Geithner: Joblessness 'high for... long'

Well this Pr#ck should know since he had a direct hand in creating this mess. Why this guy is still walking around free and running is yap is a mystery to me. Guess if you have enough money and influence you really can get away with anything.

Wow, guess the Dems got us this great Healthcare and here no one is working and no one will be getting their benefits thru and employer. Guess they
MISSED THE NEED BIG TIME. HOWEVER, I THINK THEY KNOW THIS, BUT DID HEALTHCARE ANYWAY.

Amen Griff. At first I thought you were talking about the Pr*ck-in-Chief who also shouldn't still be running around free and running his yap. Sigh....elections DO have consequences which I think the public and maybe even the media may be figuring out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtxqtBq0uVw&feature=player_embedded

Folks, this is what happens when you send people lacking even the most fundamental understanding of economics to Washington. You get healthcare laws, cap & trade, and other job-killing policies. Next time, please vote for the grown-ups.

I'm with Griff...this jerk was part of the Economic Demolition Team from the prior administration...how is he still around?!

Well, do something about it, genius. This is so limp. (Then Geithner.... ) Bemoaning the fact isn't going to get things done. Stop moaning and crepe-hanging and tell us about YOUR plan to get us out of this. Otherwise you and your boss will be thrown out of office in favor of people who will get it done.

Yes, I remember on January 19, 2009, when unemployment was at .01% and our economy was charging forth like a bull during mating season...

...once-in-a-lifetime recession? He(( you say!

While Obama and Democrats have obsessed for the past year about their government takeover of healthcare, unemployment increased in 27 U.S. states in February and dropped in only seven. After the Scott Brown upset, Obama again promised a pivot to jobs. But, of course, he never delivered. Instead, he has championed a stimulus plan that didn't save or create millions of jobs and a healthcare plan that is already sucking billions of dollars out of employers' coffers. Will employers -- with healthcare costs now to swell up and tax hikes due in 2011 -- really be expanding payrolls? Of course not. Why have Obama and the Democratic Congress been busy placing new mandates, taxes, and fines on business over the past year while the job picture is still bleak? It will be hard for incumbents to convince voters who have yet to see any benefit from Obama's big-government liberal agenda and a good deal of pain (e.g., seniors facing Medicare cuts, small businesses looking at tax bites, unemployed workers) that what we need is more of the same from socialist Democrats. Vote in November, folks. Vote. Them. Out.

Yet another sad example of the failed policies of George Bush.

Brother can you spare some change? I've had enough of the hope.

Excuse me, FillB? Unemployment was at .01% in Jan 2009? On what world? This recession started in 2007. And Bush did nothing. He wouldn't even call it a recession until Warren Buffet did it for him. You guys act as though all one has to do is wave a magic wand and puff - jobs. You complain about NAFTA? Well guess what? Job killer Bush signed CAFTA for all the central american countries to take our jobs. Yeah, and did stupid Clinton sign NAFTA in the first place. But none of your pals changed NAFTA laws in the whole six years they had control. Their buddies were getting too rich. Healthcare laws do not kill employment. They help people who lose their jobs after 20 yrs of paying into the system. This entire house of cards was build during the Bush years, leaving whoever became president a huge mess. McCain would have been having just as much as a difficult time. Housing, Banking and Auto all fell at the same time. No one can fix this in 1 year.

Has ANYONE in this administration ever run a small business...or any business for that matter that wasn't part of the bailout or the problem? These are a bunch of academics and lawyers who have no clue how businesses are run. we are doomed.

whispers.... "meanwhile, Ivy League alumni bankers and hedge fund managers are taking their $16M-$50M Wall Street bonus's and snapping up $5M-$20M apartments on Central Park West..."

The only growth industries where jobs will be created are the government and healthcare. There is no recession in Washington. Nobody there loses THEIR job. And, Joe, when exactly does Obama start taking responsibility for his administration instead of blaming Bush? When he is gone in 2014 and the healthcare bomb bankrupts this country?

This is why new Gallop data out today shows the favorable rating for the Democratic Party has fallen to its lowest level since Gallup began asking the question in 1992 —its standing has dropped 14 percentage points since Obama's election. An astounding three of four Americans say they are dissatisfied with the country's direction. Vote out ALL Democrats in November.

