This page is an extension of the catalog of Obama's lies, located on another page.  It can be (and it is) shown through anecdotal evidence that President Obama lies about everything, including socialized medicine, taxes, abortion, energy production, and even his own biography.  Perhaps even his Social Security number * and things as basic as his name — which he may never have legally changed from Barry Soetoro.*  This page is specifically about misleading unemployment numbers and statistics that are revised weeks after publication — month after month.

Related topic:

The Unexpected:  Under Obama, bad economic news always came as a surprise, at least to the economists quoted in the news media.  With Trump in the White House, good economic news was always unexpected.  With Biden in the White House, bad news is unexpected again.

The Jobless Numbers That The Government Gives Us Are So Fake.  How it is possible that initial claims for jobless benefits have been exactly the same for five of the past six weeks?  As Jim Blanco has pointed out, there is no way that this is statistically possible.  Honestly, I don't know any other way to explain this other than to say that the numbers are being cooked.  It appears that the bureaucrats in Washington have gotten so lazy that they aren't even bothering to change the fake numbers that they are giving us.  Even though large companies are conducting mass layoffs all over America, week after week we are given laughable numbers that indicate that everything is just fine.  At this point, the charade has become such a farce that even CNBC has published an article about this.

The dirty little secret of Biden's economic resurgence.  While headlines may herald job creation and economic growth, a deeper analysis suggests that these gains are not uniformly felt across the American populace.  Instead, there is growing concern that policies purported to stimulate the economy are disproportionately advantageous to foreign-born illegal aliens over American citizens.  At the heart of this issue is the contention that the influx of illegal labor undermines the job market for American workers.  This is not just a matter of numbers, but a matter of the quality and stability of employment opportunities available to citizens.  The displacement effect, where Americans are edged out of opportunities or find their wages suppressed, is a real and palpable concern.

Behind Today's Stellar Jobs Print:  It Was Literally ALL Part-Time Jobs (And Illegals).  [Scroll down]  Here is exhibit A: in March, the number of part-time jobs soared by 691K to 28.632 million, up from 27.941 million while full-time jobs dropped by 6,000, to 132.940 million from 132.946 million.  This number only gets scarier when we extend the period to the past year:  as shown in the next chart, since March 2023, the number of full-time workers has collapsed by 1.347 million while the number of part-time workers exploded by 1.888 million!

Under The Hood, The Jobs Report Is Not Strong.  Looking under the hood of today's jobs report shows it isn't the home run that Democrats and the media claim.  Approximately half of the 303,000 jobs created last month came in the unproductive government or quasi-government healthcare sectors.  These are not the types of jobs that drive growth and improve Americans' living standards.  Looking at the broader Household Survey, which includes ordinary self-employed workers, shows a far clearer picture than the Establishment Survey, which double-counts multiple jobholders.  For instance, it reveals full-time jobs actually declined last month, while part-time jobs exploded.  It shows there are 400,000 fewer Americans employed than in November — the mirror image of the Establishment Survey's topline number.  Just as troubling, the jobs report shows average wages are growing slower than inflation again, decreasing living standards.  Needless to say, wages that can't keep up with inflation are not a sign of a strong labor market.  Don't expect to hear any of these hard truths from the mainstream media, even though they are far more reflective of the actual state of the jobs market and broader economy.

Biden's cyber-mess flying under the radar.  The [State of the Union] speech itself was a clinic in Beltway gaslighting, with Biden making a number of questionable to outright dishonest claims related to job growth, inflation, and so many other issues of concern to Americans.  On job growth, Biden's claim to have created "15 million new jobs" in three years fails to acknowledge the fact that about 12 million of those jobs can and should be classified as post-COVID "Return-to-Work" jobs that were actually created by his predecessor, President Donald Trump.  On the topic of inflation, Biden actually told the joint session of Congress that the United States had achieved the "lowest in the world."  But in reality, the United States is experiencing higher inflation than a number of industrialized nations and new reports show that the rate has actually ticked upward.  Despite all the misleading chest-pounding during the address, one major issue that President Biden mostly stayed away from was America's crumbling cybersecurity infrastructure.

Biden Calls US Economy 'Envy of the World' Hours After Announcement of 85K American Layoffs.  Had Joe Biden taken five minutes to watch the morning news before giving his State of the Union address Thursday, he might not have made a boast out of an easily disprovable claim.  In a flaccid attempt to make himself look halfway competent, Biden boasted in his speech that the American economy is the "envy of the world."  As you can see in this clip of the speech shared to the social media platform X, Biden was quite forceful in this declaration.

Unemployment up 760,000 since Dec. 2022 as unemployment rate jumps to 3.9 percent.  Don't look now, but U.S. labor markets appear to be churning in the wrong direction, as the unemployment rate jumped to 3.9 percent in February, and the unemployment level hit a new high for this cycle at almost 6.5 million, up 760,000 from its low this cycle of 5.7 million in Dec. 2022, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Looking at the overall employment level, that peaked at 161.86 million in Nov. 2023 on a seasonally adjusted basis.  Now it's at 160.96 million in Feb. 2024.  That's 898,000 jobs lost in just three months.

Fact-Checking the Fabulist in Chief's State of the Union.  During Thursday's State of the Union address, Biden fully displayed his fabulist tendencies.  His assessment of the administration's accomplishments and his impact was not anchored in reality. [...] The administration is also fond of claiming it created 15 million jobs, a number Biden repeated this evening.  Recovering jobs lost to pandemic shutdowns is not job creation.  Almost 22 million jobs were lost in April and May of 2020.  Even CNN called foul on claims like this, previously noting:  ["]Biden is free to argue that his stimulus legislation and other policies have helped the country gain jobs faster than it otherwise would have.  (As always, it's debatable precisely how much credit the president deserves for job-creation.)  Nonetheless, it is clear that there could only be such an extraordinary number of jobs added in 2021 and 2022 because there was such an extraordinary number of jobs lost in early 2020.["]

Biden took a recovering economy and intentionally wrecked it.
Biden Falsely Says He Inherited An Economy on Brink of Collapse.  Claim:  Biden claimed that the U.S. economy was on the brink of disaster when he took office.  "I inherited an economy that was on the brink.  Now our economy is the envy of the world!" Biden said.  Verdict:  False.  President Biden inherited an economy that was strongly rebounding from the pandemic.  In the fourth quarter of 2020, the economy grew at an annual rate of 4.3 percent.  In the prior quarter, it had grown at an annual rate of 33.1 percent, as the economy whipsawed from lockdown to reopening.  As Biden took office, in the first quarter of 2021, the economy was growing at a 5.2 percent annual rate.  (Until the Department of Commerce revised its calculations last fall, this was reported as an annual rate of 6.3 percent.)

A complete inversion of the truth:
WaPo Says Biden's Border Invasion Has the Economy 'Roaring'.  [Scroll down]  The article focuses mostly on immigrants filling shortages in the labor market.  Many in the mainstream media bubble don't understand that that isn't always a positive thing in flyover country.  The preponderance of statistics and expert quotes are, in theory, there to bolster the premise of the piece.  The bigger purpose that they serve in this yeoman's effort of bias, however, is to distract from what is not being mentioned, which is what is happening with the border situation right now.  The authors don't mention the inconvenient fact that record numbers of people are crushing the border and have been for months.  The numbers are so overwhelming that the government is scrambling to keep tabs on as many as they can by putting them up in hotels on the taxpayer's dime.  This immigration isn't much of a boon to state and local economies.  We continually cover stories here about the financial strain that the "immigrants" are placing on states and cities all over America, [...]

Biden Makes Claims About Wages That Are Raising Eyebrows.  One of the hallmarks of Joe Biden's speeches is the constant misleading or outright false remarks about the economy.  I don't think the American people are buying it, given his approval on the economy is usually his lowest number in the polls.  Either that or the number of people who think he's mentally capable.  Those tend to be low in virtually every poll.  But among his common claims are that he created "15 million brand new jobs."  That is nonsense, it's such a huge number because it's people returning from the economy being locked down, not "brand new jobs."  It has nothing at all to do with Joe Biden or any "creation" of anything.

Gloomiest Jobs Data For January in Decades.  [Scroll down]  Then the White House whizz kids act as if the common folk, besides knowing exactly what they paid at the pump and grocery store this year compared to three years ago, would never in their lives give a thought to the endless reams of economic data the government itself puts out.  It constantly surprises and depresses them when they find that we do.  For instance, the average person in America generally has a little something tied up in stocks, be it their retirement, their 401K, they dabble on the side, whatever — so many folks are aware in some capacity of what is happening Wall Street-wise.  The White House whizzes might just be shocked at how informed their normal neighbor might turn out to be about trading.  At how that person understands that an earnings season like this is not a sign of a robust economy no matter how much smoke the WH blows [...]

Layoffs surged 136% in January to second-highest level on record.  The pace of job cuts by U.S. employers accelerated at the start of 2024, a sign the labor market is starting to deteriorate in the face of ongoing inflation and high interest rates.  That is according to a new report published by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which found that companies planned 82,307 job cuts in January, a substantial 136% increase from the previous month.  However, that is down about 20% from the same time one year ago.  It marked the second-highest layoff total for the month of January in data going back to 2009.

What Do You Call It When The Number Of Layoffs In The U.S. Goes Up By 136 Percent In Just One Month?  Wow, our economic problems really are starting to accelerate at a shocking pace.  I know that I have been writing about layoffs a lot lately, but what is happening to the employment market right now is definitely big news.  Day after day, more large companies are announcing mass layoffs.  Why would all of these large companies be doing this if the outlook for the U.S. economy is promising?  That wouldn't make any sense at all.  But if these companies are convinced that the U.S. economy is heading into a recession (or worse), it would make perfect sense to slash payrolls at this time.

Stand by for a downward revision in about two weeks.
ADP: U.S. added 107,000 private jobs in January as hiring slows.  Private payroll processor ADP on Wednesday said job growth declined in January.  ADP's monthly national employment report showed the U.S. economy added 107,000 private sector jobs in January, down from the month prior.

Biden hates working people.  As our sanctuary-country sinks even further under the weight of millions of illegal immigrants, the President and his fellow Democrats believe the solution is to give them work permits so they can "support themselves."  Where is their concern for the citizens whose jobs these illegal immigrants will take?  Have they never heard of the concept of opportunity cost?  Every job they take is a job that won't be available to legal citizens.  That's not a political philosophy but a cold hard fact.  And this is in an environment where Artificial Intelligence and robots/automation are forecast to slash the number of jobs for average working folks.  What is even worse is the fact that this army of illegal immigrants is certain to depress working folk's hourly wages for generations to come.  You will often hear it said they are only taking jobs Americans won't do.  That is a lie.  The truth is Americans won't do some of those jobs for the wages being offered.  So, rather than allowing the marketplace to raise the wages being offered, their revolting solution is to import millions of low-skilled illegals in a planned strategy to keep working people's wages low, forever.

Reporter Gets Torn to Shreds for Claiming 'Learn to Code' Was Never a Thing.  It's one of those cases where you know they're wrong.  You could probably ignore them, but it's the liberal media, so you attack at them like a pod of orcas.  Better yet, like orcas, play with your prey before mutilating and devouring it.  That's what's happening with some in the establishment media trying to say that "learn to code" was never a thing and that Joe Biden never said it.  Like their allies in the Democratic Party and now the Department of Justice, these people just lie.  It's a phrase created by this insular circle aimed at working Americans whose jobs were being unnecessarily targeted by Democrats, specifically Barack Obama, who declared war on coal during his presidency.  The PR pitch for destroying the livelihoods of these Americans was that job retraining would be part of their transitioning process into what Democrats feel should be our energy future.  Even labor unions know those two words are snake oil, being sold to them when NAFTA was passed to ease the growing concerns about that trade agreement.

Momentum is destroying America, but that can be reversed with strategic leadership.  [Scroll down]  If you wonder how this plays out over the long term, the household survey reported a plunge in total US employment of approximately 680,000 jobs in 2023. Zero Hedge reports that the US Government added approximately 672,000 jobs in the same year, meaning that the private sector lost nearly 1.35 million jobs!  Currently, any attempt to slow Big Government's expansion usually occurs during the comedy skit known as the Congressional Budget.  As most of the budget already has growth codified by earlier legislative acts, thus confirming the benefits of momentum, the background noise that occurs is usually described as a 'Hiroshima-like attack on American values' and ends, as expected, with more money and bigger Government.  This approach is the football equivalent of placing all the defensive players on the line to sack the quarterback, leaving all the receivers open!

Take Your Government Job and Shove It.  Under Joe Biden, the Labor Department's monthly jobs report numbers keep trending downwards; the impactful reports reflect the health of our economy, and hold great sway with the Fed, business community, and bond and stock markets.  Given their pervasive influence on economic sentiment and expectations, you'd think the data collectors and compilers would bother to be somewhat punctilious.  Instead, they overstated job creation by a whopping 439,000 in 2023.  That's abysmal accounting, but the faulty computations get worse:  the Bureau of Labor Statistics ignominiously revised ten of its last eleven reports.  They just can't get it right, or even approximate, the first time.  No wonder two of the most in-demand occupations for government recruiters are statisticians and data scientists. [...] Not only are the employment numbers as inflated as Biden's budgets, but a preponderance of new jobs in 2023 were created in non-productive government sectors.  In December, the government was the top job creator; in 2023, government jobs comprised about a quarter of job creation.

The December Jobs Report Is Mostly Bad News.  According to a new report from the federal government's Bureau of Labor Statistics last Friday, the US economy added 216,000 jobs for the month while the unemployment rate held at 3.7%.  NBC news was sure to tell us that this "beat expectations."  Market estimates suggested total jobs added at 170,000 with the unemployment rate at 3.8%.  The media's general consensus on the report is that the jobs economy is "robust" and everything is heading on schedule toward a "soft landing" as predicted by Federal Reserve economists.  What are we to make of this report?  Well, the jobs market looks pretty good so long as one doesn't dig any deeper than the first paragraph of the press release.  But once we look more carefully as numerous indicators of employment as found in part time jobs, inflation-adjusted wages, and more, we find that things aren't looking so good after all.  But first, let's ask ourselves if this government data is reliable at all.

Almost A Quarter Of All Jobs 'Added' In 2023 Didn't Actually Exist.  The original number of jobs reported by the federal government in 2023 was revised down by a total of 749,000 jobs, meaning nearly one-fourth of jobs thought to be created in the year were not actually there, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) analyzed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.  The sum of the initial estimate from each of the government's monthly job growth reports in 2023 totaled 3,140,000 new jobs, with later reports revising down the number of jobs added by a collective 443,000, according to the BLS. The BLS also announced in August a revision in total employment for March, subtracting another 306,000 jobs.  "By the time you include all the monthly revisions and the annual benchmark revision, about one-quarter of all the jobs we thought were added last year have been revised away," E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, told the DCNF.

'True' unemployment rate is double what gov't is telling us, economists say.  A large section of Americans left the workforce following the COVID-19 pandemic and have not returned, and if the workforce returned to its previous size, the unemployment rate would be nearly double, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics analyzed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.  The official unemployment rate in December was 3.7%, accounting for around 6,268,000 Americans without jobs who were still looking for work, with 100,540,000 jobless people being counted as not in the labor force and therefore not being counted as unemployed despite not having a job, according to data from the BLS.  In comparison, the number of people counted as not in the labor force in February 2020 was only 95 million, with around 5 million people permanently leaving the workforce following the COVID-19 pandemic, which, when added to those counted as unemployed, yields an unemployment rate of around 6.7%.

Biden Takes Lying With Statistics To A Whole New Level.  The headlines on Friday were that the economy created 216,000 jobs, more than expected and a sign of continued strength in the economy.  "This morning's report confirms that 2023 was a great year for American workers," President Joe Biden said.  Hurray!  But wait a minute.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) previously reported that there were 157,087,000 "non-farm payroll" jobs in November.  The number of these jobs in December, it now says, was 157,232,000.  That's a gain of only 145,000.  So how did Biden manage to claim that the economy created 216,000 jobs in December?  Easy.  All you have to do is cut the number of jobs in November by 71,000 and then measure December's gain against that new, lower number.

Initial US employment reports overstated by 439,000 jobs in 2023.  There's something wrong with previous U.S. jobs reports.  The government quietly erased 439,000 jobs through November 2023, a closer look at the numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows.  That means its initial jobs results were inflated by 439,000 positions, and the job market is not as healthy as the government suggests.  Since the government wiped out 439,000 jobs after the fact, the total percentage of jobs created by the government last year is even higher.  Increased government hiring has been driving the jobs numbers higher.

Economic Angst in the Heartland.  Bidenomics is failing America, infecting the land with a persistent and intensifying cynicism, despite attempts by the White House and a partisan press to impose misleading narratives on the electorate.  For example, the media rushed to heap praise upon last week's modestly constructive jobs report.  The actual numbers reveal a mixed bag — not a terrible report, but certainly not a parade-worthy one, either.  The 199,000 jobs added in November sits below the average for the year 2023, and far off the prior levels of 2021 and 2022.  Regarding jobs added since Biden took office, the easy part is over, meaning the task of regaining the lost jobs resulting from the COVID panic is largely complete — and now net new job creation languishes.  Moreover, a sector analysis of this latest jobs report shows that 70% of the jobs were in either healthcare or government positions.  More productive private sector jobs continue to lag, with manufacturing payrolls still flat in 2023.  In addition, even modestly positive economic data points cannot compensate for the harm inflicted upon workers for most of Biden's tenure.

Who is Pulling the Puppet Strings?  [Scroll down]  It's the lies that should worry us the most.  Bidenomics is eye candy designed to take in the gullible, the uninformed, and those who believe in a better tomorrow based on loving Big Brother.  The statistics, like labor growth, are fundamentally deceiving.  What's been consistently growing is the number of people working for the government.  The latest figures tell the truth: the government is the leading growth sector in report after report.  You have been lied to, not once, but repeatedly, with millions lapping it up.

Joe Biden Chose Billionaires and Green Radicals Over Auto Workers.  "President Biden is the most pro-union president in history" has become the White House's go-to response to the recent strike that had upturned American auto manufacturing. [...] The White House took a victory lap for "solving" a crisis that was Biden's own making.  At a press conference Monday, the president called the deal "yet another piece of good economic news showing something I've always believed."  But it was Biden's own policies, seeking to radically transform the American auto industry at the behest of environmental activists and their corporate cronies, that spurred on the strike.  But Joe has never been one to let the facts get in the way of a good narrative.  The strikes backed Biden into a corner.  On one side, you had the unholy alliance of auto executives and green radicals, and on the other, the blue-collar voters Biden likely needs for reelection.  This was destined from the start to be a political mess, so the President dusted off his most trusty tactic:  Lying.  Biden would claim that he was the savior of it all.

About yesterday's job report 'exceeding expectations'.  Friday's September 2023 job report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics was a good news bad news report. [...] And yes, let's be thrilled for the people who are working.  But — yeah, there is a but.  Several, actually.  Here is one: "the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8 percent."  If all those 336,000 were added and filled, shouldn't the unemployment rate go down?  Something doesn't add up here. [...] A significant small chunk of that dramatic job increase was that "government employment rose by 73,000 jobs" — i.e., public-sector jobs consume more and more of your tax dollars.  The private sector is not increasing as rapidly.  Oh, and not so by the way, the job report consists of those looking for work.  "Duh," you might respond.  But many people have dropped out of the labor market.  This report is based on people who are at least looking for work, but only 63% of the civilian labor force is actually looking.  Others have dropped out for various reasons.

The Thing about Multiple Jobholders.  As you'd expect from an economy that is plugging along just fine, the number of jobs created in the prior two months was revised up by 198,000, for a change, after a long series of downward revisions.  And in September 336,000 jobs were created, per the survey of employers by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today. [...] The number of multiple jobholders rose in September to 8.15 million.  But the total number of workers has grown over the months, years, and decades.  For example, over the past four decades, the number of workers has grown by about 40 million, along with the total population.  And so the number of multiple job holders as a percent of total jobholders was 5.0% in September and has been around 5.0% all year, in the middle of the range before the pandemic.  In September 2019, before the pandemic, it was 5.3%.  Those rates are historically relatively low.  In the 1990s it was over 6%, and has trended lower since then.

ADP: Private sector added 89,000 jobs; slowest growth rate since 2021.  Private sector employment grew by 89,000 jobs, the slowest pace of job growth in more than two years as the economy shows signs of pacing itself, according to the latest monthly ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday.

Biden's much-touted employment numbers could actually be a harbinger of economic disaster.  While President Joe Biden has often pointed to the persistently low unemployment rate to prove the viability of his economic policies, the metric may actually be an indicator of future economic turmoil as workers age out of the labor force, according to the Wall Street Journal.  Changing demographics following the aging of the baby boomer generation are pushing the labor force participation rate down as an increasingly large portion of the population is retiring, leading to a labor force shortage that could boil into a crisis as fewer workers support a greater number of people, according to the WSJ.  The unemployment rate has stayed consistently below 4% since February 2022 after coming down from a spike of 14.7% in April 2020, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Bidenomics Jobs Report: 1.2 Million Native-Born Workers Lost Their Jobs & Were Replaced With 668K Foreign-Born Workers.  Zero Hedge reports that 1.2 million American born workers have been replaced by nearly 700k foreign born workers.  Bidenomics:  America last.  As Biden continues to tout his economy, the data says otherwise.  The July jobs estimate was revised 30,000 lower and the June total was revised a whopping 104,000 lower making it the worst month since December of 2020.  The unemployment rate also jumped to 3.8% in August as tech companies begin layoffs.

Can Biden's Jobs Number Be Trusted Any More?  President Joe Biden has staked so much on his claim that he's "created" 13.5 million jobs since taking office that it's worth asking if his Labor Department is now goosing job growth figures to help him out.  On Friday just before the holiday weekend, Labor released its estimates for job growth in August — which it said worked out to 187,000, beating economists' forecasts.  But at the same time, the government cut the job growth numbers for the previous two months by a total of 110,000.  As a matter of fact, Labor has quietly cut its initial job growth estimates for every month this year.

The sad truth behind job growth in the American economy.  According to Axios, a left-leaning publication, the only thing keeping the American economy afloat is the blessed presence of foreign-born workers... because those lazy Americans just won't work.  However, according to a study by Zero Hedge, Americans are losing their jobs like crazy, and only foreign-born workers are getting those jobs. [...] Axios points to three factors behind the data:  First, huge numbers of legal immigrants are getting visas.  As I see it, that means the Biden administration is flooding the American economy with foreign-born workers.  Second, foreign-born workers are, in fact, working, with their participation rate at 67% compared to actual Americans, who are at 62.2%.  Third, baby boomers are retiring, and younger people are more likely to be foreign-born.

Inside Today's Disastrous Jobs Report: 670K Full-Time Jobs Lost In 2 Months Vs 1 Million Part-Time Surge; Worst Unadjusted August Payrolls Since Great Recession.  [A] closer look at the details of today's jobs report reveals just how ugly the reality behind the the Budget-Busting Bidenomics truly is.  Let's start with revisions.  Regular readers are aware that earlier this year we spotted a peculiar trend when it comes to economic data releases by the Biden admin which — without fail — had been revised lower... [Several tweets] ... and this month was no different.  In fact, as shown in the chart below, the jobs print from every single month has been revised lower!  Why?  So that the White House can take credit for a strong number (one which also sparks algorithmic buying in the market) only to quietly revise it lower one and two months later when nobody is looking to ease the glide slope for the coming recession.

10 Signs That The Mainstream Media Is Not Telling You The Truth About The Economy.  [#1] When the economy is doing well, there is a tremendous demand for trucking.  But when the economy is tanking, trucking companies often get into serious trouble.  So it is a very bad sign that "one of the country's oldest and largest trucking businesses" is literally on the brink of collapse. [...] [#6] Electric vehicles were supposed to be the wave of the future, but Ford is going to lose 4.5 billion dollars on electric vehicles this year alone. [...] [#10] According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the number of announced job cuts in the United States during the first half of this year was 244 percent higher than the number of announced job cuts during the first half of last year.

The press just can't stop propping up Democrats.  Here are a few examples of what the media does as they campaign for Biden:  They falsely repeat the claim that Biden inherited a disastrous economy and that his excellent economic policies turned it around.  The truth is the economy collapsed for only two months, March and April 2020, due to a significant amount of misinformation from Dr. Anthony Fauci and CDC which led to destructive government edicts.  By May, the economy, especially in red states, was coming back to life as states were getting rid of lockdowns and were reopening rapidly.  Job growth was coming back.  In February of 2020 at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, which led to all the lockdowns, seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs were 152.4 million.  By the end of April, they were down to 130.4 million jobs, but by December, 2020 they were up 12 million jobs to 142.4 million or 1.5 million jobs per month.  Under Biden the lost jobs have come back, in addition to 3.8 million more jobs.  The economy was clearly expanding rapidly when Biden took office.

Joe Biden claims credit for red-state job creation.  [Scroll down]  What he's doing is claiming credit for jobs he didn't create, having no serious accomplishments on that front to speak of, other than the vast expansion of government jobs.  Why did that company choose to locate its solar manufacturing operation in Dalton, Georgia instead of, say deep blue Ann Arbor, Michigan, or New York City?  Biden didn't say.  But the hard fact is that even green companies have to make business decisions about what location is most likely to maximize their profits.  Putting even a solar panel manufacturing operation in a blue zone is nothing but taxes and regulations, and many such companies, particularly startups, would not be able to stay in business at all.  So, they opened their plant in Georgia, not deep-blue Connecticut, which is credit and testimony to Republican pro-free market governance.

More Than 105 Million Working Age Americans Do Not Have A Job Right Now.  Jobless people are classified into one of two categories by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) — either unemployed or not in the labor force.  To be classified as unemployed in the month they are surveyed, people must be actively looking for work.  If they are not actively looking, they are classified as not in the labor force.  Over time, the definition of "officially unemployed" has gotten more restrictive, and today only 6.097 million working age Americans are considered to be in that category.  Meanwhile, a staggering 99.800 million working age Americans are considered to be "not in the labor force".  When you add both categories together, you get a total of 105.897 million working age Americans that do not have a job right now.

Biden's Boast About Jobs Is Coming Undone.  Last week, Biden gave a speech claiming that "Bidenomics is working," and tweeted out a chart showing average monthly job growth in each of the past seven presidents, with a caption that reads: "My administration has created more jobs in two years than any previous administration has created in the first four years.  It's no accident.  It means our economic plan is working and this is only the beginning."  This is the dictionary definition of lying with statistics.  Data from Biden's own Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 72% of the jobs the president brags about weren't "created," they were simply reclaiming jobs lost during the pointless COVID lockdowns.

Bidenomics Is a Big Bust.  Word out of the White House is that President Joe Biden wants to tout his economic successes.  He's even embracing the slogan "Bidenomics" — which most people think is a term of as a term of derision and policy flops.  On the one hand, the unemployment rate is low and millions of jobs have been created over the past two years.  Reality check: Virtually all of these jobs are simply the recovery of jobs that already existed in the Trump years but were lost during the COVID lockdowns — mostly in blue states.  In fact, there are still five states where job totals are lower today than before the pandemic hit.  That's some recovery.  If the economy is so strong, why aren't Americans feeling the love?  Tracking polls still show two-thirds of Americans believing the country/economy are headed in "the wrong direction."

Biden's Propaganda Job Creation Chart Was Fact-Checked, And Then the Note Disappeared.  Joe Biden's job creation chart was taken to the woodshed, rightfully being called out for being egregiously misleading.  The tweet earned a community note, but it's disappeared.  The Biden administration tried to sell the narrative that they "created more jobs in two years than any previous administration has created in the first four years."  Their propaganda chart shows that's almost 500,000 jobs per month on average.  The problem is that it's a lie if you peruse the Bureau of Labor Statistics data included in the note.  Yes, this post was fact-checked.  Ninety percent of Biden's jobs bump were folks returning to their previous job before the pandemic.  Post-pandemic job returns are not the same as creation.  Joe Biden has overseen 2 million jobs created over the past 38 months, which isn't anywhere close to the mythical 500k figure.

The 4 Big Lies (And 1 Terrible Truth) In Biden's 'Bidenomics Is Working' Speech.  In a 30-minute speech in Chicago this week, President Joe Biden declared that his economic policies — which can charitably be summed up as "borrow and spend, tax and regulate" — are doing wonders for the nation's economy.  Never mind that just 38% of Americans approve of the job Biden has been doing on the economy. [...] Truth is, the only way Biden can make the case for "Bidenomics" is by lying.  Examples:  "U.S. has had the highest economic growth rate, leading the world economies since the pandemic."  Except it didn't.  The U.S. ranks 146th in real GDP growth in the world so far this year, came in 151st place last year, and was 66th in 2021, according to the International Monetary Fund.  "We created 13.4 million new jobs."  Also false.  Because almost 10 million of those were simply refilled jobs lost during the pointless COVID lockdown.  Under Biden, the number of net new jobs is less than 4 million — which is nothing to brag about, given that the working-age population has grown by 6.8 million since Biden took office.

'That's Not The Whole Story': Seemingly Rosy Jobs Report Reveals Worrying Workforce Trends, Economists Say.  The U.S. economy added significantly more jobs than anticipated in May, but key data in the latest jobs report reveals cause for concern, economists told the Daily Caller News Foundation.  The country added 339,000 jobs in nonfarm payroll employment in the establishment survey, which collects data from nonagricultural businesses, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data published on Friday.  The household survey, which collects data from households, revealed some indications that the economy is headed in a worrisome direction, according to experts who spoke to the DCNF.  "While the headline jobs number blew away expectations, that's not the whole story," E.J. Antoni, research fellow for Regional Economics at the Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis told the DCNF.  "When the report is viewed wholistically, [sic] as opposed to cherry picking a single datum point, it is further evidence that we are headed toward recession."

Deb Haaland Says The Quiet Part Out Loud — The Biden Admin Doesn't Care About Creating Jobs.  Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the quiet part out loud last week.  As the executive of our public lands agency, she does not believe that Americans need jobs because there are already so many jobs available.  It's better to lock up land, and lock down mining because who wants those jobs, when there are so many others?  Before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Haaland told Sen. Josh Hawley, "Senator, I know that there's like 1.9 jobs for every American in the country right now.  So, I know there's a lot of jobs," which was her explanation for canceling cobalt mining permits for Twin Metals Minnesota, an underground mine proposed for the northeastern part of the state.  America won't need those jobs, she was saying.

Americans are not working, nor is their collapsing culture.  The unemployment rate is very low, but we have millions fewer people working in America than pre-pandemic.  So what gives?  Here's what gives.  It's because the unemployment rate does not measure the total number of people who are unemployed.  It instead measures the number of people who are unemployed but looking for work.  Many people who are unemployed today are simply not looking.  Work is not to their liking.  Of those who do work, it appears that many are not working very hard.  For example, overtime hours are down.  "Working" from home is still very common.  This was building for years (or perhaps I should say deteriorating for years) but really took off in the pandemic.  People were told it was permissible not to work.  In fact, for a while they were told it was not permissible to work; they were ordered to stay at home.  Most of them gladly did.

Janet Yellen says the U.S. economy is 'obviously performing exceptionally well'.  Inflation is kicking back up.  The dollar is falling.  People are pulling money out of even big banks now and buying gold.  The dollar is losing its reserve status.  Discouraged workers are dropping out of the workforce.  Layoffs are coming.  And recession is "baked in the cake."  [Tweet]  But don't tell Janet Yellen, Joe Biden's Treasury secretary.  Out on Planet Biden, the nutty professor is telling us the economy is in good shape.

Don't Let Biden Gaslight You About The Jobs Situation.  [T]he numbers getting bandied about these days about job growth and unemployment are wildly misleading because they ignore important bits of context.  Such as:
  [#1]   The pace of job growth slowed considerably once Biden started "rescuing" the economy.
  [#2]   It took just nine months under President Donald Trump for the economy to regain 57% of the 22 million jobs lost during the COVID lockdowns.  It took 17 months under Biden to regain the other 43%.
  [#3]   The economy was adding jobs at an average of 1.3 million a month in Trump's last nine months in office.  In the first nine months of Biden's term, job growth averaged 620,000.
  [#4]   As a result, job growth is now behind the pace set by most recoveries since 1948, according to the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank.

U.S. Economy Still Hot with 311,000 Jobs Created in February.  Today's jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed better-than-expected job creation for the month of February.  Nonfarm payrolls far surpassed expectations, rising by 311,000 in February.  The Dow Jones estimate prior to Friday's numbers was around 225,000.

The Editor says...
Please defer your excitement and wait to see how far down these numbers go when they are "revised" in a couple of weeks.

BLS Cooks Books to Generate January Jobs Report That No One Believes, For Good Reason.  There really isn't an adequate way to encapsulate what the Bureau of Labor and Statistics has done with their reported January jobs result. [...] In my lifetime of reviewing data and analytics, I have never reviewed a level of statistical manipulation that even comes close to this.  Well, at least not since the 1980's junk bond valuations used for corporate restructuring and asset removal.  What the BLS produced today [2/4/2022] will likely go down in the annals of actuarial history as one of the most comprehensively fraudulent manipulations of labor and statistics in history.

BLS Job Revisions Show Every Job Report in 2021 Was Total Garbage.  [Scroll down]  The first 5 months of 2021 were hugely understated, followed by 6 months of overstatements, then ending with a 211,000 understatement.  Let that sink in.  The jobs market was weaker than reported every month between June and November.  Add it all up and there is only one proper conclusion:  The monthly jobs reports are garbage but ending with a December and January surprise.

Fed's Original Mouthpiece Shatters "Strong Labor Market" Propaganda, Casts Doubt On Job Openings.  Exactly one month ago, we extended our analysis of data fabrication (whether intentional or accidental) at Biden's Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Services, by looking at layoffs and job openings data, finding that the former was far higher than officially reported when compared to accurate, state level WARN notices...  [Chart]  ... while also finding that the officially reported number of Job Openings per JOLTS was also incorrect and was exaggerated...  [Chart]  ... when compared to numbers calculated by UBS using third-party data from Indeed and Opportunity Insights, with the latter now showing that job openings were in fact below pre-pandemic levels, a huge gap compared to the near-record openings number reported by JOLTS.  [Chart]

Workarounds to working.  [Scroll down] Living off of family money, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, government grants, friends, subsidized homelessness, becoming a perpetual student, and/or working off the books all come together to allow an unprecedented number of people to fail to contribute to the continuing success and financing of our country.  There is a monthly government statistic called U-6 and another metric called Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate.  These two stats, added to the official Unemployment rate, reveal another estimated 12 million unemployed or underemployed individuals over and above the official stats.  Another important metric is people who could work but choose not to do so.  Yes, the government keeps that number as well.  When you combine all these numbers, you approach 100 million people who don't work for a variety of reasons.  That number has risen by about 35 million in the last ten years.

Biden's Labor Market: 1.9 Million Fewer Americans Working, 2 Million Foreign Workers Funneled into U.S. Jobs.  At the end of 2022, 1.9 million fewer Americans were working than in 2019 before the Chinese coronavirus pandemic while President Joe Biden's administration has funneled two million additional foreign workers into United States jobs.  A new analysis from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) shows that in the fourth quarter of 2022, close to two million fewer native-born Americans were working in jobs compared to the same time in 2019 while two million foreign-born workers have been added to the workforce compared to the same time period.

Don't Fall For Joe Biden's Economic Fairy Tale.  At the top of his State of the Union address, the president boasted that he had "created more jobs in two years than any president created in four years."  No president — not Joe Biden nor Donald Trump — creates jobs.  But Biden's contention was exceptionally misleading, considering he inherited an economy that had been unplugged by an artificial, state-induced shutdown.  If the government compels businesses to shutter, it doesn't "create" jobs when allowing them to open. [...] More than 30 million people lost their jobs to Covid lockdowns.  Biden claims to have "created" 12 million jobs during the past two years.  The one big difference is that the labor participation rate still hasn't recovered to pre-Covid numbers.  It's great that people are working again.  But millions fewer are in the market for jobs.  Biden also boasted that Americans were seeing "near" historic unemployment lows for black and Hispanic workers.  These historic lows were achieved before Covid lockdowns.  So, if Biden deserves credit for this, doesn't Trump?

January's 'too good to be true' jobs report was based on 'adjustments'.  Bloomberg, which exists to serve active traders on Wall Street, is throwing shade on the January jobs report that "surprised" a lot of people with its positive numbers.  Before addressing the technical factors used to produce the rosy numbers, consider the buried lede hundreds of words into the piece:  Stripped of all the technical jargon is this stark reality:  ["]On an unadjusted basis, payrolls actually fell by 2.5 million last month.["]  Molly Smith writes:  ["]Employers added 517,000 jobs in January — nearly double the prior month's advance and above all estimates in a Bloomberg survey.  The unemployment rate also unexpectedly retreated to 3.4%, the lowest since 1969, according to Labor Department data released Friday.["]  Those are the numbers that grabbed headlines and enabled Team Biden to claim credit for what they want to bamboozle the public into thinking we have a great economy.  But it turns out that there were changes in the way the data were gathered and reported that made things look rosier: [...]

US adds 517,000 jobs in January, but ....  Before this morning, the analysts' consensus for new jobs gained in January was 185,000.  Today's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics almost tripled that prediction.  The US economy added 517,000 jobs in January and pushed unemployment down to 3.4%, while the civilian labor force increased by 866,000.  Seem a little too good to be true?  Perhaps, especially in the way that labor-force percentages didn't budge at all. [...] How did we add 517K jobs and still leave all of these categories "little changed"?  In part, it's because of the massive add in labor-force numbers, but that would involve 866K workers just deciding to show up in January. [...] It's as though over 1.2 million people just showed up out of nowhere in January and nearly half of them had jobs, which suggests something may be off in methodology.

Job Market's 2.6 Million Missing People Unnerves Star Harvard Economist.  Behind the five-decade low US unemployment rate of 3.5% lies a 2.6 million-person mystery.  That's roughly how many more Americans should be working or looking for jobs if the economy's labor force participation rate was the same as before the Covid-19 pandemic.  But something's still off, leaving everyone from mom-and-pop businesses to Federal Reserve economists scrambling to answer a crucial question:  Where are these workers?  Economist Raj Chetty and his big-data experts at Harvard University's Opportunity Insights lab went looking for these missing people.

You Must Assume That All Information Put Out By Our Government Is Corrupt.  John Hinderaker at PowerLine yesterday has yet another instance of blatant government manipulation of official statistics to support election of Democrats, this one coming out of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  In early July 2022 the BLS reported a big number for job growth in the second quarter (April to June) of over 1 million jobs.  That supposed job growth became the centerpiece of President Biden's economic message for the midterms.  The Hill quoted Biden on July 28 as follows:  ["]Our job market remains historically strong, with ... more than 1 million jobs created in the second quarter alone.["]  On December 13 the Research Department of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank came out with revised figures for second quarter job growth:  ["]In the aggregate, 10,500 net new jobs were added during the [March to June] period rather than the 1,121,500 jobs estimated by the sum of the states; the U.S. CES [Current Employment Statistics, put out by BLS] estimated net growth of 1,047,000 jobs for the period.["]  Off by a factor of about 100.  Oh well, it's now December, and we're well past the election.  Does any agency in the U.S. government put out honest information today?  Maybe, but how would you ever know?  At this point you must assume that that absolutely everything is corrupted, in the particular direction of supporting election of Democrats and further growth of the government.

Sorry About Those Jobs.  Joe Biden's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that over a million jobs were created in the second quarter, a heartening statistic that no doubt helped the Democrats in November.  But now, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve says that those million jobs were almost entirely fictitious:  ["]The Biden administration vastly overstated its estimate that employers created more than 1 million jobs in the second quarter of this year, claiming historic job growth when in fact hiring had stalled, according to a new estimate.  Job growth was 'essentially flat' in the second quarter with only 10,500 jobs added, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said.["]  Could the Bureau of Labor Statistics be a politicized agency, faking numbers to help the Democratic Party?

Job Gains This Year [were] Overstated by 1.1 Million, Philadelphia Fed Reveals.  Labor data might have been overcounted by as much as 1.1 million jobs earlier this year, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia revealed in a new quarterly report.  According to the regional central bank's second-quarter "Early Benchmark Revisions of State Payroll Employment" report, researchers' estimated employment changes that occurred between March and June were different in 33 states and the District of Columbia compared to the data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Biden to Import 65K Foreign Workers for Blue-Collar Jobs as 11.6 Million Americans Are Jobless.  President Joe Biden is set to import nearly 65,000 H-2B foreign visa workers to take blue-collar American jobs as roughly 11.6 million Americans remain jobless.  This week, Biden's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Labor Department announced that the administration would be allowing businesses to import a few less than 65,000 H-2B foreign visa workers to take nonagricultural jobs in construction, meatpacking, and landscaping, among other industries.

Joe Biden Puts Humpty Dumpty To Shame.  Biden has repeatedly boasted that he's created more jobs than any president in history.  Even the press hasn't been able to stomach that one.  Almost the entirety of the job growth under Biden has been making up jobs lost during the pointless COVID shutdown.  And Biden has done far worse than Trump on that score, as we've pointed out in this space.  In the last nine months of Trump's presidency, the economy added back 12.5 million of the 22 million jobs lost.  In the 19 months since Biden took office, the economy regained 9.7 million jobs.

Great News! KJP Tells Us That Biden Has Created 'Ten Thousand Million Jobs' Since He Took Office.  Maybe we've gotten Biden all wrong.  Maybe he's the best president since, since... maybe Barack Obama.  Maybe we underestimated his agenda and there is no recession, no inflation, and no problems at all.  Maybe we should be listening more to Karine Jean-Pierre.  KJP was giving the White House a daily briefing when — we hope — she uttered a gaffe about the number of jobs created since Biden took office.  Fox News reports that KJP said, "As you know, the good news is, in August the economy created 315,000 jobs, which is important.  We have created nearly ten thousand million jobs since President Biden took office, which is the fastest job growth in history."

The Editor says...
This means each of us has an average of 30 jobs.  No wonder I'm so busy.

Biden's Labor Chief Promotes Worker Replacement, Says Immigrants Are 'Only Way' to Fill Jobs.  The Democrat party's pick for Secretary of Labor says CEOs are being victimized by a shortage of immigrant workers.  Companies want to hire another 11 million people, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told Fox News on September 2, adding:  ["]If those 11 million jobs had to be filled tomorrow, we certainly don't have enough people in the United States to fill those jobs ... the issue of workers has to be addressed and the only way you can do it is through immigration.["]

The Editor says...
With zero immigration, there should be enough native-born workers in the U.S. to fill all available jobs.  The reasons for the shortage of competent workers are entirely the fault of the socialist Democrats:  Those who don't work are all [#1] hooked on drugs, legalized or not, because of sporadic prosecution of drug laws, or [#2] addicted to welfare, because the government pays people too much to sit at home and punishes employment, or [#3] they're too poorly educated to hold down a job, because of the dumbed-down public schools.

Charles Payne Points out Problem in Jobs Report, Peter Doocy Drives It Home to WH.  The Biden team is trumpeting the new jobs report that came out on Friday [8/5/2022] indicating that there were 528,000 new jobs, which was far more than expected.  [Tweet]  Except not so much, as Fox's Charles Payne indicates.  You can see here from the chart [not shown here] how the labor force participation is continuing to go down from May.  So what does this all mean?  Payne notes that full-time jobs are down by 71,000.  What's up are part-time jobs by 384,000 and people holding multiple jobs, up by 92,000.

The Biden jobs report is nothing to celebrate.  First, the unemployment rate is measured by looking at the number of people looking for jobs versus the number of people holding jobs.  What's happened in the last year and a half is that, since February 2020, 3.4 million people have dropped out of the workforce.  If you have fewer people looking for jobs versus the number of people holding jobs, it'll look like a lower unemployment rate, whether that first number dropped because people got jobs or people gave up looking.  Second, inflation is hugely outpacing wages.  People may be working, but they're failing to keep ahead in an inflationary economy.

Biden got the recession he wanted.  The American economy shrank in the first six months of this year.  We are in a recession.  As RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel tweeted, "Biden inherited a recovery and created a recession."  That was the plan.  Democrats believe economic ruin will help them in the long run.  Losing Congress this year is a small price to pay for a big FDR win in 2024.  And the media and the rest happily provide cover for Democrats.  The official arbiter of recessions, the National Bureau of Economic Research, refuses to call this recession a recession.  Six months of economic shrinkage is a recession.

The Recession That Dare Not Speak Its Name.  Thursday morning [7/28/2022], the Commerce Department admitted what most Americans already knew — the nation is in the midst of a recession.  The economy has contracted for the second consecutive quarter this year.  During the first quarter, gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 1.6 percent, and it shriveled another 0.9 percent during the quarter that just ended.  Thus, the Biden economy now meets the standard benchmark economists have used for decades to define "recession."  Inevitably, the White House, its accomplices in Congress, and the corporate media are again trying to gaslight the voters. [...] But NBER [National Bureau of Economic Research] can take as long as 12 months to officially declare a recession.  As Gerard Baker writes in the Wall Street Journal, "This is like being told by a doctor that you are officially sick a year after your funeral."  Clearly, Biden and the Democrats want to avoid the "r" word before the midterms.

Team Biden's refusal to admit we're in a recession is just another reason Americans don't trust our institutions.  Why don't Americans trust the government and other institutions?  Maybe it's because the government and other institutions aren't trustworthy.  There's certainly plenty of evidence for both the lack of trust and the lack of trustworthiness.  And if the trend continues, it bodes poorly for America.  The news is bad on the lack of trust.  A recent University of Chicago Institute of Politics poll found that a majority of Americans think that the government is "corrupt and rigged against people like me."  Two-thirds of Republicans and independents felt that way, but things weren't much better among liberals, 51% of whom agreed.  So this isn't the usual sour grapes from the party out of power — it's a general sentiment.

Defining Recessions Down:  Biden's Pollyanna Act Won't End Well.  "For the first time in a decade, our economy is in recession.  It's not official yet — the group that dates recessions doesn't act until after the fact — but there's little doubt that we're in the midst of a downturn."  That was economist Jared Bernstein back in December 2001.  He went on:  "The downturn is already taking a toll on those who traditionally bear the brunt of recessions, blue-collar workers in manufacturing, minorities, and other less-advantaged workers."  That year saw only two non-consecutive quarters of GDP decline.  The unemployment rate never got over 5.7%.  And when the year was over, GDP had climbed 1%.  But it's still listed on the recession roster.  Today Bernstein, who sits on President Joe Biden's Council of Economic Advisers, is trying to argue that, despite two consecutive quarters of a shrinking economy, we aren't in a recession right now.

The Democratic Party And How To Avoid A Recession:  Why Didn't We Think Of This Before?  There is a multitude of remedies for digging an economy out of a recession or avoiding an economic recession altogether.  There tends to be, however, a common thread amongst each of these methods.  Since conditions that drive a recession typically emerge over long periods of time, it generally takes a comparable amount of time for our government officials and the Federal Reserve to correct our collective course. [...] But thanks to the Biden Administration there is a new tactic to both avoid sinking into a recession and digging ourselves out of one once we're in it, and it's one whose efficacy is immediately evident.  And the solution is so simple, it was there all along, and we non-Democrats were all just morons for not recognizing the fix from the beginning.  All we must do to avoid or emerge from a recession is this:  Simply change the definition of what it means to be in a recession.  Boom, problem solved!

Republicans Rip Biden White House for Redefining 'Recession' amid Economic Contraction.  Republican officials in the House and Senate ripped into the Biden administration after it attempted to redefine what constitutes a recession while concerns mount about a significant decline in economic activity this year.  On Thursday, ahead of a potentially negative GDP report expected later this week — the annualized economic growth rate shrank by 1.6% in the first quarter of this year and appears to have contracted even more in the second — a White House blog post attempted to redefine the term "recession."

When is a Recession not a Recession?  When The Financial Media Need to Protect Joe Biden.  The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is scheduled to deliver their calculation for the second quarter (Apr, May, June) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on July 28, next week. [...] As with all other highly political institutions in U.S. government, the BEA is driven by political ideology.  With the Biden administration's Green New Deal energy policy driving the U.S. economy into the ground; and with the BEA statisticians worshipping at the same governmental altar as all other climate change ideologues; they will do everything in their power to defend what the people behind Joe Biden are doing. [...] Joe Biden is an avatar; a political pawn; a cognitively declining guy who has no idea what is happening around him.  The people behind the Biden administration, those in real control of what this is about, have not hidden their goals and aspirations.

Biden's Latest Goalpost Adjustment.  Axios reported that White House economic advisors on Thursday moved the goalposts on what a recession is.  The traditional definition of a recession is two or more quarters of economic shrinkage, but the Biden administration argues that "by most measures," according to Axios, "the world's largest economy remains comfortably in expansion mode."  That's why the White House "is seeking to preempt heightened recession chatter that would accompany two quarters of shrinking GDP."  By changing the accepted definition.

Inflation at 9.1% now, and Democrats still can't pin that tail on the donkey.  Inflation has hit 9.1% now, its highest level since the post-Jimmy Carter hangover year of 1981, and there's no sign it's letting up. [...] Actually, the problem comes from the Federal Reserve — and all of the central banks that printing out more money than an economy can handle.  Inflation, as the late Milton Friedman used to say, is "always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon" because everything is priced in currencies.  But Democrats in general don't seem to understand that it's their money-printing spree, with largely wasted and stolen COVID funds, that created the problem.  They prefer, like Joe, to say that prosperity is just around the corner:  [Tweet]

Look Deeper, and the Jobs News Under Biden [is very bad].  The idea that Biden presided over the fastest job growth in history is meaningless since he took office after the biggest decline in jobs in history.  From February 2020 to April 2020, the economy shed a stunning 22 million jobs — thanks to COVID lockdowns we now know were completely pointless.  In the nine months following that trough, the economy added back 12.5 million of those jobs.  Then Biden took office.  And in the 18 months since he's been calling the shots, the economy recovered only 9 million more jobs, and even now hasn't surpassed the previous peak in employment.  So how, exactly, does Biden come to the conclusion that his $2 trillion "rescue" plan should get credit?  If anything, it slowed down what had been a mad rush of people returning to work.

Republican John Thune Asks Biden for More Foreign Workers to Fill U.S. Jobs as Millions of Americans [are] Jobless.  Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) is joining Democrats, as well as the big business lobby, in asking President Joe Biden for more legal immigration to the United States to fill American jobs.  Even as the nation's foreign-born population has hit record highs, Thune says the Biden administration is not importing enough H-2B foreign visa workers to fill blue-collar seasonal jobs in the U.S.

Survey: More Than 750,000 Dead, 30 Million Injured Because of Covid Vax.  The United States federal bodies responsible for the nation's healthcare policies keep turning a blind eye to the devastating number of deaths and injuries associated with experimental gene therapeutics against Covid, aka Covid vaccines.  All severe reactions to the shots are proclaimed "rare."  Steve Kirsch, California tech entrepreneur and founder of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation (VSRF), has estimated that the shots have left as many as five million Americans unable to work, 30 million injured, and more than 750,000 dead, as of June 24, 2022.  According to the latest survey conducted by Pollfish on behalf of the VSRF, vaccines are associated with a very high number of adverse reactions, including lethal and life-altering ones.  That means that the vaccinations should be halted immediately.

The Editor says...
If the so-called Covid vaccines "have left as many as five million Americans unable to work," that would make the unemployment figures artificially low, would it not?

Atlanta Fed Revises Second Quarter GDP Estimate to Negative 1 Percent.  We can see no political scenario where the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will report a negative second quarter GDP number, despite the reality of a contracted economy.  A negative second quarter GDP would mean the Joe Biden economic policies have resulted in a recession.  Yes, the economy is contracting; and yes, the economy is in an actual recession.  However, it would be too politically damaging for the federal bureaucrats to quantify it accurately.  That being said, the Atlanta Fed is now calculating a negative 1% second quarter GDP result.

Biden Is the Economy's Supply Chain Problem.  Joe Biden has become America's "it's not my fault" president.  Whether it's the inflation, the border, the crime, the gas prices, the Afghanistan exit fiasco or the stock market collapse, Biden has become an expert at pointing the finger at someone else. [...] Why is it just now that we are confronted with the goblins of supply chain disruptions?  Biden says it is because we had the economy shut down, and then Trump left him with an economy in miserable shape.  According to this narrative, Biden had to "build back better" and solve bottlenecks with cargo ships, airlines, warehouses and factories.  But that's not even close to the truth.  The economy soared out of the COVID shutdowns that had paralyzed the economy in early 2020.  In the second half of 2020, the economy snapped back with a rapid rebound.  These were the last six months of the Trump presidency.  There were few shortages or delays (except when companies couldn't get workers back because of sky-high welfare and unemployment benefits). Prices were stable in the first six months of the COVID recovery.  When Trump left office, inflation was 1.5%, even though the economy grew by about 20% in the six months before Biden left office.  But then, when Biden took over, right from the get-go, here, there and everywhere "supply chain" problems emerged.

Joe Biden Claims He's Led The 'Greatest Job Recovery In American History.' Economists Says That's False.  President Joe Biden has repeatedly touted the country's "job recovery" since he took office, even declaring earlier this week that his administration's efforts "created the greatest job recovery in American history."  Economists and fact checkers, however, are unconvinced that Biden played much of a role in the numbers.  The U.S. plummeted into a recession in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a swiftness not seen since the Great Depression, the Congressional Research Service later found.  Since then, restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic have continued to loosen — allowing Americans to head back to jobs they essentially already have.  For the White House, this "job recovery" has been a talking point, and an example of success.

Debunking 10 of Joe Biden's lies about the state of the US economy.  CLAIM:  Biden on Wednesday accused US oil companies of making excessive profits.  He ordered them to "take immediate actions to increase the supply" of gasoline and diesel fuels.  REALITY:  Biden's own policies have disrupted energy markets.  The American Petroleum Institute issued a list of 10 steps Biden could take to reduce supply disruptions, including ending obstruction of permitting on natural gas projects, lifting development restrictions on federal lands and waters and ending Trump-era steel tariffs.  CLAIM:  Biden apparently thinks that public raving can restore confidence in his leadership.  He literally screamed at the AFL-CIO audience:  "I don't want to hear any more of these lies about reckless spending.  We're changing people's lives!"  REALITY:  Federal Reserve analysts estimated that Biden's deluge of handouts added 3% to the inflation rate by late last year.  The Federal Reserve has boosted the money supply by 40% since the start of the pandemic, helping fuel price surges across the board.

Bidenomics:  The Left's Latest Alibi.  If you are among the 8 in 10 Americans who believe the economy is tanking, relax.  Never mind that the consumer-price index just hit 8.6 percent.  Ignore skyrocketing gas prices.  Forget that the gross domestic product shrank at an annual rate of 1.5 percent in the first quarter of 2022 and is expected to shrink further.  Disregard the collapsing supply chain highlighted by empty shelves in the grocery store.  Dismiss the dizzying descent of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.  According to the White House and the legacy media, none of these things matter.  The real problem bedeviling the economy is bad vibes.

