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Blame for the current unemployment rate

July 2, 2009 at 10:52 am by Steve McGough  
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I’m not one to blame one person for the current unemployment rate. Many factors are involved and it’s just too complicated to blame it on one person or one administration. Bloggers and the media do like to place blame (it’s sexy) but I’m not sure displaying a graph comparing average rates during a president’s term is helpful.

The federal unemployment figures have just been released, and nationally we’re at 9.5 percent, up one-tenth of a point from last month.

I’m thinking that current federal policy is not helping the employment situation in the United States, but you need to consider the normal delays that occur during the economic cycle. I think the unemployment rate was heading towards “bad” last summer and is being made worse by the current administration.

That said, I don’t think the following graph – highlighted by Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit – is helpful. Yet.

obama-years

Exit questions: At what point can we really use a graph like the one above? When is the media going to put all the blame on the Obama administration?

Update: I was looking for an update to this graph and just found it. Although I don’t think it is relevant to compare the Obama “years” to the Cinton and Bush years, I do think it is very relevant to compare Obama administration estimates to what’s actually happening.

Jim Geraghty from The Campaign Spot has the graph and links us to the full post at Innocent Bystanders.

obama-unemployment-estimate

Michelle is waiting for the current administration to blame the previous. Ed at Hot Air notes the only show of growth anywhere is in government.

Clearly, the nation is heading in the wrong direction.  There isn’t a single sign of job recovery in this latest report despite four months of Porkulus spending.  Not one single sector except for government shows job growth, or even a hint of it.

Three months ago, Obama bragged that his stimulus had begun to create a “rush” to hire construction workers.  Since then, the construction industry has lost over 120,000 jobs, and this month’s report shows that trend accelerating at a season when construction should normally be hiring.

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  1. How much more time will Obama get? | Radio Vice Online says:
    July 3, 2009 at 8:58 am

    [...] did a great post yesterday on the unemployment numbers (9.5%) and the fact that the only sector that is creating jobs is the government sector. As I [...]



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Responses to “Blame for the current unemployment rate”
  1. Darlene says:
    July 2, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    Wait Steve … Are you suggesting that we hold the Obama Administration accountable? Are you kidding me? Nope, I would be curious to see at the end of these four years which statement wins:
    1. we inherited this from the Bush Administration
    2. it’s what the American people want
    3. the time is now, this is our chance
    4. we’ve tried everything else
    But, holding the current administration accountable???? Please!

  2. Dimsdale says:
    July 2, 2009 at 10:16 pm

    I haven’t had this much “fun” since Carter was driving the economy into the ground!

  3. Dimsdale says:
    July 3, 2009 at 12:24 pm

    It the Obamateur’s assumptions are this divorced from reality, why are we obliged to think any of his other assumptions are any more valid?

    According to graph 2, the results of his actions are in total opposition to what he touted during the campaign and after. If that doesn’t mean your hypotheses are complete crap, nothing does.

    I think it is pretty obvious that he has little command of economics. Heck, he won’t even reveal what courses he took at Columbia and what he got in them.

  4. Dimsdale says:
    July 3, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    When you look back on things the Dems said prior to the 2004 election, you see how history repeats itself:

    “In 1993, I was the majority leader who led with Bill Clinton to get
    this economy straightened out…this president is a miserable failure on
    foreign policy and on the economy and he’s got to be replaced.”
    -Dick Gephardt at the DNC presidential debate in New Mexico, 9/4/03
    GEPHARDT FOR PRESIDENT

    When does our new president assume the mantle of “miserable failure?” When the unemployment rate surpasses 10%?