GROUNDHOG DAY

Photo by EIC

SIX MORE QUARTERS OF RECESSION

 

Well, the groundhog came out of his hole yesterday, saw the jobless report, and began to cry...again...

The economy added only 157,000 new jobs in January and the unemployment rate climbed to 7.9%,  the U-6 rate counting the underemployed and those who have simply given up sits at 14.4%. The GDP contracted by -0.1% when it was expected to only slow growth to 1%.

IT'S STILL THE ECONOMY, STUPID!

Edward Morrissey of the Fiscal Times points out that the disconnect between politics and reality reached its apex in the President's inaugural speech which mentioned the economy once and jobs twice.

WELCOME TO EUROPE

Even the most favorable look at the economy and economic recoveries between WWII and today places the administration's handling of it well below average, the hardest looks are damming.  As Dan Mitchell at Cato points out, with higher taxes on productivity, a higher burden of government spending, and more costly government regulation and intervention, it's normal to have weak European style economic numbers.