Given that this is the slowest recovery from the deepest recession in the modern era, any argument on what impact the stimulus package or the Obama administration did or did not have on the duration or depth of the recession or recovery can only be made on a counterfactual basis. Despite the massive expenditures, you can’t say this recovery is more robust than any that has gone before, so all that can be said in defense of administration policy is speculation that the recovery would have been even more tepid without the stimulus. Problem being, a case can also be made that the uncertainty created by this administration’s wild spending, insane deficits, threatened increases in health care taxes, likely increases in health care insurance premiums on employers, an energy tax (cap & trade), repeal of the Bush tax cuts, increases in the minimum wage, uncertainty created in the health care, financial, and energy industries with the imposition of radical government mandated top down changes in industrial policy – all contributed to increasing uncertainty in the private sector and made the recession worse.

There’s been a lot of chatter about how Obama isn’t focusing on the economy, how his plans have failed, etc.
Want to know the real story? Well, read on my friends, read on…
Yes, unemployment hasn’t dropped as quickly as we had hoped, but if the economic growth that has happened in the past quarter is any [...]

As Americans, we’re accustomed to a certain standard of living. Nothing lavish, mind you. Most of us don’t have big, fancy houses or expensive cars. Most of us don’t have investment portfolios bursting at the seams. But we do have families and we do have responsibilities, and given that we pay our fair share into [...]

Jobs may not be coming back, but the GDP is.
From Reuters:
The first estimate put fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth at its fastest pace since the third quarter of 2003. The economy expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast GDP, which measures total goods and services [...]

First, the relevant facts about the budget that’s set to be released on Feb 1…
About $447 billion will be devoted to funding the government — the parts that aren’t mandated by law (the entitlements) or aren’t related to defense, intelligence, veterans or national security issues. Obama will promise to veto any budget that [...]

Yesterday, in a background briefing, the administration announced a three year spending freeze on portions of the budget. Since departments with the fastest growing government expenditures like Defense, VA, the State Department, and entitlements are excluded from the “freeze”, it will have a negligible effect on the ballooning deficit. One cannot help but wonder if the administration is trying to be all things to all people, and risks representing nothing to no one.

I wrote yesterday about the scant number of jobs created in the last 10 years, but when compared to the past six decades the news becomes that much bleaker.
Wash Post illustrates…

I’m not saying we should have guarantees our overall net worth should go up or that our economy has to add jobs, but when productivity [...]

A bit of good news to report today amid the preparations for New Year’s celebrations. Jobless claims fell more than expected last week.
From WSJ:
Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 432,000 in the week ended Dec. 26, the lowest level since July 19, 2008. The four-week average of new claims, [...]

While Krugman is brimming with good tidings and bubbling over with holiday cheer, from the other side of the political spectrum Peter Schiff is offering a dour double dose of “Bah Humbug.”

Christmas is coming early this year for the Dems.
With the news that Ben Nelson is falling in line so Dems can avoid a filibuster, the passage of this health care bill has become much more likely (almost a certainty?).
Basically, Republicans can cry foul about socialism and fiscal irresponsibility all they want, but they really [...]

Nobody’s signing “Happy Days Are Here Again,” but any significant downward movement in the unemployment rate is reason for some early holiday cheer. And there’s more good news beyond this. I’ll share a chart that shows this after the numbers.
From WSJ:
U.S. job losses in November posted the smallest drop since the start of the recession [...]

In Feb 2009, the company reported this…
Bank of America Corp. expects to pay back U.S. Treasury relief funds within the next three years, and “categorically” does not need further government funding, Chief Executive Ken Lewis told CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo in a televised interview Friday. Bank of America has received up to $45 billion in funds [...]

The administration that has initiated so much that is unprecedented in American politics, introduced an unprecedented new Thanksgiving tradition – carving up our currency for the holidays.

We all know we’re on an unsustainable course with all of this spending. And this is why I voted for this guy: he’s a realist. We needed a short term shot in the arm when he first got in here, but now we have to worry about the long term consequences.
Politico has more:
On the practical [...]

The New York Times uncovers a rather disturbing oversight that economists are just now focusing on.
Actually, disturbing isn’t the right word. Terrifying is much more of an accurate descriptor.
In any event…
The fundamental shortcoming is in the way imports are accounted for. A carburetor bought for $50 in China as a component of an American-made car, [...]

We’ve crossed the psychological barrier and this spells bad news for Dems unless they can turn it around in the next couple months. Because this is the highest rate since 1983 and you’ll be hearing that time and time again in the next month.
Here’s more about those numbers:
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates [...]

As I’ve said numerous times before, voters aren’t stupid. They know who piloted our economic collapse last year and it’s going to be extremely hard for Republicans to convince them otherwise.
Still, it is kind of telling that Republicans blame Obama more for the economy than Bush, even though it’s by a very small 6 point [...]

True, it might go right back down tomorrow, but I have to say that this is a nice little psychological boost.
But it’s not just psychological.
Look at the 52 week spread in that picture…at this time last year we were down to 6,469. That’s a pretty significant jump in just one year’s time. Not only that, [...]

Yep. That’s right. A group of economic forecasters are projecting that we’ll see growth in the next quarter, so the recession is technically over. And hey, we can all be thankful for that.
However, the pain will linger for years to come.
The problem is that all of the lagging indicators of true economic health (rising employment, [...]