Obama flops with ‘private sector is doing fine’
Oh, boy. President Obama and his supporters will be hearing this line for a while:
“The private sector is doing fine.”
Obama made that remark during a press briefing today about the U.S. and European economies. Now, he and his supporters will almost certainly counter that the line is being taken out of context. Via ABC News’ Jake Tapper, here is that context:
“We’ve created 4.3 million jobs over the last … 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone,” the president said, “the private sector is doing fine. Where we’re seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government, oftentimes cuts initiated by, you know, governors or mayors who are not getting the kind of help that they have in the past from the federal government and who don’t have the same kind of flexibility of the federal government in dealing with fewer revenues coming in.”
Michael Scherer of Time notes that Obama and the Democrats did not give John McCain the same benefit of context when they pilloried him for his September 2008, mid-financial-panic comment, “… the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” So, to a large degree, turnabout will be fair play.
But let’s give the president the benefit of context. Is he right that the “weakness in our economy” is that Washington isn’t bailing out state and local governments fast enough?
Obama cast the private sector’s alleged strength in the terms of job growth. So, let’s look at that on the public-sector side.
For starters, let’s consider that the states and locals that are cutting jobs, where they are cutting them, because they don’t have the money to fund them. With annual deficits over $1 trillion a year, Washington doesn’t have the money to fund them, either. What Obama is proposing is to borrow more money from China to pay for civil servants in Sacramento (data for April, the latest available state-by-state, show almost a quarter of government job losses were in California).
But even if one is prepared to go along with this bailout, is it really the cure for what’s ailing us?
Federal data for last month show state and local government employment fell by 111,000, or 0.58 percent, from May 2011. Had those 111,000 people still been in their jobs — and here we’re going to give Obama the benefit of the doubt and assume none of them found employment elsewhere, which is a rather big assumption — the nation’s employment level would have been 0.08 percent higher. The national unemployment rate would have been 8.1 percent, instead of the actual rate of …
… wait for it …
… 8.2 percent.
For those 111,000 people and their families, those layoffs were undoubtedly terrible. But as an explanation for the “weakness in our economy,” and as a possible target for efforts to spur economic growth, the reduction of state and local government employment is a complete nonstarter.
Next excuse?
– By Kyle Wingfield
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266 comments Add your comment
Truth Squad
June 8th, 2012
7:35 pm
The stock market is up some 69% since President Bush left office. Businesses are sitting on trillions both overseas and domestically. Corporate profits are near record highs.
All part of the private sector and still not hiring people because there isn’t enough demand for goods and services.
Only sociopaths and low-information voters believe that jobs will eventually be created by further suppressing demand and increasing unemployment in the short-term.
The truth is that the Republicans do not have a plan to put people back to work. That is why they waste all this time talking about nonsense in order to create a smokescreen. Meanwhile Governor Romney told the truth today when he campaigned against teachers, cops, and firefighters.
md
June 8th, 2012
7:42 pm
“Businesses are sitting on trillions both overseas and domestically. Corporate profits are near record highs. ”
If one hangs their hat on those statistics, one is in for a rude awakening. Yes, “some” corps are sitting on biggey bucks and ’some” have had record profits……but in turn, “some” of them achieved that by cutting expenses……mainly employees and benefits (20+ million folks out of work).
The real truth is that mom and pop corps make up the majority of corporations in the country and do the majority of hiring…….and they are NOT sitting on trillions or making huge profits.
md
June 8th, 2012
7:44 pm
“The stock market is up some 69% since President Bush left office.”
And what would one expect it to do after a collapse based on fear vs actual financials??
Do folks really think every company in america had bad financials overnight?? Please…….
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
June 8th, 2012
7:44 pm
“The truth is that the Republicans do not have a plan to put people back to work.”
The truth is that you can’t read.
“The stock market is up some 69% since President Bush left office.”
The stock market hasn’t been an accurate indicator of economic health in almost 20 years.
Do you have something meaningful to post, TS?
@@
June 8th, 2012
7:45 pm
The smackdown in Wisconsin must’ve bothered him more than he’s willing to admit.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 8th, 2012
7:46 pm
Obozo: “Because the recipes that [the GOP is] promoting are basically the kinds of policies that would add weakness to — to the economy, would result in further layoffs, would not provide relief in the housing market, and would result, I think most economists estimate, in lower growth and fewer jobs, not more.”
——————————-
Obozo is an expert in policies that would result in layoffs and economic weakness–he’s been authoring them for years.
@@
June 8th, 2012
7:47 pm
The two in California as well.
yay
Up next? Rahmbo takes on Chicago’s teachers.
Hillbilly D
June 8th, 2012
7:47 pm
The stock market hasn’t been an accurate indicator of economic health in almost 20 years.
Probably longer than that but you might as well keep track of who’s winning the high stakes games in Vegas.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 8th, 2012
7:50 pm
Corporate profits are near record highs.
