught off guard.

In any event, if the numbers are bad the snow will be blamed and if they turn out to be better Summers will claim they are actually pretty good because people lost jobs because of the blizzards.

So here is the deal. I want Larry Summers to tell us all right now that we need to dismiss the increases in jobs that will happen starting now and working through at least March and April.

During this time the government will be bringing on several hundred thousand people to annoy those of us who do not completely fill out the Census form. So there will be a bunch of people who get paid to come to our houses and ask us the questions we refused to answer in the first place.

It will be a total waste of money to send a census worker here so why waste the money?

Anyway, these jobs will be temporary and provide a boost and I want Summers to let us know now that we will need to look past them.

Want to bet he never mentions it and they take credit for any bump?

What a snow job. The best thing the blizzards did was keep politicians out of DC. We were safer for the entire time.

Big Dog

Gunline

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About That Job Creation

Looks like the 95,000 jobs a month the administration is predicting hit a little snag:

The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance surged to just below the 500,000 level last week, and have climbed more than 12% over the past two weeks, the government said Thursday. Money.CNN

Obama and his mouthpieces keep saying they “saved” or created millions of jobs.

The only thing I can figure is that they saved or created them in states 51 through 57…

Then again, if the White House can create ZIP codes and Congressional Districts out of thin air then it can certainly create jobs numbers the same way.

Big Dog

Gunline

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Harry Reid Is About To Become Abusive

Harry Reid, while discussing the so called jobs bill, said that the incidence of abuse by men is increasing because men become abusive when they are unemployed.

“Men, when they’re out of work, tend to become abusive,” the majority leader added. “Our domestic crisis shelters in Nevada are jammed.” The Hill

This is anecdotal evidence but if it happens to be true then Reid will become abusive in January of 2011 when he leaves office after losing his reelection bid this November.

Considering how he has abused the country during his time in office, Reid should adjust to his unemployment without much difficulty.

Big Dog

Gunline

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What To Do About Bad Job Numbers

Barack Obama is getting beat up over the unemployment rate because it is higher than he said it would be unless the Stimulus was passed. It got passed and the numbers are not good at all. The Stimulus did not work and the insanity of the Democrats is shown in a new stimulus only they are calling it a jobs bill. Stimulus is a poison word because it is associated with failure.

So they will just do more of the same and call it a jobs bill. A turd by any other name is still a turd.

In order to get the agenda moving the administration needs to find a way to get rid of the bad news. What better way to do that then to eliminate the part of the Bureau of Labor and Statistics that reports the dismal numbers?

The Obama administration has apparently come up with a creative way to deal with the increasingly bleak news regarding the economic position of the United States in the world. It proposes to eliminate the office in the Bureau of Labor Statistics that collects and publishes the comparative data on employment, unemployment, manufacturing productivity and labor costs, among other things. You can find it right there on page 11 among the various programs that it has marked for termination. DC Dave

Well that should do the trick. Eliminate the office that publishes the bad news and there is no need to worry about having it reported or researched. The minions will not be able to get on their computers and look up the data and will instead have to rely on the numbers the government gives them.

How convenient.

Unlike the global warming scientists, Obama found a way to hide the decline.

How is that for the most transparent government in history?

Big Dog

Gunline

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Vast Right Wing Says Stimulus A Bust

OK, it was really the Associated Press which is so far left it is holding up the walls on that side. The AP has found, by comparing 700 counties that received stimulus money to 700 that did not, that the stimulus had no effect on the unemployment rate.

In other words, the stimulus did not work. Say it again children, the stimulus did not work.

A federal spending surge of more than $20 billion for roads and bridges in President Barack Obama’s first stimulus has had no effect on local unemployment rates, raising questions about his argument for billions more to address an “urgent need to accelerate job growth.”

An Associated Press analysis of stimulus spending found that it didn’t matter if a lot of money was spent on highways or none at all: Local unemployment rates rose and fell regardless. And the stimulus spending only barely helped the beleaguered construction industry, the analysis showed.

With the nation’s unemployment rate at 10 percent and expected to rise, Obama wants a second stimulus bill from Congress including billions of additional dollars for roads and bridges — projects the president says are “at the heart of our effort to accelerate job growth.” AP

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood defended the stimulus plan and the government is considering another but the AP reports:

But AP’s analysis, which was reviewed by independent economists at five universities, showed the strategy of pumping transportation money into counties hasn’t affected local unemployment rates so far.

“There seems to me to be very little evidence that it’s making a difference,” said Todd Steen, an economics professor at Hope College in Michigan who reviewed the AP analysis.

And there’s concern about relying on transportation spending a second time.

“My bottom line is, I’d be skeptical about putting too much more money into a second stimulus until we’ve seen broader effects from the first stimulus,” said Aaron Jackson, a Bentley University economist who also reviewed AP’s analysis.

The stimulus had no effect on employment.

Of course, not all of the money was spent. It is being held in reserve so the government can release it before the next election in hope of changing things prior to the November elections. But if spending the billions now had no effect, will spending more later do any good?

Democrats have run the economy into the ground with the stimulus with promises that it would curb unemployment (it is higher than they said it would be) but the whole thing has been a bust.

But at least they were able to use money borrowed from China (that will be repaid by taxpayers) to pay supporters for political favors.

Others:
Gateway Pundit
Ace of Spades

Big Dog

Gunline

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