President Barack Obama, presiding over "the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression,'' has returned to the United States from the most recent of many international journeys with a message: Confidence that the U.S. "will weather this storm."
In an Op-ed essay appearing in newspapers today, the president says this of the $787-billion economic stimulus plan enacted in February: "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was not expected to restore the economy to full health on its own but to provide the boost necessary to stop the free fall.
"So far, it has done that. It was, from the start, a two-year program, and it will steadily save and create jobs as it ramps up over this summer and fall. We must let it work the way it's supposed to, with the understanding that in any recession, unemployment tends to recover more slowly than other measures of economic activity.''
Yet something is missing in this piece, the most recent of a series of Op-ed articles that Obama has signed since his inauguration, the way the Senate minority leader's office sees it:
"Noticeably absent from the president's op-ed on the stimulus today are the words "save or create 3.5 to 4 million jobs,'' Don Stewart of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office notes.
"In their place, a new definition of success for the stimulus: "it will steadily save and create jobs as it ramps up over this summer and fall." Just "jobs" not "millions of jobs?" Stewart writes this morning, "Oh, and apparently, the stimulus was only supposed to provide "the boost necessary to stop the free fall."
This is the text of the president's Op-ed essay:
"Nearly six months ago, my administration took office amid the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. At the time, we were losing, on average, 700,000 jobs a month. And many feared that our financial system was on the verge of collapse.
The swift and aggressive action we took in those first few months has helped pull our financial system and our economy back from the brink. We took steps to restart lending to families and businesses, stabilize our major financial institutions, and help homeowners stay in their homes and pay their mortgages. We also passed the most sweeping economic recovery plan in our nation's history.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was not expected to restore the economy to full health on its own but to provide the boost necessary to stop the free fall. So far, it has done that. It was, from the start, a two-year program, and it will steadily save and create jobs as it ramps up over this summer and fall. We must let it work the way it's supposed to, with the understanding that in any recession, unemployment tends to recover more slowly than other measures of economic activity.
I am confident that the United States of America will weather this economic storm. But once we clear away the wreckage, the real question is what we will build in its place. Even as we rescue this economy from a full-blown crisis, I have insisted that we must rebuild it better than before. For if we do not seize this moment to confront the weaknesses that have plagued our economy for decades, we will consign ourselves and our children to future crises, sluggish growth, or both.
There are some who say we must wait to meet our greatest challenges. They favor an incremental approach or believe that doing nothing is somehow an answer. But that is exactly the thinking that led us to this predicament. Ignoring big challenges and deferring tough decisions is what Washington has done for decades, and it's exactly what I sought to change by running for president.
Now is the time to build a firmer, stronger foundation for growth that not only will withstand future economic storms but that helps us thrive and compete in a global economy. To build that foundation, we must lower the health-care costs that are driving us into debt, create the jobs of the future within our borders, give our workers the skills and training they need to compete for those jobs, and make the tough choices necessary to bring down our deficit in the long run.
Already, we're making progress on health-care reform that controls costs while ensuring choice and quality, as well as energy legislation that will make clean energy the profitable kind of energy, leading to whole new industries and jobs that cannot be outsourced.
And this week, I'll be talking about how we give our workers the skills they need to compete for these jobs of the future. In an economy where jobs requiring at least an associate's degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience, it's never been more essential to continue education and training after high school. That's why we've set a goal of leading the world in college degrees by 2020. Part of this goal will be met by helping Americans better afford a college education. But part of it will also be strengthening our network of community colleges.
We believe it's time to reform our community colleges so that they provide Americans of all ages a chance to learn the skills and knowledge necessary to compete for the jobs of the future. Our community colleges can serve as 21st-century job training centers, working with local businesses to help workers learn the skills they need to fill the jobs of the future. We can reallocate funding to help them modernize their facilities, increase the quality of online courses and ultimately meet the goal of graduating 5 million more Americans from community colleges by 2020.