Press Sec Karine Jean-Pierre has entered the Twilight Zone.  New Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre yesterday ignored the First Law of Holes and kept on digging.  It's been a rough start for the Psaki successor, reading from notes rather than spontaneously answering questions, and cutting off briefings and walking out as reporters continue to shout questions.  But yesterday, trying to defend the miserable mismanagement of the economy, she fully escaped the bounds of reality and entered what must be the Twilight Zone.  Precisely nobody will believe this:  ["]What we're trying to say, what I'm trying to say to you, is that the economy is in a better place than it has been historically.["]

Compared to 1929, maybe we're better off.  So what?  Let's compare today to 2019.
Biden White House Deflects: 'The Economy Is in a Better Place than it Has Been Historically'.  The Biden White House is attempting to deflect from the dire state of affairs — rampant inflation and ever-rising gas prices — as White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday claimed that the administration understands but asserted that the economy is "in a better place than it has been historically."  "We understand that people are feeling — feeling this.  They are feeling the increase of prices, which — with food, in particular, right now, and gas.  That is — that is something that we understand," Jean-Pierre said during Tuesday's press conference.

Job Openings Plunge By Most Since Covid Crash But Remain Stubbornly Elevated With Quits Near Record High.  After recent reports that the US labor market had suddenly hit a brick wall, with mass layoffs surging...  [Illustration] ... and job openings according to third-party trackers such as Revello showing that total job postings plunged by 22.5%, the biggest change on record[,] many were looking to see if these dismal trends would be confirmed by today's closely watched JOLTs report, arguably the Fed's favorite indicator of labor market softness (or tightness as the case is right now).  That did not happen, and instead the two-month delayed JOLTS report showed that in April, job openings did plunge by a whopping 455K, the biggest one month drop since the covid crash, but the drop was from an upward revised, and even higher record 11.855 million in March, to 11.4 million, the third highest on record.

Inflation:  The Price You Pay for Biden's Delusions.  When the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that inflation had risen at an annual rate of 8.3 percent in April, the White House and many news outlets made much of the minuscule decrease from the 8.5 percent rate reported for March.  President Biden issued a statement, for example, that called the infinitesimal decline "heartening."  CNN ran a story titled, "US inflation slowed last month for the first time since August."  This wasn't terribly comforting, however, considering that the inflation rate has nearly doubled since last April while real wages declined by 2.6 percent.  Nor is it "heartening" to see that Biden is still in denial about the role his administration's spending has played in igniting inflation.

Where is the Disinformation Governance Board when you need it?  Biden's lackeys love to brag about how quickly incomes are rising, but that is an intensely misleading claim.  They advertise a 5.5% raise in income, but that is before it is subject to the never-ending litany of taxes.  When you factor in payroll taxes, federal income taxes, and state income taxes, it is safe to say you reduce that number by 30% (conservatively speaking).  This amounts to a net raise in income of around 4%, which is less than half the current inflation rate of 8.3% — a significantly understated figure, especially for lower and middle class individuals and families.  Also, this "5.5% increase" is not universal — for people who rely on fixed incomes like social security, they are essentially a year behind as it takes awhile for an increase to reflect in their payments.  The next component to consider is the rapid rise in the price of utilities, energy, and food. [...]

Americans Aren't Buying Biden's Tale Of Economic Recovery.  The latest Gallup poll released Wednesday revealed that only 2% of Americans think economic conditions are "excellent," while 42% think conditions are "poor."  More than three-quarters of Americans feel that the economy is getting worse, according to polling data.  Four in five adults rate the country as "only fair" (38%) or "poor" (42%).  Seventy-six percent of respondents believe the economy is getting worse, with 20% saying it is improving, and only three percent feeling that it's staying the same.

Really?  They criticized Donald Trump from day one.
Welcome To Stagflation.  When it comes to the economy, Democrats like to say it's unfair to judge a president by his first year in office.  Very well.  President Biden is now in his second year and now we have the statistical verdict of his economic stewardship rendered by the first-quarter drop in GDP. Stagflation, anyone?  It may well be that the first quarter's annual GDP growth of -1.4% marks not just the beginning of a period of low or no growth accompanied by inflation, but also the return to the stagflation that ruined the decade of the 1970s and helped destroy the presidency of Jimmy Carter.  And no, you can't blame Donald Trump anymore for things that go wrong.  The economic disasters piling up are now on the progressive Democrats' tab.  They broke it, they bought it.  Biden immediately spun the bad GDP news as due to "technical factors," including a slowdown in government spending and a decline in net exports, which both contributed to the GDP drop.

Media to Americans — The Economy Is Awesome, You Dolts!.  When things go bad for Democrat presidents, the corporate media generally circle the wagons in two ways.  We are either told no president could solve these problems, so don't blame the Democrat, or we're told things are double-plus good, and we're just too stupid to see it.  Well, the truth — and we all know it — is that things are strikingly awful with His Fraudulency Joe Biden at the helm, so the media's gaslighting campaigns are in full bloom.

Biden 'Not Concerned about Recession,' Touts 'Enormous Growth' after Economy Shrinks in First Quarter.  President Biden attempted to allay concerns about the performance of the U.S. economy on Thursday after the Commerce Department announced that the economy shrank over the first quarter of 2022.  "I'm not concerned about a recession," Biden told reporters at a press conference at the White House.  "I mean, you're always concerned about a recession, but the GDP, you know, fell to 1.4 percent," Biden added.  "But here's the deal:  we also had last quarter consumer spending and business investment and residential investment increase at significant rates," and "unemployment's the lowest rate since 1970."  Biden said that the U.S. was seeing "enormous" economic growth alongside Covid disruptions.

The New Greenwashing — False Advertising about Green Energy Jobs.  In the private sector, false advertising can get you into legal trouble.  In the public sector, it's often good politics.  Supporters of renewable energy want you to believe that green jobs at union wages are a benefit of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).  For example, NYSERDA CEO Doreen Harris recently boasted that for every job lost because of the green-energy transition, ten will be created.  And Governor Hochul pledged last week to prioritize union labor in the green-energy transition, and the CLCPA mandates the application of New York's prevailing wage law, which essentially requires union-standard wages and benefits be paid to workers on public construction projects, even when they far exceed market rates.  But Harris and Hochul are wrong — these jobs are a cost of the public policy, not a benefit.  And expensive prevailing wage jobs only increase the cost.

Democrats Live In A Different World.  Joe Biden didn't create a single job, he just happened to be in office when the jobs Democrats shut down were allowed to return.  New companies were not formed, nor have they expanded — people laid off were called back to work.  No matter how many times that lie is repeated, it will never ring true to the public.  We know.  Along those lines, the economy being allowed to reopen leads to increased economic activity, which leads to increased revenue to the government.  That is not "cutting the deficit," especially when your spending is loaded up in the future, an accounting gimmick if there ever was one.

Does Anyone Believe Biden's 'Rescue' Plan Worked — Besides Biden?  "Few pieces of legislation have done more in a critical moment in our history to lift us out of a crisis."  That was how President Joe Biden, early in his State of the Union address, described the $2 trillion "American Rescue Plan."  It's hard to know where to begin in unpacking why this is so incredibly wrong. [...] First, the country wasn't in an economic crisis.  Not by a long shot.  When Biden signed his deficit-financed spending spree into law, he did so more than a year after the recession had ended, and almost at the exact moment that GDP had regained all the ground it lost during the pointless COVID lockdowns.  Unemployment was plunging — much faster than expected — and prices were steady.  And even some prominent liberals warned at the time that dumping $2 trillion in borrowed cash onto a fast-growing economy would spark a surge in inflation.  What's more, the economy has been underperforming ever since Biden enacted his "rescue," as each month brings another "unexpected" miss.

Biden's economic truths are real...real whoppers!  Let's look at how Biden's economy has helped American workers, according to him.  In that same White House release, he made this flat unqualified statement, "Today, Americans are finding better jobs with better pay and better benefits." [...] Workers aren't better off; they're worse off!  Biden's own government agency, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its most recent news release, just stated, "From January 2021 to January 2022, real average hourly earnings decreased 1.7 percent, seasonally adjusted."  Where are Facebook and Twitter with the fact-checks and content warnings on Joe?

Biden Commerce Secretary Claims Joe's 'Leadership' Has Led to 'Greatest Resurgence in an Economy' Ever.  If you think the economy is in terrible shape, energy prices are through the ceiling, the supply chain crisis continues in some areas or for some products, and millions of workers walked away from their jobs in 2021, it's not your fault, America.  And it's not Joe Biden's fault, either.  The real culprit?  COVID-19.  That's right, gang — according to Biden Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who suggests the perception that the economy is struggling and the reason why people aren't feeling this "very strong" economy right now is all because of the pandemic, as reported by The Right Scoop.

Is COVID Jobs Recession About To Get Worse?  Hand it to President Joe Biden:  He sticks to his story no matter what.  In this week's press conference, he again tooted his own horn when it comes to job creation.  "We created 6 million new jobs, more jobs in one year than any time before," Biden said.  True enough, but as even the Associated Press noted:  "The economy added 6.4 million jobs in 2021, the most on government records dating back to 1939, but part of that is just a natural rebound from what had been the steepest job loss on record in 2020, when 9.4 million jobs were cut."  In fact, the U.S. remains in a serious jobs recession, one that's more different than any in modern history.  After nearly two years under government imposed restraints to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, we still remain below the pre-pandemic job levels.

Spin City!  White House Says Joe Biden Is The Best Job-Creator "Ever".  Due to their blatant anti-worker policies, Democrats are very, very bad at creating jobs.  After all, the party's entire modus operandi is to make people dependent on the government.  [Numerous tweets]  Democrats like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don't want to see American citizens working.  They want to see American citizens relying on the government for absolutely everything, like always.

The Infrastructure Bill Is Joe Biden's 'Shovel-Ready Jobs' Moment.  President Joe Biden's former boss, then-president-elect Barack Obama, appeared on Meet The Press and declared that his goal was an infrastructure overhaul that would create "shovel-ready jobs" amid the recession America faced.  As the Washington Post pointed out later, the phrase appeared to be pretty much new (they discovered its origin might have been based on Hillary Clinton's previous statements regarding "shovel-ready jobs" for upstate New York), but it took off.  Everyone was saying it and praising Obama for such a brilliant messaging move.  The media didn't just discuss the talking point, they celebrated it.  One year and an $800 billion dollar infrastructure plan later, those shovel-ready jobs never happened.  Asked about it by the New York Times, Obama admitted he now understood there's really no such thing.

The Biden Regime Wants to 'Liberate' People From Caring for Their Children.  Democrats have long wanted the government to parent or co-parent your children, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that President Joe Biden said the quiet part out loud Monday night. [...] Is the administration upset that you might be spending too much time with your family?  The statement is also rather vague.  The "nearly 2 million" number, I assume, represents the 1.8 million-woman reduction in our labor force during the COVID-19 pandemic.  But it's untrue to claim this loss is only due to women leaving work to care for a family member.  There are myriad reasons why the pandemic and government-induced shutdowns could have diminished the female workforce.

Democrats Rush to Take Credit for Something They Opposed Because Nothing Matters.  Weekly jobless claims fell to their lowest point in over 50 years, and the Democrats and their mainstream media allies want you to know about it.  MSNBC's resident terrorist sympathizer and Qatari mouthpiece, Mehdi Hasan, shared the news with glee, chastising those that would dare not champion the development in comparison to the record-high inflation the country is experiencing.  [Tweet]  But like all things in politics and statistics, context is everything.  This number represents a single week, the very definition of a cherry-picked stat, but more importantly this was expected and not at all the result of Democrat policies.  Why do I say that?  Because it was the Democrats, including the Joe Biden administration, that had previously fought to extend enhanced unemployment benefits.  It was Republicans that insisted on letting them lapse with the idea being that people would then be more likely to look for work.

White House Occupant Claims U.S. Wages are Growing Faster Than Inflation.  The gibbering and cognitively disconnected teleprompter reader who currently occupies the White House reads from a script today prepared for him by people who know he is disposable.  That is the most logical reason why Joe Biden could brazenly attempt to claim today that "wages have gone up faster than inflation."  [Video clip]

US economy ground to a halt in 3d quarter.  Net of inventory accumulation, real GDP for the third quarter was slightly negative, US government data released Thursday morning show.  Real GDP grew at an annual rate of 2%, below the forecasters' consensus of 2.6%, the Commerce Department reported.  But a jump in inventories added 2.07 percentage points annualized to GDP.  That's more than the reported growth.  That's a very odd number, considering that the inventory-to-sales ratio of US business stands at the lowest level on record, due to supply-chain constraints that prevent businesses from restocking.  It's likely that the inventory number was exaggerated.  If that's true, the US economy shrank during the third quarter.

Biden insists the worst jobs report of his presidency is a 'significant improvement'.  President Joe Biden on Friday tried to put a positive spin on the worst jobs report of his presidency, urging Americans to look at the bigger picture and pushing his infrastructure bill and his trillion-dollar package of social programs.  'If you take a look at the trend itself, on average 600,000 new jobs created every month since I took office,' Biden said.  'In total, job creation in the first eight months of my administration is nearly 5 million jobs.'  'Now that's progress,' he added.

Biden Fails to Mention Labor Shortage in Remarks on Disappointing Jobs Report.  President Biden did not mention a labor shortage in remarks following the release of a disappointing jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday [10/8/2021].  Biden blamed lower-than-expected hiring levels on the spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus.  The Bureau's report found that the U.S. added just 194,000 jobs in September, compared with the 500,000 expected by economists.  "Remember, today's report is based on a survey that was taken during the week of September 13... when COVID cases were averaging more than 150,000 per day," Biden said.  "Since then, we've seen the daily cases fall by more than one-third, and they're continuing to trend down."

Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday:  Wages Drop 1.2 Percent; Biden Administration on Monday:  "Wages are Up".  Consider this actual example of the White House fraud using the wage rate data.  On Friday [7/16/2021] the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said:  "Median weekly earnings of the nation's 113.6 million full-time wage and salary workers were $990 in the second quarter of 2021 (not seasonally adjusted), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.  This was 1.2 percent lower than a year earlier."  On Monday the White House says:  "Wages are up."  [Video clip]

Biden Brags About 'His' Economic Recovery, But Has To Lie To Do It.  As TV screens showed the Dow Jones tumbling on inflation and renewed COVID fears, President Joe Biden took to the podium Monday [7/19/2021] to brag about how great the economy is doing and why he deserves all the credit.  It was a remarkable act of prestidigitation for such an old man.  Biden said that "it's true that the economy was sputtering before I got here."  That's provably false.  He said that:  "We've gone from 60,000 jobs per month to ... more than 600,000 jobs per month since I took office."  That's grossly misleading.  He went on to boast that:  "Look, we've brought this economy back from the brink."  That is a bald-faced lie.  Biden's intent with his remarks is to argue that his $1.9 trillion "rescue" bill saved the economy, and the even bigger spending bills he wants Congress to pass will keep it going.  No one should believe a word of it.

The Three-Way Squeeze.  Here is why the "Joe Biden" regime only has a few months to live:  it is caught in a squeeze between some of the greatest lies in world history, and they're all unraveling now. [...] The third "Big Lie" is that the US economy is "recovering" from the Covid-19 disruptions.  The US economy has been a Potemkin village since 2008, held together with the baling wire and duct tape of Federal Reserve money games and, more so lately, US government fiscal recklessness — i.e., spending vast amounts of borrowed money on direct payments to broke citizens, broke businesses, and, apparently an equal number of outright crooks who just gamed the various bailout categories. [...] And some businesses, such as restaurants, say they are offering much higher wages than they used to in a desperate effort to keep operating.  Okay, but consider how long you can run a restaurant paying dishwashers $25-an-hour, for example, especially considering how much of the population is too broke now to eat in restaurants that charge a third-again as much for dinner as they did before Covid-19.  What you're actually looking at is a broken business model for much of the service industry.  Sometime this summer, that pretty big problem will be acknowledged, and the nation will see that we are not in a recovery at all, but rather a permanent contraction that will be labeled "a depression."

Friday's Jobs Report May Blow Up Biden's Presidency.  Friday [6/4/2021], the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release May's jobs report and it's expected to be "unexpectedly" bad.  Employers are still desperate for workers but workers are taking their own sweet time getting back to work.  The rate of people leaving unemployment is falling and a top Fed official is warning that the job numbers may look "odd."  Lingering restrictions on some businesses in some states — bars and restaurants, especially — are putting the brakes on the economic recovery.  It's like putting the gas pedal to the floor while engaging the emergency brake.  And some economists expect it to show up in Friday's report.  Where are all the jobs, Joe?  Whatever happened to "Build Back Better"?

Faster than expected inflation 'is actually a good sign,' White House official says.  On Thursday [5/27/2021], President Joe Biden traveled to Ohio to make the case that the economy is headed in the right direction.  "We've turned the tide," he told the crowd in Cleveland.  Shortly afterward, during an appearance on Yahoo Finance Live, one of his top economic advisers acknowledged that in areas like inflation and in the labor market, "there's going to be some bumps in the road" as the economy continues to right itself following the pandemic.  However, National Economic Council Deputy Director Bharat Ramamurti also told Yahoo Finance that the recent inflation jump is actually a positive sign.  "The faster than expected increase in some of those prices is actually a good sign in the sense that it's a sign that the economy is recovering faster than a lot of people expected," he said.

Labor Shortage Caused by Government.  America has a record 8.1 million job openings.  The media call it a "labor shortage."  But it's not a labor shortage; it's an incentive shortage.  "No one wants to work," says a sign on a restaurant drive-thru speaker in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  "Please be patient with the staff that did show up."  I never wanted to work.  I got a job because I had to support myself.  That was good for me.  It forced me out of my comfort zone.  It made me a better person.  Had government offered me almost equal money not to work, I never would have applied.  Today, government takes away that incentive.  The American Rescue Plan, passed in March, increased unemployment payments by hundreds of dollars and extended them for up to 73 weeks.  Given the cost of commuting, etc., many people find they are better off financially not working.

Media in Full Spin Mode to Cover for Biden's Failures.  Joe Biden's presidency is spiraling out of control.  By any reasonable metric he has failed as a commander in chief.  He has failed on immigration, he has failed on the economy, he has failed to create jobs, he has failed on foreign policy, he has failed on handling the pandemic, he has failed to unite the country, and he has failed as a leader.  But that's not what the mainstream media would have us believe. [...] [A]lthough there are currently 8.1 million job openings in the U.S., we somehow only managed to add 266,000 jobs in April, or nearly three-quarters of a million less than the one million that Wall Street economists were projecting.  This after the March job numbers were already revised down another 140,000.  Might it have something to do with Biden's insistence that Americans receive a $300 weekly bonus check to stay home?  Even those making $32,000 a year would see a raise by going on unemployment.

Liberals Should Learn From Weak Jobs Report That Incentives Matter.  "Experts" predicted 1 million jobs would be created in April.  The actual number fell far short, at 266,000.  Republicans warned that overly generous COVID-19 relief benefits create a disincentive to work. [...] When the numbers came in, Biden administration officials lacked no shortage of excuses.  Some potential workers, they argued, feared going back to work because of COVID-19; many schools had still yet to resume in-school learning, particularly burdensome for single parents; we're still early in the bounce back from the COVID-19-stricken economy; one month's worth of numbers does not a story tell; and employers just need to raise wages.  Labor Secretary Marty Walsh urged perspective:  "Well, you know, under normal circumstances, and certainly we're not living in normal circumstances, the 266,000 job gain a month is a good number.  Unfortunately, we're still in the midst of a pandemic."

Biden Economic Adviser's Excuse for Bad April Jobs Report Is One for the Books.  [Scroll down]  White House economic adviser Cecilia Rouse was still trying to spin the April report and explain why it wasn't as bad as it was.  She actually blamed it in part on the fact that Easter was in March this year.  "Easter happened in March this year, the seasonal adjustments were a little funny within the BLS report," Rouse told reporters.  [Video clip]  First, not sure why when Easter is would make any difference on the report.  Will the phases of the moon also make a difference?  But second and more importantly, Easter was in April.  April 4, to be exact.  What the heck is she saying?  The "seasonal adjustments" aren't the only things "a little funny" here.

White House econ advisor publicly humiliates herself making excuses for the horrible April jobs report.  If you are going to make up silly excuses for Biden's economic disaster, it's better to have them consistent with the realities of the calendar.  The jobs report for April was a disaster — for America, of course, but for the Biden administration in particular.  Instead of a million or more new jobs, barely a quarter of that number of jobs were created, despite relaxation of shutdowns and mask mandates. [...] So desperate are Biden's handlers to deflect blame for the looming Jimmy Carter-like economic disaster (remember "stagflation"?  If not, you will soon be reminded), that the White House economic advisor Cecilia Rouse made an absolutely pathetic, humiliatingly obviously false excuse:  it was because Easter fell in March.  She got all wonky and explained that this affected the seasonal adjustments.  Except that Easter was April 4 this year.

White House Occupant Reads Teleprompter, Desperately Attempting to Spin Horrific Policy Outcomes.  [Scroll down]  The COVID bailout has created massive incentives for people not to return to work.  It is only not a laziness and comfortable dependency issue, it is also an economic decision.  Low wage workers can make more sitting at home getting unemployment to combine with their COVID bailout money than they can returning to work.  The political risk is again obvious.  As overall policy destroys the middle class in favor of Wall Street, multinational corporations and the investment class, it doesn't take an economist to see the dependency model creates a disincentive.  The Chicago crew is concerned about the backlash from obvious economics.  [Biden's] teleprompter is loaded with obtuse talking points that deflect and deny this reality.  Additionally, the teleprompter message to blue states lets them know more money is coming into their coffers; so hold the line.

Biden Says Terrible Job Numbers 'Evidence' US Moving in 'Right Direction'.  President Biden doubled-down on his radical, far-left economic agenda Friday, saying April's terrible jobs report is actually "evidence" the United States is moving in the "right direction" under the Democratic Party.  "We knew this wouldn't be a sprint — it would be a marathon," said Biden after the release.

9 Things You Need to Know About Biden's 'Infrastructure' Spending Plan.  [#3] Big spending won't deliver promised job creation.  While the Biden administration is claiming that the plan would create millions of jobs, infrastructure spending has a poor track record of increasing employment.  Federally funded projects are slowed by red tape and often serve to divert skilled workers from private sector construction work.  When coupled with a tax increase on businesses to pay for additional spending, the net effect would be destroying jobs rather than creating them.  In addition, the economy is in the process of reopening in most of the country and unemployment is falling rapidly, meaning there is no rationale for "stimulus" projects.

White House walks back 19 million-jobs claim, says Biden plan will create 2.7 million jobs.  The White House clarified Tuesday that one study projects that President Biden's $2.25 trillion infrastructure package will create roughly 2.7 million jobs — not the 19 million jobs administration officials had touted over the weekend.  White House press secretary Jen Psaki cited a study from Moody's that projects the U.S. economy will add 19 million jobs over the next decade if Congress passes Mr. Biden's plan and about 16.3 million jobs if Congress doesn't pass it.  "So that is what the impact would be of the American Jobs Plan — 2.7 million, to be totally clear," Ms. Psaki said.  "It is important to be clear and to be specific about jobs numbers — to provide clarity to the American people."

The Editor says...
If the primary benefit of the "infrastructure package" is job creation, do the math and see that $2.25 trillion to create 2.7 million jobs is $833,000 per job.  And what percentage of the jobs will go to non-citizens who recently arrived in this country?

Biden Lifts the Curtain.  President Biden finally held a formal press conference on Thursday, and the answers pulled back the curtain on how he and White House chief of staff Ron Klain plan to govern.  The biggest if unsurprising news is that they are in sync with Democrats on Capitol Hill in pushing an agenda that has elated Bernie Sanders.  One takeaway is that Mr. Biden has nothing on Donald Trump in claiming credit for the sun rising in the east.  The President boasted about achieving 100 million Covid vaccinations after 58 days, instead of his announced goal of 100 days.  Anyone paying attention knew that production and distribution were on pace to meet that goal even when Mr. Trump was President.  On Thursday Mr. Biden set a new goal of 200 million doses by 100 days, which should be a layup.  Mr. Biden also gave himself and his $1.9 trillion spending bill credit for growing economic optimism.  But the 6% GDP growth estimate for 2021 that he touted was already the consensus weeks ago as vaccinations spread and state lockdowns eased.  A booming recovery and rapid job growth were teed up if Democrats did nothing.  The spending bill's welfare incentives to stay home and not work may, if anything, slow the jobs recovery.

Green Jobs Are A Myth:  A Myth Intended to Distract Attention.  During the 2020 election campaign, Joe Biden asserted that more than 3 million Americans are already "employed in the clean energy economy."  He then boasted that, "if executed strategically, our response to climate change can create more than 10 million well-paying jobs in the United States that will grow a stronger, more inclusive middle class ... and not just in cities along the coasts."  That would make Joe twice as boastful as his former boss, who promised the 2009 $787 billion stimulus package would create "over five million" green jobs.  Four years later, the Brookings Institution reported that, "of the nearly 2.7 million 'green jobs' [the Obama-Biden Administration] identifies, most were bus drivers, sewage workers and other types of work that don't fit the 'green jobs of the future'" description.

Green Jobs Collapse in Germany and Go to China Instead.  What a Surprise!.  'Green jobs' in the German renewables sector have collapsed by 50 per cent in less than a decade.  No prizes for guessing where they've gone instead — but here's a clue: it begins with 'C' and ends with '-hina'. [...] There are two key points to be made here.  First, China is not remotely interested in green issues — or 'clean' energy — except insofar as it enables it to gain a competitive advantage over the West while it continues full steam ahead with its fossil fuel-powered industries.  Second, the 'green jobs' promised by everyone from President Joe Biden to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson as one of the benefits of their proposed Net Zero revolutions are a myth.  Or, if you prefer, a blatant lie.

Biden Invents An Economic Crisis To Justify His Reckless $1.9 Trillion COVID 'Relief'.  President Joe Biden used Friday's [2/5/2021] jobs report as another justification for his massive $1.9 trillion stimulus bill.  "A once-in-a-century virus has decimated our economy, and it's still wreaking havoc on our economy today," he said.  Funny, because that's not what the data show.  Some Democrats are already coming to realize that piling another $1.9 trillion in deficit spending on top of the more than $3 trillion already targeting COVID relief is an enormous mistake.

The Editor says...
Covid-19 was not and is not a "once-in-a-century virus."  Something similar comes along every couple of years — usually in election years.

WaPo: Two Pinocchios For Kerry's Wind-And-Solar Jobs Claims.  If you missed John Kerry's remarks on the job-destruction impact from Joe Biden's executive orders on climate change, let's refresh memories first.  Reporters asked Kerry how the new administration would explain to hundreds of thousands of energy workers about the necessity of making them unemployed, Kerry suggested that they could "make better choices," and told reporters that they should learn to build solar panels instead. [...] Obama, Kerry, and Biden had eight years to prove the assertion that massive government subsidies in renewable energy would pay off with "millions" of green-tech jobs.  Remind us again how many wind and solar installer jobs America currently has 12 years after the massive Porkulus bill?  The most significant lie here isn't Kerry's statistical claims.  It's that this administration cares one whit about energy-sector jobs while they take every step they can to destroy them without viable employment or energy options.

Sanders: We Will Use Reconciliation 'to Pass Legislation Desperately Needed' with 51 Votes.  Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) declared Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that the Democrats will use the reconciliation process to pass bills with a simple 51 majority in the Senate to forward major legislation.  Sanders said, "What we have got to do is recognize right now we are living in an unprecedented moment in American history with the pandemic, economic collapse, climate change, crumbling infrastructure.  We have millions of people working for starvation wages. [...]"

Biden's COVID-19 'Rescue' Plan Is Based On 5 Big Lies.  Joe Biden went on prime time this week to promote his COVID-19 plans.  For a guy who promises to be honest with the public, he's off to a terrible start.  Since mainstream media fact-checkers are now on their four-year vacation, we'll set the record straight on several key claims he made.  [#1] "You will see it very clearly if you examine what the twin crises of pandemic and this sinking economy have laid bare."  Sinking economy?  Where has Biden been for the past six months?  As the Bureau of Economic Analysis has already reported, the economy grew at a stunning 33.4% in the third quarter of this year — well above anyone's expectations.  The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow pegs growth in the fourth quarter at a very strong 7.4%.

Justice Department Debunks Silicon Valley's 'Worker Shortage' Claim.  The Justice Department's discrimination lawsuit against Facebook debunks the Fortune 500's fraudulent claim that a shortage of American workers forces managers to hire foreign workers, U.S. immigration experts say.  The federal lawsuit says Facebook hid more than 1,000 job advertisements from eager American graduates so U.S.-based managers could pretend the only qualified candidates for the jobs were the company's temporary foreign workers.  The pretense allowed the company to request permanent green cards for the temporary workers.

Setting the Stage for Revolution.  [Scroll down]  It's not just political actors flooding us with falsehoods.  Boring government statistics, like unemployment numbers, can no longer be trusted.  For example, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the unemployment data is inaccurate and no one knows why.  More accurately, no one cares why it is inaccurate.  They post the numbers they want to post for internal political reasons.  The result of all of this is a system in which not only is peaceful revolution impossible, but minor reform is no longer possible.

5 Other Things We'll Learn About Biden After The Election.  [#3] The economy has been doing much better than the public had been led to believe.  Back in 1996, when George H.W. Bush was running for reelection, the press treated the economy as though it were in another depression, which just so happened to coincide with Bill Clinton's campaign messaging.  As soon as the election was over, coverage of the economy suddenly became more upbeat, and the public learned that the very mild recession had ended way back in March 1991.

No, Joe, there was no economic boom under Obama.  The great Jackie Gleason once said, "The past remembers better than it lived."  And so it is, apparently, with the Obama years.  There was no economic "boom" as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are misremembering.  This was an economy that skidded into a financial ditch and seemingly never pulled out of it and got back on the prosperity hot lanes until Donald Trump won the election in November 2016.  You can mark the real recovery — an economic inflection point almost the day after that surprise election outcome.  Every liberal forecaster and most academic economists had guaranteed America that, if Trump were elected, the stock market would crash; workers would be flattened; and, as New York Times economist Paul Krugman famously predicted, the economy would "never" recover.  Instead, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared by 257 points the morning after the election (that's some crash), and it rose for the next three years, as it has again over the last several months.

No Joe, You Didn't Hand Trump A Booming Economy.  Joe Biden — along with his amen chorus in the press — keeps insisting that he and President Barack Obama handed Donald Trump a booming economy when they left office in 2016.  "We left a booming economy," Biden said during the first presidential debate, "and he caused the recession."  Debate moderator Chris Wallace jumped in to help Biden, adding that job growth was faster in the last three years of Obama's term than the first three of Trump's.  One is a flat out lie, the other a clever deception.  After presiding over the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression, Obama and Biden left office with the economy stalling out, leading experts to warn that the nation was facing "secular stagnation."

September jobs report:  US economy gains 661,000 payrolls, unemployment rate ticks down to 7.9%.  The US economy saw another 661,000 jobs added back in September and a modest improvement in the unemployment rate, as the recovery in the labor market continues as a stagnating rate.

The Editor says...
Bias alert:  Adding 661,000 jobs doesn't sound like stagnation.

Unpacking Joe Biden's lies about the Trump job-creation miracle.  Try as they might, Democrats, the media and the blue-check Twitterati can't wish away President Trump's enormously successful stewardship of the US economy.  "You talk about the economy booming," moderator Chris Wallace told Trump at this week's presidential debate.  But "in Obama's final three years as president, more jobs were created, a million and a half more jobs, than in the first three years of your presidency."  Wallace was echoing one of the Biden campaign's favorite talking points.  But here's the thing:  That talking point depends on misleading and cherry-picked data.

Trump Inherited a Meek Economy and Made It Roar.  Once again, Democrats are trying to attribute President Trump's economic success to President Obama — and their claims are no truer than they've ever been.  Joe Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris, claimed last month that Trump "inherited the longest economic expansion in history from Barack Obama and Joe Biden" and "ran it straight into the ground."  The media parrot these claims.  NBC ran an article in support of Harris's claim entitled "Data show Trump didn't build a great economy.  He inherited it."  The article notes that new jobs averaged 215,000 per month over Obama's last four years but only 182,000 per month over Trump's first three.  This comparison is misleading, however, and ignores factors including job openings and a worker shortage.  The National Federation of Independent Businesses conducts a monthly survey asking business owners, "What's the most important problem facing your business today?"  Under Obama, they cited taxes and regulation as numbers one and two.  After Trump cut taxes and slashed regulations, business owners cited finding qualified workers as their number one problem.

Delusional Democrats' lies and misleading claims take center stage on second night of convention.  On the night the Democratic Party officially nominated Joe Biden to be its 2020 presidential nominee, Democrats proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can't win with a substantive debate about policy, resorting instead to presenting Americans with a two-hour marathon of misleading claims, outright lies and hypocrisy.  For example, Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Penn. and Florida Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried credited Biden with the incredible job growth experienced under the first three years of the Trump administration, prior to the coronavirus pandemic.  "When our economy was on the brink, Joe led the recovery effort that created millions of jobs, including here in western Pennsylvania," Lamb said.  "Under his leadership, America bounced back with the longest economic expansion in history."  "You know, the one Trump brags about creating," Fried quickly added.  Of course, what they seemed to have forgotten is that Barack Obama was president prior to Donald Trump, not Joe Biden.  And even more importantly, the Obama-Biden economic recovery was the slowest since the Great Depression.

Joe and Kamala, the Demagogic Duo.  [Scroll down]  The interest of Biden and Harris in economic growth is nil.  Biden has said that the "very first thing" he will do is eliminate Trump's tax cuts.  He will restore all of the irrational regulations constraining business Trump has wiped out.  And his "Green New Deal" will crush America's energy sector.  With a straight face, Biden said that his environmentalism will be a boon for "jobs."  This is the same candidate who cavalierly told soon-to-be-out-of-work coal miners that they should learn "how to code."  In the name of "climate change," a Biden-Harris administration would throw tens of thousands of people out of work and drive up energy prices for all Americans.  They subscribe to a left-wing ideology that sees a receding economy as a goal, not a problem.  Woe to Americans if they believe the lies of Biden and Harris.  They are two lightweights who will crash America's economy, decimate her culture, and embolden the mob.

MSNBC Hopes for 'Global Financial Crisis' Helping Dems in 2020.  On Friday, MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle talked to CNBC contributor Dan Nathan about how the booming economy may factor into the 2020 presidential race.  Without any substantiation, Nathan wildly speculated that there could be another "global financial crisis" which would provide something "Dems can run on" in the fall.  Nathan, a longtime Democratic Party donor and principal at the investment consulting group RiskReversal Advisors, began by arguing that the nation's historically low unemployment was actually a bad thing: "...the labor market is really tight, and economically, in an election year, that could pose a really big problem when you think about it here because we're just not seeing the sort of economic growth that you might expect at this stage of the recovery over the last ten years."

MSNBC's Scarborough Distorts Axios Report on Trump Economy.  Joe Scarborough of MSNBC's Morning Joe distorted an Axios report on President Donald Trump's economy to credit former president Barack Obama.  The show ran a segment defending Obama's tweet congratulating himself for today's booming economy.  Scarborough cited an Axios report on Trump's economy to assert Feb. 18 that "[if] you look at the last ten presidents and their GDP growth throughout their administrations, six in ten of those presidents — according to Axios yesterday, and well just according to government statistics — actually had stronger economies than Donald Trump."  But that's not what Axios' piece was about.  First, the Axios piece never mentioned ten presidents.  The outlet's chart only measured six presidents' average annualized GDP growth by presidential term (Trump included).  Only five of the presidential terms shown in Axios' chart are higher than Trump's first term.  Second, the Axios story was that "Average economic growth under President Trump has outpaced the growth under Barack Obama."

Fact Check:  Bernie Sanders Falsely Says Green New Deal Will Create 20 Million Jobs.  Although Sanders has been touting this 20 million figure for months, there is no evidence that the vast changes to the American economy his plan entails would actually add more jobs than it would subtract.  While some new jobs would be created to shift America's economy toward renewable energy, many jobs would also be eliminated.

Obama to Trump:  You Didn't Build That Economy.  Arguing that the Obama recovery was weak and protracted because he took office after a steep downturn betrays remarkable economic illiteracy.  Dramatic economic contractions are typically followed by strong recoveries.  When Obama took office, he had nowhere to go but up.  The long, feeble recovery over which he presided was caused by his administration's meddling — a combination of ARRA and the Dodd-Frank Act.  The claim that Trump's superior performance was about inheriting a better labor market is exactly backwards.  Moving unemployment from 4.7 percent (considered full employment by most economists) to 3.6 percent was a far heavier lift for Trump than Obama faced in 2009.  Moreover, none of Obama's balderdash about ARRA explains the growth in manufacturing jobs over which Trump has presided.  During the Obama years, 300,000 manufacturing jobs disappeared.  When Trump pledged to bring them back, Obama claimed that he would need a magic wand to accomplish this — yet somehow nearly 500,000 such jobs have been added to the economy since Trump took office.

Tom Steyer:  Trump's Economy Is Not That Great, No Matter That Numerous Polls Say Otherwise.  President Trump's resiliency in the face of being impeached and amid the constant barrage of attacks against him since day one has been a source of immense frustration for Democrats in 2020, especially in the aftermath of his unapologetic State of the Union address and his acquittal after the Senate's impeachment trial.  Adding an extra layer of frustration for Democrats are several recent polls on the economy, in which Trump has received record-high numbers and where a clear majority of the American people have expressed that they are better of now than they were in 2016.

Trump fires back after Obama claims credit for economic boom: 'Con job'.  President Trump fired back Monday after former President Barack Obama, in a subtle swipe at the commander in chief, claimed credit for the economic gains in both their terms.  Obama tweeted Monday morning [2/17/2020] to note the anniversary of his signing the 2009 economic stimulus package.  "Eleven years ago today, near the bottom of the worst recession in generations, I signed the Recovery Act, paving the way for more than a decade of economic growth and the longest streak of job creation in American history," Obama tweeted, alongside a photo of his signature on the bill.

The Editor says...
Here's a short synopsis of the back story:  The U.S. economy tanked in 2008, at the moment when it appeared that Barack H. Obama was likely to win the presidential election.  The economy stayed in its pitiful shape until Obama left office; whereupon, the economy roared back to life under Trump.  Obama did everything he could to destroy this country, while blaming George W. Bush for all his troubles, with the eager assistance of the dishonest news media:  Under Obama, bad economic news was always "unexpected."  Under Trump, good economic news is always "unexpected."  The news media is still dishonest, and Obama is still a liar.

Next Time You Hear the Media try to Credit Obama for Trumps Economy, Watch This.  This wonderful orator and his crystal ball couldn't have been more wrong.  I guess it's easy to tell people their jobs are gone and they will need to be retrained, much harder to fix the problem.  I'll take the guy who just finished up three new trade deals and is working on the fourth bringing those same jobs back to America that Obama said were gone.  [Video clip]

The Facts About Trump That Are Deadly For Democrats.  [Scroll down]  The Democrats' political future depends on keeping voters as far away from facts as possible.  When not waging personal attacks, the Democrats have tried to convince voters that the economy is shambles, and that as the rich grow richer, the suffering of the poor increases.  But just as the facts reveal Trump to be much less than a demon, the data show them to be liars.  Earnings of the bottom 10 percent have grown 4.9% under Trump while they rose a mere 1.9% during the Obama presidency.  Under this "racist" president, black Americans have thrived, their earnings up 3.8%, a stark contrast to the 1.8% growth under President Barack Obama.

Private payrolls soar in January, the best monthly gain in nearly 5 years.  The jobs market kicked off 2020 in grand fashion, adding 291,000 in private payrolls for the best monthly gain since May 2015, according to a report Wednesday from ADP and Moody's Analytics.  That was well above the 150,000 estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones and more evidence that the U.S. still is a good distance from full employment even with the jobless rate at its lowest point in more than 50 years.

The Editor says...
Outside of communist countries, "full employment" does not happen.  When a news site says, "the U.S. still is a good distance from full employment," that is propaganda.

ADP Says 291,000 New Jobs in January; It's More Like 336,000.  The jobs report from ADP on Wednesday [2/5/2020] understated job growth in January.  Based on its own payrolls, the growth of private employment in the United States wasn't 291,000.  It was actually 336,100 when new jobs created by franchises were included.  The new jobs appeared in every sector of the economy, from small businesses to large and from goods-producing to service-providing.  Small businesses added 94,000 new jobs; medium sized companies added 128,000 while large companies (500 employees and up) added 69,000.  Those running franchise operations hired 45,100 new people in January.  Construction and manufacturing added 55,000 jobs, while professional and business services hired 49,000.  Education added 70,000, while the leisure and hospitality sector brought on 96,000 new people.

225,000 Jobs Added in January, and Still No Media-Predicted Recession.  The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report found that the Trump economy is continuing to pump jobs into the market.  And yet, still no evidence of the recession the liberal media have been howling about.  The most recent jobs report found that the U.S. economy added 225,000 nonfarm payroll jobs for the month of January, destroying economists' expectations of 158,000 jobs.  Predictions were off by roughly 67,000 jobs.  Notable job gains occurred in construction (+44,000), in health care (+36,000) and transportation and warehousing (+28,000).  Average hourly earnings on private nonfarm payrolls also rose by seven cents to $28.44, an increase of 0.2 percent, "slightly less than estimated but an acceleration from the December reading," according to Yahoo!  Finance's Feb. 7 analysis of the new numbers.

Democrats doing their best to scare Americans but our economy is robust, there's room for growth.  For those of you looking — praying — for a break from the Democrats impeachment farce, there's new and very positive polling from Fox News and Gallup on the economy.  The results were very encouraging for Americans in general — and for Republicans in particular.  For the Democrats, arguing against this vibrant economy is becoming more difficult every month.  According to a new Fox News poll released on Sunday, 55 percent of Americans rate the economy as "excellent" or "good," the highest percentage since January 2001.  A record-high 20 percent say the economy is "excellent" up from 3 percent in December 2016 — the Obama administration's final month.

The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez School of Economics.  On Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D-N.Y.), sat for a discussion with author Ta-Nehisi Coates.  She dropped a number of shocking statements — statements that elicited nothing but murmurs of agreement from Coates.  AOC claimed:  "No one ever makes a billion dollars.  You take a billion dollars."  How, pray tell, are American billionaires responsible for such massive theft?  According to AOC, the very mechanisms of capitalism mandate such theft.  In her view, successful businesspeople simply exploit their workers while maximizing their profits.  Hypothetically speaking about billionaires making widgets, she said:  "You didn't make those widgets!  You sat on a couch while thousands of people were paid modern-day slave wages and, in some cases, real modern-day slavery...You made that money off the backs of undocumented people."  This, of course, is nonsense.  Voluntary exchange of labor for wages is, as stated, voluntary, and the fact that there are many people willing and able to labor in the manufacture of widgets is presumably responsible for lower wages.

Booker Downplays Trump Economy — Americans Don't Measure Their 'Well-Being' Based on GDP, Stock Market.  During Friday's "New Day" on CNN, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) discussed a new CNN poll that shows the United States economy's highest rating in almost 20 years.  Booker said the economy is "overall good" but Americans are "not measuring their well-being" based on the GDP or stock market.

2020 Democrats:  Prosperous America Is A Dark Place.  What the Democrats who gathered in Los Angeles Thursday night [12/19/2019] for the PBS/Politico debate are offering the country as an alternative to President Donald Trump was encapsulated by Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her closing statement.  "This is a dark moment in America," the radical from Massachusetts said, before launching into an anecdote of a woman at a town hall who told her of having to choose between getting a prescription filled and buying toilet paper.  On what planet, exactly, are Warren and the others living?

Bloomberg is confused as to which president works for the people and which party wants a powerful government.  For three years, the media and other Democrats have been seeking impeachment with constantly changing made up causes and stories.  For three years, the media, including Bloomberg News, have been intentionally misleading the public into believing that Trump policies will soon cause an economic recession or collapse as they campaign to put Democrats back in power.  They need a weak economy to win and they would rather have a weak economy than giving people the opportunity to move up the economic ladder.

Trump economy surges and Biden and Obama hog the credit.  This is the continuing history rewrite of the left to explain the booming economy in the third year of Mr. Trump's presidency.  Today we are at or below record levels of unemployment, inflation and interest rates in half-a-century.  Wages and salaries are rising at their fastest clip in at least two decades.  There are an all-time high 7 million unfilled jobs in the United States.  The Washington Post is freaking out about the continued good news on the economy — and especially the latest data — that I reported on these pages two weeks ago that median household income is up by $5,003 since Mr. Trump became president.  This was based on Census data, but The Post ranted last week that Donald Trump continues to "inflate his own numbers."  Nearly every assertion in the article was wrong or twisted — and Mr. Trump was right.

My Pillow CEO slams recession 'false narrative': 'They're going to destroy one of the best economies'.  [Scroll down]  Recently, Nobel-prize winning economist Robert Shiller agreed with that sentiment, saying that a recession may be years away due to the effect that the Trump administration has had on the behavior of U.S. consumers.  "They're going to destroy one of the best economies I've ever had in my lifetime," said [Mike] Lindell, a self-made millionaire, who operates a pillow-manufacturing company in Shakopee, Minn.  "I see consumer confidence at an all-time high... Even my own employees and companies around me know that wages are going up and they feel safe.  So now they can go out and invent products and do service businesses and go out and they're taking chances like never before."

Trump's Economy: 1.6 Million More Jobs Than The 'Experts' Predicted.  The economy created 136,000 jobs in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of businesses.  The separate household survey, which is used to track unemployment, showed that the number of unemployed dropped by 275,000.  Not only did the job market pull 275,000 off the unemployment line last month, it pulled more than 100,000 who had dropped out of the labor force back into the job market.  This is good news, but it continues to confound mainstream economists, who solemnly predicted at the start of Trump's administration that we faced a "secular stagnation."  Any talk of strong economic growth was a fantasy.  When the economy started to outperform expectations, liberals shrugged it off by claiming that the upturn in growth was all baked in the cake when President Obama was president.  That is false.

Elizabeth Warren:  Amnesty for All Illegal Aliens Is 'Good' for American Workers.  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a top candidate for the 2020 Democrat presidential nomination, says amnesty for every illegal alien living in the United States is "good for" American workers who will be forced to compete against newly legalized low-skilled foreign workers.  During a town hall with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union in Madison Heights, Michigan, Warren said she will give amnesty to all 12 to 22 million illegal aliens living in the country, a move that would immediately drive up foreign competition in the labor market for America's working and blue-collar class.

Here's how to keep the Trump economy growing (and prove liberal elites wrong).  Now the establishment state media's campaign to talk America into a recession seems to be working — at least among the elite.  Last week, we saw the biggest drop in economic confidence among CEOs in seven years.  Oh, there's only one problem — nobody told the American people.

Biden promises more jobs for women than there are U.S. citizens.  The more candidate Joe Biden hits the stump, the more President Donald Trump hopes he prevails.  Fresh off the bizarre tale of a young Biden facing down a gang leader named "Corn Pop," besting the thug's switchblade with a 6-foot length of chain, the Democratic front-runner spoke about putting American women back to work.  To be exact, 720 million women.  The problem is, that figure is about 400 million more than the entire population of the United States.

Pelosi: 'August Jobs Report Offers Little Comfort in an Economy Faltering'.  The U.S. economy is "faltering," House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) declared Friday [9/6/2019] in response to the U.S. Labor Department's August report revealing that a record number of people were employed last month, while the unemployment rate held at 3.7% and fell to record lows for blacks and Hispanics.  "The August jobs report offers little comfort in an economy faltering under the Trump Administration's reckless agenda," Speaker Pelosi says in a statement posted on her website.

The Editor says...
[#1] The economy was "faltering" for the entire eight years of the incompetent Barack H. Obama regime, and no Democrat would admit it.  Nor was any criticism permitted.  [#2] The leader of the Impeachment Party has no room to talk about a "reckless agenda."

It becomes clearer every day that most journalists would rather have Democrats in power than a good economy.  Like everything else, whether it is fictitious Russian collusion, claiming Trump is mentally incompetent, claiming everyone hates us overseas, and playing the race card, the media is essentially campaigning for Democrats instead of doing their job of reporting the truth.  The strategy appears to be working somewhat because, despite record job openings, wages rising faster than any time while Obama was in office, and record low unemployment, especially for minorities and the less-educated, tax cuts that benefitted almost everyone, stock markets near record highs, many people have been indoctrinated to believe the economy is collapsing.

The Only Reason For Recession? The Prospect Of Trump Ever Leaving Office.  If wishing for a recession could make it so, then the economy would be headed over a steep cliff.  The hate-Trump left's drumbeat for a hoped-for R word has been growing louder and more persistent with every passing day.  They point to polls of economists predicting a 2020 recession and never mind that this is the same crowd of academics who told us that Trump election would cause a "global economic calamity."  These are the people who said the economy was overdue for a recession three years ago.  These are the very same prophets who said the Trump tax cut wouldn't work to create jobs and higher wages.  These were the academic whiz kids who said the economy couldn't grow faster than 2 percent ("the new normal") and who said that manufacturing and mining jobs weren't coming back.

Despite Media's Recession Chatter, US Economic Confidence Soars to 19-Year High.  Over the last few weeks, we've been exploring the competing narratives about the US economy — with the White House insisting that all is well, as many in the media hype up the possibility of a coming recession.  My general conclusion at this point has been that while there are some soft spots and genuine warning signs, the economy's fundamentals remain quite strong.  Unemployment has been quite low, the job market has been quite robust, and wage growth has broken free from years of frustrating stagnation.  We also recently received positive news on other indicators, including productivity, retail sales, and overall consumer spending.

Recession?  Headlines in Search of a Story.  On August 19, the Washington Post's first sentence summed up their one-dimensional angle on the National Association for Business Economics' August survey:  "Most economists believe the United States will tip into recession by 2021, a new survey shows, despite White House insistence the economy is sound."  So it went, with most establishment news outlets bent on finding the gray cloud around today's current sterling economy.  Negative news sells.  Perhaps it has always been thus, though it certainly seems most prevalent when it is adverse to this administration.

Blaming Every Bad Economic Indicator On The Trade War Just Proves You Don't Know What You're Talking About.  [Scroll down]  Generally, these pundits have no idea what they are talking about.  Another measure of the yield curve, the three month-10 year Treasury spread — which is more predictive than the two year-10 year Treasury spread — has been negative for months.  You didn't see a bunch of punditry about that when it first went negative in March.  That's because everyone is being political.  The left wants a recession because they hate President Trump, and they are economically illiterate to boot.  Hillary Clinton once said the Bush tax cuts caused the 2008 financial crisis, which is ridiculous.  And today's Democrat policies would make any recession we did have far worse, via the government increasing taxes and further cannibalizing the private sector.  Yet there are elements of the establishment GOP, including Never-Trumpers, who hate Trump almost as much as the left does.

Joe Biden Claims The Economy Is Collapsing Because Of The Trump Presidency.  Sometimes Joe Biden says things that are in not grounded in reality in any way.  Now is one of those times.  While speaking to some reporters this week, Biden said that the economy is collapsing because of Trump's presidency.  That's ridiculous and completely untrue.  Even the most left wing people who work at MSNBC know this isn't true.

Why Do Democrats Hate Jobs So Much?  House Democrats, resistant to reason, continue to press for a minimum-wage hike even though a government report says it could cost as many as 3.7 million jobs. [...] Rep. Bobby Scott, Virginia Democrat, has dismissed the job losses and is instead focusing on the CBO's estimate that the hike would increase wages for 17 million workers (which is plausible) and move 1.3 million families out of poverty.  (Which seems unlikely, since only about half of minimum-wage workers are not yet 25 years old, a quarter are teens, 64% work part time, only 221,000 are older than 25, and the never-married outnumber the married about 4-to-1, which means most aren't providing the primary income for a family.)

Jobs, growth, and higher wages leave Democratic contenders searching for excuses.  Friday's [7/5/2019] June jobs report, with its expectations-shattering gain of 224,000 net jobs (including 17,000 manufacturing jobs) and its 4% unemployment rate (effectively full employment), reinforces what was already popularly understood about the Trump-era economy.  Unemployment is historically low.  Job creation is historically strong.  Wages continue rising under Trump after a long period of stagnation under predecessors of both parties.

Gov't Dependency Plunges Under Trump — Why Aren't We Celebrating?  Friday's [7/5/2019] jobs report showed that the economy created 224,000 new jobs, yet the unemployment rate edged up to 3.7%.  Both are welcome news.  The unemployment rate went up because 158,000 rejoined the labor market.  These are people who previously didn't have a job and weren't looking for one.  The labor market is tight enough that people who'd given up on work are getting lured back into the job market.  And they're finding work.  As of June, there were 5.6 million more people with jobs than when President Trump took office — despite claims by prominent economists that the economy was already at full employment when he was sworn in.  The healthy labor market has resulted in something even more important yet little noticed:  A sharp trend away from dependency on federal welfare and other benefits.

Democrats try to talk down a solid blue-collar economy.  If the premise of an argument is false, what does that tell you about its conclusions?  This is the problem facing Elizabeth Warren and other leading Democrats after the first presidential primary debate [6/26/2019].  Warren, Cory Booker, Beto O'Rourke, and other candidates all apparently believed that in order to sell their socialism, they needed to establish the premise that the Trump-era economy simply isn't working for anyone besides the filthy rich.  Warren says that the U.S. economy is "doing great, for a thinner and thinner slice at the top."  O'Rourke and Booker made a similar claim:  that the wealthy are pulling away and leaving behind the working class in today's economy.  But this premise is false.

The Blue-Collar Jobs Boom Nobody Seems To Notice (Because It's Happening Under Trump).  Joe Biden, who is currently leading in the polls against the horde of other Democratic presidential hopefuls, believes he can win back the working-class voters who defected to Donald Trump last election and thereby win the presidency.  So Biden is trying to convince these voters that Trump was making a lot of empty promises.  "The stock market is roaring.  But you don't feel it," he said at a rally.  "There are — $2 trillion tax cut last year.  Did you feel it?  Did you get anything from it?  Of course not.  Of course not."  Actually, they did get something out of it.  A lot, as it turns out.  Not that you'd know it from the way the economy has been covered — or, more appropriately, covered up — by the mainstream press during the Trump administration.  They take their cues from Democrats like Biden or Bernie Sanders, who say Trump's promise to the working class as "a fraud."