The current dems strategy is to search out right wing wackos who are making idiots of themselves in public protesting against the healthcare bill, and then, with the willing help of such bastions of journalism as CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC (along with comic relief from MSNBC.com) portray the wackos as being typical of anyone/everyone who DARES disagree with the enlightened leadership of our supreme leader.

It will work for a while, but meanwhile time marches on, which in the context of this discussion means:

30 weeks 5 days and counting
until the midterms

All of these comments are predicated on the assumption that the government actually has any significant influence on the economy. Who can prove that it really does? And, assuming you can, how then can you argue it is Obama, with a mere 14 months on hte job, and not Bush who is responsible?

democrats, demonizing and intimidating not just a specific business but entire industries. Are they just Marxists and Socialists doing their thing, or are they jimmy carter clueless? That would be the only question that I would pose to the mindless defenders of this gang of rogues.

Yes, the only job growth that took place in March was the hiring of people to work on the census. Most certainly most will be ACORN workers. Funny, I know someone who took the test to work for the Census. She passed the test with flying colors. In fact, she was told she had one of the highest scores. Funny thing, though, she was not hired by the census. Makes one wonder why and who was hired.

Bob Samuelson said this morning "It's very difficult to predict the future."

But it's even more difficult to know what's happening right now.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that things are much worse than a 10% unemployment figure suggests.

Many of the unemployed will NEVER go back to work.

They've already claimed bankruptcy and will be in deep trouble when and if the unemployment payments end.

Drive on the interstates these days and you notice NO TRAFFIC to speak of.

Ride the commuter trains and you notice the formerly crowded rush hour trains have PLENTY of seats to spare.

and on and on....

One bright spot: hedge fund managers were paid Billion with a B $$ bonuses this year past.

At very low tax rates.

Enjoy it now, because all that gelt is going to be taxed big time to keep the social services , unemployment benefits, etc., coming......

Agreed - the government can only mess up the economy. And to that end, they have been very successful.

Kim, the last Prez who "ran a small business" ran it into the ground.

W, and his failed oil ventures.

And you're right in a sense:
he displayed the same ineptitude in office.

W=Worst President Ever.

I really get tired of people blaming Bush for high unemployment. I squarely put the blame on the Democrats all the way. Voters put Democrats in charge of Congress during the November, 2006 election, expressing their disapproval to the Iraq War. At that time, unemployment was at 4.3%. As recently as May, 2007 it was at 4.3%. Where is it now? Jobs need to come from the private sector and the Democrats' policies don't favor it.

It's just plain stupid to claim that the recession is somehow Obama's fault. This should give you an idea of how the job market has fared under the current administration and the last one. http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/documents/2010/02/house-speaker-nancy-pelosi-compares-job-losses-under-presidents-obama-and-bush.php?page=1&ref=fpblg Things are certainly bad, but they could be a lot worse.

To all who voted these clowns in; enjoy your hope and change. Oh, this is just the beginning, Obama isn't even halfway into his term. I'm sure when he is voted out he will blame it on Bush.

The best item is: Business Tax Credits. When businesses don't make money what good is a tax credit!

Do your part to fix this mess!
Use the same CPA Geithner used to prepare his taxes.

I certainly get tired of voters blaming Bush for the state of unemployment. It's about time voters wake up and realize where to point the finger for the problem of unemployment. It's them when they voted Democrats in office in November, 2006 as a result of their protest of the Iraq War. At that time, unemployment was at 4.3%. As recently as May, 2007 it still stood at 4.3%. Where is it now? Democratic policies are anti-American business, but where do you think the jobs come from?

lostfourwords | April 1, 2010 1:54 PM :

Exactly! Bravo. There's no magic jobs creation button.

Welcome the the Bush Depression folks. The Dems came afterwards. This is purely the result of GOP policies.

