Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
So far, it's all bad news. From Bloomberg:
Consumer spending stalled in May as stagnant wages and slackening employment held back the biggest part of the U.S. economy.
Purchases were little changed after a 0.1 percent rise the prior month that was smaller than initially reported, according to Commerce Department figures issued today in Washington. Another report showed household sentiment dropped this month to the lowest level of the year.
And people notice this stuff:
“Consumers are struggling with a lack of income growth, and the consequence is spending is suffering,” said Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jefferies & Co. in New York, who forecast stagnant spending.
Cooling demand coincides with a weakening of the labor market. Companies added 82,000 workers to payrolls last month, the fewest since August. Next week, the Labor Department may report private payrolls rose by about 100,000 in June, completing the weakest quarter for the job market since January- March 2010, according to the Bloomberg survey median.
Consumers have had to rely on savings to boost spending as income growth slowed. Today’s income report showed that may be starting to reverse. The saving rate rose to 3.9 percent, a four-month high, from 3.7 percent.
Four more years? Once again, the Obama Administration seems disconnected to reality. Sometimes, though, as an experiment, I stare out the window and try to spin this Obama's way.
Any suggestions?
- Comment (25)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (3)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments:
Jun '10
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
Rob Long: Sometimes, though, as an experiment, I stare out the window and try to spin this Obama's way.
Any suggestions? · · 15 minutes ago
Sure, that's an easy order to fill:
"Can you only imagine how bad things would have been if President Obama hadn't passed his stimulus, Obamacare, and all of his other awesome ideas? Why, we'd be at 60% unemployment! If Romney some how gets in there, just imagine how bad things will get."
Jan '11
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
Obama Spin:
We've taken the toughest shots they could make, and we're still standing. The economy can only go up.
Reality:
So long as Obama is president, this is the new normal.
Aug '10
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
Pretty much, Samwise. And Republicans are evil meanies.
Apr '11
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
The president will surely say that the recovery would be well under way if it weren't for those obstructionist Republicans in the House and Senate. Replace those Tea Party types with some Occupy types and we'll have the economy sailing along in no time.
Listen to MSNBC and they'll tell you that the business climate is great, it's just that those wicked (and possibly racist) business owners are hogging all the money and not spending it just to make the messiah look bad.
Jun '10
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
The only policy that Obama refuses to adopt is the policy that works. Starve the government; not the taxpayer.
Edited on July 1, 2012 at 9:42pmNov '11
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
You don't want to go back to the failed Boooooooooooooooooooosh policies do you? Do you? Illegal Iraq war is why we're in debt,duhhh, not because of bailouts or stimulus packages or brand new government entitlements or refusals to rein in Medicare spending. Did I mention the Iraq war? And that it was illegal? Bush Lied, yanno. He killed over a billion Iraqi citizens personally.
Bradley Manning/Jeff Santos 2016!
Mar '11
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
Rob Long:
Oh come on... we have a way to deal with this now... just tell consumers they are free to spend as they wish but if they don't spend we'll tax them.
Problem solved. Next issue.
May '10
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
What do you expect with George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Halliburton doing things like causing those terrible thunderstorms this weekend?
Nov '10
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
Polls still show Obama being slightly but consistently preferred to Romney.
This is despite the grim reality of how things have been, are, and will continue to be.
It just doesn't make sense. There's hope, just no change.
Then I read the Facebook entries of my liberal friends.
Here are some choice excerpts from a post-Robertsgate thread.
(Bear in mind: These contributors are all from 30-something or 40-something college female professors.)
"i'm kind of stunned about the SCOTUS decision. and i suffer from an irrational love of obama!..."
"This post hit on EVERYTHING I feel at this moment!..."
"I see your irrational love and raise you complete adoration!"
"I go completely gaga when he smiles after he makes a funny joke."
"what is it about him? i really haven't ever felt this way about a politician... it's embarrassing to have a schoolgirl crush on the prez!"
Well, yes, it is embarrassing.
Such smitten ladies will vote for Obama, and he'll probably win.
However, Andrew Klavan explains it all: Going bananas for Obama is like wishing to have an orange for a head.
Seriously.
