BLS: 155,000 new jobs in December
From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
“Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 155,000 in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in health care, food services and drinking places, construction, and manufacturing….
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised from +138,000 to +137,000, and the change for November was revised from +146,000 to +161,000.”
——————–
Just to be clear, these are seasonally adjusted numbers, which means these 155,000 new jobs come on top of hiring that would normally be expected in the Christmas season.
While we’re on the subject, I’d also like to address this claim by John Boehner yesterday as he accepted the speaker’s gavel for another two-year term:
——————–
“Our government has built up too much debt. Our economy is not producing enough jobs. These are not separate problems.
At $16 trillion and rising, our national debt is draining free enterprise and weakening the ship of state.
The American Dream is in peril so long as its namesake is weighed down by this anchor of debt. Break its hold, and we begin to set our economy free. Jobs will come home. Confidence will come back.”
——————–
As economic analysis, that’s just total baloney. While our national debt constitutes a long-term challenge, it is not causing or exacerbating our current economic situation. If “our national debt is draining free enterprise,” if “this anchor of debt” is dragging us down, as Boehner alleges, then federal borrowing to finance the deficit would be driving interest rates sky high, making it difficult for private companies to borrow money.
That simply is not happening. The prime interest rate is 3.25 percent, exactly what it was a year ago. In fact, you’d have to go back to 1955 or earlier to find a lower prime rate. We have a lot of problems with the economy, but government borrowing driving out private borrowers is not one of them.
I don’t know whether Boehner actually believes that nonsense, or whether he’s just drawing what he hopes to be a politically useful connection. Either way, he is pushing a grossly misleading diagnosis.
– Jay Bookman
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443 comments Add your comment
Mick
January 4th, 2013
9:41 am
sink
Actually, I blame the congress we’ve had the past decade iand a half, that’s where spending and TAX CUTS began!
DannyX
January 4th, 2013
9:41 am
“Uh…you do realize that bammy has piled up more debt that all previous presidents combined?”
rightwingextreme, you make a good point. How do you think Obama should have paid the bills he inherited? Bush started 2 expensive unfunded wars, created the unfunded Dept of Homeland Security, and started a new ’socialist’ Medicare drug plan. All this unfunded spending with massive tax hikes thrown in.
No wonder Republicans have wiped the memory of George W Bush from their brains. They need someone else to blame for his failures.
TaxPayer
January 4th, 2013
9:41 am
If the job numbers are meaningless then those 9 million private sector jobs lost as a result of the Bush Great Recession didn’t mean a thing. Interesting.
Brosephus™
January 4th, 2013
9:42 am
Stevie Ray @ 9:37
Pointing out something without offering a solution sounds about as sane as hoping to stay dry while standing on the beach during a category 5 hurricane. How can one see what’s wrong and not know what’s right?
Cosby
January 4th, 2013
9:43 am
Jaym, what are you drinking….yep there was a modest increase in jobs but there are still less people working today than in 2009 – the year the annoited one took over…there are more people on food stanmps, more on Social Security disability. in fact Social Security was in the red in December. The budget was kicked down the road to February so you and the media can have a story about the fiscal cliff – once again and the interest on the national debt continues to eat up the GDP…and you say Boehner is out of touch – which he is – but you are not even in the same stratrosphere…how gulliable are you – but wait, I have some ocean front property in Arizona…boy 2013 and the media gets even dumber!!
Uh Huh.......There's a RIFT in the GOP. Boenher vs The Tea Party Crazies
January 4th, 2013
9:43 am
Boehner that’s just total baloney.
WHY should anyone listen to Baloney Boehner?
His own party HATES him.
boo hoo boo hoo
williebkind
January 4th, 2013
9:43 am
“Of course, if you feel our servicemembers and veterans are being unfairly treated, you can always sign your paycheck over to the DoD.”
Or draft your butt into the military and let you play in Afghan.
SPC
January 4th, 2013
9:44 am
Interest rates are artifically low. The debt is a huge problem, at least in my opinion. I would like to know why others think otherwise.