Ornery,

You are correct (as usual) about the numbers game. I could cite MANY reasons why this number is false, but a simple on is that the economy needs to create 100,000 jobs per month just to keep up with the new batch of kids graduating. I have heard the numbers before (but can't find the links) where it would take about 8 years of exceptional growth just to get back to where we started in this whole economic collapse. This was the best link I could find, but the projections I heard were much more gloomy than even these. http://www.newgeography.com/content/00901-recession-analysis-when-will-job-market-fully-recover

The Republicans ran the economy into the ground. It's ridiculous to be blaming Obama for this situation. In fact, Obama and Geithner saved the country from a full-blown Depression.

But both parties are going to have to admit something they can't seem to admit. We can't go on with "free trade" like it is. We can't afford to go on importing more than we export. Only when we reverse that will the jobs come back.

I blame Bush and his tax cuts and his wars. I think Obama's going to pull us out of this.

Good thing we spent a trillion dollars on "stimulus".I wonder where all the shovel ready and green jobs are?Has anybody seen or know someone that has had a job created under Barry?I had visions in my head of roads and bridges being build.Fields of wind and solar plants going up.Everybody singing hand in hand while working.

LOL,all a load of you know what.Just keep blaming Bush and eventually the economy will recover.When it does,Obama will then take credit,even though we all know every single recession lasts from 18 to 24 months.

Why all the focus and money spent on healthcare when millions are still without jobs!!

FOCUS ON JOBS!!!!

What about that doesn't this admin. understand!!! Healthcare overhall is not paying people's bills!!

You want to talk about job killing policies? Let's start with bush and letting millions of hi-tech and manufacturing jobs float away like your memoryhas been doing. India has the tech jobs while manufacturing jobs have gone to China. It's no secret we (as a country) will have high unemployment as there are not any jobs to fill!!! HCR has just been signed into law and you are blaming jobs on that legislation? That's the trouble with Americans at the present time-they are blinded by some crap that FOX blares out. Look at the facts.

"But thanks to the bold and decisive action we've taken since January, I can stand here with confidence and say that we have pulled this economy back from the brink"

- Barack Obama September 9th 2009

During the Depression FDR's detractors were not given the license or exposure that Obama's now are. During the Depression the media had a sense of high seriousness, something that carried over to Walter Cronkite but now seems gone. (The entertainment element was reserved for the movies and Jack Benny & Co.) The public knew what was going on, in brutal detail. When WW II came, people actually knew the map of Europe and knew where the front lines were.

Father Coughlin, Huey Long---yes, they have their counterparts in GlennBecket (not a good Scotch) and Limbaugh (not a good cheese)...

But the "Austrialian fascist" as he was once called, has way more firepower than Hearst and Col McCormick did.

That's why the President has to work so hard every day just to get the truth out there.

And he can't be the one to impart the bad news, can he?

He has to be the eternal optimist.

I do think someone in the administration has to be the "point man" in describing how bad things are right now.

And , yes, a Truth Commission or several are needed to fully explicate just how we got here.

Well, I know I said that in 07 on Arianna but I think it's still a good idea....

Ahh yes, the recession or 2007... not ignored by Bush, folks... ignored by the newly entrenched democratically controlled congress. Very interesting how that little bit of history is glanced over... interesting indeed...

Obama owns the White House, he owns the Congress by 80 votes, he owns the Senate with 59 votes. He has done nothing to help the economy for 15 months. His total focus has been on programs to kill the economy. Enough is enough.
Vote these clowns out of office.

Instead of blaming Democrats or Republicans... BLAME THEM ALL.

I've said this in the past, they care about things in this order:

1) Themselves
2) Their family
3) Their friends
4) Their political allies
5) Their contributors
6) NOT YOU.

All politicians are at fault regardless of party affiliation.

Just another jobless recovery. Be a good consumer and learn to live with less. Don't miss the next cash for program, you need a green appliance.

Aww, Timmy, you're just trying to cheer us up. Your boss is too concerned with imposing his own will on the American people to work on the things he SHOULD be working on; jobs, jobs, jobs. Those that defend this Administration are deficient in every manner of speaking.

Why is it that no one is talking about how the war spending is draining our country's resources? Is the real reason that Obama isn't stopping the war because it would swell unemployment (those in the service and all the contractors)? Lets see some numbers on that.