Providing all Americans with the skills they need to compete is a pillar of a stronger economic foundation, and, like health care or energy, we cannot wait to make the necessary changes. We must continue to clean up the wreckage of this recession, but it is time to rebuild something better in its place. It won't be easy, and there will continue to be those who argue that we have to put off hard decisions that we have already deferred for far too long. But earlier generations of Americans didn't build this great country by fearing the future and shrinking our dreams. This generation has to show that same courage and determination. I believe we will.''
Comments
Time to post his own "Mission Accomplished" banner
Posted by: David Fraser | July 12, 2009 9:23 AM
Free fall has stopped?
.
Any of you guys buying this?
.
If the pork bill was designed to stop the freefall, and the freefall has stopped, let's not spend the rest of it. Let the people who have earned their money keep it. Let the kids of the taxpaying public off the hook for the bills Congress wants to rack up.
.
But then again, you have to some how believe that losing a half million jobs a month is a good thing.
Posted by: Greg | July 12, 2009 9:33 AM
Obama has the power to "end the economic free fall" just by making a declaration that it is over? i did not know one man could possess such mental force.
why didn't he declare it over months ago??? don't fall prey to the "Obama Mind-Trick"
Posted by: CP | July 12, 2009 10:32 AM
I know alot of middle class people are still hurting, so who has it helped really ?
Posted by: Tony | July 12, 2009 10:34 AM
This is like minority admissions policies. Keep lowering the bar till you can claim you have suceeded.
The media play along. They were all over Bush with 5% unemployment. Obama said that without the stimulus, it might reach 8.5%. It blew through that after the socialist & union bills passed.
What to do, re-define success. The medial play along.
Posted by: Abe Porte | July 12, 2009 10:35 AM
The republicans saw the economy as fundamentally sound & there was nothing but a mental recession. All the while the US was heading towards the worst recession since The Great Depression.
Just like last year, they have no idea what to do or say.
Get used to the minority status you're in.
Posted by: NoConservativePropaganda | July 12, 2009 10:43 AM
Obama has no plan to create jobs, just dependency on government, and higher taxation to be able to create all his programs...
Posted by: Breen | July 12, 2009 10:44 AM
Talk about moving goal posts. Thank you Republicans, who declared mission accomplished before the real task ever began. Can't wait to see Obama T-off on the green with George Bush Senior and Bill Clinton. Ahhhh, to be president.
Posted by: there goes Africa.. | July 12, 2009 10:44 AM
Even though it was the Republican voters, under many guises, that voted in the Bush&Cheney tag team, those co-conspirators are responsible for the pathetic state, in which they left America and our economy. Revisionism is not an option, in evaluating the devastating effect that tag-team had on America and I hope that those that voted for them, can be honest enough, with themselves and our nation, to be able to admit that they made a serious mistake, in voting for those betrayers of America's trust.
My hope is that President Obama and Vice-President Biden will receive from us, an honest timeframe, in which to correct the dastardly deeds, Bush&Cheney perpetrated against America. That is the fair thing to do and it is the right thing to do !! Anything less and we will be following the Bush&Cheney lead, betraying America, again !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | July 12, 2009 10:56 AM
That is the question; "what will we build in the future"? So far, Obama and the Dems. have spent us into oblivion, and much of the borrow dollars flowing from DC are being directed in a very partisan method on an agenda that has nothing to do with creating long-tern employment or investment in American. We are witnessing a determined socialist take-over of our economy, involving the most important aspects, with a disingenuous propaganda of dire crisis, due in fact, to a great extent, from government interference with private capitalism, now blamed with a falsely created class-warfare mantra in order to carry out Obama's "spread the wealth" philosophy. Yes, what we are witnessing, is the same ole' tired tax and spend, liberal policies (only carried to the extreme) of a Democrat Congress and WH that always fail, economically. Instead of a Cabinet, accountable to Congress, we have a cabal of "czars", accountable to no one except the WH. Instead of an independent, watchdog press, we now have a media actively involved in supporting and hyping the Obama policies, which creates a very dangerous threat to our country. Our foreign policy has become a sloppy, naive apology to our enemies along with failure to confront the despots of the world; a now "just" war in Afghan, with a "surge policy" (once touted as a failed Bush ploy) that will turn into a never ending quagmire, mired in obfuscation of the threats facing America and how it is conducted; the systematic replacement of tough national security measures with lefty policy of love and appeasement that will be defined as weakness by our enemies. So what we are building here is certainly a different America, and as the polls reveal, more and more Americans, despite the disinformation from the MSM, are beginning to question and reject Obama's direction.
