The weekly figure for new unemployment claims is out this morning. There were 422,000 new claims during last week. that is the sixth week in a row that this figure exceeded 400,000. The four week average is 425,000.
What does this all mean? The simple answer is that it does not signify anything good. No matter what spin gets put on the figure, one thing is certain: with this number above 400,000 there will not be a real decline in unemployment anytime soon. Indeed, these figures are consistent with an economy that is limping along and barely growing. With just a little push in the wrong direction we could see a double dip recession.
These statistics also mean that Obama's handling of the economy has been a failure. both Obama and the Fed have pumped enormous amounts of money into the economy and we still have almost no growth with high unemployment. Indeed, the recovery from this latest recession has been the slowest recovery for any recession since World War II. The press spins this by saying that recoveries based upon financial crises are slower than others. Nevertheless, there have been other financial crises since World War II; remember the S&L problems in the late 80's and early 90's? How about the bubble in internet stocks of the late 90's? The recessions that followed those financial crises were overcome quickly compared to the current mess. What was different in those previous cases were the policies followed by the federal government. This time we had the Obama leftist playbook being used. It has run up enormous debt but done next to nothing to help the economy. Isn't it time that the government realized that those policies do not work?
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