The problems we have didn't happen in a vacuum. The Republicans have contributed by forgetting about the people who put them in office and only worrying about the corporations and their executives who gave them the money to run for office. Deregulation of the financial and lending industries meant that the unemployment numbers we're experiencing now were inevitable. Both parties were responsible, but Bush and his people were the cheerleaders and implementers of of the greedy mess that Obama is cleaning up, while simultaneously delivering the long overdue health care reform we've needed for decades (they probably didn't think that HCR would pass, so they kinda over played their hand here and they'll pay for it when people receive the benefits included in the bill). The Republicans knew very well that they were leaving a mess they could blame the Democrats for and use the mess to try to get back into office. It sounds to me that you Tea drinkers fell for their plan. Republicans deserve whatever they're suffering right now. You get what you vote for.

Unfortunately no politician,
federal, state, local, in either party will admit that this current unemployment situation is the result of decades of manufacturing jobs
being lost overseas. It seems
everyone has forgotten how
this country prospered for decades, it wasn't from banks,
health care, or insurance companies, it was from rock solid manufacturing jobs that paid good, and carried benefits.
Manufacturing jobs were the
heart and sole of this country.
What results did we all expect when these jobs were stripped from this country year in and year out in every industry, for decades.

Am a small business owner/employer and will be supporting Obama in 2012, even if it is not in my companies best short term interest and I bear more cost of doing business. I believe he will have a more positive impact on this country than any president in my 48 yr lifetime and am willing to make sacrifice for my fellow less fortunate Americans who are without some basic human services. Conviction and guts to make the right calls, even when it is not seen as positive in the polls nor in his long term political interest is called leadership in my company. That is a practice long forgotten in Washington, putting people before special interest and its money, and one that I applaud and will reward with money, resources and my vote.

Mike, Joe,

Name a Bush policy that led to the recession and explain how.

Kelly,

That house of cards was being built prior to January 20, 2001.

Derelict (appropriate),

Please explain how "Bush and his tax cuts and his wars" created unemployment.

Ornery,

"During the Depression FDR's detractors were not given the license or exposure that Obama's now are." - Would you like to go back to the Big Three Networks and no Internet?

"During the Depression the media had a sense of high seriousness" - Agreed . Now most are just over-paid teleprompter readers.

"When WW II came, people actually knew the map of Europe and knew where the front lines were." Wonder how many students can point on a map where Iraq and Afghanistan are today? Thank you gov't and union run public education.

As far as Beck and Limbaugh, there is this thing called an off switch. Try it.

Here's something Timmy and BO can be proud of - Underemployed at 20.3% according to Gallup.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/127091/Underemployment-Rises-March.aspx

Surely Obama's plans for higher taxes, higher energy prices, increased union power, increased regulation, increased size of government, redistribution of wealth, massive debt, printing money, and government micromanagement of EVERYTHING will bring back jobs.

To China.

Do ANY of you Pro-Obama people understand that Democrats are at war with business... and business is losing?

Taxes will be raised on the 1 percenters. Including those hedge fund folk who made $1 billion with a b last year, and those "investment bankers" who paid themselves $10 million a year plus bonus.

Yes indeedy. Should have been done long ago.

And military and intelligence budgets will have to go on a diet.

I blame Bush and his tax cuts and his wars. I think Obama's going to pull us out of this.

Posted by: derelict844 | April 1, 2010 3:50 PM

I blame Clinton. It was under his administration in 1994 the the law was changed allowing banks to speculate in the market.
In 1932 (after the last time we had a Great Depression/Recession) we put lows into place to prevent it from happening again.
We (Dems & Repub's') changed those lows so we could get re-elected.
We don't learn ... so we repeat.

Advertizing/Propaganda should not replace thought!

This thread is still here?

Amazing.

Once a good one is started, it usually sinks into the inacessable nether regions, in favor of one about a basketball game.....

Doomed,

Do you want to offer the facts of who proposed and drafted that legislation? I'll give you a hint...it starts with a G and ends with pee.

Ornery,

We saw what happened last time we put the intellgence budget on a diet.

The intelligence budget is about $64 Billion with a B, the part of it which is disclosed to the public. There is another substantial chunk which is "black", not disclosed.

