U.S. voters unimpressed by job numbers

[dArKeR]

By Janet Novack

"What a difference a year makes," U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow exalted yesterday. "A year ago at this time, the talk was of deflation. The recovery was under way, but the commentators all said it was wobbly and anemic and weak and fragile, and then you got the tax cuts. What those tax cuts did was to put oxygen in the economy."

Yep, a year sure makes a difference. As Snow points out, the U.S. economy is now growing at an impressive pace, and the recovery has belatedly begun generating new jobs — 625,000 in March and April alone. A year ago, such good news surely would have swayed voters. But with gas climbing past $2 a gallon and the situation in Iraq deteriorating, the public seems less than impressed by the economy's strength.

For example, in a Washington Post/ABC News poll taken late last week, 54 percent of adults disapproved of President George W. Bush's handling of the economy, and 57 percent said he didn't understand the problems of people like them — the sort of perception that hurt his father's reelection bid. Back in April 2003, when there were 1 million fewer jobs, only 45 percent of those polled disapproved of Bush's economic leadership, and 48 percent thought he was out of touch. Investors seem equally leery; this month, the UBS/Gallup Index of Investor Optimism is at its lowest since October, with 70 percent of respondents saying energy prices are hurting the investment climate "a lot."

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5067838/

As we all can see, Al Franken is the only media source which has morals and/or resources to investigate the American Media Whore lies. What does that have to say about Democracy and/or the power of the lying, cheating, immoral... republican party? I heard on mainstream TV and radio for the last 3.5 years that, 'The recovery will be here next quarter.' To be honest, I've never listened to Limbutt and I get a kick out of listening to him via the Franken show but I think it's time Al go after a more serious issue, the life of our country. The embedded cheating, corruption, racketeering, (at the very least immorality) of the American Media Whore announcers. But in fact it isn't the announcers, they are no different than aWol reading scripts. It's the CEOs and board of directors. I want to hear Franken play a 1000 times from 100 different sources that 'the recovery will be here next quarter.'

[Beetwasher]

1. Let Them Eat Oil!

n/t

[AndyTiedye]

6. They Knew He Was Lying About The War All Along, but They were OK with that

He was making excuses for us to go in and steal Iraq's oil, and they were OK with that.
They're OK with all the lies as long as he comes through with the gas.
He ain't.

What good is a war for oil if the price of gasoline goes through the roof?

[mhr]

2. Unemployed Four Years, Jobs, What Jobs - Still No Jobs In Dallas

eom

[Danmack]

9. Just got laid off of my third job in 3 years in Dallas...

Its just plain bad here.

I think one of the things that the pubs just don't get is "what kind of jobs are being created and how long they are lasting and how much they pay"?

The reason the american public thinks that the economy sucks is because for most of us it does. I just got laid off for the third time in 3 years a few weeks ago. I have only worked 10 months out of the last 34 months. In fact the last position I took was at 1/3rd of what I was making 4 years ago.

But lets take us unemployed out of the picture. There are many, many people who have found work, usually making quite a bit less than what they were before and they ain't happy about it.

Take the quiz:

How many people here know somebody who has been laid off in the last 3 years? Know 2 people? Know 3 or more people???????

How many people here know some one who has NOT worked more than the DID work in the last 3 years?

How many people here have friends that have gone bankrupt or have used all of their savings up in the last 3 years.

And on and on and on.

You see chimpy and crew don't care about us. They even have no shame on bragging about who they care for.

The RICH have been rewarded nicely in the last 3 years while the middle class and poor are taking it up the ass. It will take me years to recover financially from the last 3 years.

But it appears that the people ain't buying it anymore. Because for each person out of work (or making pennies now), it affects more than just themselves. It affects everyone around them also, spouse, children, siblings, parents, friends and on and on.

We hurt, we've lost more then we have gained from the shitheads in DC in the last 3-1/2 years. And we plan on making our voices heard in Nov.

[Wright Patman]

10. Dallas?

Heck, even with a good job, that is a sucky place to have to live.

Plus, you are not going to "make your voice heard" in an electorally significant way November unless you were to move from Texas to one of the "battleground states."

I feel compassion for your plight. Life is too short to have to live it un- or underemployed in Dallas. Especially with summer coming on and the 120-degree "heat island" effect from all the concrete and steel.

[mhr]

13. Thanks Danmack, Your Story Mirrors What I hear From Others

Three weeks ago, Pete Sessions (R-TX) had his head handed to him as an angry crowd of ex-telecom workers vented their anger and rage.

He held a town hall meeting expecting a polite republican crowd. What he got was a disaster as one unemployed person after another stood to challenge him on outsourcing and the poor job economy.

Thanks for speaking out and validating all that I have been saying for months here. I get tired of the naysayers.

[Mojambo]

3. Bad news over-all

If this election begins to center on energy prices we could be in trouble.
Bush will call in his Saudi bribe before the election.

[htuttle]

4. Job 'numbers' don't pay the rent

Especially when they are fiction.

[w4rma]

5. Low-paying, part-time jobs replacing well-paying, full-time jobs.

Hamburger "manufacturing", anyone?

Also, it's much harder to start a buisness, without buying into a franchise, now than it used to be because the markets are being oligopolized.

[MisterP]

7. a year ago the admin had two fat tax cuts under its belt!

and he's pretending they weren't there!

[TahitiNut]

8. I think more than 10,000,000 jobs below average rates is impressive.

[Hobarticus]

11. Zero net growth is quite impressive, yes.

One really has to be trying in order to run our economy into the ground.

[Robbien]

12. If a US company hires 2,000 new employees in India, does this count

as 2,000 new jobs? I wonder.