DannyX
January 4th, 2013
9:44 am
” Obama is friggin clueless on financial matters. CLUELESS!!!”
rb, there must not be any billboards in DC.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 4th, 2013
9:44 am
“I’m going to get back to work now.
translation:
Better duck from this arse whippin’ I’m getting
Granny Godzilla
January 4th, 2013
9:44 am
RB from Gwinnett
“Obama is friggin clueless on financial matters. CLUELESS!!!”
.
.
.
You do realize that is FALSE…??
Nope, you don’t.
And that’s why you fail.
Christian Conservative
January 4th, 2013
9:44 am
http://www.independentsentinel.com/2013/01/slowest-economic-recovery-in-us-history/
Paul
January 4th, 2013
9:45 am
JohnnyReb
“The Nation everyday spends more than it makes, yet Jay believes we don’t have a problem”
We’re going to have to start with a “Bearing False Witness” award.
Congratulations, you’re today’s first winner.
Unless you’re able to back up what you wrote?
Joe Hussein Mama
January 4th, 2013
9:45 am
williebkind — “Or draft your butt into the military and let you play in Afghan.”
Sorry, punkin. I’m already a disabled veteran. You could certainly sign up and show them how it’s done, though.
td
January 4th, 2013
9:46 am
Dam, Ben just proved without a shadow of a doubt how Jay has totally changed his philosophy just because his team is in power and you progressives go into the total personal attack mode. You can not bash the accuracy of the evidence you attack the character of the person. All I can say is you are all a bunch of hypocrites.
guy
January 4th, 2013
9:46 am
No one has to listen what Johnny Reb wrote about us overspending but it is not going to last forever. How can anyone think that raising taxes to spend more and add to the debt is not a real problem? democrat or republican: THIS KIND OF THINKING IS INSANE!!!
pete
January 4th, 2013
9:46 am
Granny,
Your wise azz comments don’t make you wise. The spending is out of control, and Obama and the dems are the reason.
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
January 4th, 2013
9:47 am
USinUK – not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
January 4th, 2013
9:35 am
“hat’s about the only way that Obama can create those jobs. Otherwise, you should be directing your ire towards the leaders of these companies that offshore jobs and sit on the profits while refusing to invest money in jobs here in the U.S.”
That’s ridiculous…so companies have an obligation to lose money in order to keep US employment at acceptable levels? You two are beyond uninformed. Wake up and face reality: Our economy is transitioning to a service economy and we aren’t going back. Job growth is a fraction of population growth and it has nothing to do with manufacturers shipping jobs overseas to compete globally…this has been done for decades now..
Be oblivious and keep driving that Model T..
Mick
January 4th, 2013
9:47 am
paul
Happy new year to you and your family! Different day, same arguments, I’m heading out to enjoy a beautiful day in paradise – 75 degrees and breezy – I’m sure I should blame obama for that…
Doggone/GA
January 4th, 2013
9:48 am
“and Obama and the dems are the reason”
Got proof?
Erwin's cat
January 4th, 2013
9:48 am
Either way, he is pushing a grossly misleading diagnosis.
okay, I’ll buy that……but what diagnosis would be more accurate?
In my line of work I can’t call out someone for being wrong unless I can offer something that is correct.
Joe Hussein Mama
January 4th, 2013
9:48 am
td — “You can not bash the accuracy of the evidence you attack the character of the person. All I can say is you are all a bunch of hypocrites.”
And this differs from conservative methodology how, exactly?
williebkind
January 4th, 2013
9:48 am
“155,000 new jobs in December”
That sounds great but it will take half that to find job for the military returning home. Probably more because some will have spouses. I knew the liberals were eager to compliment the military before the election. This was a plan all along to gut the military. Now I know I need my assault rifle with high capacity clips.
Jay
January 4th, 2013
9:48 am
“Uh…you do realize that bammy has piled up more debt that all previous presidents combined?”
Uh, you do realize that you are talking absolute nonsense?
In fiscal 2009, the year in which Obama took office, federal debt totaled $11.9 trillion. When fiscal 2013 ends in October, debt is estimated to be around $17.8 trillion, an increase of $5.9 trillion.
$5.9 trillion is not larger than $11.9 trillion.