All part of the private sector and still not hiring people because there isn’t enough demand for goods and services.
————————
Why should the private sector hire when they’re making record profits and when Obozo is driving up the cost of labor with his anti-business policies? Do you even think before posting such nonsensical drivel?
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 8th, 2012
7:55 pm
Keep defending your Marxist hero’s claim that the economy is doing just fine. He’s already thrown you under the bus and backtracked.
Truth Squad
June 8th, 2012
7:58 pm
Yes, I’m proud to “hang my hat” on actual facts.
For example: I point out the terrific performance of the market. Instead of admitting it is true, the low-information type dismisses the fact as irrelevant even though the topic we’re on is the private sector.
Also, while small businesses do create many of the “new jobs”, they are also responsible for destruction of many jobs as well. The real ugly truth that no political party wants to admit is that there has been near negativenet job creation over the past 30+ years.
That’s right, under both Democratic and Republican presidents, after all the jobs created in the 90’s, we have lost just as many, if not more, than we have created. That is why all politicians talk about “job creation”, but not net job creation.
So, while I think the Democratic response to the issue of jobs is weak sauce, at least they have a plan beyond simply cutting taxes and sticking it to poor children, the sick, the elderly, and those who have fallen on hard times even though they did every thing right.
Truth Squad
June 8th, 2012
8:01 pm
Oh, one more thing: If the market was down big time, you people would be all over it talking about how the black guy you hate screwed that up too.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 8th, 2012
8:01 pm
Truth Squad: at least they have a plan
—————————-
What is it? Last time I checked, unemployment was higher today than when Obozo took office.
Hillbilly D
June 8th, 2012
8:05 pm
If the market was down big time, you people would be all over it talking about how the black guy you hate screwed that up too.
I wouldn’t be because I’ve been saying for years that the stock market has nothing to do with the real economy.
md
June 8th, 2012
8:06 pm
“For example: I point out the terrific performance of the market. Instead of admitting it is true, the low-information type dismisses the fact as irrelevant even though the topic we’re on is the private sector.”
Of course it’s true……I’ll ask again…..does one actually believe every company in America had bad financials overnight??
As for blaming the current guy in office…..it sure didn’t stop folks from blaming Bush, did it??
Old Timer
June 8th, 2012
8:08 pm
I’ve seen them All from Roosevelt to Obama. I can truthfully say Obama has been the worst. He makes Jimmy Carter look like a precision isntrument .Obama is in way over his narcissistic head.
td
June 8th, 2012
8:09 pm
Truth Squad
June 8th, 2012
7:35 pm
“Businesses are sitting on trillions both overseas and domestically.”
And why is it that businesses are leaving most of that money overseas? Could it be because we have the highest corporate tax rates in the world? Why would a corporation want to bring back $1 trillion and have to pay the Federal government $350 billion?
While we are talking about hiring, please tell us all why a small business wants to hire people when they can not project what the actual cost for healthcare and other cost for that person is going to be. Do you expect a company to just hire a person without knowing if the person is going to add to the bottom line profit of the company?
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
June 8th, 2012
8:10 pm
Truth Squad, some of actually practice truth, rather than distorting it.
Your “fact” doesn’t matter if it is irrelevant to the subject at hand, which is the health of the private sector economy. The stock market hasn’t been an accurate measurement of the health of the economy for decades.
So while you can tout (rightly) that it is up right now, you cannot use it to gauge the health of the private sector economy, not matter how much you might try.
And I have been consistent in arguing this for decades.
@@
June 8th, 2012
8:12 pm
Oh, one more thing: If the market was down big time, you people would be all over it talking about how the black guy you hate screwed that up too
===================================
Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell took a shot at President Barack Obama Thursday, saying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would have made a better president.
Speaking on CBS, the former Pennsylvania governor criticized the Obama administration’s handling of the U.S. economy and its decision to pursue a healthcare plan that does not contain an individual mandate.
“I think the president was hurt by being a legislator only; for example healthcare and stimulus. Two bills that I think did good things for the American people. He sort of said ‘here’s what I want, flush it out,” Mr. Rendell said.
“I think [Clinton] would’ve come in with a lot more executive experience,” he added.
Does Ed Rendell hate “the black guy”?
Truth Squad
June 8th, 2012
8:26 pm
..and still, Romney is losing and the Republicans have no plan to put people back to work.
Folks, y’all can continue to demonstrate that the so-call Obama Derangement Syndrome is alive and well, but most people just do not hate President Obama like y’all do. This is why you are left hoping unemployment goes up, gas prices increases, and/or Europe puts a deeper drag upon our recovery.
Sad. Sad.Sad.