Don't listen to the naysayers.  Trump's economy is booming.  It's very strange how politically bent "economists" can look at President Trump's raw economic data and question his success.  Last week's strong GDP report of 2.9 percent growth for 2018 was the latest surprise upside of the Trump economy, much to the disappointment of the many naysayers.  The 2.9 percent is up from the 2.2 percent in 2017, which included President Obama's 1.8 percent for the first quarter.  Trump's two-year average is 2.6 percent GDP growth.

Political Incompetence and Questionable Science.  How do we relate to the statement by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez that "The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don't address climate change," while the Green New Deal program is designed for ten years?  We were repeatedly told that Trump's tax cut would lead to the bankruptcy of the federal government.  It did not happen.  We were warned that Trump's tariff wars with China and the European Union would lead to mass unemployment.  That did not happen either — on the contrary, the number of vacant jobs in America exceeds the number of unemployed.  So, what has played such a cruel joke on the Democrats?

Dems Deny Economic Boom.  Democrats, now the majority in the House of Representatives, are trying to turn that body into the House of Resistance.  They vowed to use the State of the Union to voice their claims that the nation is in bad shape, rigged to benefit only the rich.  But facts are stubborn things.  Fact No. 1:  An amazing 304,000 jobs were created in January, according to Labor Department data, up from an average monthly gain of 223,000 in 2018 and 182,000 in 2017.  A steady upward march.  Too bad President Donald Trump couldn't invite all the new hires to attend his speech to show off the impact of Trumponomics on real people who have to put food on the table and make mortgage payments.  Fact No. 2:  Even those who had given up hope of finding a job are re-entering the labor force.

Pelosi on Jobs Report: 'GOP Attitude Disrespects Workers, Dishonors Our Values and Damages Our Economy'.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to a January employment report that showed "nonfarm payroll employment increased by 304,000" during the month by issuing a statement attacking congressional Republicans for embracing an attitude that "disrespects workers[.]"  Pelosi also lamented the situation of federal workers, who, even if they were furloughed during the partial shutdown that ended on January 25 were paid for the time they did not work.  Also, the jobs report showed that the federal government added 1,000 workers during the month.

The Editor says...
If Ms. Pelosi thinks the Republicans' attitude is damaging the economy, and all the stuff Obama did was helping the economy, she has lost her mind.

When media are quiet about financial news, you know the economy's strong.  We were told the market was going down because of Trump's trade policies, because he was chewing out the Fed for raising rates too rapidly, and because of the government shutdown.  I am having trouble finding where the media and other Democrats are giving Trump credit for the market rising around 10% since December 24.  Why has the market reversed itself for now?  Here are a few hints:  sales during the Christmas season were up over 5%, over 300,000 jobs were created in December, and job gains were revised upward in both October and November.  Wages went up 3.2% year over year, the fastest growth in a long time, and gains are especially being helped on the lower end of the scale.  There continue to be more job openings than job-seekers.  It is obvious that a strong economy does not fit the Democrat agenda, so it is downplayed.

Democrats Try to Spin Massive Jobs Number as Bad News.  Democrats struggled to spin Friday's [1/4/2019] massive job growth number as bad news for the economy, in what has become a monthly routine under President Donald Trump.  The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy added 312,000 new jobs in December — nearly twice what Wall Street analysts had expected.  In response, Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez blasted Trump for increasing economic "volatility."

Let's look past the liberal media gloom factory and celebrate the good news this Christmas.  Notwithstanding the gloom factory that is the liberal media, the country remains upbeat.  The University of Michigan reported just recently that consumer sentiment rose in December, defying expectations.  The report notes that "over the past half century, sentiment was higher in only two other time periods:  1964-65 and 1997-2000."  Only 12 percent of respondents said they were concerned about the stock market.  Americans are feeling good partly because the jobs market remains red hot.  Unemployment, currently at 3.7 percent, is the lowest ever for blacks, Hispanics, Asians, teens, and women.  Jobs are plentiful and not just entry-level jobs; manufacturing employment is up by 288,000 over the past year.  Moreover, opportunities abound.  At last count there were 7.1 million jobs available, and only 6 million Americans unemployed.  Five years ago, the picture was bleaker, as there were only 3.9 million jobs available, and 11.3 million Americans out of work.

Obama Is 'Making Stuff Up' About The Trump Economic Boom.  Economists expect the third-quarter GDP number — to be released this Friday — to be a strong one, in the range of 3.4%.  Maybe that's why Barack Obama is running around this week trying to take credit for the economic boom.  And he says President Trump has trouble with facts?

Kudlow Hits Back At Obama Claiming Credit For 'Economic Miracle'.  National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow fired back at former President Barack Obama's claim of credit for the robust state of the U.S. economy, in a Tuesday morning [10/23/2018] appearance on Fox and Friends.  [Video clip]

Obama tells voters to 'remember who started' economic recovery at Nevada rally.  Former President Barack Obama defended his record at a Las Vegas election rally Monday [10/22/2018], telling Nevada Democrats to "remember who started" the country's economic recovery after the Great Recession and accusing President Trump of practicing "corrupt politics."  Obama came to Nevada to galvanize support for Rep. Jacky Rosen, who is locked in a tight race for the Senate against incumbent Dean Heller.  The former president was also joined on stage by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Sisolak, who is running against Republican state attorney general Adam Laxalt to replace term-limited GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval.

The Editor says...
On election day, we won't forget who started the economic recovery — and it wasn't Barack H. Obama.

Washington Post swings at Trump — smacks Obama.  "The bottom 90 percent are still poorer than they were in 2007" the headline screamed over Ace Reporter Matt O'Brien's big scoop for the Washington Post.  However, the headline was factually flawed.  The data covered only 2007 through 2016.

Obama knows he deserves no credit.  As he campaigns for 81 of the thousands of Democrats seeking state and federal office in November, President Obama is taking a selfie with the post-Obama economic recovery.  Obama told hundreds of supporters in his home state, "The actions we took during that crisis returned the economy to healthy growth and initiated the longest streak of job creation on record."  But six months before the 2016 presidential election, Obama was less boastful in an interview with a New York Times staffer.

You didn't build that, Barry.
Bruce on Obama Taking Credit for Economy:  He 'Didn't Understand How' Trump's Policies Would Work.  Conservative commentator Tammy Bruce took issue with former President Obama taking credit for the burgeoning economy over the several months.  "We worked hard to turn this economy around.  The actions that we took during the economic crisis" added to the economic growth, Obama said at a rally for Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray.  Bruce said Obama is speaking out and patting himself on the back because "he's worried about his own legacy... about how he's viewed."  "Trump ran on doing the opposite of what Obama is doing," she said.  "Trump has done the reverse of everything he's done."

Sorry Obama, But It's Trump's Economic Boom, Not Yours.  Barack Obama is on the road attempting to claim credit for the booming economy under President Trump.  But the only thing Obama deserves credit for is making it easy for Trump to undo Obama's anti-growth policies.

The Left: they never cease to accuse you of the thing they are doing.  Judge Kavanagh will almost certainly be confirmed to the Supreme Court; and the August jobs report states that 201,000 jobs were created, wages grew by 2.9 percent from last year, and unemployment remains at the historically low level of 3.9 percent.  The certainty of Kavanagh being confirmed explains the Senate Democrats obnoxious theatrics, notably Booker's inept attempt to violate the body's rules and rendering himself into a modern day "Sharticus."  The August jobs report compels the Left to attack President Trump, because attacking his policies is increasingly difficult; and, worse, they are devoid of any alternative policies — unless, one considers "socialism" and its "equality of misery" a substitute for the prosperity that Americans demand.  Ergo, it is the Left that is under increasing pressure and losing its mind.

Why Obama deserves a little credit for the Trump Boom, and why the Democrats will never admit it.  It is actually pathetic that Barack Obama is trying to claim credit for the Trump Boom that began with the stock market jumping the moment Trump's election was clear, and which has continued to generate jobs — especially the manufacturing jobs that Obama told us were not coming back.  He is following the Big Lie approach, thinking that repetition of this baseless claim would eventually get people to believe it.

But Hillary said unemployment would hit 6.8%.  "The unemployment rate held near a generational low of 3.9 percent," CNBC reported today [9/7/2018].  Wait.  That cannot be.  That was not what Hillary said would happen, and as everyone knows, she is the Smartest Woman in the World.  She is never wrong.  "Hillary Clinton says Trump's economic policies will trigger another recession," The Guardian reported on June 17, 2016.  The experts had told her so.

Barack Obama Trashes Trump [and] Tries to Take Credit For Trump's Booming Economy.  Barack Obama crawled out of his hole Friday and trashed President Trump — calling him out by name, then took credit for the booming economy.  Obama gave a speech at the University of Illinois Friday and arrogantly took credit for Trump's booming economy.  Barack Obama couldn't even run a lemonade stand; he is the only president in history to never see a single year of 3.0% GDP growth yet here he is with a smug look on his face giving himself credit for Trump's accomplishments.

Media Rewrite History To Credit Obama Instead Of Trump.  The stronger the economy gets under President Trump, the more desperate his critics are to hand credit over to Obama.  Even if that entails changing the past.

Americans Live In A World Of Lies.  The US government and the presstitutes that serve it continue to lie to us about everything.  Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics told us that the unemployment rate was 3.9%.  How can this be when the BLS also reports that the labor force participation rate has declined for a decade throughout the length of the alleged economic recovery and there is no upward pressure on wages from full employment.  When jobs are plentiful, people enter the labor force to take advantage of the work opportunities.  This raises the labor force participation rate.  When employment is full — which is what a 3.9% unempoyment rate means — wages are bid up as employers compete for scarce labor.  Full employment with no wage pressure and no rise in the labor force participation rate is impossible.  The 3.9% unemployment rate is not due to employment.  It results from not counting discouraged workers who have ceased to search for jobs because there are no jobs to be had.  If an unemployed person is not actively searching for a job, he is not counted as being in the labor force.  The way the unemployment rate is measured makes it a hoax.

Are Liberals and Progressives Sabotaging the Economy?  [Scroll down]  Meanwhile, in the real world, these same minorities, black and Latino, are doing better than they have in years, possibly ever.  What a nightmare for the left.  Some are already changing their votes.  Next thing you know — no more identity politics.  Then what's left of the left?  So they pray to God for a depression, or at least a recession.  Only they don't believe in God.  So what do they do?  They sabotage the economy by jawing it down, by making it sound worse than it is.  This is a clever strategy because the condition of the economy, to a great extent, is what you say it is or, more importantly, feel it is or can convince others that it is.  It's wide open to legerdemain.

Democrats: Slowing Job Growth Means Workers [are] 'Losing Their Jobs'.  Hiring slowed in July as unemployment fell even farther, according to Labor Department numbers released Friday [8/3/2018].  The U.S. economy added 157,000 jobs last month, falling short of the expected 190,000.  Unemployment ticked down to 3.9 percent from 4 percent, and there have been more job openings than workers to fill them since April.  But Democrats claimed the slower job growth meant people are "losing their jobs," with Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez saying that President Trump's "reckless policies continue to hurt millions of hardworking families."

The Editor says...
Yes, but in the same report, the numbers from previous months were revised upward, so that makes up the difference.

Good News, Comrades:  There's Bad News Coming!  To working Americans, national prosperity is a positive development; consequently, they welcome it.  Not so the Left, when the prosperity is the result of a Republican administration.  Why?  Because as noted in previous columns, the Democrats' hoped for a midterm election "blue wave" won't trump the "green wave" of economic prosperity.  Why return to power a party that, the last time they were in power, told you the "new normal" is your jobs are gone and economic growth will forever be weak?

Stupendously Annoying Hack Juan Williams Credits Obama with the Economy.  Juan Williams is so far-left and such a hack that he cannot give the President any credit for the economic growth.  He credited [the unspectacular performance by] Barack Obama with the economic growth.  Williams is holding on to the now-old saw that the recession under Obama was the worst recession since the Great Depression.  It never was but even if it were, why couldn't Obama get to 3 percent GDP, unlike every other modern day President who also suffered through recessions?  We know why — his regulations, taxes, and no-growth policies.

The Top 50 Liberal Media Bias Examples.  [#35] MSNBC: (2004) — Natural Disasters Create Jobs, (2011) — Natural Disasters Wipe Out Jobs:  This one is sort of a "process" story.  It shows the way the media characterizes the same news as bad for Republicans but good for Democrats.  In this case the media showed that natural disasters created jobs for Bush in 2004. This was presented as a false job creation to prove that Bush's good economic news was really a sham.  But in 2011 the same thing, natural disasters, was presented as evidence of why Obama's down economy was not really his fault.  This sort of spin is a typical example of the Old Media's efforts to make Republicans look bad and Democrats look good quite despite the facts.

MoveOn declares low wages 'violence'.  In their campaign for a $15 job-killing minimum wage, the leftwingers at MoveOn.org have declared low wages "violence." [...] Because it shows how unserious they are, and it also shows that by negating the meaning of words, they can justify real violence as their result.  If the minimum wage as it is is 'violence,' well then what is to stop a bloody uprising in response?  They characterize everything except real violence as "violence" these days, as Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds has noted.  It goes to show that the left really has a hostility to the idea of words having meaning.  This fuels their extremism, as ever crazier things ever more divorced from reality are said, as words are completely drained of meaning.

Boston University's Fake-O-Nomics Darling.  [Scroll down]  But when the time came to put her BU economics education to work, [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez flunked.  On PBS last week, she asserted that "unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs."  Moreover, the erudite B.A. holder in economics posited, "unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their kids." [...] The unemployment rate, which stands at a historically low 4 percent, is calculated by extrapolating and dividing the number of people out of work by the total number of individuals in the American work force.  If you have one job, two jobs, three jobs or more, you don't count as unemployed.  Whether you are working 40 hours or 80 hours or 120 hours a week, if you're working, that has no effect on the unemployment rate, either.  The number of workers moonlighting and the number of hours they moonlight have zero, zip and nada effect on the unemployment rate.  Ocasio-Cortez's claim that "everyone has two jobs" is more fake-o-nomics.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the number of Americans holding down multiple jobs is less than 5 percent and has been declining for nearly 30 years.

Dems blast booming jobs report, Trump worker agenda, 'reckless'.  Democrats saw nothing positive in the new June jobs report that highlighted 213,000 new jobs added.  Instead, the Democratic Party issued a statement criticizing President Trump's jobs agenda as "reckless."

Democrats want unemployment.  The number of Americans holding jobs are [sic] at a record of 155,576,000.  "U.S. employers kept up a brisk hiring pace in June by adding 213,000 jobs in a sign of confidence despite the start of a potentially punishing trade war with China," the Associated Press reported this morning.  Democrats denounced this because they need financial misery to attain power.  "June jobs numbers show what is at stake from the brewing storm of rising health costs, spiraling trade uncertainty and an economy being hollowed out to enrich big corporations and the wealthiest 1 percent," Nancy Pelosi said.

The Editor says...
The number of Americans holding jobs is at a record level.

June jobs growth jumps with 213K jobs added while unemployment rises.  The U.S. economy added a higher-than-expected number of jobs in June, with 213,000 positions created versus analysts' expectations for 195,000.  The unemployment rate moved higher, off an 18-year low, to 4% from May's 3.8%. Economists say the slight move higher is a positive as it reflects more workers entering the workforce after sitting on the sidelines, drawn by the plethora of jobs.  In June, 601,000 Americans entered the labor force, and not all found jobs.

The Editor says...
This is because so many people abandoned the prospect of finding a job while Obama was president, and the workforce participation rate dropped like a stone.  Now that some of those workers are re-entering the job market, it's inevitable that some won't be able to find a job immediately.

7 Truths Liberals Will Never Acknowledge About Illegal Immigration.  [#5]  There are no jobs "Americans won't do."  This is easy to prove because there isn't a single field where illegal immigrants make up the majority of the workers.  So there are more Americans doing all those jobs we supposedly need illegals to do.  If every illegal disappeared tomorrow, within a year or two, wages would rise enough in those professions so that American workers would fill those jobs or alternately, automation would be used to replace the workers.  There may be rich business owners who benefit from having cheap illegal labor, but we don't "need" illegals for anything.

35,000 more jobs.  Obama hardest hit.  Obama lied when he said you can keep your doctor.  But on the other hand, Obama also lied when he said those jobs aren't coming back.

Medicaid and the Democratic War on Work.  And yet there can be little doubt that the Democratic Party has somehow morphed into the anti-employment party.  The evidence for this is pretty difficult to miss.  The Obama era, despite a deluge of disingenuous media reports about the allegedly heroic role our erstwhile president played in "saving" the economy, was characterized by countless initiatives clearly meant to reduce employment growth to the anemic level that Obama himself called the "new normal."  A clear sign that he intended to take every action possible to render this sluggish job growth permanent was his disembowelment of Clinton-era work requirements for welfare recipients.  And, in keeping with their war on work, the Democrats and the media produced the usual claims of racism and cruelty when President Trump reversed his predecessor's anti-employment and illegal changes to the 1996 welfare reform law.

Valerie Jarrett:  We should also give Obama credit for low unemployment.  Former President Barack Obama's top adviser Valerie Jarrett dodged on giving President Trump credit for the lowest unemployment rate in almost two decades.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday that the U.S. economy added 164,000 jobs in April, pushing the unemployment rate down to 3.9 percent, the lowest since 2000.  When asked on CNN's "New Day" if Jarrett gives Trump credit for that, she deferred to giving Obama credit for starting the trend.

Valerie Jarrett:  We should also give Obama credit for low unemployment.  Former President Barack Obama's top adviser Valerie Jarrett dodged on giving President Trump credit for the lowest unemployment rate in almost two decades.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday [5/4/2018] that the U.S. economy added 164,000 jobs in April, pushing the unemployment rate down to 3.9 percent, the lowest since 2000.

Happy Equal Pay Day:  The (other) holiday based on a lie.  It's the latest fake corporate-progressive virtue signalling excuse to increase everyone's sense of victimhood — and it's based on the complete lie known as the "gender pay gap."

The January Jobs Jump.  Thirteen months ago, before Donald Trump had taken office, we issued a caveat about headline unemployment:  It would be pretty tough for Trump to do better than 4.7% unemployment, which is generally considered to be "full employment."  Over the course of 2017, however, the economy did improve, in large measure due to Trump administration policies.  And the job growth trend continued in the first month of 2018.  Beating expectations, January saw 200,000 jobs created, while the headline unemployment rate sits at 4.1%, the lowest since December 2000.  The Wall Street Journal reports, "A broader measure of unemployment and underemployment, which includes people working part-time jobs because they can't find full-time employment, ticked up to 8.2% in January."  That's exactly what we warned would happen 13 months ago — as more people entered the job market because they were encouraged by the economy, that top-level unemployment number would paradoxically increase.  The headline rate doesn't include those looking for work; the so-called U-6 rate does.

The Shabby, Sophomoric Behavior of Democrats at the SOTU.  The Democrats loathe the tax reform that has kick-started the American economy.  They abhor the return of American manufacturing and the bonuses so many companies have doled out to their employees.  It was not so long ago that Obama essentially swore that "those jobs are never coming back."  "Crumbs," billionaire Pelosi called their bonuses.  The left today hates our military.  They hate the notion of national security.  Like Obama, they cannot abide the unfair advantage, as they see it, of American might, American success, and American freedom which they are always trying to impede, to restrict, to regulate and tax.  The left has been doing its best to turn the United States into Venezuela for two generations.  Progressivism is socialism.  Venezuela is how it ends.

Schumer: Trump should thank Obama for economy.  Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Tuesday [1/30/2018] that President Trump should thank former President Obama for the country's economic growth during his first State of the Union speech.  "If you're going to pat yourself on the back, give a shoutout to Barack Obama because he did even better than you in job creation," he said.  Schumer added that Trump was handed an "already healthy economy," but "two words we won't hear President Trump say tonight about the economy:  'Thanks, Obama.'"

Did Bureau of Economic Analysis Sandbag Report on 4th Qtr U.S. GDP?  U.S. GDP is what we produce, minus what we import.  That's important to understand.  The BEA is essentially saying there were massive amounts of imports in the fourth quarter, but they are unable to determine exactly how much that was.  That makes sense because all records for American on-line sales were broken; and a lot of those purchases were probably Chinese (and Asian, or EU) sellers, selling clothes and stuff into the U.S. as you purchased Christmas presents etc.  The BEA has no way of knowing from top-line sales (financial data) how much of the small stuff (clothes, gadgets, etc.) came from outside the U.S. to your doorstep.  Well, not yet.  Additionally, all the inventories of similar stuff, from U.S. manufacturers and retail sellers, is now wiped out (ie. "low inventory"), and as such — the value of that inventory is gone.  It is now in the bank.  There is no way of knowing how much that domestic inventory was, as part of the overall record-breaking fourth quarter sales.

Labor Department's December jobs report highly misleading.  The comments about the December jobs report were not the only thing misleading — the report was, too.  The Labor Department reported that only 148,000 jobs were created last month — considerably fewer than the 195,000 or so jobs that the "experts" were expecting.  But the number was kept artificially low by a seasonal adjustment that wasn't comparable to the one done a year earlier, in December 2016.  And it's unusual for one December's adjustment to be so different from the previous December.

Obama tries to claim credit for Trump economic boom, finally gets smacked down.  One of the more obvious things about the Trump economy is how much better it is than the Obama economy.  Yet incredibly, President Obama, as if jealously looking on at this night-and-day difference, is trying to claim credit for it.

Sarah Sanders:  Can't Make It Up, Obama Wants Credit for Booming Trump Economy.  White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was vocal on Twitter Sunday, issuing biting criticism of former President Barack Obama.  In Sanders' typically blunt vernacular, she claimed that President Obama did not deserve any credit for the apparent improvement in the economy.  However, while the economy is doing well and Trump largely deserves praise, Americans would be wise to pay attention the labor force participation rate.

CNN: False Reporting is the New Normal.  Remember when, under the presidency of Barack Obama, we were told that high unemployment rates and sluggish growth of the economy was the new normal?  We were told that there was nothing that could be done about it.  Two terms of the brilliant blind lashing out against the problems we faced as a nation by the messiah, Obama, could not fix it, so it could not be fixed.  Get used to it, misery is now life as we know it.  In less than a year under the Donald J. Trump administration's efforts, the current 4.1% unemployment rate is the lowest we've seen in 17 years.  Unemployment claims have fallen to the lowest level in 43 years.  The economy has been improving at a rate greater than what was accomplished during any of the years Obama was president, and with tax cuts on the horizon, a sudden boost to the economy is ready to roar.  Meanwhile, in mainstream-media-land, there have been none of these reports.

OBAMA: "Those Jobs Aren't Coming Back." TRUMP: "Hold My Beer."  Toward the final months of his presidency Barack Obama infamously said the following regarding jobs that had left America — including millions during his eights years as President:  "...some of those jobs of the past are just not going to come back."  And when commenting on then-candidate Donald Trump's promise to bring jobs back, Mr. Obama said this:  "...Well, how exactly are you going to negotiate that?  What magic wand do you have?"  No magic want was needed by POTUS Trump.  Just some common sense, a basic understanding of economics (remember, Barack Obama never created a private sector job in his life and is the son of a devoted communist) and the determination to believe America can be better and stronger than ever — all of which has led to THIS:  [...]

The Editor says...
I'm the last person in the world who will ever defend anything Barack H. Obama says about anything; however, when Mr. Obama made the assertion that "some of those jobs of the past are just not going to come back," he probably thought Hillary Clinton was going to be the next President, in which case his prediction would have been plausible.  Additionally, if Mr. Obama had served another ten terms as President, those jobs would never have come back, because Mr. Obama is an incompetent dolt who hates America and has never created a job in his life, nor has he ever worked for a profit-making business.

'Thanks, Obama!' Former president credits himself for strong economy.  Former President Barack Obama is taking credit for the robust economic growth that is taking place under President Trump.  At a conference of mayors in Chicago, Mr. Obama congratulated himself Tuesday for strong employment numbers in the U.S. this year, saying his climate-change policies have contributed to growth.  "As we took these actions, we saw the U.S. economy grow consistently," Mr. Obama said.  "We saw the longest streak of job creation in American history by far, a streak that still continues by the way."  He added wryly, "Thanks, Obama."

Obama Congratulates Himself on Trump Economic Growth.  This is to be filed under Obama's Greatest Whoppers, right under "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan."

Actual WaPo fact check:  Pence jobs claim correct, so only 3 Pinocchios for him.  There's so much spin in this "fact check" it may well have been written in of a centrifuge, so it might be a good idea to mainline Dramamine before trying to get through it all without getting dizzy.

Why the Left Has Been So Wrong About the Trump Boom.  Are the editors at Time and the Times so ideologically blinded that they are incapable of connecting the dots?  The U.S. economic revival of 3 percent growth has already defied the predictions of almost every Donald Trump critic.  I vividly remember debating Hillary Clinton's economic gurus during the campaign:  They accused Trump and advisers such as myself of "lying" when we said that pro-growth policies would speed up economic growth to 3 to 4 percent.  Jason Furman, who chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama, told reporters earlier this year that the chances of reaching 3 percent growth over a decade were about 1 in 25 — which is what many political experts said was Trump's chance of winning the election.  Another Obama economist, Alan Krueger, called the 3 percent growth forecast "extremely rosy."

And that's why Trump won.  [Scroll down]  Trump won, not because the country was racist or sexist, or because most in the country enjoyed his coarse language.  He won because he was the only one who realized the problem existed.  Trump was elected by people who didn't much like him — 19 percent of his voters thought him unqualified — and by Obama voters in the upper Midwest whose communities had been devastated by job losses.  The irony was that Bush, Flake, and Obama, while deploring Trump's sins, still listed free trade as one of their paramount values, even though the evidence since has been more than abundant that embracing free trade beyond the limits of prudence was their founding and critical sin.  On Oct. 10, 2000, on the advice of the experts, Bill Clinton signed a now-infamous trade deal with China, calling it a 'win-win' solution for both of the countries that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs.  It turned out the experts were wrong.  It created job losses that were worse than expected.  Workers didn't 'bounce back,' as experts predicted, but remained unemployed.

Coffee Shop to Hire Only Refugees — What About Out-Of-Work Americans?  What is it with coffee shops and their desire to selectively hire a certain class of people? [...] These are refugees who are mostly Muslim.  These are not illegals.  Think about the illegals that came to San Diego in 2016!  So there are two NEEDY groups coming to America in droves that need jobs.  This is unsustainable!  First a Starbucks' hiring event in San Diego, now a little start-up coffee shop plans to open in Louisiana and hire refugees and political asylees.  What?  No needy americans looking for jobs in Baton Rouge?

Lies, Lies & More Lies.  Every month the government apparatchiks at the Bureau of Lies and Scams (BLS) dutifully announces inflation is still running below 2%.  Janet Yellen then gives a speech where she notes her concern inflation is too low and she needs to keep interest rates near zero to save humanity from the scourge of too low inflation.  I don't know how I could survive without 2% inflation reducing my purchasing power.  This week they reported year over year inflation of 1.9%.  Just right to keep Janet from raising rates and keeping the stock market on track for new record highs.  According to our beloved bureaucrats, after they have sliced, diced, massaged and manipulated the data, you've experienced annual inflation of 2.1% since 2000. [...] Ignore that silly Shiller PE ratio far surpassing 1929 and 2007 levels.  Ignore every historically accurate valuation method showing the stock market 70% to 129% overvalued.

Harvey Will Boost GDP? Then Why Don't We Schedule Disasters?  Even before Harvey finishes wreaking havoc on Texas and now Louisiana, economists are trying to guess at its impact on GDP.  Oddly, many think it could boost growth overall.

Unexpectedly!
2nd Quarter GDP Growth Revised Upward to 3%.  Despite the good news, the insufferable MSM are still trying to bury the cause and effect.  In an effort to give a more precise picture I'm going to use a Reuters summary, and shift their text location to highlight what they bury and emphasize what they avoid: [...]

America's Jobs Engine Keeps Defying Forecasts for 2017 Slowdown.  In an economy growing at a moderate pace at best, the U.S. job market keeps on shining.  Payroll gains topped forecasts in five of the past seven months, putting the 2017 average increase of 184,000 almost on par with last year's 187,000 and above levels typical for the eight-year expansion.  Analysts expect barely any falloff from that pace in August figures due Friday, amounting to job growth about double what's needed to keep the unemployment rate steady in the longer run.  Sustained demand for workers — highlighted by record vacancies — is pushing down unemployment and even attracting Americans who weren't actively looking for a job.  What's more, the strong run of hiring challenges a widespread assumption in forecasts late last year:  that the economy would run low on workers as it approached so-called full employment, causing payrolls to downshift.

Here's How Many Americans Are Living Paycheck To Paycheck.  According to a new poll conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder, over three-quarters of American households are forced to live paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet. [...] The scariest part of the poll, as CBS points out, is that the number of people living paycheck to paycheck is actually growing despite the fact that the Fed and our politicians continue to brag about near 'full employment.'

Fake News A US Media Speciality.  We cannot even get a truthful jobs report.  Yesterday (Aug. 4) the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported 205,000 new private sector jobs in July and a drop in the unemployment rate to 4.3%. [...] Of course, the 4.3% unemployment rate is fake news.  It does not include millions of discouraged workers.  When these workers who have not looked for jobs within the last four weeks are included, the unemployment rate jumps to 22-23%.  Now consider the alleged 205,000 July new jobs.  Probably about half of these jobs are due to the add-ons from the birth-death model, and the other half from manipulations of seasonal adjustments.

The left's misleading green jobs claims.  In absolute numbers, the U.S. Department of Energy reports solar power employed 43 percent of the electric power generation sector's workforce in 2016, employing more than 374,000 workers who construct, assemble, sell or install solar panels.  Fossil fuels combined accounted for just 22 percent (187,000) of the jobs directly tied to generating electric power.  Although there are a significant number of solar-related jobs, the often-repeated figures above are very misleading for numerous reasons, of which I'll name a few.

U.S. Labor Market Roars Back, Adding 222,000 Jobs in June. 
  •   222,000 jobs were added last month.  Wall Street economists had expected employment gains of 175,000.
  •   The unemployment rate was 4.4 percent.  May's jobless rate was 4.3 percent.
  •   The average hourly wage grew by 2.5 percent from a year earlier.
  •   The labor-force participation rate inched up to 62.8 percent, from 62.7 percent.

The Editor says...
Under Trump, unexpectedly good news comes out on the first Friday of every month.  Under Obama, the unemployment numbers were always unexpectedly bad.

World View:  Fed Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen Says [There Will Be] 'No Financial Crisis in Our Lifetimes'.  Janet Yellen, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, the successor to Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan, held a press conference on Tuesday of last week, during which she said that she believes that there will be no new financial crisis "in our lifetimes": [...] This is such a bizarre, naïve statement, that it is hard to know what to make of it.  Yellen is expressing precisely the attitude that is always been prevalent prior to every financial crisis in world history.  Politicians say "This time it's different," and "We've learned our lessons," and "It can't happen this time."  And it does not happen this time until it does.  Actually, the lessons from the last financial crisis have not been learned at all.

Economists Hilariously Over-Predicted Economic Growth Under Obama.  White house economists overestimated annual economic growth by about 80 percent on average for a six year stretch during Barack Obama's presidency, according to Freedom Works economic consultant Stephen Moore.  Economists predicted growth between 3.2 to 4.6 percent for the years 2010 through 2015.  Actual economic growth never hit above 2.6 percent.  "Why does anyone bother to listen to economists anymore?" Moore writes in The Washington Times.

Jamie Dimon on America's big problem:  Millions of men missing from labor market.  Don't tell J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon the U.S. lacks enough people to fill open jobs and get the U.S. economy moving faster in the long run.  The banking VIP and current chairman of the Business Roundtable told reporters this week that America has a big problem: millions of prime-aged men have dropped out of the labor force.  Dimon pointed out the share of men ages 25 to 54 who are considered part of the labor force has declined to around 88% from as high as 97% a half-century ago.  In effect, about 10 million men have gone missing.

The Editor says...
Those men may be missing from the homes of their illegitimate children, and they may not be employed, but there's no mystery about where they are, as long as they cash their monthly welfare checks.  To say they have "gone missing" is a canard.  They are sitting at home watching television, and if they have an income to supplement government handouts, it is probably from something illegal.

Sorry, But Calling Weak Q1 GDP a 'Report Card' On Trump Is Absurd.  The economy's weak 0.7% growth in the first quarter was disappointing, to say the least, the worst gain in three years.  But to the Trump-despising big media, it seems, it's really a sign of his failure.

A Look at the Weak March Job Numbers.  Don't get bent out of shape by weak payroll growth in March.  Although payrolls grew only 98,000, well below consensus expectations and below even the most pessimistic forecast by any economics group, this is not the start of a new weaker trend.

Trump's budget director claims Obama was 'manipulating' jobs data.  Mick Mulvaney told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday [3/12/2017] that he has long thought the previous administration framed data to make the unemployment rate "look smaller than it actually was."  "What you should really look at is the number of jobs created," Mulvaney said on "State of the Union."  "We've thought for a long time, I did, that the Obama administration was manipulating the numbers, in terms of the number of people in the workforce, to make the unemployment rate — that percentage rate — look smaller than it actually was."  Trump repeatedly railed on the unemployment rate during Obama's time in office as a "hoax."  Trump once claimed that he had "heard" the rate could be as high as 42% — even though at the time it was about 5%.

The Trump Economy Keeps 'Unexpectedly' Topping Forecasts.  Orders for capital goods were higher in December than forecast.  There were supposed to be 5.55 million existing-home sales in January.  The actual number was close to 5.7 million — which was the highest level since 2007.  Retail sales in January climbed 0.4%, where economists had predicted they'd advance only 0.1%.  At the same time, the Commerce Department revised the December sales increase upward to 1%.  Now, obviously we can't draw any broad conclusions from a few unexpectedly good economic results.  But it's worth pointing out that this is a dramatic change from the Obama years, when about the only thing that you could predict with any degree of accuracy was that the economy would underperform economists' predictions.  Month after month, sales figures, job creation, and a variety of other indicators would come in below forecast.

It Should Come As No Surprise The DNC Picked This Guy.  The Democrat National Committee has elected to head their little Party of resistance and mouth breathing leftist by choosing Thomas Perez, former Obama Administration Secretary of Labor.  Yeah, the same Labor Dept. that gave us phony job numbers before the 2012 election, and almost unbelievable fairytale numbers just in time for the 2014 mid-terms.

The Mainstream Media Have Forfeited All Respect.  Since the end of 2008, the working age population has increased by over 20 million.  However, the number of those employed has increased just 8.9 million.  Meanwhile the number of those unemployed and no longer in the work force has jumped to a staggering total of 102 million — or 41.2% of the working age population.  This percentage rate has been essentially unchanged since January of 2009, a timeframe and rate approaching the tragic years of the 1930's.  The American public was deliberately kept in the dark about the extent of the real unemployment situation as the media chose to ignore the negative data and instead focused on whatever positive news, real or imagined, they could find to protect Barack Obama and blame others for his failed policies.  Nonetheless, the people knew the rest of the story — because they were living it.

62.9%: Labor Force Participation Rate Improves in January; Those Not in Labor Force Declines by 736,000.  The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday released its first look at employment since Donald Trump became president, and although that report does not reflect actual Trump policy changes, it does include the period just before Trump became president and was tweeting about jobs saved.  According to BLS, the labor force participation rate improved in January, increasing two-tenths of a point to 62.9 percent, its best showing in four months.

U.S. Gained 5,000 Manufacturing Jobs in January, Lost 10,000 Government Jobs.  The United States gained 5,000 jobs in manufacturing in January while losing 10,000 in government, according to numbers released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  In December, jobs in government in the United States outnumbered jobs in manufacturing by 9,950,000. In January, the margin dropped to 9,935,000.

Trump mulls changing official unemployment rate.  President Trump is considering a move that would increase the official unemployment rate by a full point, and it's an idea that many liberals would be OK with.  That's because it wouldn't involve any workers losing their jobs.  Rather, the new administration is considering switching the calculation the Labor Department uses as the official unemployment rate in place of a broader definition of what constitutes unemployment.

The Editor says...
The President should make this retroactive to 2008 or earlier, to show an accurate picture of unemployment numbers and to highlight the improvement he makes, if any.

Obama's Final Jobs Report is A DUD.  Obama has been bragging about creating jobs and improving the economy for years.  The media has played right along, repeating Obama's claims as true and wonderful.  The American people know a different reality.  That's one of the biggest reasons Trump won the election.  Now Obama's final jobs report is out and you'll be shocked to learn it's another dud.

The Obama Presidency — By the Numbers.  The government calculates unemployment as a percentage of the labor force without jobs.  The labor force consists of everyone who has a job or is actively looking for one.  But it does not count people who are not looking.  The percentage of adults — those 16 and older — who are employed or looking for work has declined steadily.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the labor force participation rate was 65.7 percent when Obama took office in January 2009, the depths of the Recession triggered by the financial meltdown in 2008.  Last month, after a long economic recovery, the rate was 62.7 percent, down 3 full percentage points and near an all-time low.

Before and After Obama: 10 Signs of a Diminished America.  [T]here's no denying the U.S. workforce contracted significantly under Obama, and that is not good.  Dips in the headline unemployment rate, while huge numbers of Americans departed the workforce for good and dropped off the government's reports, were a staple of the Obama era.  Most "improvements" in the unemployment rate during his re-election campaign were a result of people giving up on looking for work, which made them invisible to the Bureau of Labor Statistics within a few months.

A Factual Look at Obama's Presidency.  In the closing weeks of his presidency, Barack Obama instructed the members of his cabinet to "prepare a detailed report on the progress we've made" since he became president.  He then summarized these reports in a cover letter that paints a bleak picture of the U.S. before he entered the Oval Office and suggests that the nation turned around during his tenure.  Obama then repeated many points from this letter in his January 10th farewell address to the nation, where he declared that "by almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started."  However, the claims in his letter and farewell address are based on a series of artful statistics that do more to mislead than inform.

Record 95,102,000 Americans Not in Labor Force; Number Grew 18% Since Obama Took Office in 2009.  Barack Obama's presidency began with a record number of Americans not in the labor force, and it's ending the same way.  The final jobs report of the Obama presidency, released Friday, shows that the number of Americans not in the labor force has increased by 14,573,000 (18.09 percent) since January 2009, when Obama took office, continuing a long-term trend that began well before Obama was sworn in.  In December, according to the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record 95,102,000 Americans were not in the labor force, 47,000 more than in November; and the labor force participation rate was 62.7 percent, a tenth of a point higher than in November.

In Obama's Final Jobs report, A Record 95.1 Million People Were Not In The Labor Force.  Putting the exclamation point on a trend that has marked Obama's entire presidency, in the final Obama jobs report, the BLS announced that the total number of people not in the labor force grew once more, rising by 18,000 in December, and a whopping 841,000 in the past three months, to a new all time high of 95.102 million Americans no longer in the workforce.

Employers Added 156,000 Jobs in December.  U.S. employment increased less than expected in December but a rebound in wages pointed to sustained labor market momentum that sets up the economy for stronger growth and further interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve this year.  Nonfarm payrolls increased by 156,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday.  The gains, however, still remain above a level that is considered sufficient to absorb new entrants into the labor market.

Obama's Failed Presidency.  I'm a former lifelong Democrat, stating here a clear and incontestable fact:  Barack Obama is a failed President.  It's true not just because of the sad realities such as that "Top Ex-White House Economist Admits 94% Of All New Jobs Under Obama Were Part-Time" — or, as the economists Alan Krueger and Lawrence Katz wrote in the original of that study:  "94 percent of the net employment growth in the U.S. economy from 2005 to 2015 appears to have occurred in alternative work arrangements".  ("Alternative work arrangements" referred there to Americans who were involuntarily working only part-time jobs — they simply couldn't find full-time, though that's what they wanted.)  In other words:  Obama's failure isn't just because of America's increasingly sales-clerk, and burger-flipping, workforce.

Something Wicked This Way Comes.  The false narrative propagated by the captured mainstream media propagandists has been the labor force participation rate falling is strictly due to Boomers retiring.  Despite data proving the median Boomer household has less than $20,000 saved for retirement, the talking heads and brainless bimbos on CNBC and other corporate media outlets continue to purposely mislead the public with misinformation about Boomers retiring to live lives of luxury and endless vacations.  Meanwhile, the only demographic showing dramatic increases in labor participation are the old fogies who forgot to save.  How do the pundit propagandists explain the decline in participation by 25 to 54 year olds in their prime working years?  Are they busy finding themselves?  Did they hit the lottery? [...] Obama hoots about all the jobs added during his reign of error, but fails to mention that 94% of all jobs added since 2004 were either temporary or independent contractor jobs.  Low wage, part-time, no benefits, Obama jobs don't pay the bills.  That's why a record number of Americans have to work multiple jobs to survive.  The narrative about an improving economy, thriving jobs market, and glorious future is [nonsense].  I know it.  You know it.  And your establishment puppeteers know it.  But only "fake news" sites would dare reveal these inconvenient truths.

Media says we're in a jobs boom — we're not.  We keep reading in the media that the job market is on fire, that we're near full employment.  But it's a sad truth that the monthly jobs report doesn't really reflect what's going on in our hobbled economy.  As everyone knows by now, the jobs data for November show a decline from 4.9% to a 4.6% unemployment rate, as businesses created 178,000 new payroll jobs.  What could be better?  While we applaud these improvements, they mask deeper problems with the U.S. job market.  As American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Aparna Mathur notes, "You have to look beyond the headline numbers to understand the situation of the American workforce."  Indeed, troubling signs lurk beyond the "headline numbers."

Don't buy the lie that Obama's leaving behind a healthy economy.  After eight years of blaming America's problems on George W. Bush, the press that got the election wrong is rolling out a new line — that President Obama is handing President-elect Donald Trump a booming economy.  That takes some brass.  The jobless rate is down to 4.6 percent, and the growth rate is up above 2 percent or even 3 percent, with housing prices getting back to pre-recession levels.  Stocks are soaring.  So the idea seems to be that Obama has solved the problem in the nick of time.  "Obama's gift to Trump" is the headline on CNN.  "Trump inherits healthy economy" is the way the Financial Times is headlining the yarn.  Politico reckons that Trump is being handed an "Obama boom."

New Record:  Americans Not in Labor Force Breaks 95 Million for First Time.  The labor force participation rate, which is the percentage of the population that has a job or actively looked for one in the past month, declined from 62.8 percent in October to 62.7 percent in November.  The unemployment rate for all Americans declined from 4.9 percent in October to 4.6 percent in November.  This measure does not account for those individuals who have dropped out of the labor force and simply measures the percent of those who did not have a job but actively sought one over the month.  While the unemployment rate declined this month, the number of Americans joining the labor force declined by 226,000 individuals.  The "real" unemployment rate, otherwise known as the U-6 measure, was 9.3 percent in November, which declined from 9.5 percent in the previous month.

The Obama Economy And The Myth Of "Full" Employment.  [Scroll down]  There's another way to calculate the unemployment rate that is closer to the truth.  Add together the number who say they have stopped looking for work with those seeking a full-time job but who have settled for part-time work.  According to the Labor Department, stands at 9.3 percent, about double the "official" unemployment rate, and well above the pre-recession level, too.  Others place the U-6 rate even higher — at 11%.  And there's another critical issue to consider:  the quality, not just the quantity, of any new jobs.  Through 2014, the economy suffered a net loss of 1 million higher paying jobs, in sectors like accounting and legal work, but experienced a net increase of almost 2 million low-wage jobs in industries like fast food.  With lower-wage jobs increasing relative to higher-wage jobs, is it any wonder that real wages are continuing to decline?

The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment.  The official unemployment rate, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, is extremely misleading.  Right now, we're hearing much celebrating from the media, the White House and Wall Street about how unemployment is "down" to 5.6%.  The cheerleading for this number is deafening.  The media loves a comeback story, the White House wants to score political points and Wall Street would like you to stay in the market.  None of them will tell you this:  If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job — if you are so hopelessly out of work that you've stopped looking over the past four weeks — the Department of Labor doesn't count you as unemployed.  That's right.  While you are as unemployed as one can possibly be, and tragically may never find work again, you are not counted in the figure we see relentlessly in the news — currently 5.6%.  Right now, as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed.  Trust me, the vast majority of them aren't throwing parties to toast "falling" unemployment.

Americans Not In The Labor Force Soar To Record 95.1 Million:  Jump By 446,000 In One Month.  So much for that much anticipated rebound in the participation rate.  After it had managed to post a modest increase in the early part of the year, hitting the highest level in one year in March at 63%, the disenchantment with working has returned, and the labor force participation rate had flatlined for the next few month, ultimately dropping in November to 62.7%, just shy of its 35 year low of 62.4% hit last October.  This can be seen in the surge of Americans who are no longer in the labor force, who spiked by 446,000 in November, hitting an all time high of 95.1 million.

The jobs report is a perfect example of fake news.  On Friday [12/2/2016], we learned the US economy added 178,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 4.6%, while over 95 million Americans were not in the labor force.  Each of these numbers — which come from a 39-page report filled with numbers — is true.  But each of these numbers can be framed in various ways to tell wildly different stories.  One person can say the unemployment rate is 4.6%.  Another person can look at the same report and say the unemployment rate is 40.3%.

Press Lets Earnest Claim 805,000 Manufacturing Jobs Gained Under Obama; 303,000 Jobs Have Been Lost.  At Wednesday's White House press briefing, Obama administration Press Secretary Josh Earnest, in a fit of completely unsupported arrogance, claimed that 805,000 jobs have been created "while President Obama was in office," and that "President Obama has set a high standard" in that regard.  The lazy stenographers posing as journalists present at the briefing, along with other reporters covering Carrier Corp.'s decision not to move its Indianapolis manufacturing jobs to Mexico, have failed to recognize what anyone whose job it has been to follow the economy during the Obama administration should know, namely that the economy, through October 2016, has fewer manufacturing jobs now than it did when President Obama took office in January 2009.

U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs in November; unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 percent.  The U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs in November, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent, a level not seen since August 2007, according to government data released Friday morning.  The first employment report since voters went to the polls last month shows an economy in strong shape as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office.  "It looks like firms are pretty bullish about what they're going to see in 2017 and are continuing their strong hiring of the past few years," said Steve Rick, chief economist at insurance company CUNA Mutual Group.  "This is a good tailwind for the new administration."

Record Number Employed: 152,085,000; But Record 95,055,000 Not in Labor Force.  In the first jobs report since the election, the Labor Department says a record number of people — 152,085,000 — were employed in November in the United States, but a record 95,055,000 Americans were not in the labor force — 446,000 more than October.  The employment growth pushed the unemployment rate down from 4.9 percent in October to 4.6 percent in November.  The number of unemployed Americans dropped in November to 7,400,000, the lowest of the Obama presidency.  But the labor force participation rate also dropped a tenth of a point to 62.7 percent in November.

Sarah Silverman Admits She Made Up a Wage-Gap Story, Then Calls Critics 'Maniacs'.  Comedian Sarah Silverman admitted that a story she told about wage discrimination (in which she even went so far as to call out a specific employer by name) was a lie — and then said people who might consider her lie a reason to question the movement she was supporting were "maniacs."  In an April 6 wage-discrimination-activism video for Levo League, Silverman accused New York Comedy Club owner Al Martin of having paid her less than a male comic for doing the same work: [...] Just one problem:  That didn't actually happen.

Obama's Disconnects and Delusions.  No American politician — and certainly no president — in my lifetime has caused such destruction and suffered so little personal accountability for it. [...] He talks about the unemployment rate's going down, but this obscures the reality that tens of millions have opted out of the workforce in despair.  The media know that the unemployment figure is meaningless when factoring in the labor participation rate.

Now They Tell Us:  Trump's Economic Plan Will Boost Growth.  [Scroll down]  Still, why weren't these "experts" proclaiming the overall virtues of Trump's economic policies before the election?  Why weren't they telling the public that meager 2% growth wasn't something we had to live with?  That the economy could grow faster if Washington would adopt actual pro-growth policies?  Had these experts done so, Trump's margin of victory probably would have been larger than it was, and he'd be entering the White House with a broader mandate to enact his economic agenda.  We can only speculate, but our guess is that none of these experts wanted to be seen as helping Trump win, so kept their optimistic appraisals to themselves until the election was over.

11 Economic Realities That Donald Trump Will Inherit From Barack Obama.  It would be a grave mistake to understate the amount of damage that has been done to the U.S. economy over the past eight years.  In this article, I am going to share some economic numbers with you that are extremely sobering.  Anyone that takes a cold, hard, honest look at the numbers should be able to see that our economy is in terrible shape.

The Real Reason the Media Got This Election All Wrong.  For years, we have been pointing out in this space that the economic recovery has been the worst on record.  We've noted how it has vastly underperformed every recovery since World War II, and how if it had been merely average, the country would be $2 trillion richer and millions more people would have jobs.  We pointed out how Obama's endless bragging about 15 million new jobs was misleading, given that job growth hadn't even kept pace with population growth since 2010.  How the number of people who'd dropped out of the labor force had grown at a faster rate than jobs, and the explosive growth in food stamps and disability rolls.  We noted that economic stagnation has been particularly punishing to lower-income families, who saw their household incomes decline, even as those at the top saw gains.

Government Workers Now Outnumber Manufacturing Workers by 9,977,000.  The United States lost 9,000 manufacturing jobs in October while gaining 19,000 jobs in government, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Government employment grew from 22,216,000 in September to 22,235,000 in October, according to BLS, while manufacturing jobs dropped from 12,267,000 to 12,258,000.  The 22,235,000 employed by government in the United States now outnumber the 12,258,000 employed in manufacturing by 9,977,000.

Latest Jobs Report Masks Continuing Weakness.  A hard look behind the headline numbers — 161,000 new jobs created in October and the unemployment rate at 4.9 percent — reveals a weak economy falling behind the numbers posted last year.  First of all, that 161,000 number was below the 173,000 jobs estimated and predicted by Wall Street observers.  Second, it was far below September's jobs growth of 191,000.  Third, it brought the average monthly job growth for the year to just 181,000, compared to 229,000 per month for all of 2015.  Additional data points proved the point:  Big-picture numbers showed that the number of long-term employed (those jobless for 27 weeks of more) remained unchanged at two million, while the number of people employed part time for economic reasons (which the BLS calls "involuntary part-time workers") was also unchanged.  And so was the labor force participation rate, which remains stuck at 63 percent.  In other words, of those available for work, 37 percent aren't working.

Real Unemployment Rate: 9.5%.  Although much of the major media are reporting the national unemployment rate for October as 4.9%, the "real unemployment rate," as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and which includes part-time workers and those marginally attached to the work force, is 9.5%.  In other words, the real unemployment rate in the United States for October is nearly double the 4.5% rate reported by most media.  The "total unemployed" rate, or U6 number, is defined by the BLS as, "total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers," seasonally adjusted, workers 16 years old and over.

94.6 Million People Out of Labor Force in October.  In the final jobs report before election day, October's national unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent.  The United States economy added 161,000 jobs, according to statistics released by the Labor Department.

Jobless Claims in U.S. Rise to Highest in Almost Three Months.  Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose to the highest level in almost three months, extending increases from a four-decade low.  Jobless claims increased by 7,000 to 265,000 in the week ended Oct. 29, a Labor Department report showed Thursday [11/3/2016] in Washington.  The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for a drop to 256,000.  Continuing claims dropped to the lowest since June 2000.

Job Growth Cools as Goods-Producers Lag.  American employers tacked on only 147,000 new positions in October, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report out Wednesday.  But companies in September are now believed to have tacked on 202,000 new jobs — up from first reports of 154,000.  The services sector generated an impressive 165,000 positions, but American goods-producing professions saw payrolls drop by 18,000 jobs.

Obama Oversells U.S. Economy.  In a recent speech, President Obama criticized Republicans for making claims about the economy and health care that are "not supported by the facts."  But Obama resorted to some spin of his own.  Obama said "America's economy is not just better than it was eight years ago — it is the strongest, most durable economy in the world."  Actually, China's economy grew by an estimated 6.9 percent in 2015 — more than double the U.S. rate.  Obama also claimed that "we've seen the first sustained manufacturing growth since the 1990s."  But manufacturing employment has declined by 35,000 in 2016, and it's still down 2.2 percent from when Obama took office.

Goodbye Middle Class: 51 Percent of All American Workers Make Less than 30,000 Dollars a Year.  We just got more evidence that the middle class in America is dying.  According to brand new numbers that were just released by the Social Security Administration, 51 percent of all workers in the United States make less than $30,000 a year.  Let that number sink in for a moment.  You can't support a middle class family in America today on just $2,500 a month — especially after taxes are taken out.  And yet more than half of all workers in this country make less than that each month. [...] 38 percent of all American workers made less than $20,000 last year.  51 percent of all American workers made less than $30,000 last year. [...] The federal poverty level for a family of five is $28,410, and yet almost 40 percent of all American workers do not even bring in $20,000 a year.

America's quiet catastrophe:  The collapse of work for men.  From one perspective, things are looking pretty good in America today.  The stock market — and U.S. personal wealth holdings — are at or near their all-time highs, and unemployment rates are back down to 5% or less — well below the postwar average, and purportedly even near "full employment," according to widely received wisdom.  But a closer look reveals something else entirely.  These optimistic indicators mask a quiet catastrophe hiding in our shadows.

Census Bureau:  Americans' Incomes Have Dropped in 2016.  President Obama got a fair amount of good press a few weeks ago when it was reported that Americans' incomes had risen.  But that was from 2014 to 2015.  During 2016, Americans' incomes have dropped.  New figures from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, compiled by Sentier Research, reveal that the typical American household's real (inflation-adjusted) income has taken a turn for the worse during this election year.  In December 2015, the real median household income was $57,701 (in seasonally adjusted, August 2016 dollars).  Eight months later, in August 2016 (the most recent tally available), that figure has dropped to $57,380.  That's a decline of $321 across eight months.

Disappointing 156,000 jobs added in September.  Payroll growth was disappointing for a second straight month in September as employers added 156,000 jobs, which raised questions about the health of an economy that was expected to perk up from a prolonged slump in the second half of the year.  The unemployment rate rose to 5% from 4.9%, the Labor Department said Friday [10/7/2016], as a rise in employment was more than offset by a sharp increase in the labor force, or the number of Americans working and looking for jobs.  Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast 172,000 payroll gains.

Unemployment Rises To 5 Percent In September; 94,184,000 Out of Labor Force.  The national unemployment rate in September rose to five percent, as the United States economy added only about 156,000 jobs, according to statistics released by the Labor Department on Friday [10/7/2016].  That number is lower than analyst expectations, who predicted a 175,000 boost in jobs.