However, now that you’ve brought it up, let’s take a look at what happened under St. Ronald of Reagan, shall we?
When he took office in 1981, total federal debt accumulated through the previous two centuries was $995 billion. When he left office in 1989, total federal debt was $2.9 trillion.
Do the math. In eight years under Reagan, we incurred more than twice as much federal debt as we had in the previous two centuries combined. To match that performance, Obama would have to leave the national debt at $35 trillion by 2017.
stands for decibels
January 4th, 2013
9:48 am
I said that @ 9.04 someone was almost certainly going to complain, within the first hundred posts, that these were just inflated Christmas employment numbers.
Nobody did that. So, I was wrong. Figured I’d own up to that.
Georgia
January 4th, 2013
9:48 am
The USA has always grown it’s way out of national debt threats. If we were going to sink, we would have sank long ago. Debt isn’t that big of a deal, when the country holding the debt can just print money and play the chinese against the japanese debt holders. Inflation will save us. With inflation, our debt won’t be worth diddle dang piddle poo. American entitlements will be safe, because they’re set to increase with inflation. It’s the best win-win I’ve ever seen, and the suckers are the chinks and the nips, and the saudi royal family who also holds our debt. What a bunch of fall guys. What a bunch of dopes. I love it! Enjoy the playoffs.
DannyX
January 4th, 2013
9:49 am
“All I can say is you are all a bunch of hypocrites.”
Ben should know he’s in trouble when he has ol’ t “unskewed d backing him up.
Joe Hussein Mama
January 4th, 2013
9:49 am
pete — “The spending is out of control, and Obama and the dems are the reason.”
All Federal spending must be approved by the House.
The GOP is in charge of the House.
Guess who approved all that spending you’re angry about?
stands for decibels
January 4th, 2013
9:50 am
piss off. I called his reading comprehension skills into question – but I did not call him names.
And beyond that–when our Stevie Ray resists the urge to refer to Obama as “President Trillions,” he might earn the right to complain about name-calling by others.
Paul
January 4th, 2013
9:50 am
“Jay….Now you say deficits don’t matter.”
And Ben Shockley gets today’s second “Bearing False Witness” award.
But that’s no surprise.
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
January 4th, 2013
9:51 am
Stevie Ray –
it is not beyond ridiculous to say that, if a company is in profit, that it shouldn’t be laying off employees simply because it is not as in profit as the analyst Wall Street wankers say it should be. if a company is in the red, that’s one thing – but many companies have been comfortably in the black, but have let good people go – or have held back on hiring – simply because analysts say they should.
and many of these analysts are the ones who have caused problems to begin with “your peers are off-shoring, why aren’t you? your peers have gone into this kind of business, why haven’t you” – causing companies to lose focus – and lose good people – because of analysts which have NO stake in the company whatsoever.
Jm
January 4th, 2013
9:52 am
“As economic analysis, that’s just total baloney. While our national debt constitutes a long-term challenge, it is not causing or exacerbating our current economic situation. If “our national debt is draining free enterprise,” if “this anchor of debt” is dragging us down, as Boehner alleges, then federal borrowing to finance the deficit would be driving interest rates sky high, making it difficult for private companies to borrow money.”
False. The bond market (where interest rates are set) is no longer a free market due to unprecedented government intervention. Therefore, interest rates are not an indicator of the capacity and displacement of private capital needs.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
January 4th, 2013
9:52 am
How can anyone think that raising taxes to spend more and add to the debt is not a real problem?
Its better than the Republican method.
Lower taxes and spend more.
Jm
January 4th, 2013
9:52 am
Oh. And there’s this by Bill Gross. Not that you libs here actually read. This stuff.
http://www.pimco.com/EN/Insights/Pages/Money-for-Nothin-Writing-Checks-for-Free.aspx
Joe Hussein Mama
January 4th, 2013
9:53 am
williebkind — “I knew the liberals were eager to compliment the military before the election. This was a plan all along to gut the military.”
You ever hear of the BRAC, willie? The Base Realignment and Closure commission, which identifies US military facilities for closure, downsizing and repurposing?