You will lose this November and many other Novembers to come. The demographics are not on your side in this state and several others. All the old billionaire bucks in the world will not save you from the many millions of people who know who is most hostile to them and will use the power of the ballot box to express their insistence on change. President Obama is but a early footnote to more profound change.
Y’all be good. Will be checking back in from time to time for my does of conservative comedy leading up to telling you, “we told y’all so”, this November..lol!
md
June 8th, 2012
8:28 pm
“And why is it that businesses are leaving most of that money overseas? Could it be because we have the highest corporate tax rates in the world? Why would a corporation want to bring back $1 trillion and have to pay the Federal government $350 billion? ”
I’ve been asking that question to those on the left for quite awhile now with no answers……
To put it in basic terms, why do the dems prefer to let foreigners have that capital in their systems vs allowing us to have it in our system??
If the truth says they aren’t bring it home, may as well bring it back untaxed……at least it is capital generating interest and productivity in OUR system…….
Bunch of buffoons………..
md
June 8th, 2012
8:29 pm
“many millions of people who know who is most hostile to them and will use the power of the ballot box to express their insistence on change”
Yep…..Greece voted like that once upon a time………..
Truth Squad
June 8th, 2012
8:31 pm
@@, Yes, Rendell does hate the black guy…he’s a Clintonite! They got beat bad just like old man McCain(who is still bitter too).
Love how y’all love y’all some Bill Clinton now. It wasn’t that long ago y’all impeached him!
I guess black guy in the Oval Office > white guy “giving in to his shame” with cigars and blue dress mementos.
High comedy, y’all are!
Getterson Vitterick
June 8th, 2012
8:33 pm
Could this president possibly be a bigger failure? I don’t think he could.
Truth Squad
June 8th, 2012
8:34 pm
md, this ain’t Greece. You know full well what I’m talking about and I know you are scared and I’m really ok with that.
Ok, bye now. Y’all keeping repeating Fox News talking points to make yourselves feel better.
Getterson Vitterick
June 8th, 2012
8:35 pm
“but most people just do not hate President Obama like y’all do.”
Obama is not hated. Most idiots are considered lovable.
Getterson Vitterick
June 8th, 2012
8:36 pm
Truth Squad,
And you keep drinking that msnbc koolaid if it makes ya feel better sport.
Don't Tread
June 8th, 2012
8:42 pm
“governors or mayors who are not getting the kind of help that they have in the past from the federal government and who don’t have the same kind of flexibility of the federal government in dealing with fewer revenues coming in.”
Nope…can’t print their own money, borrow from China/SS/Medicare, or forage into the realm of creative accounting. The only option left is to raise taxes…just what the Democrats want. Yep…the private sector is just fine.
md
June 8th, 2012
8:44 pm
“md, this ain’t Greece. You know full well what I’m talking about and I know you are scared and I’m really ok with that.”
Has nothing to do with fear……just human nature. When we get to a point where too many voters are voting for their neighbor to go to work and pay the taxes, then yes, we will be like Greece. The polls already indicate we are headed in that direction when a majority of people think the “rich” should pay more based solely on the criteria of “because they have it”.
That is the mark of a society that has lost it’s character………..when choices in life no longer matter……just bank accounts.
md
June 8th, 2012
8:48 pm
“The only option left is to raise taxes…just what the Democrats want.”
And just what they are doing in NY, CA, IL and others……and the ship is going down even faster in those States. The fed will not be able to bail them out either, as the senators and reps from balanced budget states (R & D alike) will not be paying for their poor management practices…….
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
June 8th, 2012
8:51 pm
Governor Walker fixed a $3 billion Democrat deficit in Wisconsin–anybody up there starve or die as a result yet?
Didn’t think so.
Republicans: Right.
@@
June 8th, 2012
8:55 pm
Folks, y’all can continue to demonstrate that the so-call Obama Derangement Syndrome is alive and well, but most people just do not hate President Obama like y’all do.
I find Obama to be more likeable than Mitt Romney. “Sadly”, we can’t afford to have this election be a popularity contest.
Back when…John Edwards got at A+ for likeability. Among Democrats, John Edwards was more likeable than Hillary Clinton.
Hillbilly D
June 8th, 2012
9:00 pm
John Edwards was more likeable…
Con men usually are likeable. They wouldn’t be successful con men, if they weren’t. (IWH)
@@
June 8th, 2012
9:01 pm
Truth Squad:
Rendell’s been an Obama supporter until he just couldn’t do it anymore.
Love how y’all love y’all some Bill Clinton now. It wasn’t that long ago y’all impeached him!
For perjury and obstruction of justice.
@@
June 8th, 2012
9:27 pm
Three Types of People to Fire Immediately
Want a more innovative company? Get rid of these folks. Today
1. The Victims
2. The Non-believers
3. The Know-It-Alls
Absolutely!
Hillbilly D
June 8th, 2012
9:34 pm
@@
If you fire all those people, there’s nobody left.
