When did Stagnation and Recovery become synonyms?

February 21, 2012 | Filed under 2012 Presidential Race,Economics,Employment | Posted by

Who knew re-writing the dictionaries and thesauri were part of Obama’s program of “Change.”

This week’s indicator that the recovery isn’t?  Unemployment as measured by parties other than the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

Gallup Finds Unemployment Climbing to Nine Percent in February

By Matt Cover | CNSnews.com

Unemployment in the U.S. rose to nine percent in mid-February, up from 8.3 percent a month earlier, according to a new Gallup survey. The polling company said this suggests that it is “premature” to assume the economy will not feature prominently in the 2012 election season.Gallup figures typically provide an indication of what the government will report at the end of the month.

“The U.S. unemployment rate, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is 9.0% in mid-February,” Gallup said in its mid-month unemployment survey, released on February 17. “The mid-month reading normally reflects what the U.S. government reports for the entire month, and is up from 8.3% in mid-January.”

 

Granted, employment is a lagging indicator of both recession and recovery.  But…  We’ve officially been in a “recovery” for more than three years at this point.  Since records have been kept, employment in a “recovery” has never lagged by this much.  When taken in light of the contraction of the labor pool and the reduction in Federal withholding collected, it seems clear that as recoveries go, this isn’t one.

It should also be noted that it’s not just Gallup finding indications that the economy is stumbling along like a zombie:

 

 

That makes for a higher Misery Index than James Earl “Dhimmy” Carter managed to produce.

 

Obama sees Carter in his miror

 

Can we send this bozo home now, please?

 

Hat Tip: Ace of Spades

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Posted by on February 21, 2012.
Filed under 2012 Presidential Race, Economics, Employment.


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  • UOG

    “Who knew re-writing the dictionaries and thesauri were part of Obama’s program of “Change.”

    Well… I did. Re-defining words has featured prominently in the language of the left side of the aisle for some time now.

    As to, “Can we send this bozo”… ABO, voting proud in 2012.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_W6UJJOM4PP4XLSBG6N4LROVSQE Retired Military

      I am with him (points up).

      • UOG

        RM, we’re an army.

           We Need Newt
                in 2012

           Rick Rocks
              in 2012

           Mitts My Man
              in  2012

           President Palin 
                in 2012

                   etc.

        i.e. – ABO, voting proud in 2012.

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_W6UJJOM4PP4XLSBG6N4LROVSQE Retired Military

          If we were prochoice protesters the MSM would call the 3 of us “thousands” and a “grass roots” nonpartisian group who care about the future of our children.

        • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U Adjoran

           If we stumble into a brokered convention and end up nominating a steaming pile of dog doo, I’ll still for vote it over Obama.  It would do far less harm than he has, and the Administration would give off a better odor, too.

  • Walter_Cronanty

    While you’re at it, be sure to compare apples to apples.  Can’t stand it when journalists state that “Misery Index hasn’t been this bad in 28 years.” As explained in this blurb from a 2011 post at Economic Policy Journal, when compared to a Misery Index calculated in the manner it was pre-1990, it’s worse than it was 28 years ago – Jimmy is loving Obama’s record breaking effort:

    John Williams, over at Shadow Stats,
    compiles economic data for inflation and unemployment the way it used
    to be calculated pre-1990. Based on that data, the CPI inflation rate is
    over 10%, and the unemployment rate is over 15% (see charts). The
    Misery Index is the sum of the current inflation rate and the
    unemployment rate.  If it were to be calculated using the older
    methods, the Index would now be over 25, a record high. It surpasses the
    old index high of 21.98, which occurred in June 1980, when Jimmy Carter
    was president. Most believe the height of the Index along with the
    Iranian hostage crisis is what caused Carter to lose his re-election
    bid.
    http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/05/shadow-stat-misery-index-highest-on.html

  • GarandFan

     ”Who knew re-writing the dictionaries and thesauri were part of Obama’s program of “Change.””

    It’s “NewSpeak” now.  You know, diversity mandates conformity.  Defeat is victory.  Unemployment is “funemployment”. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EJGOSD7BRBBY4ZQQEUCFQU4GHU W

    But the left and the MSM (sorry for repeating myself) say it is so. So it must be true. Facts to them are irrelevant. Only perception counts. Too bad reality can only be ignored for only so long.

  • herddog505

    In all fairness, Barry HAS admitted that he just wished that (gosh-darn it!) he’d REALLY known how bad thing were in ’09 when he took over.  Why, he might have DOUBLED the national debt in response to that instead of merely raising it by (roughly) 50%.

    /sarc (well, not about Barry spending even more money)

    But the lefties will, I’m sure, be happy to tell us that things are actually MUCH better than they were in Jan ’09.  If we’re really lucky, they’ll announce that the chocolate ration has been increased from 30g to 20g, too.

    Bah.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EJGOSD7BRBBY4ZQQEUCFQU4GHU W

    Back when Bush was in office, 3.4% growth was considered a stagnant economy by the MSMliberals.