You need to smarten yourself up and see how many bases were closed under whose administrations before you dig your hole any deeper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_Realignment_and_Closure
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
January 4th, 2013
9:53 am
Brosephus™
January 4th, 2013
9:42 am
So every time I submit a fact you don’t like it is not credible when I don’t offer a solution?
Here is the solution, stop bulls&iting the American people and let’s be big boys and deal in the real world as opposed to being so politically insecure to steer all to small ball monthly reports..Long term realities should be the focus of our elected dopes.
That work for you? Admitting the problem is 80% of the solution. I think cutting spending in military and entitlements (waste) and re-investing in becoming the leader in competitive service work instead of clicking our heels so we can recreate the good old days is a start.
Mick
January 4th, 2013
9:53 am
jay@9:48
Thank you! It’s exhausting to keep dispelling that conservative myth making, I’d say your scalpel is mighty sharp…
Joe Hussein Mama
January 4th, 2013
9:54 am
Jm — “False. The bond market (where interest rates are set) is no longer a free market due to unprecedented government intervention. Therefore, interest rates are not an indicator of the capacity and displacement of private capital needs.”
Translation: DAMN those war bonds! DAMN THEM TO HELL!
Jm
January 4th, 2013
9:54 am
“Either way, he is pushing a grossly misleading diagnosis.”
No he isn’t.
Also of note. While we added 155k jobs (which is certainly better than none), the unemployment rate didn’t (and won’t) drop very much at that job creation rate. It’s just not high enough.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
January 4th, 2013
9:55 am
this is pretty cool
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/03/highway_of_the_future_is_seriously_smart/
guy
January 4th, 2013
9:55 am
Paul, add me to the list for the “Bearing False Witness” award. You win the “living in a dream world award.” We are all award winners! Wow!!!
Jm
January 4th, 2013
9:55 am
“$35 trillion by 2017.”
Don’t give Obama an ideas. He’ll have wet dreams.
Brosephus™
January 4th, 2013
9:56 am
Stevie Ray @ 9:47
Reality is what you make it. That transition to a services based economy is being driven by those who stand to gain the most from that transition. Our country won’t survive as is with a service based economy. There was manufacturing job loss throughout our history, but the onslaught of free trade agreements pushed us beyond the tipping point.
You call people oblivious when you don’t appear to have a complete grasp yourself. So funny, yet predictable.
td
January 4th, 2013
9:56 am
Jay
January 4th, 2013
9:48 am
We are now at over 100% debt to our GDP and we are borrowing 46 cents on every dollar we spend.
Another poster asked you a direct question about How much debt can we take on as a nation? Are you going to take a crack at that question?
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
January 4th, 2013
9:56 am
“The bond market (where interest rates are set) is no longer a free market due to unprecedented government intervention”
ohfercryingoutloud … it also won’t because so many people are BUYING Treasuries as a safe haven. (what else are they going to buy? France? Spain? Italy?)
Joe Hussein Mama
January 4th, 2013
9:57 am
S. Ray — “Here is the solution, stop bulls&iting the American people and let’s be big boys and deal in the real world as opposed to being so politically insecure to steer all to small ball monthly reports..Long term realities should be the focus of our elected dopes.”
Come on, Stevie, you’re better than this.
You know as well as any of us that we need 1.8M new jobs per year or 150K new jobs per month just to keep even with population growth. If we see growth greater than that over time, then we know we’re on the right track, even if growth isn’t as fast as we would like.
You might call the monthly jobs report “small ball,” but I honestly think you know better than that.
williebkind
January 4th, 2013
9:57 am
Jay numbers sure are funny! Bush was attacked by terrorists and made war against those who were trying to kill us. Obama just spent money on wishful thinking and liberal dreams. Oh by the way Jay 5.9t is more than 2.9t. So Obama has spent more and taxed everybody. Yes everybody, everybody who works that is….
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
January 4th, 2013
9:57 am
USnUK
Of so you keep all jobs in US but you know that your competitors in say, laptop computers, are eating your market being able to price their product at 40% less…do we as directors of this company focus on keeping all of our employees domestically in the process putting the entire enterprise and 100% of our workforce is at risk?
