"Recovery Summer" goes bustNo image available
"Recovery Summer" goes bust
Made popular 1008 days ago in Business
weeklystandard.com — Declaring a "Recovery Summer" victory tour at the start of June must have looked like a pretty safe wager for the Obama administration. The economy seemed to have shifted firmly into gear during the spring. Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council, told the Financial Times in early April that the economy was "moving toward escape velocity.
A big reason for White House optimism was a stronger job market. The economy added an average of 320,000 net new jobs a month during March, April, and May, about half of them in the private sector. Granted, the unemployment rate still hovered close to 10 percent. But if the economy kept growing at a 3 percent annual clip or greater-creating lots and lots of new jobs in the process-unemployment would eventually fall, perhaps dramatically. As one White House insider remarked upon reviewing all the macro-indicators and then evaluating the economic team's performance, "It looks like we got things just about right."
Since then, however, the economy has fallen back to earth, and "Recovery Summer" looks more like a bad bet. Private sector job growth has fallen by two-thirds, and the unemployment rate is still at a sky-high 9.5 percent. And if the size of the U.S. workforce, as measured by the Labor Department, had stayed constant since April-instead of shrinking by a million-the unemployment rate would be 10.4 percent. Jobless claims are at their highest level since February. Worse yet, the expansion is decelerating.

Report This Post
Posted by james2044
Add To Favorites
142 Votes
Similar Issues
3 Comments
ShareThis
Has Obamanomics failed?
Yes
67%
Lean to yes
1.4%
Not sure
2.8%
Lean to no
4.9%
No
24%
This is not a scientific survey, click here to learn more. Results may not total 100% due to rounding and voting descrepencies.
User Comments
CliffWilder
Posted 1004 days ago
0 up votes, 0 down votes
The pending question will always be what would have happened had they not bailed out and stimulated the economy. One of these days they will have a commission that studies the facts.
hank10303
Posted 1002 days ago
0 up votes, 0 down votes
No the economic recovery has not failed. The fact is with the opposition by republicans to make it fail its a credit to this congress and administration that we are recovering in spite of GOP efforts to further damage our country. Economist all across the board agree on one thing. As a result of the number of recessions this country has experienced in the last 50 years recovery becomes longer and slower process. That would be true no even if the pope were president (that's a joke peeps). Considering the alternatives, the fact that very few of us would have had the ability to view the entire picture and find ways to alter the course of Bush's drunken spending and the republicans taxpayer paid party on Washington for ten years the current picture is comfortable to me. When I think of McCain and Palin in the White House I can only whisper to myself - THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD
945call
Posted 1002 days ago
0 up votes, 0 down votes
Sure Cliff coulda, woulda, shoulda. A friend and I stopped for a drink one day. He ordered 2 shots of scotch. I looked at him, surprised. He told me that having 2 shots of scotch at a time keeps snakes away. I said that was ridiculous, they have nothing to do with one another. He said, see any snakes around?
You will have 2 minutes to edit your comment.

Add your comments