Thursday, August 18, 2011

While Obama Goes Biking, More People Job Seeking


But don't worry! After Labor Day, if you haven't died of starvation yet, Obama has a plan that will save us all! Yeah, and I have a bridge I would like to sell you in Brooklyn....From Bloomberg:
More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, signaling the labor market is struggling two years into the economic recovery.

Jobless claims climbed by 9,000 to 408,000 in the week ended Aug. 13, the highest in a month, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a rise in claims to 400,000, according to the median forecast. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls rose, while those receiving extended payments fell.

Companies like Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) are paring staff, one reason consumers are limiting their spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. Unemployment at 9.1 percent helps explain why Federal Reserve policy makers last week pledged to hold interest rates at a record low until at least mid-2013 to spur growth.

“People continue to get laid off,” David Semmens, a U.S. economist at Standard Chartered Bank in New York, said before the report. “The uncertainty in the economic outlook is continuing to give hiring managers sleepless nights and is keeping businesses from expanding. We have an incredibly long way to go” to get a healthy labor market, Semmens said.


You know, if we are continuing to see rising unemployment, I don't see why we need to still call it a recovery. Seriously. And why are people so nervous? They are waiting for the craziest regulations from the EPA, etc. to come down the pipe, along with Obamacare, and they are preparing for the worst. Until that gets straightened out, hiring will not go up. And while the masses suffer, what is Obama doing?