Posted by: bubba Porter | July 12, 2009 11:01 AM
Really? I don't know which economy Mr. Obama is referring to. Because with 500,000 or so jobs lost again last month, it sure sounds like this economy is still in free fall.
I can't wait to hear the next explanation when everyone realizes in a few months that nothing still has changed. I predict another massive job loss in June and 10% unemployment shortly.
Posted by: Reality Check | July 12, 2009 11:09 AM
As Margaret Thatcher once said, "The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
We're only 6 months into the new administration and already Obama has proven this true.
Posted by: No Change | July 12, 2009 11:38 AM
Its gonna get very very bad with the democratic policies that are in place, Hoard your cash!
The free fall is just on a parachute now!
Posted by: JOHN C | July 12, 2009 11:43 AM
This is as funny as "Obama sees a glimmer of hope in economy" a few weeks ago. Face it "Hopey-changey " isnt working anymore ....America is waking up.... Time for some new propoganda from our DEAR LEADER.
Posted by: jimbo | July 12, 2009 12:38 PM
liar.
Posted by: just sayin | July 12, 2009 12:59 PM
Is this the same president who only a week ago DID NOT KNOW HOW DEEP THE RECESSION WAS???
And a mere week late he is giving the all clear signs.
Can he provide the crystal ball that allows him his current insight. And if he had the crystal ball to see, how could he NOT know how deep the recession is???
HMMM sounds like more experienced hopeium and dopeium for the community organizer that always talks about things he know nothing about. But he sure SOUNDS so profound.
Posted by: senator dirksen | July 12, 2009 1:02 PM
not a freefall just now a downward spiral
people continue to loose jobs
Posted by: Tic | July 12, 2009 1:46 PM
Working people will get to pay higher taxes while Obama wastes billions on trying to educate millions that are just in school for the free money. Great.
Posted by: mark | July 12, 2009 2:05 PM
This guy is an even bigger idiot than we first feared.
"Obama: Economic 'free fall' stopped:
Posted by: BDD | July 12, 2009 2:05 PM
Working people will get to pay higher taxes while Obama wastes billions on trying to educate millions that are just in school for the free money. Great.
Posted by: mark | July 12, 2009 2:05 PM
Perhaps if you say it enough times it will be true?
If it's over that means you can pay back the loan to China. Right?
Posted by: Tyrone | July 12, 2009 2:54 PM
The following is graph created BO's economic team. The graph is from the time period when the Spendulus bill was being debated.
The dark blue line represents BO's economist predictions of unemployment if the Spendulus bill is not passed.
The light blue line is BO's economists predictions if the Spendulus bill is passed.
The maroon dots represent reality.
http://michaelscomments.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/oh-frabjous-day-unemployment-rate-increases-by-only-0-1/
So if BO had not spent $760 billion dollars, unemployemnt would be a full 100 basis points lower - according to BO's economists.
That's government intervention at work.