Think like a business person or shareholder as opposed to a big government rube and you may think differently.
Jm
January 4th, 2013
9:58 am
“The prime interest rate is 3.25 percent, exactly what it was a year ago. In fact, you’d have to go back to 1955 or earlier to find a lower prime rate. We have a lot of problems with the economy, but government borrowing driving out private borrowers is not one of them.”
While the problem might not be exactly thus, rapidly increasing and outsized debt loads will have a big impact on our economy in the future. And it won’t be a good impact
Paul
January 4th, 2013
9:58 am
Mick
Sounds great! Wish I could blame him for our weather – been downright unpleasant. But… we do have the Cotton Bowl tonight with the Heisman winner.
Oh, please don’t let me forget – when Brosephus comes on board – thinking ahead to his predictions about who’s gonna win the ‘Bama game… we do remember what that Cotton Bowl team did to ‘Bama, don’t we?
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
January 4th, 2013
10:01 am
JOE
Please…
However, it is actually worse. We really need to evaluate things from peak employment, which occurred in March 2007. Since then, the U.S. population has grown by nearly 13 million. To keep pace, we should have added about 8.6 million jobs. But, total employment has declined by roughly 3 million. This means that we are really 12 million jobs in the hole.
Oh and let’s not forget the 5 million or so people who have given up looking…
http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddganos/2012/11/03/what-is-really-happening-with-employment/
DannyX
January 4th, 2013
10:01 am
“Another poster asked you a direct question about How much debt can we take on as a nation?”
How do we get rid of the debt we accumulated from the 2 unfunded wars, the unfunded Med D, the unfunded Dept of Homeland Security and the massive tax breaks that went along with all that spending?
Any ideas? Anyone?
TaxPayer
January 4th, 2013
10:01 am
Anyway, we are clearly in for more of the same from the Republicans–sore losing. Bless their little hearts.
Georgia
January 4th, 2013
10:02 am
People like to point to Greece to show what could happen to the USA. Greece is not the USA. Greece’s problem is that the entire country takes an afternoon nap between two pm and three pm (and has sex). That’s half their working day. (the half where they’re actualy doing something). Well, I happen to know that no American would ever fall asleep during afternoon delight. It’s unAmerican. Sky rockets in flight!
stands for decibels
January 4th, 2013
10:02 am
Bush was attacked by terrorists
I don’t think the shoe-thrower can be accurately categorized as a “terrorist.”
Granny Godzilla
January 4th, 2013
10:02 am
pete
January 4th, 2013
9:46 am
Granny,
Your wise azz comments don’t make you wise. The spending is out of control, and Obama and the dems are the reason.
.
.
.
First it’s wise ass
SPending WAS out of control, review the data.
http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-05-22/commentary/31802270_1_spending-federal-budget-drunken-sailor
It may not be austere enough for you, but WE don’t want to go the way of Europe now do we?
williebkind
January 4th, 2013
10:03 am
stands for decibels
The one on the plane could be….just saying since you are trying to be cute.
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
January 4th, 2013
10:04 am
JAY/Anyone
I’m still hoping to get an answer as to how much debt beyond $16 trillion can we maintain until even the liberals get anxious?
Anybody?
Brosephus™
January 4th, 2013
10:04 am
So every time I submit a fact you don’t like it is not credible when I don’t offer a solution?
No. Whether I like it or not is irrelevant. If you claim something is wrong, then how do you know that if you don’t know what’s right? Your posts are gradually becoming typical far right fodder here. They’re all attack all the time without offering a single fact to support or substantiate why you’re right and Jay is wrong.
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
January 4th, 2013
10:05 am
Stevie Ray – “as opposed to a big government rube”
and you say I call people names. again, I say piss off.
I am thinking like a shareholder when I say that many companies are pushed into doing things that are outside of their core capabilities because analysts SAY they should (and ding them on their rating if they don’t).
and I am thinking like a shareholder when I say that call centers in India do more to alienate your customers than they do to help your profits.
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
January 4th, 2013
10:06 am
“Bush was attacked by terrorists
I don’t think the shoe-thrower can be accurately categorized as a “terrorist.””