Green Pixie Dust Energy Policies.  "There's been a record six straight years of job growth, and new Census numbers show incomes have increased at a record rate after years of stagnation," NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt misinformed Americans, as he launched the first Trump-Clinton presidential debate September 26.  In reality, Obama era economic growth has been an anemic 1-2% annually.  More than 93 million working-age Americans are still not working, and over 6 million are working part-time, because their hours have been cut back or they cannot find full-time positions.  We're creating jobs by turning four high-pay full-time jobs with good benefits into six lower-pay part-time positions with few or no benefits.

Obama's First Economic Chief Says One-Third Of Men Will Be Jobless.  President Barack Obama's first economics deputy says current U.S. economic policies would leave one-third of working-age men unemployed in 2051. [...] Currently, four million Americans turn 18 each year, and the federal government imports 2 million permanent or temporary foreign workers each year, including a few hundred thousand illegals.

No, Unions Don't Increase Everyone's Wages.  2016's edition of Labor Day followed a well-established tradition — unions claiming credit for every worker gain.  Among their most common assertions, often incorporated in attributing negative wage trends to eroding union power, was that unions raise all workers' wages.  Unfortunately, unions retard rather than raise others' real earning power.  Unions leverage special government-granted powers (e.g., unique exemptions from antitrust laws) allowing current employees to prevent competition from others willing to do the same work for less.  This is a form of collusion that, done by any business, would be legally prosecuted.  The higher union wages that result are then credited for raising all workers' wages because they supposedly force up other employers' wages to keep their workers from leaving for those better-paying alternatives.  However, their claim cannot be true without violating the law of demand.

Incomes Under Obama Are Nothing to Brag About.  On Wednesday, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post all ran above-the-fold, page-1 headlines touting recent gains in income for the typical American household.  President Obama appeared at a political rally in Philadelphia and, after citing these gains and the existence of lower gas prices, proclaimed, "Thanks, Obama."  (He really said this.)  And, indeed, the top-line claim that real median household income rose 5.2 percent from one year to the next — "the first [statistically significant] annual increase in median household income" of the Obama presidency — is true.  But the overall impression given by the press corps — that happy days are here again — is false.

Labor Day when there is no work.  The prospects of finding a job, especially a full time highly paid position are becoming a rarity for more employment seekers with each passing year.  What is going on to the engine of prosperity?  Some forecasters paint a bleak portrait for adjusting to the development of technological reshaping of society.

The government says you are not unemployed if you work at least one hour a week and make at least $20.
Real Unemployment 9.7%.  According to Gallup, relying on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the real unemployment rate on July 1 was 9.7%, which was up from 9.6% on June 1.  That is nearly double the often cited unemployment rate, which was "officially" 4.9% in July.  "Widely reported unemployment metrics in the U.S. do not accurately represent the reality of joblessness in America," said Gallup on its website.  "For example, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) does not count a person who desires work as unemployed if he or she is not working and has stopped looking for work over the past four weeks," said Gallup.  "Similarly, the BLS does not count someone as unemployed if he or she is, for instance, an out-of-work engineer, construction worker or retail manager who performs a minimum of one hour of work a week and receives at least $20 in compensation."

Hillary Clinton, You're No John F. Kennedy.  The unexpectedly soft U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics August job report will lend a little political advantage to Trump.  In general, jobs came in 30,000 to 40,000 below expectations.  Manufacturing and goods-producing jobs decreased, wages were nearly flat and retreated to 2.4 percent year on year, the private and manufacturing workweeks fell, and overall hours dropped.

Clinton, Trump and Obama aren't telling American workers the truth.  Here it is.  There is no question that a portion of the jobs many of us perform today will be lost to robotics, automation, and the rise of artificial intelligence in the next few decades.  A recent study by AppliedTechonomics, for instance, found that we currently have the technological capacity to automate 52 percent of the activities performed by workers in the manufacturing sectors.  Moreover, the study found that manufacturing is the second most automatable sector in the global economy, just behind the services industry.  Given this reality it is bordering on malpractice that our current candidates and public officials have not done more to help prepare us all for a future in which accelerated technological change has a major impact on our labor force.

Government Workers Now Outnumber Manufacturing Workers by 9,932,000.  Government employees in the United States outnumber manufacturing employees by 9,932,000, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Federal, state and local government employed 22,213,000 people in August, while the manufacturing sector employed 12,281,000.  The BLS has published seasonally-adjusted month-by-month employment data for both government and manufacturing going back to 1939.  For half a century — from January 1939 through July 1989 — manufacturing employment always exceeded government employment in the United States, according to these numbers.

94,391,000 Americans Out of the Labor Force in August.  The United States labor force participation rate rose by 58,000 in August, according to statistics released by the Labor Department on Friday [9/2/2016].  That leaves a total of 94,391,000 Americans not in the work force, unchanged from July's 62.8 percent.

Caution:  Men (Not) At Work.  Nicholas Eberstadt, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, argues in a new book called "Men Without Work," due out next week, that we're suffering not from full employment, but massive underemployment — in particular, nearly one out of six working-age men have no job and are no longer looking for one.  A release for his book calls this "a hidden time bomb with far-reaching economic, social and political consequences."  With 10 million fewer male workers in the labor force than we should have, it's hard to disagree.

Every Job Obama Has Created Cost $2,720,677 On Average to Produce.  You see, Hillary is running on the false narrative that we're living in Obama's recovery, but if that was true, then there would be no need for the Fed to take corrective action of any kind.  With that said, the economy is limping along and gasping for breath at under 1% growth, so Democrats and the Fed are being forced to walk a fine line.  Hillary and the Democrats are banking on their voters never being any the wiser regarding the whole situation, and with our dishonest media, that's a safe bet.

Economic Growth Stalls At Wrong Time For Hillary.  "The truth is, those looking overseas for growth opportunities are the smart ones, because if we have another four years like President Barack Obama's past eight, you'd have to be an idiot to invest in America with this assault on growth by Washington, D.C."  That was Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning's shooting-from-the-hip response to the latest revision to the gross domestic product by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the second quarter.  The number was revised downward from a tepid, inflation-adjusted 1.2% annualized to 1.1%.

The new GDP numbers are terrible.  No wonder Hillary won't talk about the economy.  We got revised GDP numbers from the Commerce Department on Friday [8/26/2016] and the economy actually did slightly WORSE than originally estimated.  Growth was 1.1 percent in the second quarter of this year and less than 1 percent for the first six months of 2016.  The business sector of the economy has sunk recession territory.  Profits are srinking (down 2.4 percent last quarter) so how long can the stock market rise?  The consumer is keeping the economy out of negative territory, but that's only because we are spending more than we are earning.  How long can that go on?  About as long as the housing bubble could inflate without bursting.

Obama lied, real wages died.  Negative 4.6 percent!  That is the difference between the 4.2 percent real hourly wage increase that the Obama administration's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) claimed American workers enjoyed at the end of the first quarter of 2016, and the revised reality of a 0.4 percent drop in wages reported for that same period in the report released in August, as Breitbart noted.  It is almost as if 1960s television sitcom spy Maxwell Smart is the commissioner of the statistically challenged BLS in this "missed it by thaaat much" report.

It's Time To Dump The Unemployment Rate.  An unemployment rate below 5% is a relatively rare thing.  Only twice before in the past 40 years has it dropped that low — once in the late 1990s during that economic boom, and again briefly in 2006-2007.  Yet unlike before, there is little joy in Mudville today.  Instead of confidence and optimism, there is only malaise.

Record 25,984,000 Immigrants Employed in the United States in July.  The number of immigrants employed in the United States reached another monthly record high in July, according data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The BLS reports that 25,984,000 foreign-born people had a job in the U.S. last month, up 133,000 compared to the previous record set in June.  The Labor Department defines the "foreign-born" as "those residing in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth."

Are You Better Off Than You Were 7 Years Ago?  The question isn't whether the country is better off than it was when Obama took office — when it was still in a recession — it's whether the country is better off than it was when the recovery started almost exactly seven years ago.  Using that as the gauge, many Americans — by several measures — are actually worse off after seven years of Obama's "recovery" than they were just as the recession was ending.

Here's why Biden's middle-class savior shtick is [nonsense].  The Fed's analysis concludes that most middle-income occupations were paying between $13.83 and $21.13 per hour.  Yet, those jobs haven't been recovered, as perhaps Biden thinks may happen under Clinton.  They've been replaced by low-wage occupations that pay less than $13.83 per hour, which made up most of the job gains from 2010-2013.  This is the America that Obama has handed us.  Americans today are saddled with as much credit card debt as they were prior to the financial crisis.  And as early as mid 2014, 1 in 3 Americans, or 77 million, adults had their debts put into "collection."  Middle-income wages are shrinking; wealth is deteriorating — and a larger portion of this middle-income demographic is simply leaving the "middle-class" and joining the ranks of the poor.

Obama's Economic Growth Gap Now Tops $2.2 Trillion.  Economists were surprised Friday when the Commerce Department reported that growth in the second quarter of this year was a mere 1.2%.  But the real surprise is that anyone is surprised when the economy underperforms, since that's what it has been doing for the past seven years.  There has not been a single year in the past seven when the economy did better than President Obama promised, or that most economists expected.  Indeed, the real problem isn't the tepid growth in the second quarter, after an equally tepid first quarter.  The real problem is that under President Obama's economic stewardship, the economy has grown far more slowly than it did in any of the previous 10 economic recoveries since World War II.  What this means in terms of wealth and prosperity can easily be seen when you compare the actual results under Obama to the average results of those previous recoveries.

Obama: 'Our Country is Stronger and More Prosperous Than It Was When We Started'.  President Barack Obama said in a speech to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night that "our country is stronger and more prosperous that it was when we started."  "I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before," Obama said in his speech.  "How could I not be — after all that we've achieved together?"

Former Pennsylvania governor insists companies have no choice but to import STEM workers:
Clinton Surrogate Stokes Foreign Worker Myth.  The former governor of Pennsylvania on Sunday repeated an oft-made claim about high-skilled, foreign guest workers — that they are needed to fill jobs Americans can't do.  Ed Rendell, who is also one of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's biggest boosters, made his comments on C-SPAN in response to a caller's question about foreign workers.  Rendell said underperforming schools do not produce enough people qualified for science, technology, engineering, and math jobs.  So companies have to turn to the H-1B visa, which allows foreigners to come to the United States for up to six years, he said.

Labor Force Participation Rate Dropped to 62.8% In April: 94,044,000 Out.  The number of Americans not in the labor force last month totaled 94,044,000, 562,000 more than in March — and the labor force participation rate dropped to 62.8 percent (near a 38-year low), following four straight months of slight improvement.  When President Obama took office in Janaury 2009, the labor force partipation rate was 65.7 percent, after hovering in the 66-67 percent range for much of the George W. Bush presidency.  The recession inherited by the Obama administration officially ended in June 2009, but the labor force participation rate continued to drop during Obama's two terms, hitting 62.4 percent in September 2015, its lowest point in 38 years.

The Noise Behind the New Jobs Report.  The number of unemployed Americans fell 484,000 in May and the unemployment rate dropped 0.3 percentage points, mostly driven by Americans leaving the job market and no longer looking for work.  Unemployment increased by 347,000 workers in June and the unemployment rate increased 0.2 percentage points, mostly driven by Americans returning to the labor force and looking for work.  Statistical noise almost certainly explains these swings.

Nearly half of U.S. workers consider themselves underemployed, report says.  If you majored in physical education and find yourself working as a dog groomer, consider yourself a poster child of the underemployed.  Nearly half of U.S. workers consider themselves underemployed, according to a survey of more than 960,000 people by PayScale, an online provider of salary information.  Three-quarters of those who label themselves as such say they're not working in a job that uses their education and training.  One quarter say they are working part time but want full-time work.

Hillary's 'economy' attack is hopeless.  Hillary Clinton is known for her shameless hypocrisy, but her broadside Tuesday [6/21/2016] against Donald Trump was over the top — even for her.  Start with the fact that, while her whole point was to slam Trump's economic plans, she kicked it off by lauding — yes, lauding — President Obama's economic record.  This, when Obama's the first president in history never to see 3 percent growth or more in a single year of his watch.  When record numbers of workers have given up on finding jobs and dropped out of the labor market.  When the Federal Reserve predicts sluggish (at best) growth for the next few years.  Yet Clinton claims this is her role model for boosting the economy.

America In Free Fall.  President Obama, in response to attacks on his record by Trump-and by Bill Clinton, who has spoken of "the awful legacy of the last eight years"-is entering the campaign to brag about the current economy.  But to do so, President Obama must ignore a number of liabilities that are soon coming due.  Under his tenure, he did not address the unsustainable actuarial realities of Social Security and Medicare.  The federal debt doubled in a manner never seen prior and can be now serviced only through de facto zero-interest rates, which in turn ossify economic growth.  Due to tax hikes, new financial and business regulations, and the socialization of the health care system, per annum GDP growth under the President's tenure will go down in history as the worst since the Great Depression.  He ignored the Clinton-Gingrich compromise formula of a quarter-century ago of balancing budgets by cutting defense, capping spending, and raising taxes.  Instead, Obama slashed defense spending and hiked a number of taxes, but ignored entitlements, ensuring $500 billion annual deficits-deemed successful because they were less than his first-term normal of $1 trillion annual shortfalls.  The President points to the 5 percent unemployment as proof of his success, but that figure reflects Obama-era methodologies of not counting all those who have given up looking for jobs.  In May 2016, a record 94,708,000 Americans were no longer in the labor force-the highest percentage of non-working Americans since the Great Depression.

3 Economic Facts That Counter Obama's Recovery Narrative.  A quick look at the facts will show that Obama's economic performance has been weak — even by his own standards.  In its budget for the fiscal year 2010, the Obama administration estimated that real gross domestic product would decline in 2009 by 2.8 percent that year and then increase by 2 percent in 2010.  Furthermore, the White House forecast that by 2011 its massive stimulus program would start paying off, with growth accelerating to 3.8 percent that year and then soaring above 4 percent from 2012 to 2014.

15 Facts About The Imploding U.S. Economy That The Mainstream Media Doesn't Want You To See.  The following are 15 facts about the imploding U.S. economy that the mainstream media doesn't want you to see:
  [#1] Industrial production has now declined for nine months in a row.  We have never seen this happen outside of a recession in all of U.S. history.
  [#2] U.S. commercial bankruptcies have risen on a year over year basis for seven months in a row and are now up 51 percent since September.
  [#3] The delinquency rate on commercial and industrial loans has been rising since January 2015.
  [#4] Total business sales in the United States have been steadily dropping since the middle of 2014.  No, I did not say 2015.  Total business sales have been in decline for nearly two years now, and we just found out that they dropped again.
  [#5] U.S. factory orders have been dropping for 18 months in a row.
  [#6] The Cass Shipping Index has been falling on a year over year basis for 14 consecutive months.
  [#7] U.S. coal production has dropped to the lowest level in 35 years.
  [...]

The Obama Economy and the Fed's New Pessimism.  The Fed made clear this week that it understands that the Obama economy is not going anywhere and, therefore, neither are rates.  President Obama actually thinks he's doing a great job with the economy.  The Federal Reserve knows better.  Scary.  Because one of the least-remarked features of the barely growing economy is that it is occurring in an environment of basically zero interest rates.  Investors have nearly free money, and Obama still can't make the economy work.  The Fed is being as stimulative as it can without actually paying people to take money.  And if the ISIS terrorists Obama has permitted to spawn inflict an economically disastrous strike or something else spurs an economic meltdown, there are very few tools left to deal with it.

Is it Friday night already?
Obama Administration to Revise Total GDP Growth Down 2%.  The Commerce Department is set this July to publish a stunning 2 percent downward revision of gross domestic product (GDP) during the Obama Administration term in office.  The Department's Bureau of Economic Statistics (BEA) regularly makes small revisions to its published statistics as more information becomes available over time.  But in a massively large adjustment, the BEA just revised downward — by $346 billion — the real (after-inflation) GDP for 50 states and the District of Columbia, covering the 11-year period from 2005 through the end of 2015.

Inflation, Lies and the Big Mac Index (BMI).  While inflation is bad enough when it's out in the open, the ill effects of inflation are even worse when they are covered up and lied about by public officials.  Prices rise, wages stay flat.  Taxes originally intended for the ultra-rich fall on wage-earners.  Stock portfolios balloon, but their buying power deflates.

Lies and Bureau of Labor Statistics.  ["]Employers only added 38,000 jobs last month, while March and April numbers were revised down by a total of 59,000 jobs.["]  They always are "revised down," each and every month, and they have been for a long time. [...] We're not going to be "entering" any new recession, because we never left the old one.  Instead, it worsened to a depression, which is what we're fully and firmly mired in now, try as the government liars might to obscure it.  Anybody who's out there looking for a decent job, or sweating holding onto one they already have, knows it all too well already.

How Obama Has Made It Harder for Companies to Hire.  Government data released on Wednesday [6/8/2016] shows the number of private-sector job openings was at an all-time high in April.  Companies, however, hired the fewest number of people on a seasonally adjusted basis in nine months.  Why the disparity?  The JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) data the government released show there were 5,289,000 private-sector job openings in April — 114,000 more than in March.  The government report also shows that private-sector hires declined by 169,000 compared to March.  With private companies advertising so many job openings, why are they not filling them?

Average Man With Full-Time Job in U.S. Earned Less in 2014 than 1973.  The average man with a full-time job in 2014 earned less than the average man in 1973, according to the Brookings Institution.  The think tank's economy-focused Twitter account revived a striking statistic over the weekend, shedding additional light on the perceived economic stagnation and frustration among middle-income Americans in recent years.

It's Time To Blame Obamacare For Losing So Many Full-Time Jobs.  Last Friday [6/3/2016], the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the worst jobs report in almost six years.  The US economy only added 38,000 jobs, less than a tenth of the estimated 458,000 Americans who left the workforce.  In fact, thanks to revisions made to the March and April reports, that exceeds the number of jobs created in the past three months (348,000) by more than 100,000.  The workforce participation rate dropped back to 62.6 percent, near a 40-year low, and more than three full points below its level at the start of the recovery in June 2009 (65.7 percent).  To call this a wide miss is an understatement.  Economists had predicted a moderate jobs gain, with Reuters forecast.  The unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 percent, but analysts widely noted that this was a result of the large exodus from the workforce.  That included an increase of 130,000 among those who have left the workforce but still desire employment, outnumbering the jobs added in May.

A Builder or a Blabber in the White House.  On Monday [6/6/2016], Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen gave a somber assessment of the current jobs market, throwing cold water on President Obama's election-year messaging.  President Obama has been bragging that America has "the strongest" economy in the world.  Right, and pigs can fly.  GDP growth under Obama has averaged a stagnant 1.7 percent a year.  Meanwhile, Ireland is growing at nearly 8 percent, and India at 7 percent.  And the Obama economy isn't only a loser when compared with other countries.  Compared with what Americans enjoyed for decades, this is "the worst economic-growth record of any president" since the Great Depression, says Stanford economist Michael Boskin.

'Frightening' Number of Unemployed Have Given Up on Looking:  Survey.  Nearly half of unemployed Americans have quit looking for work, and the numbers are even worse for the long-term jobless, according to a poll released Wednesday that paints a grim picture of the labor market.  Some 59 percent of those who have been out of work for two years or more say they have stopped looking, the Harris Poll of unemployed Americans showed.  Overall, 43 percent of the jobless said they have given up, according to the poll released in conjunction with Express Employment Professionals, a job placement service.

The Great CEO-Worker 'Pay Gap' Is Nothing But A Union-Built Myth.  [The AFL-CIO] reports this year that the typical CEO running an S&P 500 firm received total compensation of $12.4 million in 2015 while the average rank-and-file worker was paid just $36,875 — a pay gap of 335-to-1.  But the AFL-CIO can only get such an inflated pay ratio by applying a series of statistical sleights of hand that result in an invalid apples-to-oranges comparison of the total compensation for CEOs to the cash wages of mostly part-time workers.  To start, the AFL-CIO only considers a very small sample of S&P 500 CEOs to get its 335-to-1 ratio.  Using a larger, more representative sample of CEOs produces a much smaller pay gap.

More than 100 million working-age Americans do not have jobs.  This is exactly what we have been expecting to happen.  On Friday [6/3/2016], the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the U.S. economy only added 38,000 jobs in May.  This was way below the 158,000 jobs that analysts were projecting, and it is also way below what is needed just to keep up with population growth.  In addition, the number of jobs created in April was revised down by 37,000 and the number of jobs created in March was revised down by 22,000.  This was the worst jobs report in almost six years, and the consensus on Wall Street is that it was an unmitigated disaster.

If you want economic growth, pick the candidate who's actually created jobs.  Obama's been bragging that America has "the strongest" economy in the world.  And pigs can fly.  Growth under Obama has averaged a stagnant 1.7 percent a year.  Meanwhile, Ireland is growing at nearly 8 percent, India at 7 percent, Sweden at 4 percent.  The Obama economy is embarrassing compared to those countries — and compared to what Americans enjoyed for decades.  It's "the worst economic-growth record of any president" since the Great Depression, says Stanford economist Michael Boskin.

In Interview With Fox's Bret Baier, Clinton Delivers Rambling Non-Answer on Economy.  In an interview segment aired Wednesday evening, Fox's Bret Baier asked Hillary Clinton how her economic policy would differ from President Obama's.  Clinton delivered a monologue, that despite its length and breadth of talking points, failed to actually answer the question.  "You have said that President Obama got the country out of an economic ditch.  If you look at the polls, the average of recent polls, the right direction/wrong direction, 65% of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction.  So what specifically would you do differently with the economy than President Obama has done?"  "Well, I think that 76 months of job creation is a good start," Clinton said haltingly.

Goldman Sachs:  Obamacare forcing hundreds of thousands into part-time work.  Obamacare is forcing hundreds of thousands of people into part-time work, according to a new analysis from the bank Goldman Sachs.  In a research note sent out Wednesday, bank economist Alec Phillips concluded that "the evidence suggests that the [Affordable Care Act] has at least modestly elevated involuntary part-time employment."  He wrote that a "few hundred thousand" workers may have had their hours cut or been forced to take part-time jobs because of the law.

Why you should never blindly trust the official unemployment rate.  Friday's job report was a study in whiplash.  The unemployment rate dropped a remarkable 0.3 percentage points:  It was 5 percent in April, and fell to 4.7 percent in May.  Which sounds great!  But only 38,000 jobs were created last month.  That's absolutely abysmal.  It's likely the Verizon strike temporarily eliminated 35,000 to 40,000 jobs in May, which will return now that the strike is over.  But even that would've only brought May's count to just under 80,000 new jobs.  By comparison, 2015 averaged 221,000 jobs per month, and 2014 averaged 260,000 per month.  On top of that, job creation numbers for both March and April were revised down for a total loss of 59,000.  Which is not good at all.

Dismal jobs report blamed on weather, Trump, etc.  In a flash, the U.S. labor market appeared to morph Friday [6/3/2016] from a reliable race car into a creaky bicycle.  Not only did the economy create just 38,000 new jobs in May, its weakest showing since 2010, but the Labor Department revised down employment gains for the previous two months by 59,000.  That cut average monthly gains in 2016 to about 150,000 from 209,000 last year.  Why have employers suddenly throttled back hiring?

Lousy jobs report tells the truth about the Obama economy (and it ain't pretty).  The economy added a paltry 38,000 new positions in May.  The liberal media will apologize that the Verizon strike likely cut 35,000 jobs from the report but monthly job gains have been trending down since 2014 and 2015.  That's frustrating a stronger recovery in wages, especially for minorities.  Ronald Reagan accomplished about twice the jobs and GDP growth during his recovery by cutting taxes, tearing down regulations and negotiating a deal with Asia exporters to stop pushing down values of their currencies.  Consumers are spending and second quarter GDP growth appears to be strong, but businesses have good reason to make do with the workers they have.  Liberal meddling makes hiring and investing in America too tough.

Employers Added 38,000 Jobs in May.  The U.S. economy created the fewest number of jobs in more than five years in May, hurt by a strike by Verizon workers and a fall in goods producing employment, pointing to labor market weakness that could make it difficult for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.  Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 38,000 jobs last month, the smallest gain since September 2010, the Labor Department said on Friday [6/3/2016].

Perhaps This Was a Bad Week to Chastise People for Doubting the Economy.  The economy added only 38,000 jobs in May and the workforce shed almost half a million people.  To summarize the sentiments of most analysts, not great.

Funniest Labor Report Ever.  [Scroll down]  The corporate MSM will roll out the usual "experts" to blather about the retirement of Baby Boomers as the false narrative to deflect blame from Obama and his minions.  The absolute absurdity of the data heaped upon the ignorant masses is clearly evident in the data over the last three months.  Here is government idiocracy at its finest:
Number of working age Americans added since March — 406,000
Number of employed Americans since March — NEGATIVE 290,000
Number of Americans who have supposedly voluntarily left the workforce — 1,226,000
Unemployment rate — FELL from 5.0% to 4.7%
Talk about perpetrating the BIG LIE.  Goebbels and Bernays are smiling up from the fires of hell as their acolytes of propaganda have kicked it into hyper-drive.  We only need the other 7.4 million "officially" unemployed Americans to leave the work force and we'll have 0% unemployment.  At the current pace we should be there by election time.  I wonder if Cramer, Liesman, or any of the other CNBC mouthpieces for the establishment will point out that not one single full-time job has been added in 2016.  There were 6,000 less full-time jobs in May than in January, while there are 572,000 more low paying, no benefits, part-time Obama service jobs.  Sounds like a recovery to me.  It gets even better. [...]

Obama Credits Self for Economic Recovery — 'Smart Decisions Early in My Presidency'.  In his weekly address released Saturday morning, President Barack Obama credited himself for the economic recovery throughout the country and specifically pointed to Elkhart, IN, where he gave a speech about the economy earlier in the week as an example.

The US may have actually lost jobs in May, economist says.  As if the May jobs picture wasn't bad enough already, one economist said it was even worse.  Nonfarm payrolls actually declined 4,000 during the month, according to Jonathan Wright, a Johns Hopkins economic professor who wrote an analysis Friday [6/3/2016] for the Brookings Institution, a generally left-leaning think tank.  That number compares to the already-dismal 38,000 count released Friday morning from the Labor Department.  The report triggered a decline in the stock market and, perhaps more importantly, a sharp drop in expectations for interest rate hikes this year.

Shock Report on Jobs Signals Obama Economy Is on Brink of Recession.  The May jobs report is a shocker, with nonfarm payrolls up only 38,000 and private jobs up a mere 25,000.  Investors and economists are making the case that this was a weird, one-off, statistical glitch and that stronger employment is on the way.  They might well be wrong.  If you smooth out the numbers with a three-month moving average, job increases have been slowing for five months.  The three-month pace in December was 281,000 jobs.  In the May report, the pace nosedived to 107,000.  The unemployment rate fell to 4.7%, largely because 458,000 people left the labor force.  This spells trouble for the economy.  And if you step back and look at the whole business sector, a case can be made that the United States has been in a mild business recession for as much as a year, if not longer.

Job growth in May worst in 5 years.  The unemployment report for May is an absolute disaster.  "Unexpectedly," after economists predicted that 164,000 new jobs would be created, only 38,000 nrew jobs were counted.  While the "official" unemployment rate dropped to 4.7%, the reason for the drop was familiar:  more people became discouraged about looking for work and dropped out of the labor force entirely.  In fact, that broader measure of joblessness was more than twice the "official" rate:  9.7%.

Fewer jobs, more death — Obama's America.  The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show workforce participation is at an all-time low.  Some 94,708,000 Americans are out of work or have given up looking.  It's no wonder they gave up.  Fifteen thousand construction jobs disappeared in May, along with 10,000 manufacturing jobs and 11,000 more in logging, mining and the oil and gas sector.  Even the much-vaunted information sector — "the new economy" — shed 34,000 jobs.  While the economy supposedly added only 38,000 jobs in May, that's fewer than 1,000 per each of our 50 states, it's worse when you look at what kind of jobs they were.  More than half of the new jobs, some 22,000, were in bars and restaurants.  Bartenders, waitresses and busboys have a hard time paying back their student loans let alone starting or supporting a family.

Obama To Middle America:  The Economy Is Doing Great, And If You Don't Think So, You're Dumb.  [Scroll down]  "People are anxious and uncertain about the economy," Obama said in the opening of his speech, to which his basic message was, "How dare they?"  Don't people know about how Obama saved the country from the second Great Depression, or how he single-handedly saved the auto industry, or how his "investments" in clean energy and roads created so many jobs?  "By almost every economic measure," he declared, "America is better off than when I came here at the beginning of my presidency."

The Key Economic Facts Obama's Recovery Narrative Ignores.  President Barack Obama took an economic victory lap in Elkhart, Indiana, on Wednesday [6/1/2016].  In a major speech he argued his policies have brought the economy back.  He blamed remaining economic weaknesses on trends preceding his administration.  This analysis has the economic facts precisely backwards:  Economic growth benefitted Americans up and down the income distribution until the Great Recession.  Since then, Americans have struggled considerably.

Record 94,708,000 Americans Not in Labor Force; Participation Rate Drops in May.  A record 94,708,000 Americans were not in the labor force in May — 664,000 more than in April — and the labor force participation rate dropped two-tenths of a point to 62.6 percent, near its 38-year low, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday [6/3/2016].  When President Obama took office in January 2009, 80,529,000 Americans were not participating in the labor force; since then, 14,179,000 Americans have left the workforce — some of them retiring and some just quitting because they can't find work.  "By almost every economic measure, America is better off than when I came here at the beginning of my presidency," President Obama told the people of Elkhart, Indiana three days ago.  "We cut unemployment in half, years before a lot of economists thought we would."

Elitist Arrogance.  White teenage unemployment is about 14 percent.  That for black teenagers is about 30 percent.  The labor force participation rate for white teens is 37 percent, and that for black teens is 25 percent.  Many years ago, in 1948, the figures were exactly the opposite.  The unemployment rate of black 16-year-old and 17-year-old males was 9.4 percent, while that of whites was 10.2 percent.  Up until the late 1950s, black teens, as well as black adults, were more active in the labor market than their white counterparts.

Obama Blames 'Right-Wing' Media for Angering 'White People'.  President Barack Obama accused "right wing" talk radio and cable channels like Fox News of angering white people in America about the economy, arguing that it was actually doing really well under his administration.  During his speech, Obama decried Republicans who campaigned on stopping "welfare queens" complaining about "makers and takers" and even referred to Mitt Romney's 47 percent comment.  "Their basic message is anti-government, anti-immigrant, anti-trade, and let's face it — it's anti-change," Obama said, accusing them of lying just to oppose him.

Our part-time jobs president.  Although a sitting president can exercise a great deal of influence in trying to shape his "legacy," in the end it is always history that makes the final call.  From a job creation perspective, it is highly likely that President Barack Obama will be remembered as the "part-time jobs president."  Despite campaign and media claims of helping the "low-income working people," probably no other president in history has directed federal agencies under the control of the executive branch to pursue economic and fiscal policies that have created a boom in part-time, low paying jobs.  The creation of these is mostly at the expense of full-time, better paying jobs.

Hillary Clinton Says She'll Put A Tax-Cutting Deregulator In Charge Of Economic Policy.  Hillary Clinton made a big announcement Sunday [5/15/2016], saying she'd put her husband "in charge of economic revitalization."  Only problem is that she's already forsworn all the policies Bill enacted while he was in office that led to the 1990s boom.  "My husband, who I'm going to put in charge of revitalizing the economy, 'cause you know he knows how to do it," Hillary Clinton said at a rally.  "And especially in places like coal country and inner cities and other parts of our country that have really been left out."

The Editor says...
"Coal country" wasn't left out, it was cut out by left-wing politicians like Clinton and Obama, and earth-worshiping tree-hugging Democrat environmentalists.

Obama's Pretty Words Cannot Beautify His Ugly Economy.  While Obama can talk the bark off a banyan tree, he cannot make Americans hallucinate prosperity.  Here is the sad picture they actually see:  [#1] The unemployment rate has improved significantly, from 7.8 percent at Obama's January 20, 2009, inauguration to 5.0 percent in April.  [#2] However, as more and more Americans stop looking for work, the Labor Force Participation Rate on Obama's watch has fallen from 65.7 percent to 62.8 percent, a level last measured before Obama in March 1978.  Since Obama took office, this metric has slid 4.1 percent.  Last month saw the creation of 160,000 jobs, a widely panned number, and much below the 200,000-plus jobs generated in five of the last six months.  Nothing about the latest employment report spells "boom."

President Obama's Magical Misery Tour.  As we have cited, the labor participation rate is currently under 63 percent — the same as it was in the 1970s.  A low unemployment rate means little if Americans are no longer searching for work in the first place.  And that is the main factor driving the unemployment rate down.  The rate of unemployment alone does not tell the true story.  Not even close.  As an example, last Friday [5/6/2016] the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued their monthly numbers, and said that 1.7 million people "wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months.  They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey."  The same press release said that there were six million people working as "involuntary part-time workers" because they couldn't find full time jobs.  Yet the administration, and its friends in the media, want you to look at that five percent unemployment figure and assume that the economy is doing well.

Another Dismal Jobs Report from an Overregulated Economy.  The American economy added the fewest number of jobs in April in seven months.  The job gains in April were the smallest number since last September, and below the average of 200,000 new jobs.  Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 160,000 jobs, a disappointing number when the population continues to grow.  The numbers for February and March were revised to show 19,000 fewer jobs than originally reported.  The unemployment rate held steady at 5.0 percent, but that was because more people were dropping out of the labor force.

Is there an actual definition for being employed?  The Labor Department has determined that 151 million people in the US have jobs.  And that the unemployment rate is 5 percent.  You might be impressed by that until you look at who the government considers "employed" and how difficult it is to actually be "unemployed."  This is going to get a little confusing, so hold onto your seats.  But let me start by saying that the Obama administration didn't set this policy.  Both parties have enjoyed a mushy description of joblessness for decades.

94,044,000 Americans Not in the Labor Force.  The number of Americans not in the workforce during the month of April increased substantially compared to the previous month — again tipping over the 94 million mark — according to the latest Labor Department data.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports Friday that 94,044,000 Americans were neither employed nor made an effort to find employment — due to discouragement, retirement, schooling or otherwise — in April.

Employers Added 160,000 Jobs in April.  The U.S. economy added the fewest number of jobs in seven months in April and Americans dropped out of the labor force in droves, signs of weakness that cast doubts on whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates before the end of the year.  Nonfarm payrolls increased by 160,000 jobs last month as construction employment barely rose and the retail sector shed jobs, the Labor Department said on Friday [5/6/2016].  That was the smallest gain since September and below the first-quarter average job growth of 200,000.

Year Eight of Obama's Recovery.  President Obama insists — straight-facedly — that in the context of a wrenching financial crisis, the United States under his leadership performed better than any major economy in modern history.  That isn't even close to being true, of course.  Obama's presidency will coincide with a remarkably weak recovery, with GDP essentially treading water.

As GDP Flatlines, Obama Brags About His Economic Record.  Obama talks about 14.4 million new jobs since 2010, without noting that working age population grew by 15.8 million over those same months.  He touts the 5% unemployment rate, but fails to mention that it would be more like 10% if millions of Americans hadn't given up looking for work altogether.  Obama does admit the recovery has been sluggish, but when he isn't blaming Republicans he says blames the "wrenching financial crises," saying it inevitably lead to unusually slow growth.  Obama might think that, but a Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta analysis concluded that "U.S. history provides no support" for such a claim.  Even Sorkin, who is clearly trying to help Obama burnish his economic legacy, notes out that Obama's two biggest legislative achievements — ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank — hurt economic growth.

White House struggles to explain weak economy as Obama boasts of job growth.  The White House labored Thursday [4/28/2016] to explain a weak first-quarter economic report, even as President Obama is trumpeting his economic mastery in a New York Times magazine interview.  The disappointing growth of 0.5 percent in gross domestic product was a result of "weak foreign demand and low oil prices," said Jason Furman, Mr. Obama's top economic adviser.  White House press secretary Josh Earnest blamed congressional Republicans in part for the weak growth, saying the economy would be stronger if Congress had agreed to Mr. Obama's proposals for higher spending on infrastructure projects three or four years ago.

Economy grows just 0.5 percent to open 2016.  The U.S. economy grew at its slowest pace in roughly two years, climbing just 0.5 percent in the first three months of 2016.  The U.S. economy reported subpar numbers in the first quarter for the third straight year.  Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted 0.7 percent growth.  The Commerce Department said the low growth was due to a pullback in spending by both businesses and consumers as the first few months of 2016 were filled with anxiety about the state of the global economy.  The economy grew 1.4 percent in the last quarter of 2015.

GDP: US Economy Braked Sharply In First Quarter, Growing At Disappointing 0.5% Pace.  U.S. economic growth slowed significantly in the first quarter of 2016, easing to an annual rate of 0.5 percent, the weakest since the first quarter of 2014. [...] The Commerce Department figure, an advance estimate that is likely to be revised, undershot the 0.7 percent growth forecast by economists surveyed by Reuters.  The data also showed fourth-quarter GDP growth unrevised at 1.4 percent.

Of course:  Obama pitches release of prisoners as economic stimulus.  The Keystone pipeline will destroy the planet, but the prison-to-federal-job pipeline is vital to our economic progress.  Obama should set an example by hiring released convicted felons to work at his presidential library as well as his personal post-presidency security detail.

The official unemployment numbers are low because...
America's part-time workforce is huge.  Excluding the Great Recession, the 6 million Americans who work part-time but want full-time jobs today are at the highest level in about 30 years or so.  The number has come down since its peak during the recession but some experts believe America now has a "new normal" — a permanently high number of part-timers.  Experts call these jobs "hidden unemployment" because these people are capable of working more hours than they can get.

Obama Boasts In Britain:  I Saved The World Economy As President.  President Barack Obama boasted of his legacy during a town hall in Britain, asserting that he single-handedly saved the world during his presidency.  "Saving the world economy from a Great Depression — that was pretty good," Obama bragged when asked by a student in London what he wanted his legacy to be.

One of Every Six Workers in United States An Immigrant.  The percentage of foreign-born workers in the U.S. civilian labor force has more than tripled over the past four decades.  In an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, the Migration Policy Institute reveals that between 1970 and 2014 the percentage of foreign-born workers participating in the U.S. civilian labor force grew from 5 percent to 17 percent.

Run Against Obama.  Obama has put the private sector in a half nelson.  Under Obama, the labor force participation rate has fallen to its lowest level since the 1970s, and even accounting for retiring baby boomers, there are still millions of adults neither working nor looking for work.  The number of food stamp recipients is up 45 percent on Obama's watch, and the disability rolls are up 14.3 percent.  Among those receiving disability, 35 percent claim a mood disorder, and 27.7 percent cite musculoskeletal issues (mostly back pain).

The only available jobs are government jobs.
March Employment Report Shows Labor Market Growing.  The March employment report showed continued growth in the labor market.  While the Bureau of Labor Statistics found unemployment ticking up 0.1 percentage points, the good news was greater labor force participation and 215,000 new jobs created during the month.  The payroll survey found widespread job growth throughout the service sector.  The retail trade (+48,000), health care (+37,000), and professional and business services (+33,000) sectors showed the largest job growth.  Total government employment also increased (+20,000), driven almost entirely by greater hiring by local governments.  Employment contracted in the goods producing sector.

How Good Is Job Growth?  The Chart Obama Doesn't Want You To See.  "The longest streak of private-sector job growth on record"!  "U.S.  businesses have now added 14.4 million jobs over 73 straight months"!  "The labor force participation rate rose to 63% in March, the same level as in November 2013"!  All those quotes — minus the exclamation points — came from White House top economist Jason Furman.  And they are all accurate.  What's missing, however, is context.  Because when you look at these numbers in context, not only do the exclamation points disappear, but so do any claims of robust job growth under this administration.

93,482,000 Americans Out of Labor Force in March.  The number of Americans not participating in the workforce in March dipped again compared to the previous month but was still higher than it was a year ago, according to Labor Department data released Friday [4/1/2016].  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 93,482,000 Americans were neither employed nor had made an effort to find employment in March.  March's non-participation level continues a multi-month trend of decline after the number of people out of the workforce hit a record high of 94,610,000 in October — declining another 206,000 compared to February.

President Obama's Overrated Unemployment Story.  The key to understanding this is a rather obscure statistic:  The US labor force participation rate.  From the mid-1960s, Americans' participation in the labor force increased from just below 59% to plateauing just above 67% from the late 1990s through the early 2000s.  Over the next decade, it dipped, hovering around 66%.  In 2008's last two months, it fell below 66%, reaching 65.7% when Obama took in 2009.  It has since declined sharply, hitting 62.4% last September.  Even having rebounded to 62.9% in February, dismissing the last seven years, this is its lowest point since 1978.  The large effect resulting from participation's drop is seen by comparing employment from the beginning of Obama's administration to today.  When Obama took office, America's potential labor force (the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Civilian Noninstitutionalized population) measured 234.7 million.  February 2016's employment report recorded it at 252.6 million — a 7.6% increase.  Employment over this period rose from 142.1 million to 151.1 million.  Although a net 9 million employment increase, its 6.3% increase is less than the growth in the potential labor force.

Beware Obama, the Benevolent.  When President Obama stages a photo op to publicize signing a measure he claims will "help" American workers, you can be almost certain that "unintended consequences" will outweigh any intended benefits.  Lacking even an elementary understanding of how a market economy works, he only makes things worse.

Hillary Clinton: 'No Evidence' to Suggest Raising the Minimum Wage Kills Jobs.  Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton claimed Tuesday [3/22/2016] there is "no evidence" to prove raising the minimum wage costs jobs.

The Editor says...
This page is full of evidence that the minimum wage is a job killer.

Fresh Evidence That Obama's Economy Is Getting Moldy.  [Scroll down]  Just last week [Barack H. Obama] was bragging about the economy "showing the kind of strength and durability that makes America's economy right now the envy of the world" and about how "the American people should be proud of what they have achieved."  Anyone who thinks the economy isn't doing so hot he said, lived in "an alternative reality" where facts and evidence won't "change their doomsday rhetoric."  "The numbers, the facts don't lie," he said.  Well, TrimTabs Investment Research just released some facts and numbers that show just how Pollyanna-ish Obama is about the economy he's overseen for the past seven-plus years.  It finds that weekly earnings of salaried workers posted their biggest month-to-month decline in February since March 2009, falling half a percentage point.  The only other time earnings showed that big a monthly drop in the past decade was December 2008.

The ugly truth about Obama's 'great' economy.  By almost every economic measure, America is flat to falling.  Obama certainly can boast about the unemployment rate.  From his Jan. 20, 2009, inauguration until last month that figure has fallen from 7.8 percent to 4.9 — down 37.2 percent.  But:
  •   The labor force participation rate over that period has slid from 65.7 percent to 62.9 (the lowest reading since March 1978) — down 4.3 percent.
  •   On Obama's watch, the percentage of Americans below the poverty line has grown, according to the most recent Census data, from 14.3 percent to 14.8 percent in 2014 — up 3.5 percent.
  •   Real median household income across that interval sank from $54,925 to $53,657 — down 2.3 percent.
  •   Food Stamp participants soared in that time frame from 32,889,000 to 45,874,000 — up 39.5 percent.
  •   Meanwhile, from Obama's arrival through the fourth quarter of 2015, the percentage of Americans who own homes sagged from 67.3 percent to 63.8 — down 5.2 percent.

Obama: 'The Plans We Have Put in Place to Grow the Economy Have Worked'.  With a smiling Vice President Joe Biden sitting beside him, President Barack Obama gave a speech at the White House today [3/4/2016] declaring that "the facts don't lie" and that the American economy "is pretty darn good right now."  The president took credit for what he says is the excellent state of the economy, attributing it to his plans.

Obama accuses economy skeptics of living in 'alternative reality'.  Political candidates who are telling voters that the economy is bad are living in an "alternative reality," President Obama said Friday [3/4/2016].  Touting the jobs report Friday morning [3/4/2016] that showed relatively strong growth, Obama accused people skeptical of the economy of engaging in "fantasy."

U.S. Has Record 10th Straight Year Without 3% Growth in GDP.  The United States has now gone a record 10 straight years without 3 percent growth in real Gross Domestic Product, according to data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  The BEA has calculated GDP for each year going back to 1929 and it has calculated the inflation-adjusted annual change in GDP (in constant 2009 dollars) from 1930 forward.  In the 85 years for which BEA has calculated the annual change in real GDP there is only one ten-year stretch — 2006 through 2015 — when the annual growth in real GDP never hit 3 percent.  During the last ten years, real annual growth in GDP peaked in 2006 at 2.7 percent.  It has never been that high again, according to the BEA.

Wealth and Income Inequality Is Not as Bad as You Think.  [Scroll down]  Politicians do not mention the inequality of income very much because it is so much less than the inequality of wealth, especially after tax.  Household consumption equals income after tax minus savings.  Since those with high incomes save more than those with low incomes, who often spend more than their incomes a fact called dissaving, consumption is distributed more equally than income and vastly more equal than the distribution of wealth.  Since those at the lowest income levels receive welfare, food stamps, and some public housing, politicians want to avoid talking about the distribution of consumption.  As we pointed out, the estimates of household wealth do not include the value of social security benefits.  The Social Security administration reported that in 2015, over 59 million Americans received about $870 billion in Social Security benefits.

Weimar America.  Neither the president nor his would-be successors talk much about the fact that we are now nearing $20 trillion in debt — in an ossified economy of near-zero interest rates, little if any GDP growth, and record numbers of able-bodied but non-working adults.

Bernie Sanders has raised $16 million from the unemployed.  One of Bernie Sanders talking points on the campaign trail is that the "real" unemployment rate is much higher than the official 4.9% cited by the Labor Department, and he should know.  That's because Sanders' biggest source of fundraising support comes from the retired or unemployed, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission, as reported by Bloomberg.  $16 million of the $73 million the candidate raised in 2015 came from individual donors who said they were without jobs, according to the report.

Real Unemployment: 25%.  The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994.  That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers.  The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number.  The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment.

BLS says 665,000 job losses, unadjusted.  A new Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows that there were 665,000 jobs lost in January, before accounting for the seasonal adjustment.  The government said that taking into account the adjustment, 151,000 jobs were created.

Fun with numbers: The real story behind the unemployment report.  We've commented several times over the years about the BLS cooking the books on jobs.  James Pethokoukis lists some other stats that tell far more of the real story about the employment picture than the bare-bones numbers highlighted by the media: [...] In other words, the job situation in America still [is bad], and the president is blowing smoke by touting the numbers as good news.

US layoffs surge to 6-month high: Challenger.  Layoffs surged in January to the highest levels since July as employers in the retail and energy sectors pulled out the pink slips, according to a private survey out Thursday [2/4/2016].  U.S.-based companies announced 75,114 planned job cuts last month, up more than 200 percent from a 15-year low in December, according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.  That figure was also 42 percent higher from a year ago.  Retailers were the biggest job cutter, despite a nearly 8 percent bump in U.S. holiday sales in 2015.  The sector slashed 22,246 positions, a seven-year high.

U.S. Economy Adds 151,000 Jobs in January.  The U.S. added 151,000 jobs in January, weaker than expected and additional fuel for concerns the U.S. economy is slowing down.  There were silver linings to be found in the clouds, however, as wages and worker participation rose.  The headline unemployment rate was 4.9%, the lowest in eight year.  Analysts had predicted the economy would generate 190,000 new jobs and that the unemployment rate would hold steady at 5%.

New Obama regulation: White males lose, lawyers and Democrats win.  Last Friday [1/29/2016], a new regulation was proposed by the Obama administration that will make it harder and more expensive for employers to hire and promote white males, enrich class action lawyers, and do absolutely nothing to accomplish the ostensible goal of raising the pay of women relative to men. [...] Paying men and women differently for the same work is already against the law.  The fact that on average women earn less than men in the entire workforce is the product of personal choices.  Many women take time away from work to raise children.  Women tend to prefer occupations in non-technical fields, often in human services, which pay less.  And women tend to avoid physically demanding blue-collar occupations in the skilled trades, which can pay very well:  construction, auto repair, machinery maintenance, and the like.

Obama's 'diversity' diktat is a giant gift to lawyers.  How will this new EEOC reporting affect you?  Your employer will have to lump workers into 12 salary bands.  If you're a white male up for a raise, but the band above yours already includes too many while males, tough luck.  Your boss will be pressured to give the raise to a woman or minority to avoid triggering EEOC scrutiny.  This data collection is a godsend for EEOC regulators looking for targets, and it hands class-action lawyers the statistics they need on a silver platter.  But not every difference in pay is actually caused by discrimination.  President Obama parrots the bogus claim that for every dollar men make, women make only 79 cents.  This so-called "wage gap" is shoddy statistics.  It merely averages what all men in America make, and compares that with what all women make, lumping together all kinds of jobs.  It proves nothing about what women and men earn when they do the same work.

ObamaCare Enrollment Is Way Down In January.  Last week, just 153,631 people selected an ObamaCare plan through the Healthcare.gov website, according to the latest weekly enrollment report from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  That's far below the enrollment number from the same week last year, when 400,253 signed up.  And it continues the sluggish pace so far this year, which has seen 311,000 signing up for coverage through January 16 — less than half the number who enrolled the same period in 2015.

The Fallacy of Obama's Job Creation.  What's the reason for such a strong anti-establishment sentiment this election cycle?  There are plenty of factors worth mentioning, but near the top of the list has to be the steep decline of America's labor force participation rate.  Although the Obama administration has loudly touted reports that the U.S. economy has generated 14.1 million new jobs over the past 70 months and now sits at a 5.0 percent unemployment rate, the labor force participation rate has been in virtual free-fall.  From March 2010 through December 2015, the percentage dropped from 64.9 percent to a 62.6 percentage, falling to levels not seen since the Carter administration.

Americans Giving Up on Jobs.  Forty percent of Americans who are capable of working but who don't have a job say they have completely given up looking for work, according to a new report.  The findings of a survey conducted by Express Employment Professionals show that the longer an individual has been out of the labor force, the more likely they are to say they have given up looking.  More than half — 55 percent — of those out of work for more than two years say they have given up, while 21 percent of those out of labor force for three months or less say the same.

CNN: Hey, Folks, Relax! Don't Panic! Everything's Awesome!  Forget for a moment that U.S. stock markets have seen their worst start to a new year since the Great Depression or that some $2.5 trillion in wealth has been evaporated in less than two weeks.  CNN says it's hardly the time to panic. [...] Pay no attention to the fact that last week not a single cargo ship was transporting raw materials in the South China Sea, the first time in history that it has happened.  The economy is is great shape and this is not proof that global commerce has literally stopped.

Obama proposes new unemployment insurance as part of 're-employment' effort.  President Barack Obama on Saturday [1/16/2016] proposed changes to the U.S. unemployment insurance system that he says would offer more security to the jobless and encourage experienced workers to rejoin the workforce, even if it means taking a pay cut.

Obama Still Blames ATMs For The Lousy Job Market.  It's almost as if Obama got his last State of the Union speech mixed up with his first, where he listed all those problems.  In his first month in office, Obama could blame his predecessors for the sorry state of working-class America.  And that's exactly what he did.  In his 2009 State of the Union speech, he blamed "an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity," where "regulations were gutted," and "critical debates and difficult decisions were put off."  But after seven years at the helm of the nation's economy, Obama can't blame his predecessors, nor does he want to accept any blame himself.

The definition of the U6 unemployment rate:  Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force.  Note:  Persons marginally attached to the labor force are those who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months.  Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not currently looking for work.  Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule.  Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data.

Current U-6 Unemployment Rate:  For December 2015 the official U-6 unemployment rate was 9.8% up from 9.6% in November.  While the independently produced Gallup equivalent called the "Underemployment Rate" was 13.8% in October, 14.4% for November and 14.0% in December.  The current differential between Gallup and BLS on supposedly the same data is 4.2%! or roughly a 43.75% margin of error!

Labor Force Participation Improves Slightly; 94,103,000 Americans Not in Labor Force.  The number of Americans not in the labor force last month totaled 94,103,000 — a slight improvement from the 94,446,000 not in the labor force in November — and the labor force participation rate increased a tenth of a point, with 62.6 percent of the civilian noninstitutional population either holding a job or actively seeking one.  For all of 2015, the highest labor participation rate was 62.9 percent in January:  the lowest was 62.4 percent in September, and that 62.4 percent was the lowest in 38 years.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the economy added 292,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent — for the third month in a row.

Yellen's Job Puzzle: Why Are 20-Somethings Retiring?  How come more people are retiring in their early 20s?  Why are middle-age men becoming stay-at-home dads?  What's keeping women out of the workforce other than illness, kids or school?  Those are some of the questions raised in a new Bureau of Labor Statistics report that shows changes over the past decade in why people stay out of the labor force.  Finding answers is key for the Federal Reserve as it maps the contours of a job market that's becoming harder to predict with the aging of the baby boomers and shifting household priorities.

Obama Floods The U.S. Job Market With Foreign Competition.  Skirting Congress once again, President Obama seeks to admit another 100,000 foreigners to work here when jobs are few and labor-market participation is low.  Whatever this is, it's not in the interest of U.S. workers.

The Obama recovery that wasn't.  A new report from Sentier Research based on Census data finds that median household income of $56,700 at the end of 2015 stood exactly where it was adjusted for inflation at the end of 2007.  That's eight years of virtually zero income gain.  And President Obama and his Washington political pundits wonder why voters are in such a cranky mood.

15 Stats That Destroy Liberal Narratives.  [#15] "Over the last year, only 1.3 million Americans of working age have entered the workforce, even as the population of this same demographic increased by more than 2.8 million.  Just over 1 million members of this group found jobs.  That's right — of the new additions to the working age population, less than four in 10 found jobs.  The newspapers touted the reduction in the unemployment rate to 5.3 percent as a cause for celebration.  Yet for every three Americans added to the working age population (16 and older), only around one new job (1.07) has been created under Obama.  At this pace, America will soon officially have a zero unemployment rate.  But that will only be because no one will be looking for work."

Mixed signals, at best:
Obama's New Immigration Plan Offers Work-Permits To Foreigners Slated For Deportation.  President Barack Obama's new 181-page plan to award work-permits to at least 100,000 foreign college-grads also contains a convoluted section that would also sneak work-permits to a huge range of foreign migrants — even after courts have formally ordered their repatriation.  In plain English, the section in the rule would automatically provide updated work-permits to 15 categories of migrants who are appealing judges' deportation orders.

New Year's Surprise: Obama Regulation To Give Work-Permits To Foreign College-Graduates.  As the nation prepares to ring in the New Year, President Barack Obama is preparing a colossal new executive action that could print-up work permits for a huge number of foreign white-collar graduates every year, above and beyond the levels set by Congress.  This executive action, which directly bypasses Congressional lawmakers, is likely to reverberate across the presidential race, as GOP voters look to choose a nominee they believe will most effectively roll back the President's still-expanding agenda.  And it will certainly raise new security concerns as it covers categories of immigration utilized by migrants from the Middle East and nearby regions.  President Barack Obama's Department of Homeland Security plans to publish the proposed rule tomorrow, the last day of 2015.