Posted by: Terry | July 12, 2009 3:36 PM
Thank God, all of you Republican moroffs aren't any where near an elected office or we would have Bush&Cheney, Act lll. Keep up the good work, President Obama and Vice-President Biden. All these hissy-fitters are taking Phil Gramm's advice, whine, whine, whine. They sound like a Party of Whine-os !!! Thank God, Uncle Johnny and Aunt Sarah lost the presidential election or they would have outdid Bush&Cheney, in trashing America !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | July 12, 2009 3:48 PM
It’s not unfair to characterize the President’s take as just a bit too optimistic. Foreclosures are far from over. That means banks are going to remain conservative to hedge against anticipated losses from the mortgage market. That will continue to have a depressing effect on businesses, and especially the real estate market and home building industries. The most populous state is bankrupt, and has resorted to issuing IOUs to pay people. (And the banks aren’t taking the IOU’s either.) A number of vendors have said that they will either go out of business or have to start laying-off employees if no one is going to cash the IOU’s. This is going to exacerbate an already bad job market, where we are still shedding jobs at a disturbing rate. California also suffers from shortfalls in projected tax revenues. That’s because the big money earners are nowhere near back up to speed. Additional taxes aren’t going to help the situation because, well, you can’t bleed a turnip. The President may think otherwise, but a reasonable person may well conclude we haven’t hit bottom yet. And if we haven’t hit bottom, we’re still falling.
Posted by: John W. | July 12, 2009 3:53 PM
Do any of you really think unemployment during the Bush years was at 5% or less? If you do, I have some swampland to sell you except you won't be able to get a loan. Citigroup and BOA (BofA) haven't given out all their bonus money yet. You can get a mortgage after the guys who broke their banks get theirs.
Posted by: lochnesssmonster | July 12, 2009 5:04 PM
This clown act of a presidential administration is THE WORST thing to ever happen to the U.S. This clown act has no clue what he is doing. He is a blithering idiot. And he is the biggest liar ever, even greater than Clinton. What an embarrassment, but a what a shame for this country.
Posted by: John D | July 12, 2009 7:58 PM
I am a Chinese, only I hope the nightmare of great depression will gone soon, we are all one world together!
Posted by: sinna | July 12, 2009 10:54 PM
John D (Bozo), you don't like Obama? Since When? Who pays you to post your drivel everyday? The Republican Party is the "Clown Act" and you are obviously a proud member of that act.
Posted by: Tim | July 13, 2009 11:10 AM
Lochnessmonster, the U.S unemployment rate in 2006, in fact, was in the mid 4s:
http://www.contactomagazine.com/biznews/unemployment2006.htm
In fact, the unemployment rate has skyrocketed since Obumbles became president, from well under 8 percent before he became president, to approaching 10 percent now. And this in just six months!
Yes, Tim, this shaministration is a clown act to the Nth degree. Trouble is, it's not very funny. Quite sad, actually. The mind-deranged Obamabots, though, are even sadder!
Posted by: John D | July 13, 2009 3:15 PM
This president has no strong economic background badly needed today. Dems are more worried about going after our CIA/ Guantanamo who did there best to protect our country from another attack. Really have this strong gut that we are going down as a country. Obama and his cohorts kept putting down America. They want to change America and turn her into the New Socialist America. They hate America and what it really stands for. They (meaning the left who are radically socialist) will build a new America. They will slowly do away with faith-based programs and replace that with active gay movements. They will downplay the crimes statistic in this country claiming 'they too have a right' (Reminder: When one took someone's precious life --- 'You lose all your rights, kiddo!!!) Another Obama supporter went on like this earlier this year (you all heard that on the news---(probably not if you were glued on MSNBC or CNN) --- when this woman ask the president to have a new kitchen. She thought now that he's president she can have what she's been wanting with the extra tax that O will get from me. That is the liberal agenda and that's not what most normal, hard working Americans want.
Posted by: eva | July 14, 2009 2:50 PM
"In fact, the unemployment rate has skyrocketed since Obumbles became president, from well under 8 percent before he became president, to approaching 10 percent now"
Yah got to love TJohn D the Spin doctor. Let's see, Unemployment when Bush left office: 7.6%. Remember that's "well under" 8%. Unemployment now is 9.5%. Which John D says is "approaching 10%". Isn't amazing how differently he treats thoise numbers? John D is 9.5% "well below" 10%? Is 7.6% "approaching" 8%?"
Never mind that he doesn't consider unemployment going from the mid 4's to 7.9% to be "skyrocketing" apparently.
Posted by: Liars figure | July 15, 2009 1:40 PM