Edited on July 1, 2012 at 11:40pmJun '11
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
Most galling impact of the Roberts defection? If our Dear Leader gets a second term he will have another way to blame Bush: "If not for the failed appointments of the past, our health care system would not be bankrupt..."
Mar '11
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
I have not posted in a week. I am still so depressed, and can barely even read posts about the economy or SCOTUS. If Americans had *any* perspective....
Sep '10
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
Sometimes I look around at my academic colleagues and wonder why "critical thinking", which they claim to prize so much, goes out the window where liberal politics is concerned. But to their credit, most of them weren't gushing like 13 year old girls on Facebook.
I'm going to make a slightly cynical guess that the women you quoted are all liberal arts or social science types. Am I right?
Edited on July 2, 2012 at 1:00amJul '11
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
Then I read the Facebook entries of my liberal friends.
Here are some choice excerpts from a post-Robertsgatethread.
(Bear in mind: These contributors are all from 30-something or 40-something college female professors.)
"i'm kind of stunned about the SCOTUS decision. and i suffer from an irrational love of obama!..."
"This post hit on EVERYTHING I feel at this moment!..."
"I see your irrational love and raise you complete adoration!"
"I go completely gaga when he smiles after he makes a funny joke."
"what is it about him? i really haven't ever felt this way about a politician... it's embarrassing to have a schoolgirl crush on the prez!"
Well, yes, it is embarrassing.
Such smitten ladies will vote for Obama, and he'll probably win.
However, Andrew Klavan explains it all: Going bananas for Obama is like wishing to havean orange for a head.
Seriously. · 1 hour ago
Edited 1 hour ago
Start un-friending. Immediately.
Dec '10
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
"Ever get that feeling that things are going just a bit too well? Some disaster must be just around the corner? Not with us! OBAMA 2012!"
Sep '10
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
Aodhan: However, Andrew Klavan explains it all: Going bananas for Obama is like wishing to have an orange for a head.
Seriously. · 1 hour ago
Edited 1 hour ago
Andrew is right. That is the funniest joke I've heard in a long time.
I mean the joke about the man with an orange for a head, not the application to Obama. The latter is rather grim.
Edited on July 2, 2012 at 1:34amApr '12
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
This election has just become about health care. Do you care for others and their health care or are you a Republican. If Romney can get the economy back on the radar, he might have a chance, but not on health care.
Sep '10
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
Obama will do his best to steer our attention to everything but the economy, and when he can't avoid the subject, he'll blame Bush for that. It's been working fairly well--I recently saw a national poll in which a plurality, maybe even a majority of voters blame Bush for the economy. It can't be just the Obama campaign that's responsible for this. There must be some deeper reason why.
My conjecture: it's due to decades of mass entertainment teaching us that Republicans are self centered jerks who run roughshod over the working class and the environment for personal profit, and they couldn't care less about the country. My evidence for this conjecture--that this image is deeply embedded in our culture--is that I was able to write that without a moment's thought. Whereas besides their stance on gay marriage, I have little idea what the majority view of Democrats is, except that they're supposed to be nice and they love whales and bunnies.
That deep seated cultural bias is worth 10-20 points in November, I'd guess.
Edited on July 2, 2012 at 1:50amMay '10
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
Past studies and experience have shown that the typical American spends his money unwisely. During past boom stages of the business cycle, many Americans spent their money on bad habits and self-indulgences. Our administration has endeavored mightily to soak up all the extra cash flowing through the economy to remove the temptation and allow Americans to live a better and more appropriate lifestyle vis a vis the rest of the world....especially the Third World. If I am re-elected we will seek to make America comparable to Kenya, my birthplace.
Apr '11
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
I work in retail management and we are really starting to see some cracks in our workforce. With hours cut and benefits pared, our staff is now feeling the brunt of these policies. The Obama narrative that the private sector is doing fine and businesspeople are the enemy is falling flat. A friend made the point that his relationship with his boss is as good as ever, except he can no longer be paid as well. Romney would do well to adopt and expand that point.
May '12
Re: Recovery Summer? Not This Summer, Either.
And people wonder why Rihanna still has a thing for the man who beat the daylights out of her.
ps. Loved the orange joke. It still gives me a chuckle when I think about it.
Edited on July 2, 2012 at 4:09am