I thought he was referring to the pretzel.
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
January 4th, 2013
10:06 am
DannyX
January 4th, 2013
10:01 am
Who fricking cares about where the debt came from? Sometimes you need to look askance at who did what and honestly tell us how high can it go before you get anxious..
$30 trillion? $50 trillion?
What do you think? Simple question really..
RB from Gwinnett
January 4th, 2013
10:08 am
“If the job numbers are meaningless then those 9 million private sector jobs lost as a result of the Bush Great Recession ”
Hey Taxie, can you share with us what policy, bill, or anything Bush did that CAUSED the recession?
Simple Truths
January 4th, 2013
10:08 am
Hey, we’re broke. Jay’s plan: Let’s go “broker.”
TaxPayer
January 4th, 2013
10:09 am
I like it when Jay tries to teach basic math to a con. I can see the con’s blank expression with drool dripping from the mouth.
stands for decibels
January 4th, 2013
10:09 am
He is still researching the info on the 100k per year Marta drivers.
Just to pile on a bit–Ben is also researching those privately funded annuities providing guaranteed income and COLAs and survivor benefits, that beat the pants off that crummy deal we get through Social Security.
(I think it’s in my Bookmaniac contract that I’m supposed to post this every coupla-three months or so.)
Flip-Side
January 4th, 2013
10:09 am
Jay – I’d like to know if you’d have the same passive feeling if GW Bush has rung up a $7 Trillion deficit in 4 years? I seem to recall a lot of not so-passive (some would say hate-filled) commentary just a few short years ago when the debt ceiling was raised to $10T (for which Obama voted against blaming poor management – oh the irony). Is biased politics blurring your view of just how large that Obama debt has become?
guy
January 4th, 2013
10:09 am
Stevie Ray If we had to quit printing money to pay for stupidity,you might start seeing some eyes open up. No, you can’t fix stupid and refusal to face the truth.
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
January 4th, 2013
10:10 am
“Hey Taxie, can you share with us what policy, bill, or anything Bush did that CAUSED the recession?”
sorry booboo … it started in December 2007, it’s The Bush Recession.
stands for decibels
January 4th, 2013
10:10 am
I thought he was referring to the pretzel.
Maybe he actually did mean both. That makes the plural “terrorists” technically accurate, as posted. My bad.
independent thinker
January 4th, 2013
10:11 am
HOW MANY JOBS HAVE THE GOP CREATED SINCE JANUARY 21, 2009??????????
Obama inherited three live wars -not two. The War on terror alone and the cost of Homeland Security should have been reason for frat boy George to raise taxes not reduce them.
Aside from the horse trainer and the guy who shovels the horse’s crap – where did Mr. Romney with his low taxes of 13% create jobs after the Bush tax cuts?
All the jobs went offshore from his investments in that phony blind trust-No trickle down except the guy who cleans up after the horse and some illegal yard men..
Even Grover has given up on the anti tax raise bullcrap.
TaxPayer
January 4th, 2013
10:11 am
Hey RB,
Can you name any Obama bill that caused the Bush Great Recession.
Peadawg
January 4th, 2013
10:13 am
“Hey Taxie, can you share with us what policy, bill, or anything Bush did that CAUSED the recession?”
The tax cuts along with 2 wars and medicare part D. Happy?
Lord Help Us
January 4th, 2013
10:13 am
Good ol’ W…
I miss the rhetoric from the GOP about, ‘the surplus means the gov’t has been taking too much of your money and we need to give it back.’
‘We can have these tax cuts and STILL have trillions in surpluses.’
And you cons wonder why your credibility is shot on all things economic…geez…
TaxPayer
January 4th, 2013
10:13 am
Can cons please name the Obama bills that created the debt along with the dollar amount associated with each bill.
Jay
January 4th, 2013
10:13 am
“Dam, Ben just proved without a shadow of a doubt how Jay has totally changed his philosophy just because his team is in power and you progressives go into the total personal attack mode.”
Ben did no such thing, TD. If you take the time to actually read the columns that he cites, they confirm that I have been entirely consistent in my analysis. I wrote back in the mid-2000s that it was foolish to be racking up record deficits at a time of relative prosperity, because it would make the situation so much worse when a recession hit.