New Year's Surprise: Obama Regulation To Give Work-Permits To Foreign College-Graduates.  This executive action, which directly bypasses Congressional lawmakers, is likely to reverberate across the presidential race, as GOP voters look to choose a nominee they believe will most effectively roll back the President's still-expanding agenda.  And it will certainly raise new security concerns as it covers categories of immigration utilized by migrants from the Middle East and nearby regions.

Obama to Import Millions More Aliens to Replace U.S. White Collar Workers, Also Stop Deportations.  As Neil Munro observes, this executive order could have been stopped had the massive Omnibus spending bill included language proposed by Senator Jeff Sessions, chairman of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee.  However, the Uniparty establishment's leaders in Congress — Nancy Pelosi, Paul Ryan, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell — shelved Sessions' rider. [...] It is clear that Democrat and Republican leaders have decided to wage economic warfare against Americans, by importing millions of workers, devaluing citizenship and their votes, and effectively wrecking employment opportunities for legal citizens, young and old.

Obamanomics Explained in One Chart.  The unemployment rate is going down because workers are leaving the workforce, not because they are finding jobs.  And for the over 93 million workers who have left the workforce the Great Recession is by no means over as their quality of life and wealth continue to erode.  As our friend Ben Weingarten explained in "Everything You Thought You Knew About the Unemployment Rate Is Wrong" [...] there are [multiple] "unemployment rates" collected by the government, and while the one that hits the front pages (the U-3 rate) says unemployment is 5%, the one that Obama-friendly reporters ignore (the U-6 rate) stands at 9.9% or almost twice the more commonly reported rate.

Commentary on the article above:
Obamanomics explained in one chart.  You may be running into friends and relatives at holiday gatherings who claim that the 5% unemployment rate is one of Obama's success stories, and a good reason to stick with the Democrats. [...] But most of our friends and neighbors do not realize that the more realistic U6 rate, generally ignored by the media, does count the "marginally attached workers" as unemployed, and it is nearly double the U3 rate (currently 9.9% versus 5%).

Jobless Claims Fall to Near 42-Year Low.  The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, nearing a 42-year low as labor market conditions continued to tighten in a boost to the economy.

Obama: Working Class Still Clinging to Guns and Religion.  [Scroll down]  Look at the transcript on NPR's website.  Even [Steve] Inskeep seemed flabbergasted by Obama's display of egomaniacal indifference to people's suffering after trying several times to get him to answer his question.  Obama can't answer it honestly because to do so would be to admit that his own policies have been a monumental failure.  After promises of "green shoots" and "turning the corner" and a "summer of jobs," after the massive "stimulus," Dodd-Frank, a government takeover of health care and industry-killing environmental rules, Obama hasn't relieved working-class anxiety.  He's added to it by producing the worst economic recovery in modern history.

Record 25,495,000 Foreign-Born Workers Employed in The U.S..  The number of foreign-born people employed in the U.S. hit a record high in November, according to data released Friday by Bureau of Labor Statistics.  According to the BLS last month 25,495,000 foreign-born workers in the U.S. had a job, up 375,000 from October's previous record of 25,120,000.  While the foreign-born population gained jobs last month the number of employed native-born Americans declined in November from 124,597,000 in October to 124,271,000 in November — a loss of 326,000 jobs.

Obama's Real Legacy: Ten Ticking Time Bombs.  [#3] A flat-lined "recovery."  Job growth remains so weak that our definition of what constitutes a "recovery" has been redefined downward.  We're generating a mere 230,000 new non-farm jobs a month — too few to achieve escape velocity.  Although Democrats are celebrating the fall of headline unemployment below 5 percent, the real unemployment rate is closer to 10 percent.  Labor-force participation is historically low.  Real wage growth is stalled.  The stock market is essentially flat.

Hillary Clinton's $275 Billion 'Shovel Ready' Sequel Is Based On Two Big Lies.  When Hillary Clinton announced her $275 billion infrastructure spending plan, she said what every politician says when they try to get more money spent on roads and bridges — that the nation's infrastructure is falling apart.  "I don't have to tell you what a sorry state we're in," she said in Boston over the weekend pushing the added spending.  "Our roads and bridges are potholed and crumbling."  But is that true?  On Monday [11/30/2015], the Government Accountability Office released a report showing that the nation's bridges, at least, are in better shape than they were a decade ago.

Yes, Virginia, There is a Recession.  Despite the bogus BLS employment report last week (so the Fed could raise rates before the next financial crisis hits), all economic data confirms an economic recession.  Corporate profits are falling, and their forecasts for next quarter are worse.  Global trade is slowing dramatically.  Oil prices and other commodities are plummeting to multi-year lows.  Manufacturing and Services surveys are flashing red.  China, Japan and European economies continue to [struggle].  Layoff announcements by major corporations are up 40% over last year.  A global deflationary recession is underway.  Only a CNBC bimbo, shill or Ivy League educated economist isn't bright enough to see it.  Retail sales came out this morning [11/23/2015] and they were worse than dreadful.

Obama shares America's many troubles with another foreign crowd.  President Obama returned from a nine-day, round-the-world tour early this morning.  But not before once again detailing for another foreign audience some of the numerous things wrong with his country. [...] Yes, he was unclear.  But Obama had no teleprompter to feed him replies during that Malaysian town-hall with young people.  The Democrat who's presided over the slowest economic recovery in 70 years told students that thanks to his leadership, the U.S. economy "has recovered faster than almost any other country" since 2008.

Oct. Jobs: Immigrants Gain Jobs At 2.5 Times Americans' Rate.  [Scroll down]  If these numbers do not look familiar, it is because the Main Stream Media ignore them.  The MSM folks focus on the Payroll Employment Survey, which does not collect information on the nativity of workers — perhaps because companies do not ask, and do not want to know.  Many feign ignorance on the number of illegal aliens in their employ.

Labor Force Participation Remains at 38-Year Low; 94,513,000 Not in Labor Force.  The number of Americans not in the labor force last month totaled 94,513,000 — a slight improvement from the 94,610,000 not in the labor force in September — but the labor force participation rate nonetheless remained at its lowest point in 38 years, with only 62.4 percent of the civilian noninstitutional population either holding a job or actively seeking one.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics says economy added 271,000 jobs in October, well above economists' expectations of 185,000, and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.0 percent in October from September's 5.1 percent.

The Most Devious Liars in History.  There were a few different stories coming out over the last few days that reveal the true nature of government and the apparatchiks who use disinformation, devious machinations, fraudulent accounting, and taxpayer money to cover up their criminality, lies, and the true state of the American economy.  The use of government accounting tricks to obscure the truth about our dire financial straits is designed to keep the masses sedated and confused.

"We Are Not Manufacturing Anything Anymore" and Other Fables of the Left.  A common complaint bandied about is that we are not manufacturing anything any more, and there are no manufacturing jobs.  But we should always check on 'common complaints' to see if they are actually true.  The reality is a bit different.  America is manufacturing more than ever.

The Commerce Department's GDP numbers don't make any sense.  Marijuana must be legal in Washington because the folks at the Commerce Department have to be smoking a lot of it.  Commerce announced on Thursday [10/29/2015] that the nation's third-quarter gross domestic product expanded by just a 1.5 percent annual rate.  That's pathetic growth that won't allow the US to create enough jobs for the number of people entering the workforce.  It's also less than half the second quarter's growth.

America's Soft Tyranny is Hardening.  No matter how much Hillary, Sanders, and the rest of the Left rant and rave about the "rich need to pay their fair share," they pay more than their fair share already.  It is the middle class that pays the most for the government programs that subsidize those who pay nothing and receive so much without earning it.  Our safety net for the truly indigent has become a cushion for millions who do not, will not, or cannot find work.  The Obama economy is a wholesale disaster:  92 million out of the labor force; 51% earning only $30k a year or less!  This is a sabotaged economy, not a recovering economy.
[Emphasis added.]

Obama Fails Again To Deliver On His Economic Promises.  The Bureau of Economic Statistics reports that real GDP growth for Q3 came in at a meager 1.5%, below forecast.  That means the economy has an annualized growth rate of 2.1% so far this year, well below the 3% economists were expecting.  It's certainly not the economy Obama described in his State of the Union speech last January.

Boehner, Yellen, and bigger government.  The Federal Reserve policy of zero interest rates (ZIRP) tilts the scales and misallocates resources.  In this matter of the two-year budget deal, spending is let loose and is free from the market discipline and costs of floating more debt.  During World War II, war bonds were sold in patriotic fashion to raise money to fund the war effort.  In today's world and at the drop of a hat, we float more debt to ever expand a behemoth federal government, pump some air into the economy if the retail sales slump a bit, or provide a little bump to the stock market if it sags.

1 In 2 working Americans make[s] less than $30,000 a year.  Fifty-one percent of working Americans make less than $30,000 a year, new data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) shows.  That's $2,500 a month before taxes and just over the federal poverty level for a family of five.  The new numbers come from the National Wage Index, which SSA updates each year based on reported wages subject to the federal income tax.  In 2014, half of working Americans reported an income at or below $28,851 (the median wage), and 51 percent reported an income of less than $30,000.  Forty percent are making less than $20,000.

Feds dangle $12,000 bonus to firms that hire foreign students.  The Department of Homeland Security is readying a plan to expand a program that pays U.S. employers to hire foreign STEM students taught in America, a move that could end up punishing American college grads and even the elderly, according to an immigration think tank.  In pushing to allow more foreign students into the so-called "optional practical training program," DHS said that it will help businesses and colleges by keeping those foreign students in the U.S. following their American-taught science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, curriculum.

Federal Government Bribes Employers to Hire Foreigners Instead of Americans.  The idea is to make sure foreigners stay after entering the country on temporary visas, as part of the systematic displacement of the American population.  That's how the bureaurats in the Department of Homeland Security keep themselves occupied in Orwellian America.  What did you think they were going to do, keep the homeland secure?

US factory output drops in latest sign of weak growth.  U.S. manufacturing production fell for the second straight month in September as factories cranked out fewer appliances, computers, and electronics.

The Fake Falling Deficit and the Phony Unemployment Drop.  More and more people are voluntarily opting out of the workforce, and while some of that can be pinned on an aging workforce, much of it — almost everyone agrees — is because this economy [is bad].  It's thus more likely that the trend of dropping labor force participation rates will continue, reports Goldman analysts.  That in turn will artificially lower unemployment to rates not seen since those heady, good economic times we enjoyed under the George Bushes.  That's what it has come to now:  the Obama-Sanders-Hillary coalition has so broken the economy that if you give up looking for work, you stop being a part of the "problem" and start being part go their "solution".  In other words, Democrat math has it that everyone will be employed just as soon as people stop wanting jobs.

The 'Income Inequality' Scam.  The term 'income inequality' is preposterous; one may as well bewail inequality of respect.  Income and respect are both earned and tend to differ among us.  How much that we receive of either responds mostly to our efforts as judged in the eyes of others.  'Income inequality' mavens are proclaiming that they, not the market, should decide incomes.  Parsing that, one finds the desire to replace economics with politics.  Historically, the wealth of Western civilization appears to rest upon doing the opposite.

Government On Hiring Spree As Private Job Gains Fade.  Government is again behind the curve in adapting to changes in the economy, ramping up hiring even as weakening global demand prompts private employers to tap the brakes.  If the trend continues, governments could find themselves with more staff than they can afford — and eventually a new cycle of budget shortfalls and painful cutbacks.

A story of U.S. economic failure.  The measly number of jobs that the Obama economy created last month is raising new fears of a steeper employment decline this year and next.  Last Friday's shocking Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report stunned economists, shook Wall Street, and offered little if any hope for long-term, unemployed Americans finding full-time work anytime soon.  "There's nothing good in this morning's report," Carl Tennenbaum, chief economist at Northern Trust, said last week.  "We had very low levels of job creation, wage growth isn't budging, and the unemployment rate would have risen if the labor force participation rate hadn't fallen."

Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Obama's economic recovery.  Friday's unemployment numbers were what economic experts call a "huge miss."  Only 142,000 net jobs were added to the nation's payroll in September, despite expectations of more than 200,000.  Even worse, last month's job creation numbers were revised downward, to an even lower 136,000.  Both figures suggest that the economy cannot create jobs quickly enough to keep up with young workers entering the market.  Yet as it happens, so many people are giving up on ever finding work that there seems to be plenty of room for the new job-seekers.

Record 94,610,000 Americans Not in Labor Force; Participation Rate Lowest in 38 Years.  A record 94,610,000 Americans were not in the American labor force last month — an increase of 579,000 from August — and the labor force participation rate reached its lowest point in 38 years, with 62.4 percent of the U.S. population either holding a job or actively seeking one.  In other disappointing news, the economy added only 142,000 jobs in September, well below economists' expectations, but the unemployment rate remained at 5.1 percent, where it was in August.

Jobs Report: Disappointment Is Routine With This Administration.  No wonder voters are seething with anger.  Jobs rose by just 142,000 in September.  But even that paltry gain was offset by 59,000 fewer jobs than originally reported for July and August.  We need about 150,000 jobs just to keep up with natural population growth and new young entrants into the workforce.  Worse yet — and stop us if you've heard this before — another 350,000 Americans of working age disappeared from the labor force, bringing the total over age 16 not working to a record 94.6 million.

The Fed's Grotesque "Explanation" Why 94.6 Million Are Out Of The Labor Force.  In a note seeking to "explain" why the US labor participation rate just crashed to a nearly 40 year low earlier today [10/2/2015] as another half a million Americans decided to exit the labor force bringing the total to 94.6 million people.

Where Are The Million New Manufacturing Jobs Obama Promised?  Manufacturing shed 9,000 jobs last month on top of the 18,000 lost in August, completely erasing the gains made so far this year.  Since January 2013, the industry has gained only 338,000.  All this flies in the face of President Obama's repeated promise in 2012 that if reelected, he would create 1 million new manufacturing jobs by the end of his second term.  Obama said that these new jobs would "put middle-class people back to work."

Paycheck mystery: More jobs and fewer people but limp raises.  Companies have posted a record number of job openings just when a diminished proportion of Americans are either working or looking for work.

U.S. Adds 142,00 Jobs in September, Badly Missing Expectations.  The U.S. added 142,000 new jobs in September, a disappointing figure that fell well below expectations. [...] The headline unemployment rate held steady 5.1%, according to figures released by the U.S. Labor Department, but the labor force participation rate fell slightly to 62.4% from the prior month, another ominous sign that usually suggests discouraged job seekers are no longer even looking for work.  Economists had forecast 203,000 new jobs and that the unemployment rate would remain at 5.1%.

The Typical Male U.S. Worker Earned Less in 2014 Than in 1973.  The typical man with a full-time job — the one at the statistical middle of the middle — earned $50,383 last year, the Census Bureau reported this week.  The typical man with a full-time job in 1973 earned $53,294, measured in 2014 dollars to adjust for inflation.  You read that right:  The median male worker who was employed year-round and full time earned less in 2014 than a similarly situated worker earned four decades ago.  And those are the ones who had jobs.

Middle Class Lost In Obama's 'Middle Class Economics'.  The Census Bureau's latest annual report on income and poverty in America shows that there was little to cheer about in 2014.  Median family income dropped slightly to $53,657, down from the year before.  Every income group suffered losses, with the lowest fifth of households dropping close to 1%.  The overall poverty number barely budged.  But it climbed by almost 600,000 among blacks in 2014, more than half of whom were under age 18.  This isn't exactly the picture that Obama has been painting.

On Labor Day, a search of the missing American worker.  A striking facet of the economic downturn that started in 2008 and the "recovery" that continues today is the unprecedented slack in the American labor force.  While statistical unemployment has dropped to pre-recession levels, labor force participation remains strikingly low and wages have remained stagnant — affecting consumer demand and economic growth.

Joe Biden Blasts the Obama-Biden Economy.  Sounding very much like a candidate for president, today Vice President Joe Biden spoke at an AFL-CIO Labor Day event in Pittsburgh, Pa.  "I'm mad, I'm angry," Biden thundered, attacking the U.S. economy as "devastating for workers."  Biden, who is openly considering running against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, thanked "my friend" Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO.  "There wouldn't be a single basic right, from a 40-hour week to sick leave, there wouldn't a single basic right out there ... but for labor," Biden said.  "You build the middle class.  That's not an exaggeration."

The Most Important Jobs Chart of the Year.  Zero Hedge blog has posted a jobs chart should shock every American and alter the debate over illegal immigration in favor of the restrictionists. [...] Is it an accident that wages have been stagnant over the last 8 years?  I don't think so at all.  I think it reflects the incontrovertible fact that foreign born workers will work for less than native born workers, and that the more American citizens you remove from the workforce either through layoffs or discouraged workers, downward pressure on wages will continue.

698,000 Native-Born Americans Lost Their Jobs In August.  The one chart that matters more than ever, has little to nothing to do with the Fed's monetary policy, but everything to do with the November 2016 presidential elections in which the topic of immigration, both legal and illegal, is shaping up to be the most rancorous, contentious and divisive.  The chart is the following, showing the cumulative addition of foreign-born and native-born workers added to US payrolls according to the BLS since December 2007, i.e., since the start of the recession/Second Great Depression.

Obama: I'll veto any budget if it limits spending.  President Obama praised the monthly jobs report during his weekly address Saturday [9/5/2015] and called on Republicans to pass his budget when Congress reconvenes next month.  He also threatened to veto any budget that did not increase spending.  "The unemployment rate dropped to 5.1%, the lowest it's been in seven years," Obama said, noting the August jobs report released on Friday [9/4/2015].

The Editor states the obvious:
The unemployment rate is officially 5.1%, but only because millions of people who should be working have given up on finding a job.

The sad state of the American worker.  My 22-year-old son lives at home, still depends on his old man for spending money, and my profoundest fear is that like Will Ferrell in the "Wedding Crashers," he will never leave the nest.  I'm not alone.  There are some 20 million college grads living at home.  A 2014 study reported by CNN Money found that half of kids who are two years out of college rely on their parents to pay some or all of their bills.  It's the new normal for 20-somethings.

The Government is Lying About U.S. Unemployment.  The Obama administration is telling us that the unemployment rate in the United States has fallen to 5.1 percent, but does that number actually bear any resemblance to reality?  On Friday [9/4/2015], news outlets all over America celebrated the fact that the U.S. economy added 173,000 jobs in August.  We were told that the unemployment rate has fallen to a seven year low and that wages are going up.  So everything must be getting better for the middle class, right?  After all, isn't that what the official numbers are telling us?  The financial markets are buzzing over this news because the unemployment rate has fallen into a range that the Federal Reserve has typically considered to be "full employment", so there is an expectation that the Fed may raise interest rates shortly.

Unemployment rate falls to 5.1 percent, but Americans are not finding pay increases.  Fresh data released Friday — showing unemployment at a seven-year low and a cooling pace of jobs growth — provided conflicting signals about the nation's economic momentum as the Federal Reserve considers raising interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.  The U.S. added 173,000 jobs, slightly below expectations, while the unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent.  Never before has the nation's unemployment rate plunged so low — a point when companies should be competing aggressively for workers — while wages have stayed so flat.

U.S. Adds 173,000 Jobs in August Ahead of Fed Rate Decision.  The U.S. added 173,000 jobs in August, fewer than Wall Street expected.  The report will undoubtedly play a significant role in helping the Federal Reserve decide on the timing of the first interest rate hike in nearly a decade.  The headline unemployment rate fell to 5.1%, the lowest level in seven-and-a-half years.  Analysts had predicted the rate would fall to 5.2% down from 5.3% a month earlier, and that the economy would add 220,000 new jobs.

The Editor says...
Stand by for an "adjustment" in two weeks, showing the numbers weren't as good as previously announced.

Record 94,031,000 Americans Not in Labor Force; Participation Rate Stuck at 38-Year Low for 3rd Straight Month.  The number of Americans not in the labor force has continued to rise, partly because of retiring baby-boomers and fewer workers entering the workforce.  In August, according to BLS, the nation's civilian noninstitutional population, consisting of all people 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 251,096,000. Of those, 157,065,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one.  The 157,065,000 who participated in the labor force equaled only 62.6 percent of the 251,096,000 civilian noninstitutional population — the same as it was in July and June.  Not since October 1977, when the participation rate dropped to 62.4, has the percentage been this low.

Nine Signs of the Impending American Collapse.  The American economy under the statist and regulatory dispensation of the present administration is plainly on the verge of implosion.  Massive unemployment, the piling on of astronomical debt, the collapse of the housing market, the insensate printing of fiat money, the downgrading of the nation's credit rating, the high cost of the carbon conspiracy fostered by the false hypothesis of anthropogenic global warming, a crushing trade deficit, and the precarious status of the reserve currency all point to a looming and unprecedented fiscal cataclysm in the making.

Facebook Blocks Job Reports Related to Immigration.  An informed debate over immigration requires data and analysis about its effects. Only with information from a variety of sources can Americans try to understand our current policies, assess proposed changes, and judge candidates for political office.  That is why it is so disturbing that Facebook, owned by immigration-expansionist Mark Zuckerberg, has banned four reports published by the Center for Immigration Studies pertaining to jobs and immigration. [... Update:] Facebook has lifted the ban on the Center's job reports pages.

No, 4% Growth Isn't Too Much To Expect.  No serious economist, says President Obama's own top man, thinks 4% growth is "within the realm of possibility." [...] The remark by Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, came in response to Jeb Bush's statement in Thursday's GOP presidential debate that America should start striving for 4% growth — an obvious upgrade from the current 2% rut.

Everything you need to know about the July jobs report in one chart.  The dominant theme of the Obama economy is that people continue to drop out of the workforce.

Obama "Recovery" Objectively Worst on Record.  It tells you all you need to know about Barack Obama's character and record as president, not to mention our lowered expectations under his leadership, that he continually attempts to run victory laps over what has been the worst cyclical economic recovery in measured U.S. history.  In a market economy, cyclical recessions and recoveries come and go, and it was Obama's fortune to have entered the White House just as our economy was already bouncing back toward recovery.  Any disbelief in that regard can be quickly resolved by examining the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) trajectory for the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first two quarters of 2009.

24,710,000 Foreign-Born People [are] Employed In U.S..  The number of foreign-born people employed in the U.S. dipped slightly in July but remained about three times higher than the number of unemployed native-born Americans, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  According to not-seasonally-adjusted numbers from the the BLS, 24,710,000 foreign-born people held jobs in the U.S. during the month of July — down slightly compared to June's 24,816,000 level — and 1,369,000 foreign-born people were unemployed.  The foreign-born unemployment rate also increased to 5.2 percent compared to 4.9 percent in June.

Record 93,770,000 Americans Not in Labor Force.  The number of people not in the labor force reached another record high in July, according to new jobs data released Friday [8/7/2015] by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The BLS reports that 93,770,000 people (16 and older) were neither employed last month nor had made specific efforts to find work in the prior four weeks.  The number of people outside the workforce in July increased 144,000 over June's record when 93,626,000 were not in the workforce.

Obama and the Flippancy of Fools.  Over the last 7 years of the Obama era, Barack Obama and his team have regularly responded to serious questions with flippant responses.  Don't Americans deserve better than the flippancy Obama and his top officials dish out to us? [... For example,] When asked why his trillion-dollar stimulus produced far fewer "shovel ready jobs" than he promised to urgently promote its passage, Barack Obama laughed off the issue:  "Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected."  The laughter will be little solace for taxpayers on the hook to pay back the debt that financed that union-enriching boondoggle.

Jobs shock: 100% of female employment gains taken by foreigners since 2007.  All of the employment gains among women since the recession hit in December 2007 have been taken by foreigners, even at a time when the numbers of U.S.-born women surged more than 600,000, according to new federal statistics.  The jobs data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed gains in the "employment level" among "foreign born women" and losses among "native born women."

9.6 million Americans Unemployed — 8.1 million Illegal Aliens Employed.  Only one man is responsible for the unemployment rate in this nation — if you, your teens or your family members can not get a job — thank Barack Obama for his amnesty of illegal aliens and his refusal to enforce our immigration laws.  "Of those 11.3 [million] illegal immigrants, 8.1 million are participating in the labor force.  "Unauthorized immigrants make up 5.1% of the U.S. labor force," Pew says.  "In the U.S. labor force, there were 8.1 million unauthorized immigrants either working or looking for work in 2012."  In 2014, there were 1.7 million more illegal immigrants living in the United States than there were unemployed Americans.  According to the BLS, the average number of unemployed Americans in 2014 was 9.6 million."

Low unemployment rate obscures decline in Americans seeking work.  The Obama administration once again is touting new data showing job growth and another drop in the nation's unemployment rate, but beneath the surface lies a more bleak picture of the U.S. economy, as more and more Americans disappear from the labor force.  Last week's Department of Labor report said the U.S. created more than 220,000 jobs in June, and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.3 percent, the lowest since the pre-Great Recession days of early 2008.  Tucked within the study, however, is a figure that some analysts say is far more important than month-to-month job figures:  The number of Americans working or searching for a job has dropped to its lowest point in 38 years.  Just 62.6 percent of working-age Americans are participating in the labor force.  Participants are defined as those who have a job or are actively seeking one.

Bernie Sanders Rips Obama's Fictional Labor Reports; "Real Unemployment is 10.5%!".  Self-professed Socialist and Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders is surging in the polls as Granny Catlady's campaign continues to implode.  Most recently, Sanders drew a crowd of 7,500 in a city with 66,000 residents (in other words, over 48%, but I'm no mathematician, my numbers could be off).  Earlier today [7/7/2015], Sanders ripped a key White House economic fable stating that the real U.S. unemployment rate is double what the Obama administration claims.

Non-working America soars by 640,000 in one month to new record of 93.6 million.  It is hard to believe that one out of every three Americans is financially supporting the other two-thirds.  The unemployment rate appears much lower than it is because of the odd math behind the labor force.  The latest unemployment rate of 5.3 percent sounds great until you realize that last month 640,000 Americans were plopped into the not in the labor force category.  223,000 jobs were added but 640,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force.  Take the back of the napkin calculation that 10,000 Americans a day are hitting retirement age (that is roughly 300,000 per month).  Assuming all of these older Americans had the means to retire (not likely according to older Americans working) this means 340,000 Americans of working age fell out of the workforce for other reasons than age.  Something is going on behind the headline figures and it seems like more people are waking up to the funny math when it comes to employment.

AP: Mass Unemployment, Lower Wages Is 'New Normal'.  The AP's subtle point here is we are supposed to accept Obama's failed economy as the 'new normal.'  There's nothing that can be done about it.  And certainly none of this is Obama's fault.

Cultural aggression, destructive policies, and ceaseless smearing are wearing out a great people.  [Scroll down]  Our economy?  Destroyed.  Obama's America prospers haltingly, if at all — not a surprise given his boast early in his presidency that he would outlaw the business cycle.  The Democratic Party formerly seethed at Reagan for his allusions to welfare Cadillacs; now, after seven years of a leftist president, some 93 million of us don't even bother to seek employment.  Our people increasingly think the American Dream is a bad joke, and barely half of us even think capitalism is worth having.  The number of businesses extant in America has declined every year since Obama was first elected, and those still alive make a practice of refusing to grow.  No wonder that consistent 3-4 percent GDP growth, taken for granted in previous recoveries, now seems fanciful.

Bernie Sanders Says 'Real' Unemployment Rate Is Actually 10.5 Percent, Double The Official Rate.  Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders undermined a key Obama administration talking point Monday [7/6/2015] when he said the actual unemployment rate in the U.S. is double what the federal government claims.  "When you talk about the economy we also have to have an honest assessment of unemployment in America," Sanders told a crowd of 7,500 gathered at a presidential campaign rally in Portland, Maine.

Labor Market Runs in Place; More Jobs, Participation Lowest Since 1977.  The U.S. labor market took one step forward and one back in June as job creation advanced while wages stagnated and the size of the labor force receded.  The addition of 223,000 jobs followed a 254,000 increase in the prior month that was less than previously estimated, a Labor Department report showed Thursday [7/2/2015] in Washington.  The jobless rate fell to a seven-year low of 5.3 percent as people left the workforce.

Job market's new normal:  Smaller workforce, sluggish pay.  Many part-timers can't find full-time work.  And a diminished share of Americans either have a job or are looking for one.

AP Calls Crippled Economy 'Healthy' Amid Mass Immigration.  In a grim report detailing America's severe economic decline, the Associated Press brushes off two crucial factors:  Mass immigration and Obamacare's grip on employers. [...] A record 93,626,000 Americans have stopped looking for work in an economy that managed to create only one job for every two immigrants the government let in from 2000 to 2014.  When all U.S. job growth goes to foreigners at the expense of Americans, while everyone in the labor force sees their wages suppressed year after year, it makes sense that some would throw in the towel — and other would tolerate less-than-ideal jobs to make ends meet.

June jobs report: 223K added, but 432K left workforce, April-May revised down 60K.  The US economy added 223,000 jobs in June, a respectable if unspectacular level of job growth that outpaces population growth, and the U-3 jobless rate dropped to 5.3%.  It's when one looks past the topline numbers that the problems emerge — chief among them the fact that almost twice as many people left the workforce as found jobs.

19.8% of U.S. Workforce Was Foreign-Born in June.  The unemployment rate for foreign-born workers in the United States increased slightly in June, according to data released Thursday [7/2/2015] by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  BLS counted a total of 24,816,000 foreign-born workers in June, 282,000 fewer than last month's total.  The unemployment rate for the group increased from 4.7 percent to 4.9 percent.  Native-born workers who were employed increased from 124,251,900 to 124,830,000, bringing the overall unemployment rate down slightly from 5.5 to 5.3 percent.

Record 93,626,000 Americans Not In Labor Force, Lowest Level Of Participation Since 1977.  The BLS defines people outside the labor force as those ages 16 and older who are neither employed nor have "made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week."  The labor force participation rate also decreased 0.3 percent from last month to 62.6 percent.  The country has not seen a labor force participation rate that low since October 1977 when the participation rate was 62.4 percent.

The national debt is whatever Big Brother says it is.
15 Weeks: Treasury Says Debt Has Been Frozen at $18,112,975,000,000.  The portion of the federal debt that is subject to a legal limit set by Congress closed Friday, June 26, at $18,112,975,000,000, according to the latest Daily Treasury Statement, which was published at 4:00 p.m. on Monday [6/29/2015].  That, according to the Treasury's statements, makes 15 straight weeks that the debt subject to the limit has been frozen at $18,112,975,000,000.  $18,112,975,000,000 is about $25 million below the current legal debt limit of $18,113,000,080,959.35.

The real unemployment rate was 42.9%, not 5.5%!  At the present time, there are 210 million adult Americans between the ages of 16 and 68 — to take a plausible measure of the potential work force.  That amounts to 420 billion potential labor hours, if we accept the convention that all adults are at least theoretically capable of holding a full-time job (2,000 hours/year) and pulling their share of society's need for production and work effort.  By contrast, during 2014 only 240 billion hours were actually supplied to the US economy, according to the BLS estimates.  Technically, therefore, there were 180 billion unemployed labor hours, meaning that the real unemployment rate was 42.9%, not 5.5%!

Obama's contracting economy.  This week, Mr. Obama's Commerce Department issued its second estimate of how the economy performed in the first three months of this year, announcing again that it had not just stopped growing, but was declining.  After tinkering with its numbers with what they said was fresh economic data, the government changed its original assessment of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) — the broadest measure of our economy.  The economy did a little better than its first calculation of minus 0.7 percent.  Instead, it had only shrunk by minus 0.2 percent.  Why?  People were spending less.  Exports were down.  Businesses were reluctant to invest in expansion.  Retail sales were lackluster.  The U.S. economy wasn't just anemic, it was contracting.

If Your BS Detector Isn't Shrieking, It's Broken.  We now inhabit a world where virtually everything is a con. [...] 93 million people aren't even counted any more — they're statistical zombies, no longer among the living workforce.  If the unemployment rate were calculated on the number of full-time jobs and the true workforce (everyone ages 18 — 70 that isn't institutionalized or in prison), the unemployment rate would not be the absurdly delusional 5.6% claimed by the bureaucratic con artists.

Jobs Data: 92,986,000 People Not In the Workforce.  The month of May saw 92,986,000 people not participating in the workforce, according to new data released Friday [6/5/2015] by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals.  May's total represented slight decline compared to last month's record, which saw 93,194,000 people outside the workforce.  The BLS defines those not in the labor force as people ages 16 and older who are neither employed nor "made specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week."

As Obama's Economy Falls, White House Excuses Boom.  They must be getting pretty desperate in the White House economic shop these days.  When the revised GDP numbers showed a first-quarter decline of 0.7%, they started blaming the estimates themselves.

The Economy Has No Clothes.  On Friday [5/29/2015], the government's Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the nation's economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.7 percent during this year's first quarter, a sharp drop from the barely positive 0.2 percent it estimated a month ago. [...] Many key components of what the nation's gross domestic product truly is — "the (real) value of the production of goods and services in the United States" — turned in seasonally adjusted first-quarter results far below those seen last summer and fall.  In certain key instances, the first quarter of 2015 actually came in below the far more winter-ravaged first quarter of 2014, effectively reversing all of the growth occurring during the quarters in between.

President Obama's Alibi Factory.  Let's say that next Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics comes out with a really handsome non-farm-payrolls report.  Something close to 300,000 new jobs and a decline in the unemployment rate by a couple of tenths of a point.  How do you suppose the president and his staff would deal with the news?  You might safely expect that the president, himself, would find a way to do a little public bragging.  That's what he did when the April number came out at more than 220,000 new jobs. [...] But the president isn't always so quick to take ownership of the numbers when they are ugly, as they were last week, when the Commerce Department released its revised figures of first quarter GDP.

Blame It on Global Cooling? Obama Has Lowest Average 1stQ GDP Growth of Any President on Record.  Even if you leave out the first quarter of 2009 — when the recession that started in December 2007 was still ongoing — President Barack Obama has presided over the lowest average first-quarter GDP growth of any president who has served since 1947, which is the earliest year for which the Bureau of Economic Analysis has calculated quarterly GDP growth.  In all first quarters since 1947, the real annual rate of growth of GDP has averaged 4.0 percent.  In the seven first quarters during Obama's presidency, it has declined by an average of -0.43 percent.  And if you leave out the first quarter of 2009 and look only at the first quarters of the six years since the recession ended, it has averaged only 0.4 percent.

The actual unemployment rate is 23 percent.
Seeking a true picture of unemployment.  For starters, the widely-reported "U-3" unemployment rate only includes those who are actively seeking employment.  And more and more job-seekers are getting discouraged and giving up the job search altogether.  This is why the unemployment rate has declined even as the civilian labor force participation rate has dropped significantly from its peak of 67.3 percent in 2000 to 62.8 percent today — hovering near a 37-year low.

What Friday's GDP news means (hint: it's not good).  The Obama economic policy has emphasized income redistribution — for example through expansion of Food Stamps and Medicaid, and Obamacare subsidies for many middle class families — and the recent recovery has averaged only 2.2 percent annual growth.  Whereas during the Reagan-Clinton years, greater emphasis was placed on keeping the dollar fairly valued and redressing trade imbalances — for example with Japan — and the economy grew at a 3.4 percent pace.  The president has flat out rejected addressing currency issues in TPP negotiations and recommendations from economists on the right, left and in the center to more fairly value the dollar and boost growth.  The Fed has refused to comment on the limitations imposed on its policy options by the administration's recalcitrant attitude that rejects basic tenants of modern international macroeconomics.

Do CEOs Make 300 Times What Workers Get? Not Even Close.  It is stated so often that it's become an indisputable fact — CEOs make about 300 times more than the average worker, and that ratio has been increasing for decades.  Hillary Clinton, for example, recently claimed, "There's something wrong when CEOs make 300 times more than the typical worker."  President Obama said, "Where a previous CEO of a company might have made 50 times the average wage of the worker, they might now make a thousand times or two thousand times."  News outlets routinely promote studies showing how outsized this ratio has become.  There's just one problem with this figure.  It's not accurate.  Not by a long shot.

Ed Secretary Arnie Duncan Says: Chicago Thugs Promise To Stop Killing Each Other If They Have Jobs.  It is a sentiment that runs rampant within the current administration.  The State Department says radical Islam will stop beheading if they can just implement a Jobs for Jihadist program; now the Education Secretary says Chicago gangs will stop shooting if they have a Jobs for Thugs program.

Education Secretary Meets With Chicago Gang Leaders: They Just Need Jobs.  Education Secretary Arne Duncan said on Tuesday that he has met with gang leaders in his hometown of Chicago and they've told him that it's a lack of jobs that keeps them on the streets.

America is a food stamp nation.  The gospel according to Wall Street, the White House and propaganda media is that the U.S. economy is recovering just fine.  Last week, happy-faced talking heads told us that unemployment was down to 5.4 percent — the lowest rate since May 2008 — even while the number of Americans not in the labor force climbed to a record 93,194,000.  The Labor Force Participation Rate (the percent of people 16 years old and older eligible to work) stands at 62.8 percent.  Still, government men dutifully claim all is well, that the stock market is bullish. [...] Even though jobless claims and the unemployment rate reported by the government are down, the Labor Department's figures are based only on people receiving unemployment benefits.  When those benefits run out, a person is no longer counted as unemployed by Uncle Scam, even though he or she still doesn't have a job.

Obama: Obamacare "Hasn't Done Too Bad In Terms Of Employment... Just Saying".  [Quoting Barack H. Obama] This this [sic] morning we learned our economy created 223,000 new jobs last month.  The unemployment rate ticked down again to 5.4%, lowest it's been in almost seven years. [...] I should add by the way, 62 months ago is when I signed the Affordable Care Act so obviously it hasn't done too bad in terms of employment in this country.  Just thought I'd mention that.

The Editor says...
The unemployment rate goes down only because workers are giving up any hope of finding a job, and dropping out of the job market.  Just thought I'd mention that.

Also posted under Obamacare kills jobs.

All Net Employment Gains Among Women Went to Foreign-Born Since Recession.  Since the beginning of the recession in December 2007 to April 2015, 1.37 million more immigrant women are employed — from 9,041,000 in December 2007 to 10,413,000 in April 2015.  Native-born women, on the other had saw net employment decline by 143,000 in that same timeframe.  From 59,322,000 in December 2007 to 59,179,000 last month.  While immigrant women vastly outpaced native-born women in employment, the population of immigrant women ages 16 and older experienced about half the growth of native-born women 16 and older in that time frame.

Americans Not In Labor Force Hits New Record High: 93,194,000.  For the second month in a row, the number of people not in the workforce hit another record high in April, according to jobs data released Friday [5/8/2015] by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  April saw the number of people dropping out of the labor force increase from March's record 93,175,000 to a new record:  93,194,000 people not in the workforce.

The Stagnant Economy Spells Trouble for Democrats.  The Obama administration had made the argument just before last year's midterms that a spike in third-quarter GDP for 2014 meant that the economic policies of Barack Obama had finally begun to bear fruit. [...] The ground began eroding under that argument almost immediately.  The growth, especially in the third quarter, had been driven by unusually high defense spending (an increase of over 16 percent from Q2), and by continuing consumer confidence as expressed in personal consumer expenditures (PCEs).  By the fourth quarter, GDP growth decelerated to 2.2 percent, leaving 2014's overall GDP growth at the same level.

Once Again, Economists Promise Strong Growth After A Lousy Q1.  When the 0.2% GDP growth number came out on Wednesday, economists were quick to emphasize that it was just a temporary blip.  As Reuters put it:  "U.S. economic growth braked more sharply than expected in the first quarter as harsh weather dampened consumer spending and energy companies struggling with low prices slashed spending, but there are signs activity is picking up." [...] Such words would be comforting indeed if it weren't the fifth April out of the past six that economists made almost the exact same claim.  Don't worry about disappointing first-quarter numbers, they've said over and over again, the economy is poised to take off.  Then comes the disappointing reality.

U.S. economic growth slows to 0.2 percent, grinding nearly to a halt.  The U.S. economy ground nearly to a halt in the first three months of the year, according to government data released Wednesday morning [4/29/2015], as exports plunged and severe winter weather helped keep consumers indoors.  The gross domestic product grew between January and March at an annualized rate of 0.2 percent, the U.S. Commerce Department said, adding to the picture of an economy braking sharply after accelerating for much of last year.  The pace fell well shy of the 1 percent mark anticipated by analysts and marked the weakest quarter in a year.

The Editor says...
Imagine the headlines that would have accompanied this news if the second-term president was a Republican.

Economic Growth Slows, Networks' Morning Shows Ignore.  Economic growth has stagnated so far this year, catching the broadcast news networks inexplicably off guard yet again.  The federal government's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced April 29 that gross domestic product (GDP) expansion slowed to only 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2015.  This meant the goods and services produced by the United States economy grew only minimally, lagging far behind growth in the previous two quarters.

Thanks, governor, for showing how wage gap is not the result of bias.  [T]his is exactly the kind of sham social science that the media parrots every year on "Equal Pay Day" — the date that is supposed to represent how many extra days a woman needs to work to earn as much as a man works in a normal 365-day year.  We are told, thus, that women in the aggregate earn approximately 70 percent of what men in the aggregate earn during a year.  Because that number is associated with the phrase "Equal Pay for Equal Work," we are suppose to be shocked, dismayed and go vote for Democrats at the next election.  But, of course, the 70 percent number that is trotted out (or whatever number is used that year) has NOTHING to do with discrimination.

Record 93,175,000 Americans Not In The Labor Force.  More Americans dropped out of the labor force last month, as the number of people not in the labor force hit another record high in March.  According to Friday's [4/3/2015] Bureau of Labor Statics jobs data 93,175,000 Americans were not in the work force in March, an addition of 277,000 to February's level of 92,898,000.

Why Are So Many Employers Unable to Fill Jobs?  The great conundrum of the U.S. economy today is that we have record numbers of working age people out of the labor force at the same time we have businesses desperately trying to find workers.  As an example, the American Transportation Research Institute estimates there are 30,000-35,000 trucker jobs that could be filled tomorrow if workers would take these jobs — a shortage that could rise to 240,000 by 2022.  While the jobs market overall remains weak, demand is high in certain sectors.

Thanks to Obama's job-killing regulations...
Record High 12,202,000 Black Americans Not In Labor Force.  Anyone doubt for a second a white Republican president would under constant attack by the Dems for their "racist" economic policies against black Americans?

What Went Wrong in the March Jobs Report?  March came in like a job-creating lion and left like, well, some sort of severely disappointing animal.  In numbers released Friday morning [4/3/2015], the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the economy created just 126,000 jobs.  That's barely half of the 248,000 predicted by economists.  It's the first time in a year there haven't been at least 200,000 new jobs for a month.  And adding insult to injury, it looks like the great numbers in January and February weren't as good as they seemed, either — the totals from those two months were revised down by a total of 69,000 jobs too.

Big March Miss: U.S. Created Just 126,000 Jobs.  The U.S. added just 126,000 jobs in March, well below expectations of 245,000 jobs, leading to concerns that a long run of labor market momentum has stalled.  The government also sharply revised downward job creation numbers for the first quarter.  Over the prior 12 months, employment growth had averaged 269,000 per month so the disappointing March numbers were very much unexpected.

America's False-Front, Movie-Set Economy.  Contrary to some folk, the government isn't going to support everybody; the government has only the money it takes from citizens.  Unemployed and minimum-wage Americans offer little to take, and the Labor Force Participation Rate is declining.  Those growing numbers of non-working people have to be housed, fed, and watered by those still working.  Government SNAP (food stamps), disability, and/or other benefits are presently paid to 49% of Americans.  That is a wobbly crutch resting upon deficits from a government burdened with debt.  Most of the money is taken from workers whose incomes have just halted a six-year decline.

Surprise: U.S. Economic Data Have Been the World's Most Disappointing.  It's not only the just-released University of Michigan consumer confidence report and February retail sales on Thursday [3/12/2015] that surprised economists and investors with another dose of underwhelming news.  Overall, U.S. economic data have been falling short of prognosticators' expectations by the most in six years.  The Bloomberg ECO U.S. Surprise Index, which measures whether data beat or miss forecasts, fell to the lowest since 2009, when the nation was in the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

This money will come from ... where?
White House pledges $100M to fill tech jobs.  President Obama on Monday [3/9/3015] unveiled a $100 million grant program as part of a new initiative that he said was critical to ensuring the U.S. remains a global economic powerhouse.  Obama called for plans to help thousands of Americans "fill the new jobs of this new century" by using nontraditional courses to turn them into top-level coders, programmers and other technology workers.

Working Class Gives Up On Obama, Fears Job Losses.  For several years, Obama said his policies would produce "bottom up prosperity," and in his State of the Union address in January, he claimed they were "helping working families feel more secure in a world of constant change."  The IBD/TIPP Poll shows the opposite.  Working-class families are overwhelmingly discouraged with the economy and anxious about their prospects, more so than the country at large and far more than upper-middle class families, who are generally happy with the way things are going.  For example, nearly two thirds of the working class (64%) say the country is headed in the wrong direction.  Nearly as many (60%) say they're not satisfied with federal economic policies.  And 53% say the economy is not improving.

February Ties Record: 92,898,000 Americans Not In The Workforce.  The month of February tied December's record number of Americans not participating in the workforce, according to data released Friday [3/6/2015] by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  According to the BLS, last month 92,898,000 Americans ages 16 and over were neither employed nor had made "specific efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week."  The number of people out of the workforce increased by 354,000 last month and the labor force participation rate dipped slightly to 62.8 percent.

Here's What The Unemployment Rate Looks Like If You Add Back Labor Force Dropouts.  The official unemployment rate masks a problem that's been plaguing the economy since shortly before the 2009 recession:  a continuing decline in the labor force participation rate, which basically measures the percentage of the able-bodied population that's either working or looking for work.  After holding steady at roughly 66 percent from 2004 through late 2008, the labor force participation has been falling, and falling, and falling some more, with no end in sight.

February jobs report shows 295,000 jobs added, jobless rate 5.5%.  It's the fourth month in a row of good numbers, although January's previous 257,000 level was revised downward to 239,000 by the BLS.  The status of workforce participation didn't budge from its 36-year low, however, and recent economic indicators may signal tighter times ahead for American workers.

The Conservative and Progressive Measures of Success, Clearly Defined.  First, let us begin by saying that any official data citing reductions in unemployment rates are corrupted by one simple and less publicized fact:  the significant drop in labor participation rates.  When Barack Obama took office in January 2009, the labor participation rate was 65.7 percent.  Since then, labor participation rates have plummeted to 62.7 percent — the lowest since Jimmy Carter held office. [...] But even with that in mind, there might be useful data to extract from the unemployment rates.  While unemployment among whites fell by 1.5 points to 6.3 percent, black unemployment fell by only 1.1 points to 11.6 percent.  Black teen unemployment, on the other hand, rose substantially from 35.3% to 36.8%.

Yellen: Unemployment Rate 'Less Rosy' When You Count Part-Time, Discouraged Workers.  Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Tuesday at a Senate Banking Committee hearing that the U-6 unemployment rate — which includes people who are working part-time for economic reasons and those who are marginally attached to the labor force — "definitely shows a less rosy picture" of employment in the country.  People "marginally attached" to the labor force "are those who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for one work sometime in the past 12 months."

The Economy's Worst 8-Year Run in 62 Years.  A couple of publications have noted that 2014 was the ninth consecutive year during which the U.S. economy grew by less than 3 percent.  They're being too kind.  Last year was the eighth year in a row of sub-2.5 percent growth, following four straight years (2003-2006) of higher growth.  It's hardly a coincidence that the first year of that awful 2007-2014 streak just so happens to have been the same year that the Democratic Party took legislative control in Washington.

Barack Obama's Job Approval Ratings vs. the Economy.  The overall civilian unemployment rate does not account for these part-timers.  It also does not consider those marginally attached to the labor force.  This includes the so-called "discouraged workers," — i.e. people who have given up looking for work in the past year because they do not believe they will find a job — and others who are unemployed as a result of work slowdowns or temporary layoffs.  When these groups are included, a much more troublesome picture emerges.  As of January 2015, this unemployment rate stands at 11.3 percent.  This is the real unemployment rate, and is the lowest it has been since October 2008.  It reached an unprecedented high of over 17 percent in 2010.  The last and only time the rate went over 11 percent was in early 1994.  (See chart 3.)

True Unemployment Rate Is Far Higher Than 5.6 Percent.  Americans may not be too surprised to learn that the 5.6 percent unemployment rate the U.S. Department of Labor is touting is entirely misleading.  According to Gallup, the real unemployment rate is currently 12.6 percent.  The unemployment rate calculated by the Department of Labor is seriously flawed because it does not factor in whole groups of people that Americans would recognize as being unemployed, including those who are severely underemployed.  For example, a college graduate who is working only a few hours per week at the moment because he cannot find full-time work is not considered to be unemployed, even if his income is completely unlivable.

There's Unemployment, Then There's Unemployment.  The BLS January U-3 "official" unemployment rate is 5.7 percent.  "Official" means that this is the percentage the MSM reports.  It does not include "discouraged" unemployed workers who have not looked for work in the past four weeks because they believe no jobs are available.  The U-3 rate makes the Obama administration economic policies appear better than they really are, so the MSM reports it.  This is "unemployment."  The BLS January U-6 unemployment rate, a much more representative figure of economic reality than the U-3 rate, is 11.3 percent.  The U-6 rate includes U-3 unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus workers employed part time.  A marginally attached worker is one that wants full-time work and has actively looked for a job sometime in the past 12 months.  This worker is not considered to be either employed or unemployed, so he/she is not included in the "official" U-3 unemployment rate. [...] Then there's the ShadowStats Alternate Unemployment Rate for January, which is 23.2 percent.  It begins with the U-6 rate, then adds in the long-term discouraged workers, those who have been discouraged for more than one year but still consider themselves to be unemployed.  They have, since 1994, been excluded from all government data.

Gallup Chairman: 5.6% Unemployment Is A Big Lie.  Written by the Chairman of Gallup, someone who does statistics for a living.

Friday unemployment numbers hide widespread joblessness.  Unemployment rose a notch to 5.7 percent, but that understates the jobless problem, because so many fewer adults are active in the jobs market than prior to the financial crisis.

Two Immigrants For Every New Job Since 2000.  The United States has accepted two new immigrants for each additional job created since 2000, according to federal data.  The data shows that 18 million legal and illegal immigrants settled in the United States from 2000 to 2015, while only 9.3 million additional jobs were created, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors a reduced level of immigration.  After subtracting deaths, departures and retirements among the immigrants, the working-age population of immigrants has grown 12 million since 2000, according to data at the Bureau of Labor Standards, said Steve Camarota, the author of the CIS study.

When your government lies to you.  Right now the lie claims that only 5.6% of those who want to work aren't working.  That's simply not true.  But it is a lie that banks on you not looking into how the government computes this number. [...] Yet politicians and the media keep pushing that number out there without any caveat or qualifier.  They too expect you to use your definition of unemployment while they knowingly push this lie.  And, it's even worse than that.  Here's another way they pad that official number: [...]

Pay no attention to the real economy behind the curtain.  While the economy grew 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter, what most reports don't mention is that 20 percent of that growth was health-care spending.  And the majority of that spending was taxpayer-funded subsidies from ObamaCare.  In other words, the stimulus never ended.  Health care is what Americans are spending most of their money on today — far more than they spend on housing and utilities combined.  Or cars, furniture, food or fuel.  Surging medical spending also explains the third-quarter's huge upward revision in GDP growth.

The Reality Beneath "Low Unemployment" Propaganda: Less than half of adult Americans are employed full-time.  Gallup regularly tracks the percentage of U.S. adults that are employed for 30 or more hours per week, and it is currently at 44.2 percent.  It has been hovering between 42 percent and 45 percent since the end of 2009.  This is extremely low.  As I discussed the other day, there are 8.69 million Americans that are considered to be "officially unemployed" at this point.  But there are another 92.90 million Americans that are considered to be "not in the labor force".  Millions upon millions of those Americans would work if they could.  Overall, there are 101 million U.S. adults that do not have a job right now.  But you won't hear that number being discussed by the mainstream media, because it would make Barack Obama look really bad.

Only 44 Percent of U.S. Adults Work 30 Hours a Week or More with a Regular Paycheck.  It's not every day you see you see the chairman and CEO of the Gallup polling organization come out and declare the official unemployment rate number is extremely misleading, or, as the headline suggests, "a big lie".

The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment.  Right now, we're hearing much celebrating from the media, the White House and Wall Street about how unemployment is "down" to 5.6%.  The cheerleading for this number is deafening.  The media loves a comeback story, the White House wants to score political points and Wall Street would like you to stay in the market.  None of them will tell you this:  If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job — if you are so hopelessly out of work that you've stopped looking over the past four weeks — the Department of Labor doesn't count you as unemployed.  That's right.  While you are as unemployed as one can possibly be, and tragically may never find work again, you are not counted in the figure we see relentlessly in the news — currently 5.6%.  Right now, as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed.

The Jobs Report Isn't Worthy of the Praise It's Getting.  Obama likes to brag that there have now been 51 months of uninterrupted monthly job gains, which have resulted in 10.3 million new jobs.  Sounds impressive, doesn't it?  But over that same period, the working-age population increased by 11.2 million.  By that measure, the country has actually lost ground over the past four-plus years.

Net U.S. Job Gains Since The Recession Have Gone To Foreign-Born Workers.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics released updated employment data Friday [2/6/2015].  The new BLS figures reveal that since the start of the recession in 2007 — which is said to have ended in June 2009 — the number of foreign workers employed in the United States rose by 1.7 million.  In December 2007 the number of foreign-born workers was 22,810,000 by January 2009 the number has increased to 24,553,000.  Meanwhile the number of American-born workers employed decreased by 1.5 million, from 123,524,000 to 121,999,000.

Gallup rips apart Democratic narrative that unemployment on the decline.  [Scroll down]  Conservatives have complained for years that the labor participant rate, which is currently the lowest it has been in 38 years, is often ignored by the press.  Moreover, in the Obama-era, many on the right have taken to monitoring the U-6 as a gauge of "real unemployment."  According to Gallup, which also conducts surveys to determine the unemployment rate that are based on a rolling 30-day average and are not seasonally adjusted, has determined that only 44.1 percent of the whole American population is working more than 30 hours per week.

The 5.6% Unemployment Rate Is A 'Big Lie,' Gallup Boss Says.  We at IBD often get lambasted for our gloomy take on the monthly jobs data that emerge from the government.  After all, if the government puts it out, it can't be inaccurate, can it?  And it must be honest, right?  Well, we're not alone in casting aspersions on the dicey employment numbers.  As we've said many times, properly measured, the current unemployment rate is somewhere north of 10% — depending on how you slice the numbers.

