Unemployment Falls to Lowest Level Since 2008.

Well, that's the Heritage Foundation theory. It's patently absurd, and every economist not paid to agree with it disagrees with it.

 

LOL! Such comments are quite relevant whenever it is posited by some bozo that the economy would be advancing much more quickly but for the UNCERTAINTY that Obama is creating. The simple facts are that Republican ideological intrasigence and hostage-taking are the major causes of uncertainty to begin with (ask S&P), and that the people supposedly paralyzed by it all are paid theri $10, $20, and $30 million or whatever to deal with uncertainty every single day. That is their freaking job. And no less so the much lower level entrepreneur trying to get some brilliant business plan off the ground. If these supposed risk-taking people actually need certainty in order to function, they are quite definitely playing the wrong game.

 

Rate changes are known in advance. Time-shifting of sales such as I described earlier causes spikes in sales and hence in tax receipts to occur before a known rate increase and after a known rate decrease.

 

Better get used to it. Historians will be blaming him for centuries.

Yes, all of the things he actually did. Such as ARRA, the Fed/Treasury facilities, and the coordinated international response.

It worked very much as had been projected for it. Unemployment peaked earlier and at a lower level. Some 3+ million jobs were saved or created over two years. 2+ points were shaved off the unemployment rate and a similar amount added to the GDP growth rate. That's what every serious analysis shows. Of course, most of the provisions of ARRA expired at the end of 2010 and braindead Republicans could hardly wait not to renew any of them, resulting in a mini-economic decline over the first half of the year.

 

This is one of the stupider posts I have ever seen. I am not a socialist. Obama is about as much a socialist as Marx was an avowed capitalist. And last of all, and I have told you this before as well, but facts don't tend to sway you, Ben Bernanke is a Republican. Other than getting every fact in your post wrong, great post!!

 

Last week's NEW unemployment claims up 24,000. December retail sales FLAT. GDP growth FLAT. REAL unemployment and underemployment still near 20%.
b.o. tells his Chicago mob. "This time, if you work even harder to get me reelected than you did to get me elected, THERE REALLY WILL BE CHANGE."

For those that cannot decipher what he was saying, the interpretation is, "Casey Anthony tells more truth than I do. You believed the lies I told you before, now believe MORE lies."

 

Seasonally adjusted monthly retail sales figures for December rose only 0.1%, after gaining 0.4% in November, but were up 6.5% from December 2010, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Commerce.

Did you "forget" about the rest of it?

 

From Dec Y/Y

Energy costs up 12%. Food 6%. Yay!

 

Fascinating, but did you have anything relevant to the topic to say?

 

Yes, people spent more money, because they were financially required to, not because they "wanted" to.

If inflation beats your sales, thats a problem, right?

 

These were retail sales.

 

Food/Energy are part of retail sales.

"The government's monthly report is a broader gauge of retail sales. It covers purchases at all retailers, not just at major national chains. It also includes auto dealerships, restaurants and bars, grocery stores and gasoline stations. "

 

OK, thanks.

Food/energy are a portion of total retail sales.

Are the retail spending figures real or actual?

 

They are guesstimates just like all other government calculations.

 

AND, Dec. 2010 retail sales were in the toilet,,,,,,,,,TOO!

Liberals will grab on to a turd if they think they can convince some fool its a positive sign.

 

Sorry, I was wrong to think you'd understand standard economic terminology.

To put it in layman's language, what I am asking is whether ther retail sales figures are adjusted for inflation or not.

 

Up 6.5% for the year.

Conservatives will call everything positive a turd to promote failure for political purposes.

 

"The government's retail sales report is seasonally adjusted. That way, the current month can be compared with the previous month. But the figures aren't adjusted for inflation."

 

And to think you periodically take yourself seriously. S&P forum raters have just downgraded you to <Dan40> and put you on a watch list. You could be downgraded to <bluesguy> by the end of the month.

 

I think he did, both the economy and the baboon in DC both suck.

 

Time to close the thread, it is over the limit.