In the 2006 column cited by Ben, I said that explicitly:
“… the previous record deficit came in 1992, as the economy was emerging from a serious recession. This year’s deficit comes in the fifth year of economic growth, at a time when the Bush administration claims the economy is booming … But if the deficit is this high in the good times, year after year, how high will it soar when a recession hits, as it inevitably will?”
I think we’ve gotten the answer to that question, don’t you?
Again, if you wish to cite that and similar columns as evidence of my economic understanding, I very much encourage you and Ben to do so.
AmericaShrugged
January 4th, 2013
10:13 am
DannyX – Weell we know you don’t do it by continuing those unfunded wars, buying re-election votes with a 2% SS cut that is gone now that the election is over, allowing everyone that has migraines or is bipolar to get disability, cramming an unwanted health care bill down our throats, etc.
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
January 4th, 2013
10:13 am
I am conservative on our balance sheet issue. Who would’t be?
What facts would you like? What’s wrong with challenging Jay? What use is it to come to this site and think of more clever ways to compare BO favorably to Bush? The focus on monthly job reports is assinine and only serves to make BO supporters feel good about themselves..Nobody, including Jay and apparently you, cares to consider the bigger picture.
Can you convince me that your posts here are of anymore value?
F. Sinkwich
January 4th, 2013
10:14 am
USinUK:
“…but many companies have been comfortably in the black, but have let good people go – or have held back on hiring – simply because analysts say they should.”
Looks like the MBA you got from that Matchbook Institute of Clowns is paying off.
DannyX
January 4th, 2013
10:14 am
“Who fricking cares about where the debt came from?”
I frikin do. I find it rather amazing that Republicans scream bloody murder about the debt after dropping a big debt turd on the country.
I don’t think we can keep accumulating debt. I would like to see the rest of the Bush tax cuts phased out to begin with. Defense spending needs to be cut, and changes made to Social Security and Medicare. The first priority is the current economy, it has more healing to go through before anything.
Paul
January 4th, 2013
10:15 am
Stevie Ray
“I’m still hoping to get an answer as to how much debt beyond $16 trillion can we maintain until even the liberals get anxious?
Anybody?”
I think this fixating on absolute numbers is misleading. A more meaningful measure may be along the lines of ‘debt as a percent of GDP.”
For instance, just focusing on a single number…. say the US has debt of $3 trillion. So does a third-world country with an economy that’s five percent the size of ours. Would anybody argue (okay, we both know some here would, but bear with me) that the debt has the same impact on both countries? No.
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
January 4th, 2013
10:16 am
USnUK
Your are correct and I apologize…I get worked up on fiscal issues and the fact that both parties continue to fail us..
I like your posts and don’t consider you a rube of any kind…
TaxPayer
January 4th, 2013
10:16 am
If cons do not like debt, then they should pay their bills instead of saying charge it.
AmericaShrugged
January 4th, 2013
10:16 am
BTW – Fair and accurate analysis should reflect debt and deficits as a perentage of GDP not absolute dollars or percent change from last century’s debt. Obama’s run deficits of about 10% of GDP for four straight years, more then anyone else since we were paying for WWII.
RB from Gwinnett
January 4th, 2013
10:16 am
Stevie Ray, “I’m still hoping to get an answer as to how much debt beyond $16 trillion can we maintain until even the liberals get anxious?”
You won’t get an answer because liberals don’t think they will ever have to pay any of the debt so it’s not their problem. Just look at how giddy they all are about sticking it to the rich man with this tax increase while ignoring the fact it just took us from going 80MPH off the cliff to 78MPH. They’re clueless and no amount of you or me telling them, showing them, anything, is going to change them being clueless. They just don’t care becuase Daddy Obama keeps telling them he’ll make somebody else pay.
As I’ve been saying all week, they’re like a fat kid begging for another cookie and Obama keeps giving them another cookie. It doesn’t nourish them, it doesn’t do anything good for them, it doesn’t do anything good but shut them up for a while. And they just get fatter and fatter and whine more and repeat.