However, CIA totally underestimated the problems of the Soviet economy and failed to predict the collapse thereof. Failed to coordinate intelligence re 9/11. Failed in many material respects.

In effect, its special operations branch is the President's private army, and the intelligence function secondary and very poorly performed.

Chalmers Johnson has brilliantly discussed the failings of the intelligence apparatus in the Blowback Trilogy and in his upcoming book will have more to say no doubt.

If you want to know WHY 9/11 attackers attacked, read Osama bin Laden's editorial letter published shortly thereafter wherein he explained the 3 reasons.

But don't try to claim it was a "budget shortfall" that caused past failures.

They were institutional failures unrelated to a lack of funds. There never was a lack of funds.

Far be it from me to deprive Barack of his secret army. He may want to send some of those guys to pay y'all a nocturnal visit.....

But that can be done at far less expense than is being spent on military/intelligence (about 1/2 of the federal budget).

Ornery,

So those "institutional failures" of the CIA that led to 9-11, which administration are you going to pin those on?

Bush 41 was Director of CIA.

Bush 43 had Briefing entitled "Bin Laden determined to strike within US" in his in box in August 2001 and did nothing.

Terrorism Commission (Hart Commission) made many recommendations, including secure cockpit doors, BEFORE 9/11 which were ignored.

Replicans control Congress 1995-2007.

But it's the "professionals" at the intelligence agencies and those supposed to "oversee" them who screwed up.

Most proximate screw-up: Bush in August 2001 for doing nothing.

Ornery,

You are blaming the institutional failures of teh CIA in 2001 on George H.W. Bush back when he was CIA director in the mid-70's. You do know that he only held that job for just less then ONE year. So it was his fault that 25 years later the insututional failures of the CIA would lead to the 9-1 attacks? You are really chugging the loon kool-aid today.

Second, you then skip 25 years ahead to just a month before the 9-11 attacks to the CIA briefing "Bin Laden determined to strike within US". You seem to skip the periob between the first WTC bomobing and January 20, 2001 where the occupant of the oval office did nothing to capture/kill bin Laden while he was out in the open. How out in the open was he? PBS was able to find him for a 1998 interview, but Clinton couldn't?

So President Bush43 gets the briefing a month before the attacks and you would expect him to have the cockpit doors on all airplanes secured within one month? Do you realize how a federal gov't buracracy works?

Keep chugging that kool-aid.

Yes I know very well how it works.

Richard Clarke was very correct when he said in his 9 11 Commission testimony and book that the govt. failed systemically.

Remember who controlled the congress 1995 to 2007, Jan. Congress did nothing. In fact wasted 2 years investigating BillyBob Clinton when they should have been implementing Hart Commission recommendations, investigating Madoff, Bear Stearns Fuld & Co at Lehman Bros., AIG, various other bundlers of home loans.

Yes I would have been nice if Bush had LIFTED A FINGER when warned in August 2001 that Bin Laden was determined to strike within the US.

If that single recommendation of Hart Commission re cockpit doors had been timely implemented, 911 would be an attempt, not a successful attack. Since the attackers synchronized their watches.....

Point about Daddy Bush was: Bush Dynasty had plenty of scienter about how the CIA worked and about its failures. What did W do about it in the 9 months before 9 11? Nothing.

All this has been rather brilliantly explicated by Chalmers Johnson in his various public appearances and books.

Interestingly he predicted the impending bankruptcy of the US as early as 2003, if not before.

Reform of the intelligence agencies has got to be on Obama's TO DO list somewhere.....

Also, NOVA program "The Shadow Factory" which was rebroadcast today in Chicago (for some reason Easter programming has nothing to do with Easter), shows that NSA had all the information it needed on the 911 hijackers before the event.....

Again showing it was not a question of funding.....

Ornery,

Who was the commander-in-chief during 1993-2000? It is the commander-in-chiefs responsibility to keep America safe, Clinton's failure to act over nearly eight years on bin Laden pales in comparison to the one-month of Bush not doing something.

How quick do you think cock-pit doors could have been locked? Like I asked before, do you realize the speed at which gov't bureacrats move?

As for predicting the housing meltdown, the New York Times did that back in 1999. I believe that George Bush was the governor of Texas.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html?pagewanted=1