Obama budget calls for largest federal civilian workforce since Cold War.  The federal civilian workforce will reach its highest level since the end of the Cold War under the budget President Obama submitted to Congress on Monday [2/2/2015], surging by more than 100,000 employees over the next two years as he tries to restock agencies he says have been decimated by GOP-led cuts.  All told, Mr. Obama will have added more than 160,000 civilian workers to the executive branch since he took office, putting him on pace to top President George W. Bush for the biggest expansion in modern political history.  When civilians at the Department of Defense are discounted, Mr. Obama is already the leader, with 124,000 jobs added in his first seven years.

The Editor says...
Decimated?  Show me the list of federal employees who were laid off at any time in the last five years due to spending cuts implemented by the Republicans.  I doubt if there is such a person, let alone a hundred thousand or more.  If that were true, it would have been front-page news for most of Obama's presidency, but of course it is a lie.  As the article above states, Mr. Obama has added 124,000 government jobs since he has been in office.

Reaganomics Beats Obama's 'Middle Class Economics' By A Country Mile.  On Friday [1/30/2015], the Bureau of Economic Research reported that the last quarter of the year produced another round of mediocre growth — just 2.6%.  That undercut the average economist's forecast by about six basis points and continued a pattern of weak quarters typically following periods of decent growth.  But it didn't stop White House economic adviser Jason Furman from claiming that "today's report affirms the underlying pattern of resurgence in the economy."

Dangerous Words From Democrats on Jobs.  There is no obligation to work in the United States.  The notion can only be put forth in a society where the individual is the beneficiary of so much Government largesse, and that's the root of the problem, not the lack of work.  Letting Democrats play slight-of-hand tricks while trying to implement policies based on the world as they see it is a recipe for disaster.  These ideas need to be called out for what they are and laid to rest.  Wasn't Socialism a bad thing at one time in America?

Joe Biden: the Obama years 'have been really, really hard for this country' — White House blames Bush.  Vice President Joe Biden suggested Friday morning that the Obama years have not been a time of prosperity and ease, but 'really, really hard for this country.'  But he still insisted that his boss, Presdient Barack Obama, has made the right economic decisions.  And hours later the White House blamed problems Obama inherited from his predecessor for an incomplete economic recovery.

Sessions: 'We've Got to Ask Ourselves Who It Is This Government Is Representing'.  At her confirmation hearing on Wednesday [1/28/2015], Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch "openly advocated for the providing of scarce jobs in America to those who are here illegally," said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).  Speaking to Fox News's Megyn Kelly Wednesday night, Sessions said there aren't enough jobs for American citizens:  [...] "And I think that this administration and (Lynch's) statement really opened up and showed what they really believe about this.  They're as committed to finding jobs for illegal people in our country today as they are people who are here lawfully."

Blocking Obama's Agenda Created 1.8 Million Jobs in 2014.  A new study finds that 60% of the jobs gained last year were due to the fact that Republicans managed to block one of President Obama's key "middle class economics" policies in Congress.

Fact Check: Obama Claims Credit For Incomplete Recovery.  The U.S. may not have "risen from recession" quite as rousingly as President Barack Obama suggested in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night.  Seven years after that severe downturn began, household income hasn't recovered and healthy job growth is complicated by the poor quality, and pay, of many of those jobs.

The stomach-knotting state of our union.  My fellow Americans, the state of our union under Barack Obama is fretful and fragile.  Polls confirm our kitchen table conversations:  Five years into a gimpy recovery, we still think the economy stinks.  Not without reason.  Good jobs still are hard to come by.  Wages are flat.  And even though the unemployment rate is coming down, dispirited workers abandoning their searches accounts for much of the decline.  At a dismal, unspinnable 62.7 percent — not a typo — the labor force participation rate is the lowest it's been since Jimmy Carter was president.

According to the government, there's no inflation.  Government data reports are so funny.  The blaring headlines today tells us that prices dropped in December.  We are all saving billions from the drop in oil and gas.  Hallelujah!!  The corporate MSM never digs into the numbers to get the real truth.  These reports and their distribution to the sheep are designed to keep you sedated and calm.  Facts are not necessary.  How this data pertains to your everyday life is not important to the .1% who control the flow of information.

Hiding the real economic story.  President Obama has had no better ally on the state of the American economy over the last six years than the nightly network news shows.  When the economic numbers have been terrible or just plain mediocre, the network newscasts have often ignored or underplayed the larger human story of jobless people struggling to survive.  When there was periodically modest improvement, however brief, they made it sound like the economy was roaring back.

The December jobs report: Are workers partying like its 1999? Not really.  An additional 2.95 million Americans found work in 2014 — including 252,000 last month — the most since 3.18 million jobs were created during that boom time 15 years ago.  But a comparison between back then and now shows a striking difference between the modest economic acceleration of 2014 and go-go late 1990s.  First, the jobless rate was a lot lower in December 1999, 4.0% vs. 5.6% last month.  Second, a much bigger share of the adult population had jobs, 64.4% vs. 59.2% today.

Labor Force Participation Matches 36-Year Low; 92,898,000 Neither Had Job Nor Sought One.  A record 92,898,000 Americans 16 and older did not participate in the labor force in December, as the labor force participation rate dropped to 62.7 percent.  The labor force participation had also been 62.7 percent this September, but prior to that had not been that low since February 1978, which was 36 years ago the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.  The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population who either had a job or was actively seeking one during the month.  Those not in the labor force neither had a job, nor sought one.

Population Equal to Illinois Has Quit Working Under Obama.  Since President Obama took office in 2009, the number of people who've dropped out of the labor force has climbed by 12.4 million.  That's basically equal to the entire population of Obama's home state of Illinois — which measured 12.8 million in 2014 — and nearly 2 million more than the state's working age population.

Golfing during tsunami season.  As working people close out another year in economic purgatory, President Obama defiantly promotes tales of progress on numerous fronts that fall apart under inspection — the American economy is not out of danger, the gulf between the wealthy and the dispossessed is not narrowing, and global peace is certainly far from hand.

An 'Awesome Economy'? Not Even Close. 
  •   While crashing in recent months, gas prices at the pump still averaged this year above the pre-Obama annual averages.
  •   The Deficit for the just-concluded Federal budget year was larger (in both dollar terms and as a percent of the economy) than in the years before the crisis.
  •   Sales of existing homes are weaker than from before the bubble era, and sales of newly-built homes in 2014 was still weaker than all but two of the 45 years (!) leading up to Obama.
  •   The Unemployment Rate for all of 2014 is on pace to be worse than any annual average under Bush and worse than most Clinton years as well.
  •   Household Income is 4.5% lower compared to when the previous recession started seven years ago.
  •   The Poverty Rate — the percent Americans living in poverty — is worse than any year under Bush and worse than most Clinton years too despite the fact that the elevated Obama government spending for the poor suppresses the real poverty rate.

The Homelessness Problem Is Still With Us — and Growing.  While the gatekeeping establishment press insists on promoting the alleged wonders of the nation's still-nascent "recovery," two indicators relating to homelessness surfaced this month with relatively little notice.  Five and a half years after the official end of the recession and six years into Barack Obama's presidency, these indicators demonstrate that the problem has not only not lessened, it has arguably gotten worse.

Obama: Most black people don't use racism as an excuse.  Before flying off to Hawaii for a two-week vacation, President Obama said Friday that most blacks understand America's history of slavery and segregation isn't an excuse for their current challenges.  Asked by a reporter to assess the state of black America, Mr. Obama said most blacks are "better off now" than when he came into office, due to the economic recovery.

Should You Believe What They Tell You or What You See?  The BLS reported 321,000 jobs added in November and the unemployment rate at 5.8%. Jobs are plentiful, based upon these statistics.  A skeptical critical thinking individual might ask a few questions or point out a few inconvenient facts the government purveyors of propaganda might not want us to ponder:
  •   The non-manipulated, non-seasonally adjusted number of jobs in November FELL by 270,000.  The BLS added 600,000 jobs as an adjustment to achieve the headline grabbing result.
  •   If the jobs market is so good, why is the labor participation rate at a 30 year low of 62.8%?
  •   Since 2007 the number of working age Americans has risen by 17 million, while the number of employed has risen by less than 1 million, but the unemployment rate is about the same.
  •   Why would almost 14 million working age Americans leave the labor force since 2007 if the economy is booming and jobs plentiful, with 1.2 million leaving in the last 12 months?
  •   Why would payroll tax receipts be flat with last year if millions of new jobs have been created?
  •   If the country has really added 8 million jobs since 2010, how could real median household income FALL by 2.3%?

Labor Force Participation Remains at 36-Year Low.  The labor force participation rate remained at a 36-year low of 62.8 percent in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The participation rate, which is the percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population who participated in the labor force by either having a job during the month or actively seeking one, was 62.8 percent in November which matches the percentage since March 1978.

321K Job Growth Isn't a Big Deal — Check the Record.  Maybe it's because unquestionably good news about the economy is so rare these days, but economics reporters were falling over themselves to deliver superlatives about the November jobs report.  They called it "a knockout," "boom-like numbers" and "the strongest streak of hiring in several decades," and said that the report "jumped decisively into 'great news' territory." Even the White House showed more restraint, simply calling the November numbers "strong."  These reporters would be well served — as would their readers — actually to look at the jobs data.  They'd discover that a 300,000-plus job gain during an expansion isn't earth-shattering.  In fact, it's fairly common.

'Unauthorized' Aliens With Jobs Outnumber Non-College-Grad Adults Seeking One.  Aliens illegally holding jobs in the United States outnumber all unemployed people who are not in management, professional or related occupations as well as all unemployed who are 25 and older and who do not have a college degree, according to an estimate of "unauthorized workers" published by the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration and employment data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The BLS only counts as "unemployed" people who have actively looked for a job in the past four weeks.

Even the Labor Department can't explain the latest job report.  As it turns out, last month's job growth was much more ordinary than the headline figure would have you believe — and it all lies with the seasonal adjustments Uncle Sam sprinkles onto all its data. [...] The raw, unadjusted data from Labor showed that 523,000 new jobs were created in November 2013.  After that figure was seasonally adjusted, the growth was reduced to 203,000.  The raw, unadjusted numbers reported Friday [12/5/2014] showed 497,000 new jobs — or 26,000 less than last year's 523,000 raw number.  Yet, this November's adjustment resulted in a headline figure of 321,000 — or a whopping 118,000 more than last year.  If the seasonal adjustments stayed consistent Friday's growth should have been less than last year's 203,000!

No, China Hasn't Overtaken U.S., And May Not Ever.  "It's official: America is now No. 2," says the headline on MarketWatch, a website we enjoy.  The piece passes on the shocking news from the International Monetary Fund that China's economy has overtaken the U.S. economy, marking the first time since Ulysses S. Grant was president that the U.S. was anything other than No. 1.  Except, well, it's not exactly true.  Yes, using a calculation called "purchasing power parity," it looks as if China has passed America.  But that calculation is a statistically manufactured one, which supposedly makes up for different costs of living in the two countries.

Not working for the working class.  [Scroll down]  So if Democrats want to win back the white working class — and they kind of need to, if they want to win elections, because it's an enormous demographic — maybe they need to start thinking about honoring and encouraging work, rather than talking about race or class.  One person who has some ideas in this direction is Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who suggests that the government invest heavily in infrastructure, which would create a lot of blue-collar jobs.  That was actually an original part of Barack Obama's stimulus plan, but it was derailed by feminists within the Obama coalition who thought it would produce too many jobs for men.

Applications for Jobless Aid Jump to 313,000.  The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits jumped last week, pushing total applications above 300,000 for the first time in nearly three months.

Eagerly Awaiting Obama's Sixth Annual Summer of Recovery: 20% of American Households on Foodstamps.  It seems so surprising that a radical leftist community organizer would make things worse rather than better.

Jobless claims surge to 11-week high.  The number of people who applied for new unemployment benefits in the week before Thanksgiving jumped to an 11-week high and topped the 300,000 mark for the first time since early September, fresh government data showed Wednesday [11/26/2014].  Initial jobless claims leaped by 21,000 to 313,000 in the week ended Nov. 22, the Labor Department said.  Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast claims to total a seasonally adjusted 288,000.

Labor Secretary: 'President's Executive Action Will Help Lift Wages'.  Labor Secretary Tom Perez said that President Obama's executive action on immigration "will help lift wages" and that illegal immigrants are "exploited by employers" during a Politico event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 20.  "There have been a number of estimates of how the president's executive action will help lift wagesm and I agree with that," Perez said.  "What would help lift wages even more is comprehensive immigration reform, and there is no substitute for that comprehensive reform."

Explaining Away Obama.  Every statistic that Obama has produced on Obamacare enrollment, deportation, unemployment and GDP growth is in some ways a lie.  Almost everything he has said about granting amnesty was untrue, from his own contradictions to the congressionally sanctioned small amnesties of prior presidents.  Almost every time Obama steps to the lectern we expect two things:  he will lecture us on our moral failings and what he will say will be abjectly untrue.

Is This the End Game for Liberal Racism?  [Scroll down]  Then there is unemployment.  Blacks are about twice as likely to be unemployed as a white person.  What does President Obama do?  He proposes to legalize 5 million illegal immigrants so they can compete for jobs in the formal economy — against blacks.  That's real racism.

Voters Reject the Green Political Agenda.  What the midterm voters wanted was an economy that returned to its average 3.3% annual growth since the end of World War II.  For six years of the Obama presidency, growth has all but disappeared.  In 2013, as measured by the World Bank, it was barely 1.9%

Employment Situation Improves in October — Except for African Americans.  The employment situation in October improved in every way for most Americans, except for African Americans, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  The number of African Americans who were employed in the United States in October dropped by 41,000; and the number of African-Americans not participating in the labor force increased by 114,000.

Don't believe the hype — Hillary Clinton can be beat.  In October, Clinton was campaigning, with characteristic futility, for Martha Coakley, the losing candidate for Massachusetts governor, when she said:  "Don't let anybody tell you that it's corporations and businesses that create jobs."  Watch her on YouTube.  When saying this, she glances down, not at a text but at notes, and proceeds with the hesitancy of someone gathering her thoughts.  She is not reading a speechwriter's blunder.  When she said those 13 words she actually was thinking.

Democrats Still Hate Dirty, Greedy Businesses.  Hillary Clinton sniffs, "Don't let anyone tell you that, um, you know, (smirk) corporations and businesses create jobs."  Barack Obama chastises, "If you have a business, you didn't build that.  Somebody else made that happen."  Analysts around the country have correctly noted that Obama and Hillary were trying to be Elizabeth Warren, Lioness of the Leeches, Princess of Thieves.  Here's the way Warren said it: [...]

Selling the Illusion of Economic Success to Salvage Elections.  In fact, President Obama used the same talking point at a Wisconsin campaign rally this week, saying, "When I came into office, the economy was in free fall.  The auto industry was on the verge of collapse.  But over the past four and a half years, America's businesses have created more than 10 million new jobs."  When he made that claim in September, the UK Daily Mail criticized the President for forgetting to mention the 4.3 million jobs lost along the way. [...] Currently the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) places the number of unemployed or underemployed at 18.6 million as of September this year, which means that the economy is worse off in a key marker of prosperity.  In fact, Ferrara calculated last year that President Obama's economy had a shortfall of about 10 million jobs.  How many jobs are we missing now?

Obama's Last Midterm Speech: The Economy's Great! ...Except for Women.  In Barack Obama's last weekly address before the November election, he resorted to his usual chicanery, this time with an emphasis on the War on Women.  Obama started by claiming that over the past 55 months, "Our businesses have added 10.3 million new jobs."  "Our businesses?"  Since when did the creator of the infamous line "You didn't build that," have the right to call them "Our businesses?"  "Added 10.3 million new jobs?" [...]

Unions And Liberals Are Working Hard To Kill Jobs.  How many employees could McDonalds do away with per store by going automated?  Two to five?  More?  And will the other fast food restaurants quickly follow suit?  You can bet they will.  These are low paying jobs because that is the business model, and always has.  They are not jobs meant for adults supporting kids.

Janet Yellen Echoes Barack Obama's "Income Inequality" Nonsense.  "Stagnant living standards for the majority" for the past few decades?  Really?

So Who Does Create Jobs?  Hillary Clinton, doing her no-bull, forceful leader number, tells an audience:  ["]Don't let anybody tell you that it's corporations and businesses that create jobs.["]  The aggressive tone and inelegant phrasing are meant, one supposes, to convey authenticity, which has never been Mrs. Clinton's strength as a campaigner.  No news there.  But what of the content — such as it is — of the remark?  Mrs. Clinton could be forgiven for thinking that corporations and businesses exist solely to provide big paydays for politically connected guest speakers.  But then, who does create jobs in the Clinton universe?  If, that is, any jobs are being created.

Hillary Clinton: Business Don't Create Jobs!  This video is sure to make a glorious return in a couple of years.  In it, Hillary Clinton disparages the entire capitalism system in one revealing sentence.

Hillary: 'Don't Let Anybody Tell You' That 'Businesses Create Jobs'.  Appearing at a Boston rally for Democrat gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley on Friday, Hillary Clinton told the crowd gathered at the Park Plaza Hotel not to listen to anybody who says that "businesses create jobs."  "Don't let anybody tell you it's corporations and businesses create jobs," Clinton said.

For Democrats, Obama is the October surprise.  No Democrat wants to be tied to a president who promises prosperity and delivers malaise.  "The reminders are everywhere," says Freedom Partners spokesman James Davis.  "The struggle to find a good-paying job, health care uncertainty because of broken promises, tax dollars taken from their paychecks only to be wasted, special treatment for politicians and a failure of government to care for veterans.  Election Day is Americans' opportunity to stand up and say 'enough.'"

Obama's Enablers in the Senate.  Is there a single Obama initiative that has actually worked as advertised, or even one that has improved the lives of most Americans or improved the U.S.'s standing in the world? [...] For the so-called stimulus act of 2009, Obama promised hundreds of thousands of "shovel-ready jobs."  There were instead, approximately ... none.  The president later tried to turn his own prior promise into a punch line, quipping, at a meeting of his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, that "shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected."  Hilarious.  What's not so funny is that every Democratic senator voted for the bill.

There's no sugar-coating Obama's economy.  During his 60 Minutes interview late last month, President Obama put an old and familiar rhetorical question to the voters:  "Ronald Reagan used to ask the question, 'Are you better off than you were four years ago?' ... And the answer is, the country is definitely better off than we were when I came into office."  Most members of the public do not share this view, according to this week's Washington Post/ABC News poll.

Why Have So Many Americans Dropped Out of the Workforce in the Obama Years?  Since Barack Obama entered the Oval Office in January of 2009,the percentage of the working age population actually part of the labor force (either working or looking for work) has plummeted by 3 percentage points — to 62.7%.  Not since early 1978 has such a low proportion of the working-age population been in the labor force.  In effect, the labor force is 7.4 million smaller than it otherwise would have been had people either not stopped looking for work or, particularly with the case of younger Americans, simply failed to start looking for work.  In effect, nearly as many Americans have either left the work force — or never entered — in this recovery than have found a job.  That's a very distressing trend.  It also explains the big dive in the official unemployment rate to 5.9%.  Unemployment keeps going down as more Americans give up looking for a job.

The Not-Credible Shrinking Unemployment Rate.  The highest-profile metric to which the president can point as representing a degree of economic progress is the official unemployment rate.  It dropped to 5.9 percent in the BLS's Friday [10/10/2014] report, its last such pre-midterm missive.  A confidential source who is in a position to know has told me that almost everyone tasked with gathering and submitting the raw data the bureau uses in preparing the Household Survey, the underlying report which forms the basis for BLS's calculation of the unemployment rate, believes that it should be significantly higher.

Why the White House Fudged the Numbers on Student Loans.  Eager to broadcast some good news approaching the midterm elections, the Obama administration recently announced a welcome dip in student loan defaults, from 14.7 percent for the 2010 cohort (loans taken out in that year) to 13.7 percent for 2011.  Policymakers, alarmed about how our trillion-dollar student loan burden and soaring default rates are undermining our economic growth, cheered the report.  Unfortunately, it turns out the numbers are bogus.

Obama Blames The Media For His Low Polls.  Americans don't understand that economy is doing great because the press is biased against good news, President Barack Obama told a group of prosperous donors Tuesday [10/7/2014].  "Frankly, the press and Washington, all it does is feed cynicism," he insisted, despite getting six years of favorable coverage from establishment newspapers and TV shows.  "Most of you don't know the statistics I just gave you," Obama said, after listing a series of cherry-picked data that ignored that roughly 10 million Americans who have given up looking for work, and the $7 trillion in added debt.

CBO charts changes in long-term unemployed.  A larger share of the long-term unemployed this year have been women, college graduates and people ages 55 or older, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).  Comparing March 2007 to March 2014, the CBO found the percentage of women who have been out of work for a long period has increased by 9 percentage points.  Similarly, the percentage of college graduates and people over 55 who account for the long-term unemployed has each increased by 7 percentage points.

Michelle Obama: U.S. Has Improved 'By Almost Every Economic Measure'.  In a speech in Boston, First Lady Michelle Obama left behind talk of exercise and school lunches, exchanging it all for bald politics by claiming that under her husband the US economy is now better off "by almost every economic measure."

Strange coincidence department.  I guess Obama is just lucky the way unemployment figures unexpectedly dropped right before the last two elections while he was in office, and then bounced upward afterwards.  Sheer coincidence.  Well, whaddya know?  Unemployment just dropped again before the 2014 elections!

Obama-conomy Wreaking Havoc on Middle Class.  While the media has been quick to carry Barack Obama's mid-term water in pushing the notion that unemployment is down to "5.9% ... its lowest level since 2008," what they aren't pointing out is how disastrous the Obama economy has been for the middle class.  In essence, real wages continue to shrink and any gap with a so called 1%, many of whom support Democrat policies, has only continued to grow during Obama's time in office.

Record 92,584,000 Not in Labor Force; Participation Hits 36-Year Low.  A record 92,584,000 Americans 16 and older did not participate in the labor force in September, as the labor force participation rate dropped to 62.7 percent, a level it has not seen in 36 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday.  Six times in the last twelve months, the participation rate has been as low as 62.8 percent; but September's 62.7 percent is the lowest since February of 1978.

315,000 drop out of the workforce, now 92.6 million!.  Yet again, more people dropped out of the labor market than got jobs in September 2014.  The unemployment rate, which is a complete fraud dropped to 5.9%, the lowest since 2008.  The media will have their numbers to spin in hopes of helping Democrats for next month's election.  But the true story about this latest jobs report is the 315,000 people who dropped out of the labor force.  There are now 92.6 million Americans not in the labor force.  With 92.6 Americans out of the labor force, the labor participation rate is at [its] lowest level since February 1978, during Jimmy Carter days.  Thanks Obama!

Obama's trickle-up economy.  Happy days are not yet here again for American workers, regardless of the cheering generated by the government's latest report on job creation.  The number of people collecting paychecks rose more than had been expected and the tally of people counted as jobless fell, placing the unemployment rate — 5.9% — at its lowest level since 2008.  While the trends are positive, they offer only distant hope to a middle class that is taking home less pay than it used to and can only watch as the wealthy enjoy ever greater prosperity.

Captain Obama handcuffs Democrats to the deck chairs on the Titanic.  Just wait until people realize the "good September jobs report" Obama's trying to talk up is actually just the usual combination of burger-flipper part-time jobs and a collapsing workforce.

A Loss of Confidence in American Institutions.  The U.S. economy added 248,000 jobs in September, and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.9 percent.  But the labor force participation rate continued to fall, average hourly earnings seem frozen, and over 13 percent of workers are either out of work, involuntarily working part time or too discouraged to keep hunting for jobs, and 20 percent of teenagers are out of work.  In short, two cheers for the latest report, but hold the champagne.

Obama Claims His Economy Is A Success.  President Barack Obama claimed Thursday that "the facts" demonstrate that his economic policies are safely guiding the nation's towards middle-class prosperity.  "Those are the facts," he said.  "It's not conjecture, it's not opinion...  I laid out facts," he told his audience of upper-income progressives at Northwestern University in Illinois Oct. 2.  Obama's pitch to the progressives combined a mix of flattery, selective data and visceral campaign pitches, including promises of cheap loans for his student audience, more power for would-be regulators and greater wages for women.

Obama: The Country Is Better Off, People Just Don't Feel It.  President Obama firmly believes the United States is better off now than when he took office, even though the American people cannot "feel" it.  During an interview with 60 Minutes' Steve Kroft, Obama said, "the country is definitely better off than when I came into office."

Obama: US better off but people aren't 'feeling it'.  The president is delusional.  Or misinformed.  He also has a short memory.  How else do you explain his statement that the US is better off since he took office, but citizens just aren't feeling it because we haven't spent hundreds of billions more in stimulating the economy.

The Editor says...
The writer of the article immediately above left out one obvious explanation:  Barack H. Obama is a liar.

Americans' Wages Stagnant at 1988 Levels.  Importing more immigrant workers when more than 92 million Americans aren't participating in the labor market is indefensible.  The elite, mostly corporate America, but also universities and hospitals, profit immensely.  For the average American, however, the tens of thousands of visas issued annually since the early 1990s have taken their toll.  Originally intended to be only temporary, the H-1B is today integrally woven into the corporate fabric.

1 in 4 Americans 25-54 Not Working.  A new chart from the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee shows a startling fact: Almost 1 in 4 Americans between the ages of 25-54 (or prime working years) are not working.

Who Got the Jobs in Georgia?  Natives accounted for most of the growth in population, but all employment growth went to immigrants.

Who Got the Jobs in North Carolina?  Natives accounted for most of the growth in population, but all employment growth went to immigrants.

Who Got the Jobs in Florida?  State ranked high in growth 2000-2014, but most employment gains went to immigrants.

The Government and Corporate Media vs. Economic Reality.  I never believe government manufactured numbers.  They will always be adjusted, massaged, and manipulated to achieve a happy ending for the propagandists attempting to control and fleece the sheep. [...] Credit card debt has reached a new post recession high.  They tell me consumer confidence is soaring.  Forget about the 92 million working age Americans supposedly not in the labor force.  Forget about real household income hovering at 1999 levels.  Forget about median household net worth still 30% lower than 2007.  Forget about what you see with your own two eyes in malls, strip centers and office parks as you motor around our suburban sprawl empire of debt.  Those Store Closing, Space Available, and For Lease signs mean nothing.

Obama's Spin Can't Keep Up With America's Economic Reality.  At a Labor Day rally in Milwaukee, President Obama turned the limelight on himself, approvingly and inaccurately.  "By almost every measure," he declared, "the American economy and the American workers are better off than when I took office."  In contrast to Mr. Obama's self-congratulatory assertion, the Census Bureau reports that median household income in the United States, adjusted for inflation, is down by more than $2,000 since Obama's first inauguration in January 2009.  Additionally, as an indicator of the economic downturn, a sixth of the U.S. population is currently receiving food stamps, an increase in the participation rate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program of 61 percent since 2008.

Sorry, Obama Fans: Reagan Did Better on Jobs and Growth.  Supporters of President Barack Obama, such as one of his campaign donors Robert Deitrick, an Ohio financial advisor often quoted in Forbes and elsewhere, insist that the Obama economy has been much more robust than Ronald Reagan's.  Are they right?  Let's look at some numbers.

Long-term unemployed still at record levels.  The national economy, now in its sixth year of recovery, is gaining momentum and the unemployment rate has fallen sharply over the last year to 6.1%.  But the number and share of people out of work for more than six months, the so-called long-term unemployed, remain at historically high levels.  Of the 3 million long-term jobless today, about one-third have been unemployed for more than two years, Labor Department data show.  A small minority — roughly 100,000 Americans like Perry — have been actively looking for at least five years.

More Americans than forecast file jobless claims.  The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week to a two-month high, interrupting a steady decrease to the lowest level since before the last recession.  Jobless claims climbed by 11,000 to 315,000 in the week ended Sept. 6, which included the Labor Day holiday, a Labor Department report showed Thursday [9/11/2014].  It was the highest reading since June 28 and exceeded the Bloomberg survey median forecast of 300,000.  The data are difficult to adjust during holiday periods, a Labor Department spokesman said as the figures were released.

Lowering the Bar.  When they can't meet established performance standards, the left makes up excuses, lowers the standards, and, if necessary, revises history along the way.  In economics, there's hardly a better of example of this kind of deliberate responsibility avoidance than what has happened to the idea of "full employment."  Full employment is supposed to occur when "all ... who want to work and are allowed to work are able to find employment."

America's incredible shrinking labor force.  It came as quite a disappointment last Friday when the Labor Department announced that the U.S. economy created only 142,000 net jobs in August.  Even worse, this anemic number came with a downward revision of a combined net 28,000 jobs for the previous two months.  Now add to these a third unwelcome piece of news:  The U.S. labor force participation rate — that is, the share of working-age Americans who are either working or seeking work — has returned to a multi-decade low of 62.8 percent, down from 65.9 percent before the recession.

Jobs report: August numbers prove US economy is in crisis.  The U.S. economy created only 142,000 jobs in August, down from 212,000 in July, indicating the economy significantly slowed this summer.  Job creation is well below the pace needed to reemploy all the workers displaced during the financial crisis — the economy is in crisis! [...] Third quarter growth is likely in the range of 2 percent, and the Obama administration spin doctors will have a tough time selling these jobs data as anything but bad news.

These 5 Facts Debunk U.S. Jobs Recovery Myth.  Many economists and politicians treated the six-month string of 200,000-plus job gains as a major achievement.  But in fact it was merely a slight pickup in the pace of what has been an unusually slow recovery in the U.S. since the recession ended in June 2009.  The August jobs report is an example.  Unemployment edged down to 6.1% from 6.2% — "good" news until you realize it fell only because more Americans stopped looking for jobs.  A record 92.3 million adults are now "out of the workforce."  Economists note that previous August job reports have tended to be revised upward — and that this report will be, too.

Record 92,269,000 Not in Labor Force; Participation Rate Matches 36-Year Low.  A record 92,269,000 Americans 16 and older did not participate in the labor force in August, as the labor force participation rate matched a 36-year low of 62.8 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The labor force participation rate has been as low as 62.8 percent in six of the last twelve months, but prior to last October had not fallen that low since 1978.

Oh, Well. Can't Win 'Em All.  The monthly guessing games are of interest, certainly.  But the larger and continuing employment story might be better understood by focusing these two depressing facts:  [#1] Fewer Americans are now employed than when George W. Bush was in office.  [#2] Labor force participation is at a 36-year low.

U.S. Payroll Rise Is Weakest This Year at 142,000 for August.  American employers hired fewer workers than forecast in August and the jobless rate dropped because people left the workforce, bolstering those on the Federal Reserve who want to be more deliberate in removing monetary stimulus.  The 142,000 advance in payrolls was the smallest this year and followed a revised 212,000 gain in July, figures from the Labor Department showed today [9/5/2014] in Washington.  The reading was lower than the most pessimistic estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.  The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent last month from 6.2 percent, reflecting a drop in joblessness among teenagers as well as the decline in labor participation.

Where are the jobs? Political corruption hurts millions of Americans.  Friday [9/5/2014] the Labor Department is expected to report the economy added 230,000 jobs in August.  The pace has picked up a bit but is still far less than needed to reemploy all the prime aged workers displaced in the wake of the financial crisis.  The jobless rate is down to 6.1 percent but that statistic is deceptive.  For example, one in six adult males between the ages of 25 and 54 is not working.  Many don't show up in the unemployment count, because they are not actively looking for a job.

Millennial unemployment 15 percent.  Younger Americans still can't find a job.  The latest employment numbers have been digested by the millennial lobby Generation Opportunity which pegged August unemployment for all aged 18-29 at 15 percent, including those who have given up looking for work.  Patrice Lee, director of Outreach at Generation Opportunity, said, "15 percent of young people are still out of work and it's no secret why — government is too big, spending levels are too high, and opportunities for us are limited.  As we continue to work hard to create opportunities, politicians in Washington continue to impose policies that harm us."

Researchers: Unemployment rate isn't accurate.  The U.S. jobs report, a key measure of how well the economy is doing, has gotten increasingly less accurate in the past 20 years. [...] This problem dates back to a 1994 redesign of the survey when it went from paper-based to computer-based, although neither the researchers nor anyone else has been able to offer a reason for why the redesign has affected the numbers.  What the researchers found was that, for whatever reason, unemployed workers, who are surveyed multiple times are most likely to respond to the survey when they are first given it and ignore the survey later on.

US Economy Growing Slower than White House Predicted.  The U.S. economy has grown just 1.5 percent in the 2014 fiscal year — far slower than White House projections — while more than $500 billion of deficit spending was added to the national debt, according to projections released Wednesday by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.  Just last month the Obama administration forecast 2.6 percent GDP growth in 2014.

Unemployment rises in most US states in July.  Unemployment rates rose in 30 U.S. states last month, even as employers in two-thirds of the states stepped up hiring.

America's dumbed-down schools produce graduates with no marketable skills.
America's worker shortage: One million and counting.  America has a deficit of workers.  Willing workers.  Capable workers.  Skilled, or at least semi-skilled workers, who can do a job and do it well.  There are at least one million jobs that go begging day after day if only employers could find workers to fill them. [...] Why is it so hard to fill these jobs?  One reason is the curse of the so-called "skills mismatch."  American workers with high school or even college degrees just aren't technically qualified to do the jobs that are open.  This is a stunning indictment of our school system at all levels considering that all in parents and taxpayers often invest as much as $200,000 or more in a child's education.  We're not turning our kids into competent workers.

Missouri Democrat: 'They Cannot Find Jobs'.  Nationally, the unemployment rate for black Americans is more than double that of white Americans, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  The numbers released on Aug. 1 show the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for black Americans ages 16 and over was 11.4 percent (up from 10.7 percent in July), while the unemployment rate for whites 16 and over remained steady at 5.3 percent in August.  The picture is even grimmer for young blacks:  In August, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for blacks of both sexes, 16-19 years old, was 34.9 percent, almost double the 18.3 percent unemployment rate for whites of both sexes in that 16-19 age group.

Obama claims US is 'stronger' than 'when I first came into office' as economy weakens, debt soars.  President Barack Obama claimed Monday night [8/11/2014] during a Democratic Party fundraising dinner that the United States is 'stronger' than it was when he assumed office in January 2009.  His statement, though, appears to be at odds with key economic indicators, America's sliding reputation abroad, and the American public's estimation of the direction the country has taken under the Obama administration.

MSNBC Guest: 'Total Disconnect' Between Obama's Rhetoric and Economy.  Wall Street Journal White House correspondent Carol Lee told Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough Wednesday morning [8/6/2014] that there was a "total disconnect" between President Barack Obama's statements about the improving economy and the feeling amongst the American populace.  The comments were in response to an NBC News/WSJ poll showing the public felt dissatisfied with the economy by 2-1 margin, despite a strong second quarter GDP growth and months of steady employment gains.

Helping President Obama grasp his job numbers.  In his weekly remarks last Saturday [8/2/2014] and almost every other week, Obama has declared something like:  "Our economy created over 200,000 new jobs in July.  That's on top of about 300,000 new jobs in June." [...] Those new monthly job figures he cites are true, as far as they go.  But as usual with this Chicago pol's declaratory statements, there's much more hidden than revealed.  Obama does not mention that July's unemployment rate ticked up to 6.2%.  He does not mention that July's new employment figure was lower than expected.  And, of course, he will never recall that this is the fifth straight summer of the 2010 Recovery Summer that turned out to be as invisible as this administration's transparency.

11,472,000 Americans Have Left Workforce Since Obama Took Office.  11.4 million Americans age 16 and over have left the workforce since President Obama took office in January 2009, according to data released today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  In July 2014, there were 92,001,000 Americans, 16 and over, who were classified as "not in the labor force," meaning they not only did not have a job, but they didn't actively seek one in the last four weeks.  This number has increased by 11,472,000 since January 2009, when the number of Americans not in the labor force was 80,529,000.  The number of Americans not in the labor force dropped slightly in July, down 119,000 from the 92,120,000 Americans not in the labor force in June.

A confident and clueless president.  [Scroll down]  He [Obama] brags about the "52 consecutive months of job creation" ushered in by his election, takes credit for the energy boom and suggests to his interviewers that "I think you'd have to say that we've managed the economy pretty well."  Consider this self-assessment.  "Since I have come into office, there's almost no economic metric by which you couldn't say that the U.S. economy is better and that corporate bottom lines are better.  None."  This is a president who must look exclusively to Paul Krugman and the folks at MSNBC for economic facts and analysis.

Obama's Part-time Nation.  [Scroll down]  In fact, the number of full-time jobs in June dropped by 523,000, reported the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while part-time jobs increased by 799,000.  Placing the news about the 523,000 decline in full-time employment in June in a non-headline position, the "288,000 jobs created" headlines produced a false picture of a strong and continuing economic recovery.  In contrast, news reports headlining "523,000 full-time jobs lost in June" would have been more accurate and less rose-tinted.

Automation [is] the Joker in the Deck.  At the time of the first economic stimulus, Barack Obama referenced "shovel-ready jobs."  He has since made repeated comments about stimulating the economy through infrastructure projects.  What he, and those around him, do not realize is that technology has completely changed the picture.  The Depression-era images that his phrase calls to mind no longer exist.

11,472,000 Americans Have Left Workforce Since Obama Took Office.  11.4 million Americans age 16 and over have left the workforce since President Obama took office in January 2009, according to data released today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  In July 2014, there were 92,001,000 Americans, 16 and over, who were classified as "not in the labor force," meaning they not only did not have a job, but they didn't actively seek one in the last four weeks.  This number has increased by 11,472,000 since January 2009, when the number of Americans not in the labor force was 80,529,000.

EPA Regs Still Busy Killing Coal Jobs.  When The Idiot King said he would have a "laser-like" focus on jobs oh so long ago he really didn't specify whether he would be focused on creating or destroying them.  At least we've cleared that up.  These greendoggle regulations aren't just wreaking havoc on an industry, they're intentionally assaulting one of poorest regions of the United States.

Bouncing Back, Economy Grew 4% for Quarter.  The Commerce Department, in its initial estimate for April, May and June, reported on Wednesday [7/30/2014] that the economy grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4 percent, surpassing expectations.  During the first quarter, output shrank at a rate of 2.1 percent, less than had been reported.  The department had earlier said that first-quarter output fell 2.9 percent.

U.S. jobless claims turn higher one week after touching 14-year low.  One week after falling to a 14-year low, the number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits rose sharply last week but remained near a postrecession bottom.  Initial jobless claims climbed by 23,000 to 302,000 in the seven days ended July 26, retracing the entire decline in prior week, according to Labor Department data.  The level of claims was in line with Wall Street expectations.

The Editor says...
Watch for a downward revision in two or three weeks.  And I do mean watch, because it will be hard to find in the newspapers.

Obama: 'It's Pretty Hard To Find An Economic Measure Where We're Not Significantly Better Off'.  President Obama put his rosy glasses on for an interview with CNBC on Thursday [7/24/2014], claiming "It's pretty hard to find an economic measure where we're not significantly better off." [...] The president pointed to the massive ballooning of the stock market and corporate profits under his administration, the decline of workers seeking unemployment benefits and a recovering auto industry.  He even took credit for the nation's natural gas boom and the moderate rollback of the federal deficit.

Bursting With Pride (and Ignorance).  Jobs and unemployment figures are certainly what we hear about in MSM.  They have been the standard benchmarks by which the economy and certainly the jobs market is judged.  They can, however, be very misleading — even apart from the fact that the government counts as employed anyone who did any work ("at least one hour") for pay or profit during the survey reference week.  Putting those benchmarks in context paints a very different picture.  Job growth needs to be placed in context with the growth of the labor force.  If job growth does not keep pace with labor force growth then that is hardly progress.  In fact, job growth has not kept pace with the growth of the labor force.  The labor force participation rate has declined to a 36 year low.

Obama Recovery Turns 5: Are You Better Off?  Real per capita GDP is up just 6% since the recovery started, and if the economy had merely kept pace with the average postwar recovery, total GDP would be $1.6 trillion bigger than it is today.  Job growth is about half the average pace of the previous 10 recoveries — which translates into 7 million fewer jobs than an average recovery would have produced.

Right-To-Work Study Destroys Obama's Claim That Forcing Americans To Join Unions Helps The Economy.  In December of 2012, speaking in front of a union audience, President Obama was cheered when he claimed that "right-to-work" laws — laws that allow employees to decide for themselves whether to join a union — were all about politics and had nothing to do with economics.  In other words, he was advocating for forced unionism.  Turns out he was incredibly wrong.

GOP: 10 million more Americans are not working than when Obama took office.  On the president's watch, the number of Americans age 16 and over who are not working has jumped to a record 92 million.  That's about 10 million more Americans not working than when President Obama took the oath of office.  Hard-working taxpayers know we can do better.

Jeff Sessions Challenges Dems: Prove There's a Shortage of American High-Tech Workers.  Speaking on the Senate floor [7/17/2014], Sessions mentioned that just a week before Microsoft's announcement, Microsoft's former CEO Bill Gates joined with two other "masters of the universe" to urge Congress to remove limits on the number of guest-worker visas that can be awarded.  "So today I'm going to issue a challenge to Majority Leader Reid and every single one of our 55 Senate Democrats who voted unanimously for this Gang-of-Eight bill," Sessions said, emphasizing that the bill would double the number of guest-worker visas that are awarded.  "With Microsoft laying off 18,000 workers, come down to the Senate floor and tell me that there's a shortage of qualified Americans to fill STEM jobs.

The Editor says...
There is no shortage of workers for so-called STEM jobs.  Job fairs are full of candidates with advanced degrees in math and physics, for whom there are no jobs outside of the federal government.  And if NASA were to shut down, there would be a glut of rocket scientists who would have to switch to a marketable profession.

Obama: treacherous or incompetent?  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2007 on the eve of the recession, there were 146.6 million Americans working.  Today, after six years of the Obama Administration, there are 145.8 million Americans in jobs, 800,000 below the previous peak.  Since Obama came into office in 2009, 7.2 million people have left the workforce, making the true unemployment rate 8.3 percent, not 6.1 percent.  Median household income is down almost $2,300 from what it was when Obama took office.  Real wages are lower than they were in 1999.  Growth in the first quarter of this year was a negative 2.9%, the biggest downward revision from the agency's second GDP estimate since records began in 1976.

What's behind Chicago's carnage.  [Scroll down]  Too few also seemed to care that almost everything the president had promised about Obamacare — keep your health plan, retain your doctor, save money on your premiums, sign up easily online, while we were lowering the annual deficit and reducing medical expenditures — was an abject lie. In such a climate, Obama felt no need to issue accurate data about how many Americans had lost their health plans, how many had simply transferred to Obamacare from Medicaid, how many had actually paid their premiums, or how many were still uninsured.

What's behind Chicago's carnage.  The media ignored the serial $1 trillion deficits, the chronic high unemployment and low growth, the nonexistence of the long-promised "summer of recovery," and the nonappearance of "millions of shovel-ready and green jobs."  The fact that electrical-power rates, gasoline prices, and food costs have soared under Obama as wages have stagnated has never really been noticed.  Nor have the record numbers of Americans on food stamps and disability insurance.

Your Monday Morning Doom & Gloom.  The United States lost over half a million full-time jobs just last month.  523,000 full-time positions eliminated.  We haven't seen that kind of shrinkage since the dark days of 2008-09. [...] We should cheer that the total number of Americans with jobs is going steadily up, but those cheers should be muted by the tough reality that when it comes to creating jobs, the Obama economy isn't quite treading water.

This month's jobs headlines don't tell the true story.  I'll admit I am weary of having to blow the whistle and expose the truth every time this White House pats itself on the back about this or that piece of economic data.  Anyway, here we go again.  Last month, 523,000 full-time jobs were lost, while 799,000 part-time jobs were added.  Another way of looking at these numbers is that almost all of the 288,000 jobs created last month were just part-time positions.  And remember, not even that would happen if President Obama got his way and raised the minimum wage during this anemic recovery.  We need more robust job growth in this country, but, specifically, we need good, well-paying, full-time jobs.  Right now, only 47.7 percent of adults in America are working full-time.  Losing more than half a million full-time jobs in one month is not indicative of a strong, growing economy.  It's a red light flashing on the nation's dashboard.

Millennials Unemployment Report: 15.2% of Workers 18-29 Out of Work.  In an unemployment report issued by Generation Opportunity, a Millinneal think tank, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that 15.2 percent of adults age 18-29 were unemployed in June.  This percentage includes those people who are no longer looking for work.  "15.2 percent of young people are out of work," Patrice Lee, director of outreach at Generation Opportunity, said in a statement on Thursday [7/3/2014].  "On top of not having jobs and struggling with student loan debt, young people are paying for crony government policies like the Export-Import Bank."  "My generation needs more jobs," Lee said, "not more spending that only ends up lining the pockets of wealthy corporations."  The report, using non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) data, shows the actual unemployment rate for all adults age 18 to 29 is 10.5 percent.

National Heartburn, Even With an Improving Economy.  Unfortunately, the labor force participation rate — the share of the population either working or looking for work — remains at the lowest level in around thirty years.  Also on the dreary side of the ledger:  the number of workers involuntarily working part-time rose by 275,000, new jobs are mostly in the low-paying retail, hospitality, and health-care sectors, which is why average hourly earnings are up only 2 percentin the past year, and [...]

War on Women: Record Number Not in Labor Force in June.  According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of women 16 and older not in the labor force rose to a record high of 55,299,000 in June, says CNSNews.  "This means that there were 55,299,000 women 16 and older who not only did not have a job, they did not actively seek one in the last four weeks.  That is up 282,000 from the 55,017,000 women who were not in the labor force in May," CNS News explains.  The labor force participation rate for women in June was 56.8 percent, the lowest of this year, according to BLS.  October of 2013 saw the same participation rate for women, but not since October of 1988 was the rate this low.

Dow hits historic 17,000 high as U.S. jobs numbers skyrocket.  The United States added a stunning 288,000 jobs last month, sending the unemployment rate down to 6.1 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shooting over 17,000 for the first time. [...] The unemployment rate dropped .2 percent to 6.1, the lowest since September 2008.

The Editor says...
A drop of 0.2 percent in the unemployment rate (which does not include people who have given up on finding a job) is hardly what I would call "skyrocketing," especially since this rosy picture will be revised downward in two or three weeks with a lot less fanfare.

No President's Ever Dodged Duty As Barack Obama Has.  At first, the White House blamed the underperforming economy on the Polar Vortex, the severe cold weather in the East and Midwest in January and February.  Then, when the gross national product numbers were revised downward, no one believed a cold winter could cause a 3% economic contraction.  A survey of other really cold winters in the past reveals the economy still managed to grow.

This is an actual quote from the president — really.  "By every economic measure, we are better off now than we were when I took office.  You wouldn't know it, but we are," the president said Friday [6/27/2014].  That's right, the president — the president of the United States, mind you — says Americans are better off, they just don't know it.  That is the height to which the president has raised his level of mendacity.  He has the sheer audacity to tell Americans that he has successfully turned the economy around, that things are all good, but that there are no real quantifiable indicators by which they could ever know that.  In fact, Mr. Obama says Americans have never had it so good.

Behind the Levitation.  Last week when I commented on the downward revision of the already weak First Quarter GDP numbers, several commenters wrote in to ask:  what is keeping the stock market so high?  Great question, with the best answer being ZIRP, the Federal Reserve's "zero interest rate policy," now matched by many other central banks (with some actually now employing negative interest rates). [...] It has always been true, however, that times of loose money tend to send stock prices higher than intrinsic valuation might warrant, as the money has nowhere else to go to get plausible returns.

They Took Our Jobs! Study Finds ALL New Jobs Went to Immigrants.  A shocking new report from the Center for Immigration Studies claims to prove that every single new job created in America for the last fourteen years has gone to immigrants, legal and illegal.  This would fly in the face of those who claim that immigration is an economic boon to native born Americans.

Thanks, Obama! 1st Quarter GDP Was Actually a Disastrous -2.9%.  So basically it was three times as bad as first reported, but let's all pretend things will improve in the second quarter.  This is all so unexpected.

The new GDP numbers are terrible.  The economy contracted dramatically in the first quarter of 2014, according to re-revised data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  The federal department's initial assessment of Q1 2014 was that the nation's economic activity had expanded slightly.  After getting more data, it revised that estimate to a 1 percent contraction.  The third estimate, however, is much more severe:  the economy contracted 2.9 percent.

Big Losers in GDP Report: Democrats.  You can sum up today's report on first-quarter gross domestic product in one short word:  oof.  The last estimate had GDP shrinking slightly from the prior quarter.  The current estimate has it shrinking a lot:  2.9 percent on an annualized basis.  If this keeps up for another quarter, the economy will officially be in recession.  How did this happen?

Mr. Obama, where are our 5 million missing jobs?  One of the misleading headlines from last month's employment report was that all the jobs lost during the recession have finally been won back.  Well, not really.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2007 on the eve of the recession, there were 146.6 million Americans working.  Today, there are 145.8 million Americans in jobs.  So nearly 7 years later, we are still 800,000 jobs below the previous peak.  That's some jobs recovery.

GDP: Another 'No Biggie'?  When the Commerce Department said two months ago the economy had eked out a 0.1% gain in the first quarter, the White House and various economists said growth would have been higher if not for the bitter winter.  When Commerce revised that number down to -1% in May, the same crowd again blamed Jack Frost.  Now that it turns out the economy contracted 2.9% in the first three months of the year — the largest drop since 2009 and the sharpest downward revision in the government's history of making such estimates — everyone says "no biggie."  These are, you see, backward-looking numbers; all signs point to growth ahead.

The Editor says...
You car's speedometer indicates a number as you drive down the road.  Is that a "backward-looking number?"  The Census Bureau announces the U.S. population every ten years.  Is that a "backward-looking number?"  Sometimes the only numbers available are backward-looking, because there are some numbers that cannot be predicted.

The 1st Quarter Decline in GDP: Cold Weather, or Bad Policy?  This morning, as Steve noted, the Commerce Department revised its estimate of 1st quarter GDP to show a shocking 2.9% annualized decline.  The White House tried to spin the awful numbers, arguing that the drop was largely accounted for by cold weather.  (Does this mean that we should look forward to global warming as an economic boon?)

The Economy Tanked Last Quarter And It's Everybody's Fault But Obama's.  The U.S. economy shrank at an annual rate of 2.9 percent during the first three months of 2014, government bean counters announced this morning.  That matches the worst non-recession contraction of the U.S. economy in over 40 years.  Each quarter, the government releases three sets of numbers gauging the size of the U.S. economy:  preliminary, revised, and final.  Today's numbers were the final version.  This is important, because the numbers drastically changed throughout the process, as did the liberal spin about the economy.

US economy shrank at steep 2.9 percent rate in Q1.  The first-quarter contraction reported Wednesday [6/25/2014] by the Commerce Department was even more severe than the 1 percent annual decline it had estimated a month ago.

The Federal Octopus.  [Scroll down]  The Bureau of Economic Analysis altered its methodology so that private enterprise's research-and-development expenses are counted as proof of investment growth.  The result was a hoped-for higher rate of GDP growth to report to the public.  In the same vein, before the 2012 election, the Census Bureau massaged survey results so that the Labor Department could underreport unemployment statistics.  The department also changed its way of reporting unemployment — in a way that we could not have imagined before Obama.  Those out of work for more 52 weeks were no longer "unemployed" but reclassified as permanently out of the workforce altogether.

Pro-Amnesty Elites Treat People as 'Commodities'.  Rupert Murdoch also recently argued for a dramatic expansion of the controversial H1B guest worker program.  Murdoch writes that "there is a shortage of qualified American candidates," to fill jobs in STEM fields like computer services and engineering.  But the evidence shows the opposite:  the US graduates approximately twice as many STEM-trained students each year as there are STEM jobs to fill.

As Millennials Struggle Through Obama Economy, President Offers Pledges, Not Jobs.  While the Obama economy has affected all Americans, stubbornly high unemployment has had a particularly harsh effect on younger workers attempting to join the workforce.  That reality was driven home by the recent jobs report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  While the unemployment rate for 20 to 24-year-olds jumped from 10.6 percent to 11.1 percent in May, the true state of employment for young workers, and recent college graduates in particular, is likely much more tenuous.

19 Reasons Why You Can Laugh When Anyone Tells You That The Economy Is In Good Shape.  Nobody that takes an honest look at the numbers can honestly say that the U.S. economy has recovered.

Unemployment: the Numbers behind the Numbers.  Jobs growth has not even kept pace with growth in the working-age population, much less restored jobs lost in the recession.  The working-age population increased by 206,000 in September while new jobs grew by 114, 000, and that's down from 141,000 in August.  This isn't just a one month phenomenon.  Job growth has failed to keep up with population growth throughout Obama's term in office.

Is the unemployment rate really 6.3 percent? Or is it 12.2 percent?  The Labor Department actually releases six different numbers every month.  These are called "U-1" through "U-6" and range from a narrow definition of the unemployed population and to a much broader one.  The department's monthly report always uses the U-3 figure as the "official" number though.  Virtually all media outlets take their cue from the department on this.  That's why this month's U-3 result — 6.3 percent — dominated the news reports.  Why that figure and not one of the other five?

Harry Reid: $1.7 Million Sale of My Home Will Create 60 Jobs!  Harry Reid isn't just moving to Las Vegas from his hometown of Searchlight, Nev., to be closer to his grandchildren — he's also looking to give the economy a boost.  Reid and his wife Landra sold their home in Searchlight for $1.7 million to Nevada Milling and Mining, a mining company, over the weekend. [...] He also cited his upcoming reelection campaign in 2016 and the constant travel required to Sin City as another reason for the relocation.

An Increased Minimum Wage Equals Greater Unemployment.  It's June, a month famed for marriages, but it is likely to be remembered for the high rate of teen unemployment which has been soaring for a long time.  By February, the national unemployment rate for youth, age 16 to 19, had reached 20.7%.  By November 2013 it was three times higher than the national average of 6.6% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Where have all the missing American workers gone?  While the overall jobless level has dropped to non-recession levels, the number of the working-age people with jobs is barely over 6 in 10, hovering at a level reminiscent of the late 1970s.

US Job Market Recovers Losses Yet Appears Weaker.  Friday's report from the government revealed an economy healing yet marked by deep and lasting scars.

The Most Startling Chart of the Obama Era.  Adjusted for seasonality, the labor force participation rate (LFR) has never increased — not once — under Obama!  Normalized by month, the LFR has been on a non-stop ride to progressive Utopia (i.e., full unemployment).  This is a stunning repudiation of the Obama economic agenda.