TaxPayer
January 4th, 2013
10:18 am
If the debt becomes too unbearable, do as the Republicans do–declare bankruptcy and tell the debt holders that they should not have been stoopid enough to loan them the money in the first place.
The other half of your brain.
January 4th, 2013
10:19 am
Ben Shockley
January 4th, 2013
9:19 am
Here’s Bookman on April 24, 2004 bashing Bush for $500 billion deficit abd projecting economic doom…
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=20040424&id=kPshAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qKMFAAAAIB
” Ben, Even you & The Masterbaiter shsowing the facts, the whackos on here still won’t get it, so why waste yout time “
Lord Help Us
January 4th, 2013
10:19 am
‘hey’re like a fat kid begging for another cookie and Obama keeps giving them another cookie.’
bloggherrea is back…
DannyX
January 4th, 2013
10:19 am
“Weell we know you don’t do it by continuing those unfunded wars,”
Right, because Republicans really, really want to deal with the problem. Classic case of misdirection.
How do we pay for the wars AmericaShrugged? Simple question. How do we pay for Medicare Part D ? Simple question. How do we pay for the tax cuts that Republicans just threw a fit over?
Drudge
January 4th, 2013
10:21 am
Ahh all of our problems are over! Hail Obama! So Jay, this number is people no longer on unemployment as all these figures are because it is the only measurable. Tomorrow, please publish the number of people who’s benefits expired and combine that with additions to SS disability. But that would be journalism mixed with reality, and you have proven you are incapable of either.
Regnad Kcin
January 4th, 2013
10:21 am
“I’m still hoping to get an answer as to how much debt beyond $16 trillion can we maintain until even the liberals get anxious?”
S. Ray – do you feel like there’s a magic number, after which it is “all over?” If not, why do you ask?
Georgia
January 4th, 2013
10:21 am
Point of order: CNBC reports that our unfunded liabilities are now at 100 trillion. Peanuts. I’ve lost more than that playing the spread on the euro, man. We’re fine.
Erwin's cat
January 4th, 2013
10:22 am
look at the bright side…we’re already halfway thru our lost decade
TaxPayer
January 4th, 2013
10:22 am
If you take the time to actually read the columns
Sure Jay. A con that reads. You and your wishful thinking. What next. You want them to comprehend as well.
Jay
January 4th, 2013
10:22 am
Flip, the simplest way to explain it is this:
In good times, you work to reduce the deficit as much as possible because you know that those good times aren’t going to last, and you don’t want to be deep in debt when bad times come.
We did the opposite.
Joe Hussein Mama
January 4th, 2013
10:22 am
S. Ray — “Please…”
Please what? Those figures are pretty much standard among economists.
stands for decibels
January 4th, 2013
10:24 am
I think this fixating on absolute numbers is misleading. A more meaningful measure may be along the lines of ‘debt as a percent of GDP.”
Japan’s percentage is double ours.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt
Japan’s unemployment rate is around 4.1%.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/japan/unemployment-rate
Japan is not, apparently, ruled by horrible, horrible people. We are.
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
January 4th, 2013
10:25 am
“Your are correct and I apologize…I get worked up on fiscal issues and the fact that both parties continue to fail us..”
you and me, both, my friendly! you and me, both.
Erwin's cat
January 4th, 2013
10:25 am
TP – declare bankruptcy and tell the debt holders that they should not have been stoopid enough to loan them the money in the first place.
see GM as an example
td
January 4th, 2013
10:26 am
ay
January 4th, 2013
10:13 am
Ben did no such thing, TD. If you take the time to actually read the columns that he cites, they confirm that I have been entirely consistent in my analysis. I wrote back in the mid-2000s that it was foolish to be racking up record deficits at a time of relative prosperity, because it would make the situation so much worse when a recession hit.
Well since you and other progressives have been stating for about a year now that we are growing as an economy (2% growth the past two years, the stock market gaining more then 5000 points and unemployment continues to decrease) then does this not fit the definition of “relative prosperity”? Besides the unemployment numbers are not these around the same numbers in the economy as when you wrote the article about the Bush plans? Is it not time to start cutting debt and reducing spending now?