Rafe Hollister- trying to save the Choom Gang
June 8th, 2012
9:38 pm
md makes a point about the overseas money the corporations have banked there. TS says that Romney does not have a plan. Well you really don’t need much of a plan to get things started. A guy could fall off a turnip truck and improve things some. Just do an amnesty on this money stashed overseas, open up drilling on gov lands, sell off some gov land and assets not being used, approve the Keystone pipeline, close the borders to limit the growing number of workers per job, drop some of the stupid regulations that are holding our farmers and businesses back, etc. Just common sense and doesn’t cost anything and will help.
Why doesn’t Oblamer do this. With him ideology trumps common sense and every other thing. He is going to stick to his ideology, no matter how much damage he causes.
Rafe Hollister- trying to save the Choom Gang
June 8th, 2012
9:41 pm
@@
Add the excuse makers and the blamers and you have an HR fact sheet.
Jackson
June 8th, 2012
9:45 pm
One can debate the need to bail out the incompetent GM and Obumma is constantly citing saving GM and 210,000 auto jobs. He forgets to mention that only 91,000 of these jobs are in the U.S. We’ve never had a Campaigner in Chief in so over his head…..CLUELESS!
Rafe Hollister- trying to save the Choom Gang
June 8th, 2012
9:46 pm
Jackson
As they say down in S GA, the man just aint up to the job!
td
June 8th, 2012
9:54 pm
Jackson
June 8th, 2012
9:45 pm
Subtract from those numbers the jobs lost when all those rural dealerships were closed. I have never seen the numbers on how many jobs were lost due to these closures.
The entire bailout was nothing more then paying back the unions.
Scott Satterwhite
June 8th, 2012
10:07 pm
Capitalists measure success by profits, not jobs. National Income accounting data show the following record on aggregate US corporate profits:
$bln
2006. $1608
2007. 1511
2008. 1248
2009. 1362
2010. 1800
2011. 1943
Q1 ‘12. 1998 annualized
Looks to me like the private sector is “doing fine.”
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 8th, 2012
10:12 pm
Dear Leader backtracked on ya, Scott, and admitted the private sector wasn’t doing fine.
Is he a liar, or just out of touch with Americans?
Hillbilly D
June 8th, 2012
10:16 pm
I worked in car dealerships for years and GM dealers for about half of that. I never did see how GM was supposed to save any money from closing dealerships. Cars at dealerships aren’t on consignment, they’re on floor plan. The floor plan loan is due as soon as the car is sold and the interest is paid monthly. As an example, one dealership I worked for averaged $80,000 a month in floor plan interest.
Most people don’t know about holdback either. When a car is sold as X dollars over invoice, that doesn’t include the holdback. The manufacturers holdback, $2000 used to be a normal number, on each car sold. It’s basically a rebate to a dealer, payable at year end. So if you buy a car in January, the manufacturer uses the dealers’ holdback money on that car, for 12 months, before they pay it to him.
And sales departments are usually as a money loser for a dealership. Most of the profit comes from the back end (parts, service) or from F & I (finance and insurance). What money is made in sales comes from used cars, far more than new cars. I never did understand why the people in sales always made the most money in the dealership, since the other departments make the profit. I think it has to do with the fact that the vast majority (used to be like 90%) of dealer principles come up through the sales side. They look out for their own.
Back in my day, most new cars were about a $2K gross, on average, and the average sales commission was 30% of the gross.
GM always did things that made no sense to me, like ignoring small dealerships, who’d been in business and turned a profit for decades, even if it was a small one. They preferred to cater to the big dealerships, like the Bill Heard type dealerships. Look where that got them.
Lots of things that went on in dealerships never made sense to me. Glad I got out of that.
Dusty
June 8th, 2012
10:16 pm
I’m glad somebody is “doing fine”. The rest of us are still worrying about the three trillion deficit. How’s it “doing”?
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 8th, 2012
10:20 pm
We do have a pretty healthy deficit, Dusty!
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 8th, 2012
10:21 pm
We stopped hearing about how horrible Bain and other private equity firms are when it was pointed out by the GOP that Obozo’s GM bailout cost thousands of dealership employees their jobs.
Libtard talking point go bye-bye.
Dusty
June 8th, 2012
10:30 pm
Thank you, Lil’ Barry,
I was afraid the deficit had been forgotten. As I suspected, it is neither gone nor forgotten.
Maybe tomorrow we’ll all be “doing fine” and dancing in the sunshine!!…. G’nite….
Hillbilly D
June 8th, 2012
10:36 pm
Maybe tomorrow we’ll all be “doing fine” and dancing in the sunshine!!….
I heard it’s supposed to rain.
td
June 8th, 2012
10:37 pm
Dusty
June 8th, 2012
10:30 pm
“. G’nite”
You can leave us before the Braves game is over. That would be bad luck.