Every Month Under President Obama, One Thing Has Always Gone Down.  This is the labor force participation rate.  If that sounds like a technical term that only economists would care about, that's a mistake.  It's the percentage of the labor force that is actually working.  As Doug Ross points out on his blog, adjust for seasonality and look down the columns for each month, while paying special attention to 2009.  Look closely.

Percentage Not in Labor Force Remains at 36-Year High.  The percentage of American civilians 16 or older who do not have a job and are not actively seeking one remained at a 36-year high in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  In December, April, and now May, the labor force participation rate has been 62.8 percent.  That means that 37.2 percent were not participating in the labor force during those months.  Before December, the last time the labor force participation rate sunk as low as 62.8 percent was February 1978, when it was also 62.8 percent.  At that time, Jimmy Carter was president.

The Job Killer You Probably Haven't Heard About.  The more we dig into the Export-Import Bank, the more unbelievable it seems that this agency still exists.  American taxpayers' money is at risk — backing loans to foreign governments and businesses to buy products from politically favored U.S. companies.  This is killing jobs in several American industries.  We recently exposed the Export-Import Bank's false claim that it is a friend to small businesses.  Now check out our new infographic about the bank's impact on U.S. jobs.

Obama's Little Orphan Economy Growth Is Always a Day Away.  The economy "unexpectedly" contracted at an annual rate of 1% in the first three months of the year.  But fear not!  The prosperity that President Obama has promised for five years will be here tomorrow!  Obama's top economic adviser, Jason Furman, dismissed the news that the 1% drop was twice as big as economists had predicted just a few weeks ago.  This was, he said, almost entirely due to a downward revision in the "highly volatile inventories category" and some bad winter weather in some parts of the country.  "More up-to-date data," Furman says, show that the economy "continues to recover."  The media largely parroted his talking point, quoting various economists reassuring us that there'll be strong growth come spring.  CNN, for instance, headlined its story "U.S. economy shrinks, but it's not a big deal."

Honey, we shrunk the economy.  When Brooklyn had its beloved Dodgers, residents coped with disappointment with this oft-repeated declaration:  "Wait 'til next year!"  Today's economists have their own version. Amid a five-year economic recovery that's never quite taken off, they say, "Wait 'til next quarter."  Now we're going through another round as the Commerce Department announced Thursday [5/29/2014] the economy contracted by a rate of 1 percent in this year's first quarter.  That's worse than what experts had expected, the result of a big downward adjustment to investment in inventory.

'Recovering' U.S. Economy Unexpectedly Shrinks by 1 Percent.  We know that... err... certain things shrink on contact with the cold, and the winter is among the factors being blamed for an unexpected 1 percent contraction in U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  After healthy growth in the fourth quarter of 2013, a slight slowdown was expected at the beginning of 2014, but the downturn caught economists by surprise.  The last economic contraction was during the first quarter of 2011.

Obama Economy Shrivels In First Quarter Of 2014.  The economy shrank by one percent during the first three months of 2014, according to new report by the Bureau of Economic Affairs.  That's almost a four-point drop from the last quarter, when the economy grew by 2.6 percent.  The drop highlights President Barack Obama's economic record, which has produced a very slow recovery from the 2008 crash.  The economy grew 2.8 percent in 2012, and 1.9 percent in 2013, which was much slower than during previous post-crash periods.

US economy shrank at 1 percent rate in Q1.  This year's weakening reflected slower stockpiling by businesses, a cutback in business investment and a wider trade deficit.

U.S. Economy Contracts for First Time Since '11.  The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter for the first time in three years as it buckled under the weight of a severe winter, but there are signs activity has since rebounded.  The Commerce Department on Thursday revised down its growth estimate to show gross domestic product shrinking at a 1.0 annual rate.  It was the worst performance since the first quarter of 2011 and reflected a far slower pace of inventory accumulation and a bigger than previously estimated trade deficit.  The government had previously estimated GDP growth expanding at a 0.1 percent rate.

CNN produces the most biased headline of the month:
U.S. economy shrinks, but it's not a big deal.  Revised numbers released Thursday show the economy shrank in the first quarter, marking the first downturn since early 2011.  Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic growth, fell at a 1% annual pace, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The 6 Lamest Excuses For Failure From The Obama Administration.  [#5]  Obama blamed ATM machines and airport kiosks for his inability to create jobs:  Barack Obama's far left-wing economic policies have created a semi-permanent, Jimmy-Carter-style malaise that appears to be on track to last throughout his entire presidency.  Of course, Obama isn't going to admit that his policies are putting millions of Americans out of work; so he blamed ATM machines and other technical advances, as if that hasn't been going on since the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century.

Americans Skeptical About Government Statistics.  A recent Yougov/Economist poll evaluated Americans' level of skepticism concerning government statistics.  It found that 59% of respondents believed there were actually more unemployed people than what the BLS reported.  Only 16% thought the numbers were accurate, and 6% thought there were fewer unemployed than reported.  With 806,000 workers dropping out of the labor force in April, it is no wonder that there is skepticism about unemployment statistics.

Labor Force Participation Rate Drops to 62.8%.  On Friday [5/2/2014], the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced that the unemployment rate had dropped to 6.3 percent in April, down from 6.7 percent in March.  The announcement marks the lowest the rate has been since September 2008 when it was 6.1 percent.  However, the number of people who have dropped out of the labor force is in the millions.

Trick or truth! Can you even tell the difference?  Here are some commonly asserted falsehoods that you are expected to believe just because they are repeated often enough. [...] Falsehood Nos. 3 & 4)  Inflation and unemployment are both going down under President Obama!  No wonder!  Under the current administration the numbers have been monkey-wrenched for both of these key economic metrics.  Unemployment statistics no longer count "discouraged workers," those people who have been unemployed for more than 12 months but have given up looking for work.  Say what?  Is there some universe in which those discouraged workers are not unemployed?  And when you hear any glowing reports about inflation you should be equally skeptical since the administration years ago removed food and gas prices out of the inflation index even though they are a huge component of middle- and lower-class consumer spending.

Applications for US unemployment benefits fall to 297,000, lowest level in 7 years.  The Labor Department says weekly unemployment benefit applications dropped 24,000 to 297,000, the fewest since May 12, 2007.

Economy Not Keeping Up With Population Growth.  Despite adding more than 8 million people to the working-age population since 2007, total employment has declined by half a million, according to an analysis by the Senate Budget Committee.  Before President Barack Obama took office 259.7 million people were part of the working-age population, or between ages 16 and 65.  Now, the number has risen to 267.7 million.

Sequester Resulted in One Layoff.  Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) is launching an investigation after revelations that sequestration resulted in only one government layoff in 2013.  According to a report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the only layoff that occurred to help achieve the $85.3 billion in spending cuts took place in the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Despite doomsday predictions, report finds only 1 layoff from sequester cuts.  Despite doomsday warnings from the White House and lawmakers on both sides that hundreds of thousands would lose their jobs as a result of the sequester, it turns out the budget cuts have only led to one job being lost among 23 federal agencies.  Now Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is demanding answers as to why the Obama administration repeatedly warned taxpayers that the $85.3 billion in spending cuts, which went into effect in March 2013, would threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs.  The findings were revealed in a government watchdog report.

Sequester Death Toll: One Job.  Sequestration, after all, was supposed to hack apart the social order as we knew it.  Chris Matthews called it a "doomsday machine."  President Obama warned that "people are going to be hurt."  The Congressional Budget Office predicted 750,000 jobs could be lost.  Sequestration, as the trendy metaphor went, was a meat cleaver when what we really needed was a scalpel.  It now seems the cleaver had a rather dull edge. A recent Government Accountability Office found that the sequester resulted in exactly one government layoff.  One.

GAO Report: Only one government employee lost their [sic] job due to sequester.  Remember the sequester?  When government was forced to cut $80 billion in spending, the cries of pain and outrage from government managers and the White House was overwhelming.  All those poor, federal employees!  Administration economists — and their lackeys in the press — even tried to claim that economic growth was severerly affected by the cuts.  Now comes a GAO report to dash some cold water on those overheated claims.

Sequestration myths damage public faith in government [and the news media].  Remember those sequestration federal spending cuts of 2012?  How could anybody forget them, considering the apocalyptic disasters they were sure to cause, according to the endless predictions of President Obama, his Democratic allies in Congress and the dominant narrative of the mainstream media. [...] Without these government workers, desperately needed programs and essential services would end.  Kids would be tossed out of Head Start, single mothers deprived of food stamps, and Social Security checks delayed.

What is the Real Unemployment Rate?  When people who are effectively unemployed abandon their search for work, they are removed by Labor Dept. beancounters from the ranks of the labor force, which means they are no longer counted as being unemployed.  The result of that move is to artificially depress the headline unemployment rate, hence the large gap between the headline unemployment rate and the dropout-adjusted unemployment rate.

This Is Exactly Why Democrats Have Lost Trust on the Economy.  While the administration touted last week's announcement that the unemployment rate fell from 6.7% in March to 6.3% in April, the primary factor in the decline was this:  more than 800,000 people either stopped looking for a job or left the job market altogether.  Anyway, do the math:  The administration claims 288,000 jobs were created in April, but the 800,000 pushes the total number of Americans not in the labor force to a record high 92,594,000.

5 Cautionary Signs Tucked Into April's Jobs Report.  The survey of businesses showed 288,000 more jobs.  Yet the household survey, in calculating unemployment, found that 73,000 fewer people had jobs.

Labor Secretary Dismisses Historical Drop in Labor Participation Rate.  According to the Department of Labor the economy created 288,000 jobs in the month of April, but the labor participation rate dropped 0.4 percentage points back to a historical low of 62.8 percent.  Host David Faber put it to [Secretary of Labor Tom] Perez directly, noting the labor participation rate drop is not due to people retiring given the participation rate for individuals 55 and older actually increased.

U.S. economy slows to stall-speed.  Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, grew at a 0.1% annual pace in the first quarter, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Wednesday [4/30/2014].  That's brutally slow, even by sluggish post-recession standards.  Since the Great Recession ended in June 2009, the economy has been growing at a rate of about 2% to 3% per year.  Economists think the slowdown is merely a temporary phenomenon due to harsh winter weather.  If that theory holds true, the economy should bounce back in the spring.

The Jobs Report Isn't as Good as It Looks.  At first glance, the new reading on the nation's employment situation is shout-from-the-roof-tops, pop-the-Champagne fantastic.  The unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent from 6.7 percent, and employers added a whopping 288,000 jobs, the most in two years.  Those types of numbers, if sustained, would signal something better than just the humdrum, sluggish recovery of the last few years, and something far more robust.  But where the last couple of months have had disappointing top-line numbers with some excellent trends bubbling beneath the surface, this one pairs the excellent surface news with a soft underbelly.

The Editor says...
Lete's wait a couple of weeks for the inevitable Friday night "revisions" and we'll see how good the numbers really are.

Economic Report: Growth Flatlines and the White House Blames the Weather.  The economy grew one-tenth of one percent, on an annualized basis, according to today's report from the Department of Commerce.  The forecast was for growth of 1.2%.  That's a 96% drop from last quarter's 2.6% growth.  Why did the economy's growth drop to almost zero over the quarter?  According to the White House's statement, it's primarily due to the weather.

Why Democrats Should Avoid the 'R' Word.  From time to time, we all read something where suddenly words jump out from the page, grabbing our attention.  This happened to me the other day while reading a memo from Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg and strategist James Carville, along with two of their colleagues who work for the Democracy Corps, Erica Seifert and Fredrica Mayer. [...] The key phrase in the Greenberg/Carville memo was, "As a start, Democrats should bury any mention of 'the recovery.'"

U.S. job growth is coming in all the wrong places.  Yes, employment is coming back, but so much of it is not good employment.  According to a new analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the industries responsible for the most job creation over the last four years are also the industries that pay the least.  We're talking about jobs pushing retail (that's a $10.37 median hourly wage), answering phones ($13.33) and serving dinner ($9.48).  Together, these three industries — retail, administrative/support and food and drink services — account for 39 percent of the gains in private-sector employment since the recovery ostensibly began four years ago, according to the analysis by the National Employment Law Project.

Advice to Democrats: Don't say 'recovery'.  Election-year memo to Democratic candidates:  Don't talk about the economic recovery.

5 Million Missing From the Labor Force.  [A recent] CNBC article purports to show how complicated it can be to try to figure out what job numbers mean.  Much of it depends on how many left the labor force "voluntarily" and how many would like to look for a job if they thought there was any chance of success in doing so.  The article shows that the official unemployment rate is a rather meaningless figure.  It leaves out many unemployed people because they are not officially looking for work.

US employers add 192,000 jobs; rate stays at 6.7 percent.  The economy gained 192,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department said Friday [4/4/2014], slightly below February's revised total of 197,000.

192,000 Jobs Added in March but Wages Fall.  The economy created 192,000 jobs in March, down from 197,000 in February and still well below the pace needed to lower underemployment to respectable levels.  Those mediocre results are consistent with a broadly underperforming economy.  Manufacturing employment lost 1,000 jobs and government stalled.

Millions of Americans forced to work part time.  After five years of being in and out of work, Tara Dublin found a job a few weeks ago as a hostess at a restaurant in Portland, Ore.  "I've been hired by this restaurant I absolutely love, but it's a part-time position," Dublin says. [...] In the Labor Department statistics, Dublin falls into the category of people "forced" to work part time.  There are some 7.4 million of them in America.

The Unemployment Puzzle: Where Have All the Workers Gone?  A big puzzle looms over the U.S. economy:  Friday's jobs report tells us that the unemployment rate has fallen to 6.7% from a peak of 10% at the height of the Great Recession.  But at the same time, only 63.2% of Americans 16 or older are participating in the labor force, which, while up a bit in March, is down substantially since 2000.  As recently as the late 1990s, the U.S. was a nation in which employment, job creation and labor force participation went hand in hand.  That is no longer the case.

Biden economics: Minimum wage hike worth billions, 'really good for the economy'.  President Obama is waging an election-year push with congressional Democrats to boost the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour.  Many Republican lawmakers oppose the action, pointing to a study that the move would eliminate about 500,000 jobs nationwide.  Mr. Biden, who filled in this week while the president was traveling overseas, said there's proof that raising the minimum wage is good for the economy.

Fuzzy numbers obscure a stagnant Obama economy.  The news media were ecstatic when the government said in January that the economy grew by 3.2 percent in the final three months of 2013. [...] But 1.9 percent growth for all of last year is dreadful by any comparison, and economists aren't expecting anything much better than somewhere around 2 percent in the first quarter and maybe beyond.  By any relevant comparison, this is another sign that the U.S. economy continues to stumble along at a weak, subpar pace in the sixth year of Barack Obama's economically unfulfilled presidency.

Reaganomics Vs. Obamanomics: Two Wholly Different Outcomes.  Despite adding almost a trillion dollars to our national debt and failing to keep the unemployment rate at or below 8% as advertised, liberals consider President Obama's signature stimulus package — the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — a success, in part because of the number of jobs it "saved."

America Needs A Better Measure Of Unemployment.  The threshold for "employment" in any particular month is quite low:  An individual needs to complete just one hour of any type of work for pay or profit.  Even without earning a dime, people who are temporarily absent from work or spend at least 15 hours working for no pay in a family business will still count as employed.  This very crude measure is no longer consistent with the actual experience of those who lose a job.

Just 11 percent of US long-term unemployed find jobs.  A new study documents the bleak plight of Americans who have been unemployed for more than six months:  Just 11 percent of them, on average, will ever regain steady full-time work.

When a Child is King, No Peace and No Prosperity.  Weekly unemployment claims came in about as expected, which is good news considering our expectations for this economy are so low.  "In the week ending March 15," says the Department of Labor, "the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 320,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 315,000.  The 4-week moving average was 327,000, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 330,500."

Judging Obama's Economy By His Own Promises.  President Obama gave a speech recently in which he, as he almost always does, patted himself on the back for what he described as a solid record on the economy.  "We've now seen over four years of economic growth," he said.  "We've seen 8.5 million new jobs created.  We've seen the housing market bounce back.  We've seen an auto industry that has come roaring back.  We've seen manufacturing return for the first time since the 1990s."  Obamaphiles in the press typically repeat these claims, arguing that, given the mess he inherited, no one could have done any better.  But is that true?

Pelosi Laughably Claims Democrats Are The Jobs Party.  Former House Speaker Pelosi supposedly had been celebrating the fourth anniversary of the enactment of ObamaCare last week. [...] "We just couldn't be prouder," she said of the health reform that has been separating Americans from their preferred doctors, their health plans and lots more of their money in taxes and higher premiums.  But when a reporter asked if ObamaCare is "a political liability for your party" in an election year, Pelosi gave a jaw-dropping reply:  "We're not running on this," she claimed.  "We're running on what the American people want us to run on, and that is job creation."  Then, as if her party had nothing to do with the economic policies of the last five years that have given the country the worst economic "recovery" of the modern era, Pelosi added:  "Show us the jobs.  Where are the jobs?"  She then asked, as if incredulous, "Why are we not here passing a jobs agenda?"  Excuse us, Congresswoman, but we did pass a "jobs agenda."  Your jobs agenda.

The Hidden Rot in the Jobs Numbers.  Job creation rose from an initial 113,000 in January (later revised to 129,000) to 175,000 in February.  The January number frightened many, while the February number was cheered — even though it was below the prior 12-month average of 189,000.  The labor market's strength and economic activity are better measured by the number of total hours worked than by the number of people employed.  An employer who replaces 100 40-hour-per-week workers with 120 20-hour-per-week workers is contracting, not expanding operations.  The same is true at the national level.

Study Blows 'Labor Shortage' Claim Out Of The Water.  Large numbers of Americans, especially those with less education, continue to have difficulty finding work, undermining arguments that there is a "labor shortage" and need for increased immigration, a new study from the Center for Immigration Studies finds.  The report, provided exclusively to Breitbart News, shows that the employment situation of American workers has gradually declined over the past 14 years since 2000.

Obama's Math Game — Fudging The Numbers On Deportations.  We all know how the Obama administration is fond of playing with numbers.  We have watched them announce, revise, and otherwise play with the numbers from the Labor Department for over five years.  They are actually quite good at it because they have had plenty of practice.  I've heard it said by mathematicians before, the numbers don't lie.  That is usually the case, unless you happen to work for President Obama.  In that case, you can just make the numbers say whatever you want them to say.

Obama Golfs While Americans Seek Jobs.  The U.S. has 866,000 fewer people employed today than when the recession began in the wake of the 2008 recession.  Since Obama became President in 2009, there has been a 3.5 million increase in jobs, but 12 million new working age people.  This is supposed to be a "recovery" according to the White House but the job numbers are not keeping pace with the job-seekers.  It's not widely reported, but the labor force participation rate of 63% remains stuck at or near its lowest point since the late 1970s.

Obamanomics Is Ticking Time Bomb For Millennial Generation.  The unemployment rate for all Americans ticked up to 6.7% in February.  But when it comes to millennials, the jobless numbers are far different.  Youth unemployment now stands at a staggering 15.8%, and this doesn't even give the whole picture.  According to the Department of Labor, some 1.7 million young adults have given up and are not actively seeking employment.

The Job Market's February Crumble.  For those unfamiliar with the process, "seasonal adjustment" is "a statistical method for removing the seasonal component of a time series that is used when analyzing non-seasonal trends."  In layman's terms, it's an attempt to smooth out results which fluctuate throughout the year to present them in proper context.  For reasons which I have never understood, economists, analysts, and especially reporters seldom go beyond the seasonal adjustment calculations to look at the raw, not seasonally adjusted data, aka the report presenter's best estimate of what actually happened.  This has always been a negligent practice; but it's especially dangerous now.

Census may have used fishy numbers until Nov. '13.  [Scroll down]  [Julius] Buckmon was never fired, but he was eased out of the Census Bureau in 2010.  Nobody else in the Philadelphia office of Census was either fired or prosecuted, even though Buckmon alleged in a discrimination case he brought against the bureau in 2010 that he was ordered to falsify surveys by higher-ups.  Because the CPS is a scientific survey, each response counts for about 5,000 households.  Buckmon, I'm told, created more than 100 false surveys a month, which would have produced inaccurate data on the equivalent of 500,000 American households.  The big question today is whether Buckmon — on orders or not — was the only one cheating.  If there were others, in Philly or in any of the other five Census regions, then the jobless rate data in its entirety could be tainted and useless.

Weak: ADP Jobs Report Misses Expectations.  National payroll firm ADP reported Wednesday that just 139,000 private sector jobs were added in February.  The number was below economists' forecast of 155,000.  ADP also revised downward its estimate of new private sector jobs in January, falling to 127,000 from an initially reported 175,000.

Employers add 175,000 jobs in February, unemployment rate rises to 6.7 percent.  The Labor Department said Friday [3/7/2014] that employers added 175,000 jobs last month, up from just 129,000 in January, which was revised up from 113,000.

With Numbers Like These, No Wonder Harry Reid's Lying.  So even though our economy is down, it's still up.  Or we're up, but still down.  Whatever... it's all good, because your neighbor pays.  And it's another example of the stupid math liberals use to mask reality.  The unexciting nature of the newest unemployment claims is papering over all of the downward revisions that we are seeing in other areas of the economy.

Obama Administration's 2014 Message: Everything Is Awesome!  According to the most recent figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 10.2 million Americans who are officially categorized as unemployed, with 3.6 million considered long-term unemployed.  There are 7.3 million Americans working part-time involuntarily, sometimes considered underemployed.  There are 837,000 "discouraged workers" — persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.

U.S. economic growth revised sharply downward.  The recovery appeared to be reaching escape velocity at the end of December, but it turns out the economy wasn't expanding quite as fast as initially thought — and that doesn't bode well for hopes of a breakout this year.  The Commerce Department sharply reduced its estimate of fourth-quarter growth to a moderate 2.4% annual rate.  Friday's revision downsized big gains in consumer spending and exports from its initial estimate of 3.2% in January.

Obama: the Pen, Phone, and Failure.  Barack Obama is a failure as president, and with a little less than 3 years before he leaves office, people are starting to notice.  On the economy, he has presided over the worst economic recovery from recession since WW II, and the lowest labor force participation rate in decades.  He spent a trillion dollars of 'stimulus,' rewarding political backers and cronies, while exploding the budget line.  This he touts as a great success, saving the nation from depression and saving or creating 6 million jobs.  The 'saved or created' thing is perfect when trying to cast failure as success.  Who can check his numbers?

Sebelius Denies Well-Documented ObamaCare Joblessness.  Secretary of HHS Kathleen Sebelius claims "there is absolutely no evidence" that health reform is killing jobs.  Liars are legion in politics, but they usually stop short of claiming the sun didn't rise this morning.

Obama's speeches are factually empty.  On January 10, 2014 the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate in December 2012 was 6.7 percent, down from 7.0 percent in the previous month.  It was reported that a paltry 74,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs were added to the workforce.  "Uh, wait a minute," a perceptive and educated individual might say.  "How does an addition of only 74,000 individuals to the national workforce produce such a large decrease in the unemployment rate?"  Well, what they were not reporting was the number of individuals who simply gave up the fight and stopped looking for work.

Censusgate: When and what did Labor know?  A tipster tried to warn the Labor Department in 2011 that its unemployment statistics were being fabricated by the people at the Census Bureau who compile the data.  But the warning was either missed or ignored by Labor.  That allegedly allowed the data falsification to go on for years.

Healthcare Slavery.  This week and last we learned from Democrats that Obamacare is society's latest liberating influence.  Americans can stop and smell the roses now that they are unshackled from the adult responsibility of providing for their own basic necessities.  The need to perform honest yet unpleasant or even difficult work is a thing of the past.  Free at last!  However, those of us who work for a living are feeling a lot less liberated now that we must subsidize the sabbaticals of those who vote for a living.

Obama's Workforce: Discouraged, Disincentivized, Downsized.  Is work becoming optional?  In our zeal to alleviate poverty, and to protect our most vulnerable, have we invited Americans to put their feet up and take it easy?  That's how many read the recent CBO report predicting job losses courtesy of Obamacare.  Data on the condition of our long-term unemployed, and the impact of extended unemployment compensation points in the same direction.  After five years of disappointing job growth, isn't it time for the Obama White House to think more critically about why our workforce participation is at a 35-year low?

The Democrats' New Rallying Cry: Work Is a Trap and We Applaud Those Who Can Avoid It.  The modern Democrat Party looks at government the same way little kids view Santa.  Liberals seem to believe the government has infinite resources that can be used to hand out free gifts without ever having to worry about how they will be paid for.  However, back in the real world, "gifts" aren't free.  The money for those "gifts" has to be confiscated from people who work for a living and all too often these days, it's given to people who don't.

A shrinking workforce is good news!
MSM Whitewashes CBO Obamacare Report.  Since the release of the CBO report, the legacy media have churned out story after story suggesting that job lock is tantamount to slavery.  And, oddly enough, these stories all support the Democrat Party line.

Obama in unemployment wonderland.  In President Obama's wonderland the numbers tell a tale of economic despair, not hope, and nothing changes.  After years of standing in unemployment lines, unable to find work, millions have given up.  Only 63 percent of the population is currently employed or looking for work, down from 66 percent when Mr. Obama took office.  In the past year an additional 2.5 million Americans under the age of 55 abandoned the search for a job.

Freedom for the Job-Locked.  The Congressional Budget Office issued a politically explosive report this week, finding that Obamacare will reduce the number of hours Americans work by the equivalent of 2.5 million full-time jobs.  This is different from killing 2.5 million jobs, Obamacare defenders are quick to insist.  This will be a shortfall on the supply, not demand, side.  In other words, people with health insurance will opt not to work in certain circumstances if they know they won't lose their coverage.  Democrats insist this is a boon.

1,154,000 Fewer Americans Working Today Than 6 Years Ago.  1,154,000 fewer Americans are working today than six years ago, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  In January 2008, 146,378,000 Americans 16 and over were employed, and now in January 2014, 145,224,000 are employed, a difference of 1,154,000.  91,455,000 Americans 16 or older did not participate in the nation's labor force in January, meaning they neither held a job nor actively sought one.  That's a 353,000 decline from December, but 172,000 more than November.

Lose Your Job and Feel Liberated.  This week, a report from the Congressional Budget Office acknowledged that ObamaCare would reduce full-time employment by 2.5 million over the next ten years.  And that is on top of news that 92 million Americans who could be working are not.  What a devastating assessment for the unemployed or underemployed, particular millenials seeking to transition from internships and part-time jobs to career-building full-time jobs.  Yet the predictable spin from the White House and major media outlets is that this is good news, liberating workers from the chains of employment.

Jobs: The Report, the Spin, and the Fear.  The monthly employment numbers are out and even the New York Times is dismayed.  The economy added 113,000 jobs in January, which was (all together now) unexpectedly short of the 180,000 economists were predicting.

There are still 4 million fewer full-time jobs in America than before the Great Recession.  The recent CBO report on the labor market effects of Obamacare has raised the general issue of whether the US is moving away from work.

American Idle.  [Scroll down]  President Obama is committed to reducing male wages relative to female ones.  In his State of the Union address, he declared:  "Today, women make up about half our workforce.  But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns.  That is wrong, and in 2014, it's an embarrassment."  Actually, it's an embarrassment that the president perpetuates this myth — which Slate, in the headline of a 2013 story by feminist author Hanna Rosin bluntly called a "lie."

Employers add 113,000 jobs in January.  The job market showed another weak gain last month as employers added 113,000 jobs, though weather may have distorted the employment picture for the second straight month.  The unemployment rate fell to 6.6% from 6.7%, the Labor Department said Friday [2/7/2014].

Reid: Obamacare Doesn't Cost Jobs, It Turns Workers Into 'Free Agents'.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the Congressional Budget Office report that shows Obamacare will make the labor force lose 2.3 million full-time workers by 2021 is positive because it lets Americans be "free agents." [...] The CBO report primarily looked at how employers would respond to the penalty for not offering health insurance to employees working more than 30 hours per week.  Businesses could respond by cutting people's hours, hiring fewer workers and offering lower wages to incoming workers.

White House Responds to CBO: Claims That Obamacare 'Hurts Jobs' Not Supported by Facts.  On Tuesday afternoon [2/4/2013], the White House responded to the Congressional Budget Office's new annual budget projection, arguing that the details of the report did not support claims that Obamacare was eliminating jobs.  "Claims that the Affordable Care Act hurts jobs are simply belied by the facts in the CBO report," the statement read.  "CBO's findings are not driven by an assumption that ACA will lead employers to eliminate jobs or reduce hours; in fact the report itself says that there is 'no compelling evidence that part-time employment has increased as a result of the ACA."

Vapor Lock.  News that Obamacare would cause the economy to shed 2.3 million jobs is being greeted with jubilation by some quarters.  This was foreseen long ago.  FactCheck.Org pointed out even in 2011 that unemployment is not the right word for the loss of remunerative activities caused by the program.  The word's not "unemployment".  "That's a distortion.  CBO said some Americans would work less or leave their jobs if they can get health insurance outside the workplace."  It's not a bug.  It's a feature.

The Left's Lamest Defense Of ObamaCare Yet.  The Congressional Budget Office determined that ObamaCare would discourage work, in large part because many middle-income families will find themselves in what amounts to a 50% marginal income tax bracket as ObamaCare subsidies tail off.  As a result, there'd be 2.5 million fewer "full-time equivalent" jobs and a 1% drop in overall compensation.  This doesn't sound so good.  But to liberals, it's supposed to be music to our ears.  As the New York Times explained, it's "a liberating result of the law."

Obama's SOTU: 18 Lies and Distortions That Should Concern Us.  [#1] He is proud of the 6.7% unemployment rate.

Jobless claims rise more than expected.  Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday [1/30/2014].  Claims for the prior week were revised to show 3,000 more applications received than previously reported.

Fact Checking the 2014 State of the Union address.  [Quoting President Obama:] "The more than eight million new jobs our businesses have created over the past four years."  The president is cherry-picking a number that puts the improvement in the economy in the best possible light.  The low point in jobs was reached in February 2010, and there has indeed been a gain of about 8 million jobs since then, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Obama, the Ingrate.  The December jobs report was truly awful, with 74,000 non-farm jobs created and the labor-force participation rate at a 35-year low.  Liberals — the same bunch who insist that the climate is warming at an alarming rate — were quick to point to cold weather as a factor discouraging job-creation.  They also insisted that the jobs numbers are volatile and that they might be better next time.  Of course, they might be worse.

All Three Networks Fret Over Obama Not Getting 'Credit' for 'Better' Economy.  Minutes before the President began his State of the Union address Tuesday night, hosts on ABC, NBC, and CBS all worried that Obama was not getting the "credit" he deserved for how well the economy was supposedly doing.

Wall Street adviser: Actual unemployment is 37.2%, 'misery index' worst in 40 years.  Don't believe the happy talk coming out of the White House, Federal Reserve and Treasury Department when it comes to the real unemployment rate and the true "Misery Index."  Because, according to an influential Wall Street advisor, the figures are a fraud.  In a memo to clients provided to Secrets, David John Marotta calculates the actual unemployment rate of those not working at a sky-high 37.2 percent, not the 6.7 percent advertised by the Fed, and the Misery Index at over 14, not the 8 claimed by the government.

Unemployment Falls to 6.7 Percent Due to Workers Leaving the Labor Force.  The headline unemployment rate fell sharply to 6.7 percent in December.  The drop of 0.3 percentage points was almost entirely due to people leaving the labor force as the number of people reported employed in December only rose by 143,000.  This was just enough to keep the employment-to-population ratio constant.  The establishment survey was also surprisingly weak, showing a gain of just 74,000 jobs.

The Last Generation of the West and the Thin Strand of Civilization.  Over 90 million Americans who could work are not working (the "non-institutionalized" over 16).  What we take for granted — our electrical power, fuel, building materials, food, health care, and communications — all hinge on just 144 million getting up in the morning to produce what about 160-170 million others (the sick, the young, and the retired who need assistance along with the 90 million idle) consume.  Every three working Americans provide sustenance for two who are not ill, enfeebled, or too young. [...] Given that the number of non-working is growing (an additional 10 million were idled in the Obama "recovery" alone), it is likely to keep growing.  At some point, we will hit a 50/50 ratio of idle versus active.  Then things will get interesting.

Limbaugh: Obamanomics Is Killing Jobs; GOP Fiddles.  If it weren't for a shamelessly dishonest, hyper-protective liberal media, the American people would know, unanimously and without doubt, that Obamanomics is killing American jobs.  There is no silver lining in the December jobs numbers.  Experts and analysts were expecting this latest jobs report, released Friday, to show 200,000 new payroll jobs in December, but there were only 74,000, which is 37 percent of the goal.

Seven Devastating Economic Facts.  Seven economic facts underscore America's increasingly dire economic outlook.  [#1] A Record 91.8 Million Americans Are No Longer in the Workforce.  The latest Labor Department figures reveal that a record 91.8 million Americans are no longer in the U.S. labor force.  To be included in the Labor Department's calculations for this statistic, a person must be 16 years or older, a civilian, not in an institution (such as prison), and someone who has not looked for a job in the last four weeks.

Voodoo Economics and Unemployment.  Ninety-two millions of Americans are unemployed yet the spin masters are telling voters with a straight face that the economy is recovering nicely.  The much touted 6.7 percent (U-3) unemployment rate has dropped again miraculously in December thanks to voodoo economics and statistics that totally discount millions of discouraged workers who have dropped out the labor force and stopped looking for work.  If Americans out of the labor force are counted, the unemployed rate is the U-6 reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 13 percent.

All Your Health Are Belong to Us.  "Expect the unexpected" has been good advice for anyone following American economic news since 2009.  That news has usually been bad, and almost always "unexpectedly" so. [...] A cynical observer might suggest that there is an element of deliberate spin involved, with reporters hoping to keep readers' expectations afloat until next month's report.

For Recent Grads, Good Jobs Really Are Hard to Find.  Underemployment is most acute for those immediately out of college:  56% of 22-year-old college grads in 2009-2011 were working in jobs that didn't require college degrees, substantially higher than in 1990 and in 2001.  Historical data suggest many of them will find better jobs before they turn 30.

How Bad Is Obama's Jobs Record? Let's Count The Ways.  The number of jobs created in December was the lowest in three years, and while the official unemployment number dropped to 6.7%, that was almost entirely due to more than half a million people giving up looking for work.  Of course, a month of data doesn't mean much.  So, for some badly needed perspective, we've created Obama's Jobs Index to show how Obama's policies have failed to create adequate job growth.

Why are adults dropping out of work force?  The US unemployment rate fell significantly in December, but the big reason for the shift isn't necessarily a comforting one for the economy.  The jobless rate dropped to 6.7 percent of the work force, the lowest level since October 2008.  But the shift came only partly because unemployed people were finding work.  Rather, the main driver of the change was people who exited the labor force by ceasing to look for work.  And this wasn't a one-month anomaly.  Rather, the trend of people opting out of the labor force has become a post-recession norm.

Obama's Internal Devaluation Increases Income Inequality.  The Obama Administration's $5.8 trillion of big government deficit spending has caused the United States to suffer an "internal devaluation," as American worker wages after inflation were forced down in each of the last five years.  American competitiveness increased by over 10% due to worker sacrifices, but all the benefits flowed directly to corporate officers and financial speculators.

Disappointing initial December hiring figure expected to be revised.  Mainstream economists had expected a December number north of 200,000, based on other economic indicators that point to an accelerating growth rate.  So Friday's number was a huge miss, and initial reaction from economists suggested December's weak showing was an aberration that'll be revised upward next month.

1,687,000 Fewer Americans Have Jobs Today Than 6 Years Ago.  Although the number of people who had jobs in the United States increased by 143,000 from November to December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that still left 1,687,000 fewer Americans holding jobs than held jobs six years ago in December 2007 — the month the last recession began.

Thank Labor Force Dropouts, Not New Jobs, For A Falling Unemployment Rate.  Yes, the unemployment rate has fallen significantly from its high of 10 percent in October of 2009.  But it turns out the unemployment rate has been falling for a pretty depressing reason:  people dropping out of the labor force.  Last month, 347,000 workers dropped out, effectively sending the message that it wasn't even worth looking for work anymore.

The truth behind Obamacare 6 million figure.  The Obama administration is trumpeting that 6 million people have health coverage thanks to Obamacare.  Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a blog post Monday [1/13/2014] that "More than 6 million Americans have now either signed up for a private health insurance plan through the Marketplace or for Medicaid coverage."  But the numbers are somewhat misleading.

92 million people are out of the workforce.  The share of Americans in the workforce has sunk to its lowest point in 35 years.

Surprisingly Weak Jobs Report Puzzles Economists.  It came as a shock: U.S. employers added just 74,000 jobs in December, far fewer than anyone expected.

The Broader Measure Of Unemployment: 13.1 Percent.  A broader measure of unemployment reveals that the job market is worse shape than the official unemployment rate suggests. [...] [A] better measurement of the health of our labor market is the U6 unemployment rate, which provides the broadest picture of the current labor situation.  According to the new BLS data, the U-6 number now stands at 13.1 percent.  It is nearly twice the official unemployment rate.

MSNBC: December Jobs Report Is 'Awful,' 'Very Bad,' And 'Ugly'.  MSNBC admitted that the December jobs report was dismal Friday [1/10/2014].  CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera announced the newly released report number.  Only 74,000 jobs were created in December, a number that fell significantly short of the 200,000 anticipated created jobs.

2013 ends with weakest job growth in years.  The job market suddenly looks a lot weaker than economists' had thought. Hiring slumped sharply in December, as the economy added only 74,000 jobs, according to the government.  This was the weakest month for job growth since January 2011 and came as a huge surprise to economists, who were expecting an addition of 193,000 jobs.

Media Again Humiliated After Hyping Unreliable ADP Jobs Numbers.  More terrible economic news hit the struggling American people today when the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that only 74,000 jobs were created in December, the fewest number in five years.  The unemployment rate dropped from 7% to 6.7%, but that is due only to the disheartening fact that 525,000 of the unemployed stopped looking for work.  As a result, the labor force participation rate dropped to its lowest point since 1978.

Obama's American Dream Like One Giant Shave Ice.  The president whose mission succeeded in shutting down America's once thriving coal industry; shutting out fisherman from the ability to feed their families; who sent Gulf of Mexico oil workers to long unemployment lines and who outsourced America's epic car industry to China and Italy had the nerve to tell "folk, " "our focus as a country this year shouldn't be shrinking our economy, but growing it; not narrowing opportunity, but expanding it; not fewer jobs, but doing everything we can to help our businesses create more of the good jobs that a growing middle class requires".

White House pleads for 'emergency' unemployment benefit extension.  The White House made a strong defense Monday [1/6/2013] of a U.S. Senate push to extend 'emergency' federal unemployment benefits by three months, just 17 days after President Barack Obama told reporters that his administration has done a remarkably good job putting jobless Americans back to work.  Fifteen of those intervening days were consumed with a presidential vacation in Hawaii, placing those two statements on nearly back-to-back working days.

5 Myths Propping Up the Obama Presidency.  [#1] The economy has become strong, and is getting stronger. [...] It's bad enough that payroll employment is still 1.3 million below its January 2008 peak.  It's worse that employment in the Household Survey is 2 million shy of where it was in that same month.  If we're lucky and this plodding progress continues, it will have taken almost seven years for that more comprehensive measure of employment to return to where it was before the recession began — and several more years, if ever, before a recovery in employment catches up to eligible adult population growth.

10 Forms of 2013 Media Malpractice.  [#4] Commit statistical torture.  In February, the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, was determined to show that government employment had steeply declined.  Trouble is, it ignorantly and artificially pegged the "peak" at a point when hundreds of thousands of obviously temporary Census Bureau workers were on the federal payroll.  The truth is that government employment "grew by a ridiculous 1.2 million, or almost 6%," from December 2003 to April 2009, and was long overdue for a correction.

Report confirms government effort to alter coal job loss estimates.  The Obama administration tried to edit a report on new coal regulations to lower analysts' estimates of serious job losses, an official investigation has found, backing up reports that the Interior Department pressured a private contractor to change information in order to make the data more acceptable.  The Associated Press and Fox News reported in 2011 that a company claimed the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement asked it to change variables in a calculation that showed new environmental regulations would lead to large job losses.

When a guy with a master's degree flips burgers, he isn't counted as unemployed.
Obama will extend amnesty for young illegals, says top White House aide.  [Scroll down]  Roughly 20 million Americans are underemployed or unemployed.  Wages have been stalled for several years, and many Americans are forced to take low-skill, low-wage jobs.  For example, there's been a sharp jump in the number of college grads stuck in minimum-wage jobs.  Their number is 71 percent higher than in 2002, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest figures.  In 2012, 284,000 college graduates were working at minimum-wage jobs, up from 127,000 in 2006, according to U.S. News.

The dark lining to the silver cloud of Obamanomics.  The government's latest reports that the economy grew at a 3.6 percent annual rate in the third quarter and created 203,000 new jobs last month left out a lot of caveats.  Moreover, the network news media's hyperbolic reports that the economy was surging at full throttle, and that the job market was strengthening, needs to be taken with a large grain of salt, too.  The truth is that the economic-growth rate isn't what it's cracked up to be, and the employment figures contained a large number of "part-time" holes.

Out of work and hope.  America is now a country where the official count of joblessness is dropping largely because so many people have stopped looking for work.  Under the government's statistical rules, those who have thrown in the towel are no longer counted as unemployed.  Perversely, this drives the rate down.  Combined with weak job growth, the trend produced happy-sounding 7% unemployment, the lowest rate in five years.

Warning: Jobless rate may be rigged.  The most curious thing of all about the November jobs report released on Friday [12/6/2013] was the huge drop in the unemployment rate — and the fact that the Labor Department chose not to disclose that the data going into that figure are under investigation for falsification.

60 Straight Months of Unemployment at 7% or Higher.  November marked the 60th straight month that the seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate has run at 7 percent or higher, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Unemployment in November was 7.0 percent, said BLS.  That was the lowest it has been since November 2008, but also extended the second longest streak of 7.0 percent or higher unemployment since the BLS started tracking national unemployment in 1948.

41% of Net New Jobs in November Were in Government.  Federal, state and local governments hired a net additional 338,000 workers in November, equaling 41 percent of the total of 818,000 net additional jobs created in the United States during the month.  At the same time, the unemployment rate for government workers fell from 4.4 percent in October to 3.2 percent in November.  (The overall national unemployment rate fell from 7.3 percent to 7.0 percent.)

US unemployment rate falls to 5-year low of 7 percent as employers add 203,000 jobs.  A fourth straight month of solid hiring cut the U.S. unemployment rate to a five-year low of 7 percent in November, an encouraging sign for the economy.

The Editor says...
It is only an encouraging sign if the figures are honest and accurate, if the number of people in the workforce genuinely increases, and if the newly employed people are working for private companies rather than the constantly-expanding government.  Stand by for an "adjustment" or "revision" in two weeks, when less politically beneficial numbers are announced.

Youth Unemployment: 20.8%.  The unemployment rate for young people, ages 16 to 19, went down slightly between October and November, from 22.2% to 20.8%, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), but it is still nearly three times greater than the national unemployment rate of 7%.  The BLS data, seasonally adjusted, show the following unemployment rates for youth (ages 16 to 19) and the actual number of youth unemployed in the United States for the last six months.

1,148,000 Fewer Americans Have Jobs Today Than 7 Yrs Ago.  1,148,000 fewer Americans held jobs this November than did seven years ago in November 2006, according to data released today [12/6/2013] by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Back then, according to BLS, 145,534,000 Americans held jobs.  This November, according to BLS, only 144,386,000 Americans hold jobs.  That is a drop of 1,148,000 in the number of Americans working.

Thanks for nothing, President Obama.  President Obama's war on America has accelerated.  We're losing ground on every front. [...] It's bad enough that the government crows about reduced unemployment rates, all the while ignoring the 91 million Americans squeezed out of the workforce by the beneficence of our leaders.  But now we learn that 2012's amazing jobs recovery leading up to Obama's re-election was fiction, made up out of whole cloth.

Obama's Thanksgiving fairy tale — the president wants us to give thanks to him, for good economic news.  The president said, "Our businesses have created 7.8 million new jobs in the past 44 months."  However, as economic commentator Kenn Jacobine points out, that averages to 177,000 jobs per month over 44 months, whereas during the same time period, the working age population has grown by an average of 213,000 workers per month.  Thus, under Mr. Obama, his jobs "recovery" is actually a jobs recession.

Census 'Fake'gate goes back even further.  The decennial census was being conducted from 2008 to 2010, and a lot of part-time workers were needed to knock on doors to get information.  What Census appeared to be doing was hiring people for very short periods of time, then letting them go only to rehire them.  This churning seemed odd and not very efficient because these census takers were required to go through a relatively long training period whenever they came back to work.  But each "hiring" showed up as a created job.  What's more, that census taker who was let go, even if she was soon to be rehired, didn't qualify for unemployment insurance and never showed up as someone who'd lost her job.

'Cooked' Census reported to Obama and Rahm.  Let me be the first to ask:  Did the White House know that employment reports were being falsified?  Last week I reported exclusively that someone at the Census Bureau's Philadelphia region had been screwing around with employment data.  And that person, after he was caught in 2010, claimed he was told to do so by a supervisor two levels up the chain of command.  On top of that, a reliable source whom I haven't identified said the falsification of employment data by Census was widespread and ongoing, especially around the time of the 2012 election.

Real Jobless Rate 11.8% Excluding Labor Force Exodus.  Census employees "faked" employment survey data, possibly accounting for an unemployment drop just before the 2012 election, claims the New York Post.  But even taking the government figures at face value, the jobless rate is radically distorted — and by far more than a short-term drop of a few tenths of a percentage point.  The unemployment rate was 7.3% as of October, still high but essentially at the lowest level since the end of 2008.  However, almost all of the apparent improvement has come from a historic exodus from the labor force.

Did White House Rig 2012 Jobs Data To Get Obama Re-Elected?  An anonymous whistleblower in a New York Post column by John Crudele is alleging that unemployment jobs data in the current population survey conducted by the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics was manipulated in 2012 to help Barack Obama get re-elected.  According to the source, specifically the Oct. 5, 2012 jobs report was faked — just in time for the election.  Worse, the practice reportedly continues to date.

House probes Census over 'fake' results.  I don't know how high up in the Census Bureau the orders to fake employment survey data came from, but the director of the Philadelphia region was aware of those charges against one of his field representatives back in 2010.  Fernando E. Armstrong, the regional director at the time, admitted as much in an internal Census report I have reviewed.  And that field representative, Julius Buckmon, who filed as many as 100 fake reports a month — and admitted to me faking household survey reports — was not the only field rep to do so, according to a Census source.  And the source insists that the faking of the household survey, which could fudge the unemployment rate, is still happening.

Worse Than ObamaCare.  Unemployed middle-aged men look in the mirror and see someone who may never work again.  Young married couples who should be on the way up are living in their parents' basement.  Many young black men (official unemployment rate 28%; unofficial rate off the charts) have no prospect of work.

Jack Welch Vindicated: Obama Regime 'Faked' Pre-Election Unemployment Number.  Chicago is known as a political cesspool.  From Al Capone, to Rahm 'Dead Fish' Emanuel, to Mayor Daley, it is a town that reeks of corruption and anyone who emerges, and especially the case of Barack Obama rises quickly, as a leading force in that political arena should be met with high speculation.  After all, a rise to prominence in Chicago means one thing — you are tainted, a dirty player who will do anything and everything to obtain and remain in power.

Jack Welch Vindicated: Obama Regime 'Faked' Pre-Election Unemployment Number.  Yesterday [11/18/2013], Jack Welch was redeemed as the groundwork is laid once again for Barack Obama's presidency to answer questions surrounding yet another scandal.  In adhering to the Daley premise to 'never leave an election to chance', the Census Bureau did indeed fake the jobs numbers of September 2012.  Days after Obama admitted that he has to win the trust of the America people once more following his lies surrounding the selling of ObamaCare, Americans learn once more that their president lied in order to retain power and steal the election of 2012.

Census 'faked' 2012 election jobs report.  In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply — raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington.  The decline — from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September — might not have been all it seemed.  The numbers, according to a reliable source, were manipulated.  And the Census Bureau, which does the unemployment survey, knew it.

Rick Santelli Rages Against Media Over 'Manipulated' Unemployment Data Allegations.  On Tuesday morning [11/19/2013], CNBC's Rick Santelli raged against the American media in light of a New York Post report alleging that Census bureau employees have been caught "fabricating" some data that went into unemployment reports over the last several years, including possibly the controversial report revealed one month before the 2012 election.

GOP to probe 'faked' jobs report.  The House Oversight Committee is vowing to thoroughly investigate a report that unemployment data was falsified before the 2012 presidential election.  The New York Post reported Monday evening that a Census Bureau employee had been found fabricating unemployment survey data that helped determine the nation's jobless rate.

When the Have Nots Become the Haves.  Unemployment reporting has become totally unhinged from reality as the real rate stays at levels which would easily shine the light of truth on the fiction of a recovery.  According to the government's own Bureau of Labor Statistics the real unemployment rate (U-6) has been continuously above 13% for the last year.  This information is readily available (one click of the mouse) and yet the media (including Fox) have told us day-by-day that it is falling and is now down to 7.2.  This typifies the manufactured reality the federal government and the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media shovel into the public trough.  If the plagiarized opinions I hear my fellow citizens share everyday are any indication the average person accepts the fiction as reality.

The Real Employment Problem.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in October that the unemployment rate, U3, declined very slightly to 7.2%.  Concurrently, the BLS noted that the unemployment rate to include those marginally attached to the workforce, or U6, was 13.6%.  These statistics, however, hide a painful and tragic reality.  While unemployment rates have dropped, the labor force participation rate has also declined significantly in recent years.  The labor force participation rate in September 2013 was 63.2%, the lowest since 1978.

The myth of green-job creation.  The concept of green jobs and a green economy is popular among politicians and policy-makers.  That is understandable, as they want to be perceived as doing something about the environment or climate change while simultaneously protecting jobs and the economy.  Green jobs are considered to be a way of addressing two policy issues at once:  employment and the environment.  Policy-makers can argue that green-job creation will compensate for jobs lost due to more stringent environmental policy.  But what are "green jobs"?

Confederacy of Slackers.  If you include the millions of part-time workers who want full-time work, and millions more who have despaired of finding jobs and so have dropped out of the labor market, the real unemployment rate jumps to 13.8 percent, or close to twice the official rate.  Out of a workforce of 154 million people, that's 21 million Americans who are under-employed, unemployed, or sitting on the sidelines — able-bodied but not even bothering to look for work.

What Is the Real Unemployment Rate?  Employers are said to have added 204,000 seasonally adjusted jobs [in October].  But as the Associated Press noted, the government, thanks to the 17 percent government shutdown, had an extra week to retrieve its surveys from employers, and therefore had a higher than usual response rate.  It doesn't seem as if this should matter, but apparently the Bureau of Labor Statistics has a history of estimating high in its initial releases when it has more time to collect and assemble the data.  Additionally, economist Mark Zandi believes that "businesses may have inadvertently counted employment for an extra week."

Americans' Participation in Labor Force Hits 35-Year Low.  The percentage of American civilians 16 or older who have a job or are actively seeking one dropped to a 35-year low in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  In September, the labor force participation rate was 63.2 percent, but in October it dropped to 62.8 percent — the lowest it has been since February 1978, when Jimmy Carter was president.

2014: The Collapsing Obamaconomy.  The good news is the U.S. economy wheezed out 204,000 new jobs in October, despite all the sound and fury (signifying very little) over the 17%, 16-day-long government semi-demi-shutdown.  The bad news is pretty much everything else, so let's take a look at what lies underneath the big headline number.

United States of Underemployment: Dead-End Jobs Prop Up Employment Growth.  On the surface, the addition of 204,000 new jobs looks pretty good, in fact, it's statistically above the 190,000 average of the last twelve months.  The fact that it came at a time when the government was shut down and its elected caretakers were within inches of defaulting on our debt makes it all the more, well, unbelievable.

720K Americans Leave Labor Force In October.  On Friday, the Labor Department reported that 720,000 Americans left the labor force.  This exodus pushed the labor force participation rate down to 62.8%, the lowest level since 1978.  One out of three adults is neither working nor actively looking for work.

'Real' Unemployment: 13.8%.  The "real" unemployment rate rose from 13.6% in September to 13.8% in October, according to figures released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  Though the national unemployment rate is 7.3%, the "real" unemployment rate is a broader measure of the number of people in the United States, 16 and older, currently looking for jobs.  Known as the U-6 unemployment rate, this "real" unemployment figure, seasonally adjusted, includes the unemployed "plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons...."

Lackluster Jobs Report Underscores Epic Failure Of Obamanomics.  Here we go again, another employment report showing "unexpectedly weak" job growth.  Pretty soon Americans are going to figure out, as computer geeks like to say, "It's not a bug — it's a feature."  Across Wall Street, the consensus was 180,000 net new payroll jobs in September.  But some investment houses had quietly raised the bar to 200,000, believing the economy had "firmed up" in recent months.  But just like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, only to have Lucy pull it away at the last second, our nation's pre-eminent economic thinkers keep having their predictions dashed on the rocks of Obamanomics.

90,609,000: Americans Not in Labor Force Climbs to Another Record.  The number of Americans who are 16 years or older and who have decided not to participate in the nation's labor force has climbed to a record 90,609,000 in September, according to data released today [10/22/2013] by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The BLS counts a person as participating in the labor force if they are 16 years or older and either have a job or have actively sought a job in the last four weeks.

Why young people are saying 'no' to the workforce.  A job used to be the next step after a diploma.  But now, young people aren't in any rush to start working.  Less than 78% of people aged 20 to 34 either have jobs or are looking for work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  That's down from the peak of 83% in 2000, and the lowest since the 1970s.  The biggest thing keeping young people out of work is the weak economy.

Unemployment Down, but Job Growth Still Crawling.  Unemployment hit its lowest point since November 2008, according to the September jobs report, but concern is starting to slowly creep in because the economy failed to add very many new jobs.  The biggest takeaway from September's shutdown-delayed jobs report is that things mostly stayed the same.

Aha!  Exactly as I suspected:  Publication of the numbers was delayed because they were so dismal.
Just 148k New Jobs in September.  The Labor Department reported Tuesday [10/22/2013] that the economy added just 148k new jobs in September, down from a revised 193k jobs added in August.  The report, which had been delayed by the government shutdown, was a disappointment.  Economists had expected the economy to add over 180k jobs last month.  The unemployment dipped a notch to 7.2%, as more Americans left the labor force.

