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Friday, October 7, 2011

The Employment figures for September

By now, most of you must know that the economy created just over 100,000 jobs in September and that the unemployment rate stayed at 9.1%. In other words, the jobs report indicated that the economy is continuing to drift along in the doldrums, but it does not seem to have fallen into recession. So this is neither a good nor a bad report.

I have to chuckle when I read the reports of "surprisingly robust" job growth. I do not understand why the media cannot report on the news accurately and without spin. Today's report is the equivalent of going to the doctor and being told that while you still have cancer, the tumors have not grown since the last checkup. In other words, there is a serious problem, but at least it is not getting worse. Of course, there is a real possibility that it will get worse, and soon!

The sad thing is that there are quite a number of steps that could be taken to speed up economic growth and job creation. Many do not require action by Congress. President Obama could just issue an executive order and get some results. Instead of doing this, however, Obama is engaged in a clearly futile effort to "pass the bill now" for his Jobs program in order to have someone to blame when the economy heads south. A true leader would do what is needed for the country to prosper even if it meant possibly losing re-election. The truth, however, is that had Obama actually taken steps to improve the economy, his chances for re-election would be vastly improved.

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