Redistributing Wealth From Working Moms.  [T]he employment figures released this week showed that the percentage of non-institutionalized women over the age of 16 who participated in the labor force (meaning they had a job or were seeking one) dropped in September to 57.1 percent, a rate it also hit this March, but was otherwise a 24-year low.  In January 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics first started tracking female participation in the U.S. labor force, it was only 32.0 percent.  It peaked at 60.3 percent in April 2000, and since then has been trending down.

Study: 15 percent of US youth out of school, work.  Almost 6 million young people are neither in school nor working, according to a study released Monday [10/21/2013].

Obama: Not Allowing Gov't to Borrow More 'Would Amount to a New Tax'.  Obama said once the debt ceiling is raised and the shutdown is over, "there's a lot we can accomplish together."  He called for more job creation at a time when Obamacare is prompting some employers to cut jobs or move workers to part-time.  And he called for additional deficit reduction in a "smarter, balanced way," which is code for tax hikes.

Weekly Jobless Claims Jump To 6-Month High.  According to data from the Department of Labor, there were 374,000 jobless claims for the week ending on October 5.  This is a 66,000 jump from last week's 308,000 claims, and 62,000 higher than the 312,000 claims that economists had been predicting.  It is also the highest number of claims reported in the past six months.  The four-week moving average of claims is now 325,000, a 20,000 increase over last week's four-week average of 305,000.

The Cold Hard Facts of Obama's Economy.  Understand that the unemployment rate is a rather simplistic calculation.  The numerator is composed of the number of people unemployed and who have looked for work in the past four weeks.  That number is then divided by the total number of individuals in the labor force. [...] In fact, the overall labor force declined by 312,000 in August, which is the most recent data available.  That means 312,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force in August.  In other words, they gave up looking for a job.

Government postpones jobs report amid shutdown.  The government will not release its key monthly jobs report as originally scheduled Friday, the Department of Labor confirmed Thursday.  Citing a "lapse in funding" amid the government shutdown, Department of Labor spokesman Stephan Barr said the report has not yet been rescheduled for release at a later date.  The only other time the jobs report was delayed was in the previous government shutdown in January 1996, when it was released two weeks late.

The Editor says...
Obviously the numbers have been calculated, they just aren't being published.  Publication of the unemployment numbers would cost about as much as it cost me to publish this paragraph — which means the numbers must be pretty bad.

Obama: 'We're Still Trying to Recover;' NBER: Last Recession Ended 4 Yrs Ago.  President Barack Obama — now eight months into his second term — said today [9/21/2013] that the U.S. economy is "still trying to recover" from events that took place five years ago before he took office.  At the same time, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which dates the beginning and ending of recessions in the U.S. economy, insists that the last recession ended more than four years ago.

Obama's Middle-Class 'Mission Accomplished'.  During his four and a half years in office, Obama has done more damage to the American middle class than any president since Herbert Hoover.  That is not a difficult statement to prove, and it may be an understatement.  Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show an official unemployment rate of 7.3%.  Not since the Great Depression of the 1930s have so many Americans been out of work, and 7.3% is only the tip of the iceberg.  The real unemployment rate, or U-6, which includes discouraged and part-time workers, still stands at 13.7%. [...] One troubling aspect of the August report was the revision of the official July unemployment figure — downward from to 162,000 to 104,000.  In other words, the July BLS jobs estimate was a whopping 36% too high.  The estimate for June also had to be revised downward, as it often had been in the preceding months.

This Depressing Economy.  It is true that 164,000 seasonally adjusted payroll jobs were added during the month, per the Establishment Survey of employers, but June and July were revised down by a combined 75,000.  The Household Survey used to determine the unemployment rate had even grimmer news, as it showed that 115,000 fewer Americans were working in August than in July.  The only reason that the official ("U-3") unemployment rate fell to 7.3 percent is because the civilian workforce shrunk by over 300,000, taking the labor force participation down to 63.2 percent, that figure's lowest level in since 1978.

The Editor says...
Job creation figures are often revised downward, weeks after their initial publication.  That's because the revisions go un-reported; or if they are reported, it's in the back of the newspaper somewhere.

U.S. jobs numbers paint dim picture of ongoing employment crisis.  Friday's jobs numbers continued to paint a bleak picture of the ongoing U.S. jobs crisis, and experts said at current rates the country will have to wait years to return to pre-recession levels of unemployment.  The jobless rate inched down marginally in August from 7.4 percent to 7.3 percent, according to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the economy added a paltry 169,000 jobs.

The Mythical Public-Sector Collapse.  At The Atlantic, there is a story discussing private- and public-sector job-creation under Obama relative to the other presidents since Reagan.  The Atlantic's coverage of this topic illustrates once again the need to normalize data when making comparisons.

Worse than Jimmy Carter.  Jimmy Carter must be smiling:  Another president has finally broken the record he had held for the worst rate of participation in the job market by American workers in modern times.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Friday job numbers show the nation's "labor force participation rate" — i.e., the percentage of Americans over 16 who have jobs, or are looking for one — dipped to 63.2 percent.  That beats the sad record of 63.4 percent set in 1978, a harbinger of the Carter-era stagflation and malaise to come.

Jobless Rate for Black Teens: 38.2%.  The unemployment rate for African American teenagers aged 16 to 19 was 38.2 percent in August, according to the latest figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  This figure is nearly twice the 20.5 percent unemployment rate for white teens of the same age, and down less than a percentage point from the 38.8 percent black teen unemployment rate BLS reported in August 2012.  The jobless rate for black teenagers hovered in the 40 percent range all summer, prime earning time for students trying to save for college.  It peaked in June at 43.6 percent, compared to 20.4 percent for white teenagers.

13.0%: Unemployment Climbs in African American Community; 210,000 Fewer Jobs.  The unemployment rate in the African American community climbed from 12.6 percent in July to 13.0 percent in August, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  At the same time, the number of African Americans 16 year [sic] or older who held jobs dropped from 16,318,000 in July to 16,108,000 in August — a decline of 210,000.

U.S. Adds 169,000 Jobs In August.  The headline unemployment rate fell to 7.3%, according to numbers released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor, down slightly from July's rate of 7.4%.  But the lower August rate was once again caused by significant numbers of Americans leaving the workforce.  The labor force participation rate fell again last month, dipping to 63.2%, the lowest rate since the mid-1970s.

90,473,000: Record Number Not in Labor Force — Up Almost 10M Under Obama.  The number of Americans who are 16 years or older and who have decided not to participate in the nation's labor force has pushed past 90,000,000 for the first time, according to data released today [9/6/2013] by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The BLS counts a person as participating in the labor force if they are 16 years or older and either have a job or have actively sought a job in the last four weeks.  A person is not participating in the labor force if they are 16 or older and have not sought a job in the last four weeks.

Labor Day Lies.  President Obama used his weekly Saturday radio address to mark the 131st anniversary of Labor Day.  He swore his "highest priority" is to "reverse forces that have conspired — for decades — against American workers."  Yakety yak.  Don't believe that demagoguery.  The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that workers — especially low-wage workers — are losing ground under Obama.  After four and a half years of the Obama presidency, an unprecedented number of Americans have given up looking for work, wages are stagnating, low wage earners are suffering most, and the U.S. is fast becoming a nation of part-time workers.

Labor Day Lies.  From January 1 through July 31, 77% of the jobs created were part-time.  Less than one out of four people hired got full time work — the opposite of a normal economy.  In April, news about employers shifting to part-time hiring grew to a drumbeat.  Numerous employers cited Obamacare for the change.  The new health law requires employers with fifty or more full-time employees to provide health benefits or pay a fine.  Adding a $5,000 health benefit is affordable when you're hiring lawyers but not entry-level workers.

The Great Shift.  The labor force participation rate is currently at a level not seen since the 1970s — 63.4 percent.  While the unemployment rate has steadily decreased from its high of 10.0 percent in October of 2009 to 7.4 percent in July of 2013, the percentage of Americans in the labor force has not risen.  It has fallen about 2.7 percentage points since the onset of the latest recession.  This is a tragedy in the making, and its impact on the country has been underestimated.  When Americans quit looking for work because they conclude not working beats working, America faces a significant problem.

Labor Force Participation Hits 34-Year Low.  A comprehensive disaster like the Obama administration can't be summed up in one statistic, but the one that comes closest is labor force participation.  The combined effect of many misguided policies — Obamacare, ballooning spending, massive debt, tax increases, subsidizing of inefficient energy, anti-growth regulation, encouragement of food stamp fraud, and many more — has been to drive many millions of Americans out of the labor force.

Obama's Long List of Broken Promises.  [Scroll down]  Then there was his administration's pledge to keep unemployment from rising above 8 percent.  (It remained above 8 percent for the longest stretch since the Great Depression.)  To create five million new energy jobs alone.  (The total number of jobs created in Obama's first term was roughly one-tenth that figure.)  To identify all those "shovel-ready" jobs.  (Mr. Obama later chuckled that his much-hyped "shovel-ready projects" were "not as shovel-ready as we expected.")

Obama's Economy — We've Fallen And Can't Get Up.  Household incomes are still down 4.4% since the recession ended four years ago.  Meanwhile, the unemployment picture may be even worse than we think.

Gallup: Unemployment Rate Jumps from 7.7% to 8.9% In 30 Days.  Outside of the federal government's Bureau of Labor statistics, the Gallup polling organization also tracks the nation's unemployment rate.  While the BLS and Gallup findings might not always perfectly align, the trends almost always do and the small statistical differences just haven't been worthy of note.  But now Gallup is showing a sizable 30 day jump in the unemployment rate, from 7.7% on July 21 to 8.9% today.

Unemployment rates rise in most US states in July.  Unemployment rates rose in more than half of U.S. states in July and fewer states added jobs, echoing national data that show the job market may have lost some momentum.

The Editor says...
What momentum?

Obama Rigging GDP Statistics.  For example, consumer price inflation has been running about 8-9% per year under the 1980 method.  I don't claim the 1980 method is right; but the government claims only 1% CP inflation from its newer methods, and that number violates many people's first-hand experience of rising prices and declining living standards.  Or with unemployment: by 1930s methods, it has been running 15-20%, which means we are already in the Great Depression 2.0.

New jobs disproportionately low-pay or part-time.  Part-time work accounted for more than 65 percent of the positions employers added in July.

Reagan vs. Obama: It's not even close.  On each and every key indicator, Reagan outperformed Obama by a wide margin. [...] The Obama years will be remembered as a wasteland of bad decisions, corruption and incompetence, and missed opportunities.  To compare the Reagan and Obama years is informative: it reminds us of what we once had, what we could have again, and how bad it is today.

Part-time America.  New government figures show unemployment still stuck at well above 7 percent, another reminder of America's economic paralysis.  As worrisome, the number of "involuntary" part-time jobs continues to grow, which makes what happened at a 24/7 California call center, set up to answer questions about ObamaCare, particularly ironic.

Where's that 5% unemployment rate Obama promised by now?  On the surface, the July jobs report — the unemployment rate dipped to 7.4% last month thanks to a shrinking workforce as the economy added a disappointing 162,000 net new payrolls — is just another dismal data point in America's "new normal" recovery.  But it's also an important milestone and metric for judging the Keynesian fiscal experiment known as Obamanomics.

77% of Jobs Created in 2013 are Part Time.  This is the kind of thing that gives you a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when the full import of this stat sinks in.  Of all the rotten statistics coming out of these dreary jobs reports, month after month, it is the realization that the face of work in America is radically changing right before our eyes — to the detriment of young and old alike.

Obama must accept responsibility for the sluggish jobs picture.  The Labor Department reported Friday that the economy added 162,000 jobs in July, after adding 188,000 in June.  Unemployment fell to 7.4 percent, largely because 240,000 adults left the labor force.  Businesses continued the shift toward contingent workers.  In July, 103,000 more Americans reported working part-time.

Young Americans Left Out Of Obama's 'Jobs Recovery'.  As the media focus on a slight drop in unemployment, an ugly trend gets ignored:  the declining participation of young Americans in the job market.  We'll pay for this for decades to come.  We keep hearing the job market is "improving" or even "solid," with 162,000 new positions created in July and unemployment falling to 7.4%, the lowest since 2008.  But one group is sitting it out.  And it's the one that most enthusiastically embraced Barack Obama in both of his presidential elections:  America's young.

Immigration Reform versus Unemployed America.  With millions of Americans un- or underemployed, it's difficult to see how any political party that's looking out for the folks would want to import more people.  America doesn't seem to be able to provide jobs for the people already here.  Yet, importing more people to compete for jobs in a stagnant economy is exactly what Democrats want to do with their comprehensive immigration reform bill that the Democrat-controlled Senate rolled out on June 27.

Five Things Media Aren't Telling You About Today's Jobs Numbers.  Using anti-science exuberance, for the last few days, the media have pom-pommed someone's ethereal projection that the economy had created 200,000 or so jobs in July. [...] If you are wondering why the media are still artificially propping Obama up at the expense of working people — even after he has been safely re-elected — the answer is simple:  After investing so much in him, the media must now prove they were right to do so.

Data of Prosperity Past.  The good news is that the Commerce Department's second-quarter GDP report shows that the U.S. is richer and the economy larger than previously believed.  The bad news is that this has nothing to do with anything that has happened lately, and certainly not in the last nine months.

Harry Reid's claim that the sequester has 'already cut 1.6 million jobs'.  [Senator Harry] Reid's comment jumped out at us — 1.6 million jobs have already been lost because of the sequester?  That seemed rather large. [...] In fact, there's really no current estimate of how many jobs have been lost because of the sequester.  Before the sequester began, there were many estimates, including one that predicted more than 2 million job losses in 2013.  But the size of the sequester was reduced, various functions (such as air traffic controllers) were spared, and many planned furloughs were reduced, so the impact is probably significantly less than many expected before the sequester was implemented.

Obama's Keystone Job Claims As Phony As His Recovery.  The president falsely claims that the jobs created by the pipeline from Canada would be but a "blip relative to the need," ignoring his own State Department and the unions that support him.  At the rate President Obama is going, he may claim that building the Keystone XL pipeline will actually cost jobs.  In an interview with the New York Times last Saturday, he argued that the best estimate is 2,000 initial construction jobs followed by no more than an additional 100 jobs, a mere "blip."  The newspaper's transcript of the interview showed Obama chuckling dismissively as he made his point.

White House: Restaurants haven't cut hours of workers due to ACA.  Scattered news reports say some restaurants are cutting employee hours or not hiring because of healthcare reform, but U.S. officials say it's not true.

Four Things the Media Aren't Telling You About Today's GDP Numbers.  [#1] GDP growth of 1.7% stinks.  In order to artificially prop up President Obama, the media have created what I call "The Obama Curve."  In order to make his failed economic recovery look good, the media have — for the first time in my lifetime — dumbed down what was once considered acceptable job and GDP growth to practically zero.

SNAP Shot: Two Food Stamp Recipients Per Job Created.  While the administration laments the distraction of "phony" scandals like Benghazi and Fast and Furious that leave real Americans dead, it trots out phony statistics about how well the economy is doing. [...] Since February 2009, the first full month of Obama's presidency, 9.5 million Americans have dropped out of the labor force.  Nearly 90 million working-age Americans are not working today.  Doing the math, 1.3 Americans have dropped out of the labor force for every job the administration claims to have created.

President Adopts Catchphrase to Describe Proposed Recipe for Economic Revival.  President Obama says prosperity does not trickle down, and a rising tide does not necessarily lift all boats.  The conservative policies predicated on those ideas, he maintains, amount to a you're-on-your-own economics, when the country really needs a we're-in-this-together approach:  in short, prosperity needs to come from the "middle out" rather than the top down.

28 states see unemployment rise in June.  More than half the states experienced rising unemployment rates in June compared to May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday [7/18/2013].

A Jobless Recovery Is a Phony Recovery.  In June, the government's Household Survey reported that since the start of the year, the number of people with jobs increased by 753,000 — but there are jobs and then there are "jobs."  No fewer than 557,000 of these positions were only part-time.  The survey also reported that in June full-time jobs declined by 240,000, while part-time jobs soared by 360,000 and have now reached an all-time high of 28,059,000 — three million more part-time positions than when the recession began at the end of 2007.

Food Stamp Nation is now larger than the full-time private-sector workforce.  The Obamanomics transformation of America is nearly complete.  The most recent unemployment report, which was supposed to be mildly optimistic, was actually a fresh milestone in the evolution of Waiter and Waitress America, as full-time career and manufacturing positions vanished, to replaced by a wave of part-time service industry jobs.  If the President was a Republican, the media would be having a seizure over this, but instead they prattle about how job creation was "better than expected."

Why Underemployment May Be Worse Than It Looks.  The level of underemployed workers looks bad on its face but even worse when it's not the government doing the counting.  When the Labor Department released its monthly nonfarm jobs report Friday, it was all sunshine and roses except for one glaring weakness:  A big jump in the underemployment rate that includes those who have quit working as well as those who have had to take part-time jobs even though they'd rather work full-time.

Obamacare Job Double Counting and Other Economic Distortions.  Reader Tim Wallace provided another excellent series of charts on the employment situation.  These charts compare June employment in 2013 to June in prior years.

The Obamacare Jobless Rate Soars from 13.8 percent to 14.3 percent.  While it's true that job growth was robust, it came from the growth of PART-TIME jobs, which are the only kind available.  On a net basis, the economy lost 326,000 fulltime jobs.  Obamacare changes the definition of full time employment to 30 hour a week from 32 hours and requires companies over a certain size to purchase health benefits for all fulltime employees.  As a result, companies are doing what we all knew they would:  They are cutting fulltime employment and replacing it with part-time help.

Part-Time America.  The U.S. labor market may be gaining a little more steam, judging by Friday's June jobs report.  Imagine how much better it might do if ObamaCare weren't encouraging employers to hire so many part-time workers. [...] The disappointments include a big jump of 247,000 in the number of "discouraged workers," those who have stopped looking for a job.

Positive jobs numbers hide troubling developments for young workers.  Hidden beneath the surface of Friday's largely positive jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor lurk indications that the U.S. economic recovery is far less developed than the White House's self-congratulatory messages suggest.  While the overall seasonally adjusted unemployment number landed at a 7.6 percent for the month of June, with nonfarm payrolls growing by 195,000, the number of so-called 'involuntary part-time workers' increased by 322,000 to 8.2 million — masking a drop in full-time jobs that would otherwise indicate an economic slowdown.

54 Months: Record Stretch of 7.5%+ Unemployment Continues.  [Scroll down]  In a February 2013 report on the impact of Obama's stimulus law — the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) — the Congressional Budget Office said that it estimated the law would have the net effect of increasing federal budget deficits by $830 billion between 2009 and 2019.  CBO also estimated that the stimulus had the impact in the last quarter of 2012 of lowering "the unemployment rate by between 0.1 percentage points and 0.4 percentage points."

June Jobs Report: Part-Time Jobs Up, Full-Time Jobs Down.  Overall unemployment stayed steady in June at 7.6%.  The economy reportedly created 195,000 jobs in the month.  [But the] quality of the jobs created is not good. [...] This is the ObamaCare effect.  Obama's health care law incentivizes employers to drop workers to below 30 hours per week in order to avoid incurring liabilities or fines.

America's Job Recovery Is Only For Part-Timers.  From the media to Wall Street, June's jobs report is being spun as a major positive, a sign the economy is getting back on track.  Maybe the pundits should look at the actual numbers, which are abysmal.  To hear some of them, the 195,000 payroll jobs added for the month while the unemployment rate stayed at 7.6% were a big deal.  One investment house called it a "very good report."  Another termed it "solid."  Really?  Let's take a little closer look at the numbers.

Immigrants account for all job gains since 2000: native-born workers' employment has fallen.  Immigrants — both legal and illegal — have accounted for all of the job gains in the U.S. labor market since 2000, according to a report that highlights the stiff competition for jobs in a tight economy as Congress debates adding more workers to the mix. [...] Meanwhile, the number of Americans who aren't in the labor force at all has jumped by almost 13 million to reach 48.6 million — a finding the report's authors say signals profound changes in the American job market and challenges conventional wisdom that immigration is good for the economy.

Weak Economy Exposes Obama's Upside-Down Priorities.  In the first half of 2013, Obama made dozens of speeches on gun control, immigration and global warming, with the latter culminating in Tuesday's declaration about how imperative it is to act now to combat climate change.  But aside from a little "jobs tour" and one big speech back in February, Obama has been virtually silent on the economy.

New Carbon Regulations, at Greater Cost to America.  Five years into Obama's presidency, twelve million Americans remain unemployed, ten million others are underemployed, the unemployment rate is rising, and Obama wants to make it worse.  In the fourth year of the Reagan presidency, the national economy grew by 6.8%.  Last year, under Obama, it was still stuck at 2.2%.  That difference is not accidental.  It is the result of the contrasting policies of the two administrations.  Sadly, the economic destruction of America continues in Obama's second term.

Obama Economic Policies Guarantee A Jobless Recovery.  The recession ended four years ago.  So how's that Obama recovery going?  Still rather poorly, if jobs are the standard by which it is measured.

Obama's Tax Hikes, Not GOP Spending Cuts, Are Killing Growth.  Liberals are apoplectic about "austerity," claiming that draconian spending cuts are killing jobs and economic growth.  But it's President Obama's tax hikes, not spending restraint, that are hurting growth prospects.

Obama Recovery: Still 7.6 Million Jobs Below Average.  Although somewhat better than expected, the 175,000 net jobs created in May continues the historically tepid jobs growth trend that has come to characterize the now four-year-old economic recovery.  The result has been continued high unemployment, a vast pool of long-term jobless, and an unprecedented number of people who've dropped out of the labor force.

Food Stamps Up 39% Under Obama, Disability Up 13%.  An analysis by the former chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers finds that given today's sluggish job growth, it will take over a decade for employment to return to pre-recession levels.

Obama Recovery: Still 7.6 Million Jobs Below Average.  Although somewhat better than expected, the 175,000 net jobs created in May continues the historically tepid jobs growth trend that has come to characterize the now four-year old economic recovery.  The result has been continued high unemployment, a vast pool of long-term jobless, and unprecedented number of people who've dropped out of the labor force.  Highlighting the weakness of the May report is the fact that the number of unemployed climbed by nearly the same amount as jobs created — 101,000 — nudging the unemployment rate up to 7.6%.

U.S. Added 175,000 Jobs In May; Unemployment Higher At 7.6%.  U.S. employment rose more than expected last month, and more Americans entered the workforce, signals that the economy withstood the effects of higher taxes and federal budgets cuts.  Payrolls increased by 175,000 in May, more than the 163,000 that economists predicted, according to Labor Department data released this morning.  May's gain followed a revised 149,000 in April, a figure smaller than initially estimated.

Labor Department: May unemployment rate rises to 7.6 percent.  Economists had predicted the rate would remain unchanged at 7.5 percent.

Obama and the Press Pretend There's 'Clearly' a Recovery.  As of when this column was submitted, it appeared that the government's May report on job growth to be released on June 7 might come showing seasonally adjusted growth of 170,000.  Given ADP's precursor, that seems optimistic.  But even if the report hits that number, there's a good chance, thanks to ObamaCare's 30-hour definition of a "full-time employee" requiring coverage under an employer's existing health plan, that the total number of hours worked will come down, as was the case in April.

We're living in a twisted reality, where the best news is not good news at all.  You know you've tripped through the looking glass when the best kind of news is not good news at all.  So it is with today's US jobs data.  Non-farm payrolls rose by 175,000, a touch above forecasts, but unemployment edged up from 7.5pc to 7.6pc.

The Hidden Jobless Disaster.  [T]he unemployment rate is not the best guide to the strength of the labor market, particularly during this recession and recovery.  Instead, the Fed and the rest of us should be watching the employment rate.  There are two reasons.  First, the better measure of a strong labor market is the proportion of the population that is working, not the proportion that isn't.

Economically, Could Obama Be America's Worst President?  The recession ended four years ago, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.  So Obamanomics has had plenty of time to produce a solid recovery.  In fact, since the American historical record is the worse the recession, the stronger the recovery, Obama should have had an easy time producing a booming recovery by now.  Obama likes to tout that we are doing better now than at the worst of the recession.  But every recovery is better than the recession, by definition.  So that doesn't mean much.

Krauthammer: Obama a 'fraud,' 'Wizard of Oz' — 'what he preaches doesn't work'.  On Dennis Miller's radio show on Thursday, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer reacted to what Miller called "the new normal" — lowered expectations for the American economy — calling President Barack Obama a "fraud" and comparing him to "a Wizard of Oz."

The Department of Energy Committed $11 Million Per Job.  Unlike in 2008, when Barack Obama pledged to create 5 million jobs over 10 years by directing taxpayer funds toward renewable energy projects, there were no press conferences or stump speeches.  But the data are nonetheless revealing:  for the over $26 billion committed since 2009, DOE Section 1703 and 1705 loan guarantees have created only 2,298 permanent jobs — that's $11.45 million per job.

The audacity of his audacity.  [Scroll down]  In the meantime, unemployment remains excessively high and due to ObamaCare, excessive regulations, and high taxes thanks to this president and economically ignorant members of Congress who voted for his policies, the jobless "recovery" continues and there is no sign of any significant economic growth on the horizon.

The Great Sequester is a sham and a farce.
In time of sequesters, federal government posts 27,000 job openings.  The budget cuts known as sequestration were supposed to wreak havoc, forcing the shrinking of critical workforces including airport security officers and food inspectors.  But since sequestration kicked in March 4, the government has posted openings for 4,300 federal job titles to hire some 10,300 people.

Furloughed feds can tap jobless benefits, raising questions about sequester savings.  Though sequester-tied furloughs have forced federal employees to cut their hours and their pay, it turns out some of them are eligible for unemployment benefits.  That means that while individual agencies are trimming their own budgets with furloughs, the cost to taxpayers of unemployment benefits could simultaneously rise — in turn, undermining lawmakers' goal of using the sequester to cut costs.

Good Luck Being Unemployed Under Obama.  Thirty-six weeks.  That's the average time an unemployed American is out of work in the Obama-led economy, according to the latest government data. [...] The latest data from the Department of Labor show the nation's unemployment rate stands at 7.5%.  The Obama Administration and Obama backers are quick to point out that this rate is the lowest of his presidency.  However, the deeper we dig into the state of the unemployed under Obama, the more frightening the picture.

Don't Be Fooled, The Obama Unemployment Rate Is 11 percent.  When Barack Obama entered office in January, 2009, the labor force participation rate was 65.7%, meaning nearly two-thirds of working age Americans were working or looking for work.  When the recession supposedly officially ended in June, 2009, the labor force participation rate was still 65.7%.

The big Benghazi mystery:  The most over-used trick of Barack Obama's reign of error in Washington is whenever something adverse happens, just ignore it.  Keep on talking happy.  And with a complicit or, at best lazy, capitol media corps the problem will eventually melt away.  Remember all those new jobs that almost $1 trillion of stimulus was going to create by the hundreds of thousands any month now?  That was 2009.  We're still waiting.  And as recently as last weekend Obama is still claiming that job creation is his top priority.

Why Friday's Jobs Report Was Ominous.  Friday's "Employment Situation" report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) wasn't just bad, it was ominous.  We're going to discuss what was ominous about it, and what progressive economic policies have to do with all of this.  However, first, let's look at why the report was not good news.  While most pundits have focused on the BLS Establishment Survey, which reported that 165,000 payroll jobs had been created during April, the Household Survey* numbers told a much different story.

The job surge is a mirage.  I've been telling you for years that this country's employment numbers are rigged during the months of April, May and June — so when the Labor Department announced yesterday that the US created 165,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate dropped to 7.5 percent from 7.6 percent in March, I had to take a closer look.  Sure enough, the report showed that about 50,000 of those new jobs — or 193,000 on a pre-adjusted basis — were based on government assumptions, not fact.

Job Report Brings No Cheer To Main Street.  The share of working-age Americans with jobs — 58.6% — has barely budged since the bottom of the recession, and we're still some 2 million jobs short of pre-recession levels.  This is unique in post-World War II history.  At this point in every other recovery, the job losses had long since been erased.  On average, payrolls were 7.6 million above the pre-recession peak.

NYT: Real Unemployment at 21.9 Million.  Behind Friday's Labor Department figures lies a stark economic reality:  America remains in a downward jobs spiral.  Consider the following:  according to the Labor Department, the U.S. added 165,000 jobs in April, but to return to pre-recession employment levels, the U.S. would need to add 208,000 jobs a month over seven years.

Economic Misery: The New Normal.  The weakest recovery in the nation's history continues.  On Wednesday [5/1/2013], payroll processing firm ADP reported that private sector businesses created a disappointing 119,000 jobs in the month of April.  Once again, to use a word that should embarrass those who support the Obama administration's Keynesian economic policies, this meager total was "unexpected."  Economic "experts" surveyed by Reuters had predicted at least 150,000 new jobs.

Economy's 'Soft Patch' Is Just More Of The Same.  Dismal job numbers are inspiring a new narrative that the Obama "recovery" was humming along nicely until the sequester hit.  In fact, it has been dragging from the start.  Now that the air traffic system is more or less back to normal, we have something new to worry about.  It's the "soft patch" [—] a term used to describe a slack period in a recovery.

America's Low Labor Participation Rate: Now For the Really Bad News.  March's jobs report showed a curious anomaly:  low job growth (just 88,000), yet a fall in the unemployment rate from 7.7% to 7.6%.  The reason such a push-me-pull-you result could occur was a fall in labor force participation by 663,000 and in the participation rate from 63.5% to 63.3%.

Illinois loses 17K jobs in March, second highest in nation.  Illinois had the second-largest decrease in employment in the nation last month, the Labor Department reported Friday.  The state lost 17,800 jobs, second only to Ohio, where employment fell by 20,400 positions.

Obama's Labor nominee: Official unemployment numbers 'understate' jobs crisis.  Thomas Perez, President Obama's nominee to lead the Labor Department, told Congress today that the Bureau of Labor Statistics is "understat[ing]" the national unemployment rate.  "The labor force participation is at one of the lowest levels," Perez told Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., during his confirmation hearing today, adding that "7.6 percent doesn't take into account discouraged workers, so, in that sense, it understates the unemployment rate."

Ninety days of destruction from the Obama White House.  There are no new jobs.  There will be no new jobs.  Creating jobs in Obama's America is like trying to grow healthy plants in a nuclear blast zone.  Obama has turned the U.S. economy into a "Hostile Work Environment."

America's Economic Disconnect.  The state of our economy has become a constructed fantasy created largely by mainstream media (MSM) narratives.  Media accounts of economic performance over the past four years have ranged from confusing to inaccurate to flagrant happy talk and spin.  Rationalization and selective reporting have created economic 'good' news and false 'hopes' where none existed or should exist. The techniques employed have included consistently biased memes, factual omission, factual commission, and even misdirection.

Obama's plan hatched at Columbia University.  Under Obama, 660,000 Americans dropped off the job rolls... just last month.  90 million working-age, able-bodied Americans are no longer in the workforce.  90 million.  The workforce participation rate is the lowest since 1979.  For men it's the lowest since 1948 (when record keeping began).  Almost 50 million Americans are on food stamps (20% of all eligible adults).  14 million are on disability.  Millions more are on welfare, unemployment, housing allowances, aid to dependent children, or 100 other free government programs.

The Real Story Behind The Unemployment Rate.  The mainstream media is absolutely giddy that the U.S. unemployment rate has hit a "four-year low" of 7.7 percent.  But is unemployment in the United States actually going down? [...] Headlines all over the nation boldly declared that "236,000 jobs" were added to the economy in February, but what they didn't tell you was that the number of Americans "not in the labor force" rose by 296,000.  And that is how they are getting the unemployment rate to go down — by pretending that huge numbers of unemployed Americans don't want jobs.

Cowboy Logic and the Economy.  No matter how much the sycophants in the media and the partial pundits tell us that the debt doesn't matter and that the economy is making a recovery, 2 + 2 is still 4, and the numbers just don't add up.  They point at statistics and fractional improvements in unemployment and auto sales but they don't tell you that the people who have used up all their unemployment benefits and have dropped out of the work force are no longer counted among the unemployed.

Four AP Reporters Make Excuses, All Unacceptable, for Weak March Jobs Report.  After telling the world on Thursday [4/4/2013] that "Gone are the fears that the economy could fall into another recession," it seems that the Associated Press's Christopher Rugaber needed some help explaining away Friday's weak jobs report from the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The AP had four reporters on Friday evening's coverage, all seemingly in search of a viable excuse for another "unexpectedly" disappointing report.

Economist Cited by WH Blames Obamacare for Jobs Numbers.  Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi, frequently cited by the White House in support of its economic proposals, told CNBC that Obamacare may be partially responsible for the disappointing jobs numbers released earlier today.

The March Jobs Report: How Numbers Can Deceive.  Last Friday's jobs report was dismal.  The labor force participation rate, that is, the percentage of the total population that is either working or actively seeking employment, dropped to 63.3%.  That's the lowest rate since May of 1979.  Under Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton the labor force participation rate grew as high as 67.3% in April of 2000.  All of that growth is now gone and the numbers are back to the lackluster growth and economic malaise that characterized the Carter presidency.

90 Million Americans Are No Longer Looking for Work.  In March, the number of Americans who dropped out of the labor force increased by 663,000 which adds up to a record 90 million Americans who are no longer looking for employment. [...] The White House responded with a report stating this is all proof the economy "is continuing to recover".

Media Can't Blame Dismal Jobs Report on the Sequester.  The March jobs report is dismal.  Economists had expected the economy to add around 200k jobs last month.  The Labor Department reported this morning, however, that the economy added only 88k jobs.  Democrat operatives in the media are quickly spinning the bad economic news as the fault of the sequester, i.e. automatic government spending cuts.  A closer look at the data show the cuts had almost no impact on the job market.

Discouraged Americans leave labor force.  Many Americans are still so discouraged that they've given up on the job market.

Making Work Not Pay.  The lousy March jobs report jolted financial markets Friday, and understandably so.  In a trend that has defined this weakest of all modern economic recoveries, the jobless rate keeps falling but largely because the labor force keeps shrinking.  The unemployment rate fell to a new four-year low of 7.6%, from 7.7% in February.  Good news, except the main reason for the decline was that nearly half a million Americans (496,000) left the civilian labor force.  They retired, quit working, went back to school or gave up looking for work.

Jobless Claims Hit Four-Month High.  For the third straight week, the number of Americans filing for new unemployment benefits rose.  Thursday's [4/4/2013] increase was quite dramatic.  Though economists expected new claims to fall to 350,000, claims actually rose to 385,000 — the highest number since November.  The four-week rolling average also increased to 354,250.

Jobless claims at 4 month high.  The unemployment numbers come out tomorrow [4/5/2013] and by the looks of things, it won't be very good news.

How Obama Goosed the Jobs Numbers.  As long as I can remember, people have always complained about the accuracy of government-reported statistics and claims.  For instance, every year, the government reports that the measure generally regarded as a barometer for inflation everyday Americans face, the CPI, is always much lower than people feel they're experiencing in their everyday lives.

The Great Recession Has Been Followed by the Grand Illusion.  The Great Recession is an apt name for America's current stagnation, but the present phase might also be called the Grand Illusion — because the happy talk and statistics that go with it, especially regarding jobs, give a rosier picture than the facts justify.  The country isn't really advancing.  By comparison with earlier recessions, it is going backward.

CBO: America Will Never See Full Employment Under Obama.  The Congressional Budget Office is now projecting that the U.S. economy will never achieve full employment during the eight years Barack Obama serves as president.  That would make Obama the only American president during the post-World War II era who never presided over a year in which the U.S. economy offered full employment to the American people.

The Countless Shades of Green Jobs.  Green jobs — or, as our president calls them, the "jobs of the future" — have been notoriously tough to define and count.  The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics recently did it, though, and now it's the result that's notorious.  Facing an admittedly difficult project, the BLS created a definition that is so broad as to make it a meaningless measure of the green economy.  Here's a sneak preview:  There are 33 times as many green jobs in the septic tank and portable toilet servicing industry as there are in solar electricity utilities.

Today's Job Creation is Pathetic Compared to Reagan-Era.  [President Obama] has seen the unemployment rate artificially drop due to a shrinking workforce.  For instance, the unemployment rate dropped last month to 7.7%, but that's likely due to 135,000 leaving the workforce.  It's just fact that if the labor force was as large today as when Obama took office, we would be looking at an unemployment rate closer to 11%.

More Are Quitting the Workforce Than Getting Jobs.  Who can complain about nearly a quarter-million jobs created in February?  Until, that is, you learn that more people left the labor force than got new jobs, continuing a long-term trend under President Obama.

End the Madness at the EEOC.  Over 89 million Americans are presently out of the labor force.  The New York Times seems to offer a muddled explanation for the fact that employers have money to hire but aren't doing so even when they need extra help.  The Federal Reserve's vision is less cloudy.  In its latest beige book the Fed indicates that uncertainty about the impact and requirements of Obamacare is playing a significant role in the national job freeze cutting into sales and hiring.

To praise the February jobs report is to embrace the New Normal economy.  The headline numbers show a decent month for the US labor market in February.  Nonfarm payrolls rose by 236,000 last month (246,000 in the private sector), the Labor Department said, beating economist expectations of 160,000.  And the jobless rate fell to 7.7%, the lowest since December 2008, from 7.9% in January.  Now here's some of what those headline numbers miss:  [#1] In January 2009, Team Obama economists predicted that the unemployment rate by 2013 would be 5.1%. [...] [#2] The labor force participation rate fell again as potential workers stopped looking for work.

Notice that the steep decline began in late 2008, at the point when it became apparent that Barack Obama was about to be elected.

Bad behavior underserving of sympathy or support.  Like most Americans, I sincerely believe we have a moral and civic responsibility to help those who cannot help themselves as well as those who genuinely want to better themselves through productive employment.  But these "people who have left the work force" are something altogether different.  According to the experts, they are predominantly able-bodied men who have chosen to stop looking for work and are relying instead on the financial support of others.  And the others they rely on are more likely to be girlfriends than spouses and government programs rather than friends or community groups.

Maxine Waters: Sequester Could Cause '170 Million Jobs' to Be Lost.  Maxine Waters (D., Calif.), in an attempt to outdo President Obama's claims that even minor cuts will bring the republic's long run to an ignominious end, warned today that the sequester could cause "over 170 million jobs" to be lost.

Personal Income Drop Is Bottom-Up Economics Failure.  The economy racked up another dubious achievement in January, when personal income suffered the biggest drop in 20 years and disposable income suffered its biggest decline in more than 50.  Is this what "bottom-up" prosperity looks like?

Teacher pink slips claim by Duncan not backed by evidence.  The descriptions of the post-sequester landscape that have been coming out of the Obama Administration have been alarming, specific — and, in at least some cases, hyped.

The Real State of the Union.  A February 1 Investor's Business Daily editorial, which appeared shortly after the government released its January jobs report, laid out the primary truth about the current job market:  It took an average of just 24 months to regain all the jobs lost in the previous nine recessions.  But at the current Obama job-creation pace, it will take about 80 months to regain those lost jobs.

State of the Union blues.  No matter what your political persuasion, even if you're the biggest Obama supporter in the world, you have to wince when he says things that are obviously untrue.  I copied the transcript of his speech into Microsoft Word and started highlighting the lies, but that was an exercise in futility.  Almost everything was highlighted. He lies obsessively. [...] Then I tried limiting myself to outrageous, interesting lies, but that's not really much of a limit with this guy.  For example, he started by talking about the economy and his very first sentence on the subject boasted about creating six million new jobs.  Six million!  Just a few months ago he was running for re-election claiming four million, which was up from three million, which itself was a figment of his overactive imagination.

Rubio's Thirstiness Trumps Obama's Untruthfulness.  Why does a re-elected chief executive, dubiously claiming a mandate from the people, insult the intelligence of millions of Americans struggling to stay afloat in a contracting economy during the worst economic recovery on record with ludicrous contentions like this:  "After years of grueling recession, our businesses have created over 6 million new jobs"?  Why does he present an electorate that just returned him to power with the wild claim that "already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs"?

After ignoring unemployment, Obama seeks to convince Americans it's his top priority.  White House spinners are working furiously in the final 72 hours before President Obama's State of the Union speech.  Their job:  convince the recession-scarred American public that economic recovery is Obama's top priority — after everything he has said and done to suggest otherwise.  The unemployment rate is 7.9 percent — one tenth of a point higher than it was when Obama took office in January 2009.

The President Admits The "Recovery" Is Smoke And Mirrors.  In my view, true recovery is one that has a lasting foundation of effective business policies, fiscal sanity and monetary restraint.  A Democrat recovery, we now know, is a house of cards created and sustained by writing hundreds of billions of dollars in hot checks (h/t — Lloyd Bentsen).  Don't believe me?  Here is what the President had to say today: [...]

Obama's shotgun photo: Fake or for real?  Yesterday Obama was on the gun violence kick.  Today, it's immigration reform.  Both of which keep the public's mind off the sagging Obama economy.

Counting the Ways the Media Lies About the Economy.  Pop quiz:  What was the biggest news story this week?  And I don't mean, what was the biggest news story according to Obama's media.  Obviously, it was the economy taking a nosedive into negative territory last quarter, along with the fact that hardly enough jobs were created last month to keep up with population growth.  Oh, and the unemployment rate increased.  Of course the economy is the biggest story; it affects the most people and Obama's doing it wrong.  But not only is the media never-minding the economy, much of the media coverage related to economic bad news is forever being spun into good news.

As GDP Falls, President Obama Runs Out of Excuses.  When Obama first took office, he forecast 4% GDP growth for 2011 and 2012, as did most everyone else.  Actual results: 1.8% growth in 2011 and 2.2% in 2012.  Just last summer, Obama was saying that Q4-over-Q4 growth in 2012 would be 2.6%.  Actual result:  1.5%.

Unemployment rate creeps back up, as Obama lays off his own jobs council.  The President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness expired in obscurity Thursday [1/31/2013] in an unmarked bureaucratic grave.  Created two years ago to display the Chicagoan's alleged concern with high unemployment, whatever its PR showcase value had long since ended.  In fact, as a typical Obama sign of his oft-repeated commitment to creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs, the Democrat hadn't even bothered to meet with his hand-picked group of business and union executives for more than half its life.

U.S. Economy Adds 157,000 Jobs in January.  The U.S. generated 157,000 jobs in January, just short of analysts' estimates and another sign that economic momentum is stagnating.  The headline unemployment rate inched higher to 7.9% from 7.8% a month ago. [...] On Wednesday [1/30/2013] the Commerce Department said the U.S. economy shrank at an annual rate of 0.1% during the fourth quarter of 2012, the first quarterly drop since 2009.

Colorado Energy Office Misspends Millions in Stimulus Funds.  The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) misspent millions in stimulus funds and could not account for a variety of other financial statements, according to a new audit from the Colorado state auditor.  The CEO, charged with administering energy funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and a host of other energy initiatives, "was unable to demonstrate that $252 million spent over the past six years was spent cost-effectively," the report concluded.  More than half of that amount, roughly $144 million, came from Recovery stimulus monies distributed between the 2009-2012 fiscal years.

Obama's jobs council shutting down Thursday.  President Barack Obama will let his jobs council expire this week without renewing its charter, winding down one source of input from the business community even as unemployment remains stubbornly high.

Dem leader Reid: 'We are in a recovery'.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday said the American economy is "in a recovery" despite the decline in the nation's gross domestic product (GDP).  Reid made the remark after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blamed the White House for the unexpected contraction in the economy.

In the same way a crop duster "pauses", right before nosediving into the ground...
US economy has 'paused', says Federal Reserve.  The Federal Reserve left its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged on Wednesday [1/30/2013], saying the US economy had "paused" in recent months largely due to transitory issues.

The Reality of Long Term Unemployment.  In his "Mission Accomplished" moment, Barack Hussein Obama ended his jobs council on Thursday, January 31, 2013.  Despite the fact that more than 12 million people in the U.S. are still out of work.  Obama's allies will point out that when the jobs council began two years ago, unemployment was above 9 percent and has since improved to 7.8 percent.  What they conveniently overlook is that the unemployment number has shifted downwards in large part due to people who have exceeded their unemployment benefits are no longer being counted.

Obama's Economy: The Excuses Begin.  Just days after the November presidential and congressional elections which gave President Barack Obama a non-mandate of 50.6% of the popular vote and the demonstrated supported of less than 27% of all U.S. adults, NBC's Brian Williams actually told viewers:  ["]With the election now over, it is once again safe to talk about the economy and jobs.  Now that it is not a campaign issue, it's back to reality.["]

Outgoing Marxist Labor Secretary Blames Unemployment on... Tea Party.  Outgoing Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who along with Barack Obama presided over the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression, spoke with FOX News Latino about her own miserable record.

First Term: Americans 'Not in Labor Force' Increased 8,332,000.  The number of Americans age 16 or older who decided not to work or even to seek a job increased by 8,332,000 to a record 88,839,000 in President Barack Obama's first term, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Obama's Psycho Job Phobia.  Good news everyone:  Jobless claims on a weekly basis fell to a five-year low according to the Labor Department.  Bad news everyone:  Yet still more people remain jobless.  And why is that?  Because Obama doesn't care about jobs.  When you reckon out the newest jobless figures using the Obama's best calculus, the weekly decline doesn't mean that fewer people are unemployed.

Obama Jobs Council Has Not Met for a Year.  But how can he find the time to focus on jobs, when he has more important things to worry about, like banning magazines with too many rounds, playing golf, promoting gay marriage, going on vacation, spending money, promoting abortion, playing golf, making a speech, illegally providing amnesty to illegal immigrants, going on vacation, giving out money to his billionaire supporters, playing golf and throwing another party.

Obama Jobs Council hits 1 year without official meeting.  President Barack Obama's Jobs Council hit a notable milestone on Thursday:  one year without an official meeting.  The 26-member panel is also set to expire at the end of the month, unless Obama extends its tenure.  The group, formally known as the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, last convened on Jan. 17, 2012 for a White House session where it presented formal recommendations to Obama.  It was the panel's fourth official meeting since it was created in early 2011.

The Editor says...
It sounds as if Obama's Jobs Council was a sham and a farce, created to give the illusion of decisive action.

The Jobs Scare.  With unemployment stalled near 8 percent, it's tempting to skewer President Obama over the embarrassing news that his Jobs Council hasn't met for a solid year — 369 days, to be exact.  And its future seems to be in limbo.  That's just as well.  Jobs councils don't create jobs, businesses do.  The most lethal jobs-killer today is the uncertainty coming out of the White House.

Unemployment Rate Same Today As It Was When Obama First Took Office.  Even though much has changed the past four years, President Barack Obama begins his second term with one thing that hasn't:  the unemployment rate.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Deception Deepens.  [Scroll down]  A more comprehensive unemployment rate is the U-6 which counts all unemployed individuals 16 years and older seeking full-time employment (the aforementioned U-3 rate), marginally attached workers and those working part-time despite wanting full employment.  Marginally attached workers include the discouraged who have given up the employment search.  The December U-6 unemployment rate is 14.4; the 2012 average nearly 14.8 percent.

The New, Media-Numbed Normal.  Associated Press stories on the economy and the fiscal cliff during the previous week tell us that we're in for four more years of having the so-called "essential global news network" and the rest of the establishment press tell us that we aren't really seeing what we can see right in front of us. [...] The AP's headline writers and Christopher Rugaber already had their minds made up about what last Friday's Employment Situation Summary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics would mean even before it was released.

Where Are The Jobs, Mr. President?  When Nancy Pelosi asked that question in 2003, the unemployment rate was 6.1 percent.  The unemployment rate for blacks was 11 percent.  GDP, however, was growing at a 7.2 percent clip, and barely more than a year later the unemployment rate had fallen to 4.9 percent.  That didn't stop Pelosi and her allies, including many in the news media, from repeatedly asking the above question and proclaiming the jobs picture to be the worst since Herbert Hoover.

Obama says Washington 'doesn't have a spending problem.' Really?  On the face of it, such a statement is completely ridiculous — and a bit scary.

Obama to Boehner: 'We Don't Have a Spending Problem'.  In an interview with Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal, newly re-elected House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) opened up about President Obama's utter unwillingness to cut a single dollar from federal spending.  In a stunning admission, Obama reportedly told Boehner, "We don't have a spending problem."

Yes, Obama, There Is A Spending Problem.  Apparently, President Obama never got around to reading the final report of his own deficit commission.  How else to explain his belief that federal spending isn't the cause of the nation's debt crisis?

The Editor says...
Out-of-control spending is this country's biggest problem, and it is the problem most aggravated by Barack H. Obama.  His denial indicates that either he is trying to dismantle capitalism once and for all, or he is incompetent, or he is a compulsive liar, or he's just not too bright.  Thanks again, Obama voters!

Net job gain under Obama: 28,000.  The average monthly job creation in 2012 was 150,000.  That is the best one year performance during Obama's first term.  That is barely good enough to keep pace with the number of workers entering the job market every month for the first time, meaning that we have a long way to go to replace the 7-8 million jobs lost during the recession.

The Four-Year Honeymoon.  President Obama never disappoints.  When the monthly unemployment rate fails to drop, forget it.  What's important is the number of jobs created.  But when the rate actually does drop, forget the growth (or lack of it) in jobs.  It's the rate that matters.  And don't blame Obama for the persistence of slow economic growth and high joblessness.  That's the "new normal."  As for the millions of dropouts from the job market, that's no big deal, hardly worth more than a passing mention.

Unemployment Rises for Women, African-Americans in December.  Government unemployment numbers for December showed that while the general unemployment rate remained flat at 7.8 percent, unemployment for women and African-Americans rose despite an economy that created 155,000 jobs.  Unemployment for women rose to 7.3 percent in December from 7.0 percent while the rate for African-Americans rose sharply to 14.0 percent from 13.2 percent in November.

The Jobs Report.  It's another dreary jobs report out this morning from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, detailing yet another month of the apparently endless "Obama Recovery," the worst since the Great Depression lingered on and on in the 1930s.

US Budget for Dummies.  Take the U.S. budget, remove eight zeros, and pretend it's a household budget.

With Election Over, Americans Find They Were Duped By Democrats And Obama.  Yes, the total number of people with private-sector jobs has grown by 2 million over the last year, as the White House proudly trumpets — and did on the campaign trail.  But what never gets reported is that 2.4 million people have left the workforce entirely over the same stretch — so there is no net real job growth.

Obama's Big Michigan Right-To-Work Lie: Lower Wages.  Campaigning Monday [12/10/2012] in Michigan as it stood poised to become the nation's 24th right-to-work state, President Obama spoke the exact opposite of the truth to union workers at a Daimler Detroit Diesel plant in the birthplace of organized labor.  "What we shouldn't be doing," he told the small crowd, "is trying to take away your rights to bargain for better wages.  We don't want a race to the bottom.  We want a race to the top."  Yet looking at the hard numbers, becoming a right-to-work state is a direct line to the top.

'Bullish' November Data Mask An Ugly Truth About Jobs.  A rip-roarer for job creation and a major drop in the unemployment rate.  At least, that's how the mainstream media sum up November's job numbers.  But scratch the data and a different story surfaces.

73% of Jobs Created in Last Five Months Government Jobs.  While the media pants with exhilaration over a dip in the unemployment level that was created by over a half-million people giving up and dropping out of the workforce, a deep-dive into the employment numbers also reveals that it's mainly government workers benefitting from what meager job growth we are seeing.  Over the last five months, 73% of all jobs created were government jobs.

Former Obama Economic Adviser: Unemployment Rate Decline Due To Drop In Labor Force.  Still won't stop Obama and his army of hacks from claiming we're on the road to recovery.

370k New Jobless Claims; Gallup Reports Unemployment Jump to 8.3%.  After a few post-Hurricane Sandy weeks of new jobless claims hitting over 400,000, it looks as though we've settled back into the new and accepted normal of new claims landing somewhere in the 360,000 to 390,000 range.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this week saw 370,000 new claims filed.  Keep in mind, though, that it's only in Barack Obama's America that we've learned to celebrate any number under 400,000.

Why a budget deal could push unemployment above 10 percent:  The economy must add more than 349,000 jobs each month for three years to lower unemployment to 6 percent and that is not likely with current policies.  Most analysts see the unemployment rate inching up to 8.0 percent, while a few see it remaining steady.

Now They Tell Us The Economy Stinks.  Little noticed in President Obama's "fiscal cliff" plan is a demand for a huge new stimulus package.  Wait!  Wasn't he and everyone in the press telling us just before the election how the economy was gathering steam? [...] In the crucial last few weeks before the election, the mainstream media were falling over themselves painting a rosy economic picture.  Every upbeat bit of data made it to the front page; any bad news got buried.

Jobless rate drops to 4-year low, economy creates 146,000 jobs.  The dark cloud in the Labor Department's report, however, was a drop in the size of the work force, which signaled that some people may have given up looking for work. [...] Friday's report included revisions to both the September and October data showing that 49,000 fewer jobs were created than first reported.

The Editor says...
Imagine my surprise.  The election is over, so now they're telling a different story about the emploment reports from September and October.

Militant Socialism in America.  Despite his "colossal economic failures" and a national debt "above $16 trillion" Barack Obama was given a second term.  It is not because the conservative message was wrong; it is because Obama is a master of marketing his message.  Seductive and false advertising as well as outright bribery marked this man's first term and will certainly be the hallmark of his second.

Obama proposes tax credits for businesses who hire workers they don't need.  Typical Obama, and indicative of a guy with zero experience in the real world who has no idea how or why businesses expand payroll.

Post-election surprise: A slew of bad news.  [For example,] Jobless claims soared. Sure, the president got his minions to drop the unemployment rate to 7.8 percent a couple months before the election ("See? It IS getting better!")  But bam, just like you can be sure that the one relative who drives you nuts will absolutely make it to your house for the holidays, new jobless claims skyrocketed right after Nov. 6, jumping to 439,000 — up 78,000 from the week before the election.  Shocker to those "swing" voters:  The two states with the biggest leaps — Ohio and Pennsylvania, due, according to reports, to layoffs in the auto industry Mr. Obama "saved."  Perfect.

Surprise! Jobless Claims Up 78,000 Week After Election; PA, OH Worst Hit.  The Department of Labor has announced that new jobless claims rose by a staggering 78,000 in the first week after the election, reaching a seasonally-adjusted total of 439,000.  Over the past year, and in the weeks leading up to the election, jobless claims were said to be declining, dipping as low as 339,000, with the media proclaiming that they had reached the "lowest level in more than four years."  Now, suddenly, the news seems far less rosy.

Mud Pies from the Labor Department.  A college graduate with a degree in biomedical engineering who gets a $90,000 job in his field is counted exactly the same in the government's unemployment report as a biomedical engineering graduate who can't find a job and is working weekends as a bus boy at Applebee's.  Or as the PBS Newshour succinctly stated it, "If you only worked one hour in the past week, you're counted as officially employed."