What They Said! A Little Past, a Little Present.
This blog contains article re prints covering the economy and recession during the last months of Bush’s Presidency the early months of Obama’s Presidency and current news…..
Though not all encompassing, I believe it is a good compare and contrast.
1) December 5, 2008
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/05/employers-shedding-jobs-a_n_148629.html
Employers Shedding Jobs As Recession Deepens
JEANNINE AVERSA | 12/ 5/08 06:27 PM |
WASHINGTON — An alarming half-million American jobs vanished virtually in a flash last month, the worst mass layoffs in over a third of a century, as economic carnage spread ever faster and the nation hurtled toward what could be the hardest hard times since the Great Depression.
Underscoring Friday’s dismaying signs of a rapidly deteriorating economy, General Motors announced yet more job cuts, and a record number of homeowners were reported behind on mortgage payments or in foreclosure.
Somehow Wall Street found a silver lining, betting that so much bad news would force fresh government action to revive the foundering economy. The Dow Jones industrial rose 259 points.
Staring at 533,000 lost jobs, economists were anything but hopeful. Since the start of the recession last December, the economy has shed 1.9 million jobs, and the number of unemployed people has increased by 2.7 million _ to 10.3 million now out of work.
Some analysts predict 3 million more jobs will be lost between now and the spring of 2010 _ and that the once-humming U.S. economy could stagger backward at a shocking 6 percent rate for the current three-month quarter.
“The economy is in a free fall,” said Richard Yamarone of Argus Research. “It is as if someone flicked off the switch on hiring.”
“It’s a mess,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “Businesses, battening down the hatches, are concerned about their survival and are cutting workers.”
President-elect Barack Obama said the crisis “is likely to get worse before it gets better,” and no one was going to argue that point. Economists predicted the unemployment rate, which rose to a 15-year high of 6.7 percent in November, could soar as high as 10 percent before skittish employers begin hiring again.
This was Dec 2008 a month before Obama Took office………..
What was Obama’s plan…..
From
President-elect Obama said the dismal job news underscored the need for forceful action, even as he warned that the pain could not be quickly relieved.
Obama, who takes office on Jan. 20, has called for a massive economic recovery bill to generate 2.5 million jobs over his first two years in office. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has vowed to have a package ready on Inauguration Day for Obama’s signature.
The measure, which could total $500 billion, would bankroll big public works projects to create jobs, provide aid to states to help with Medicaid costs, and provide money toward renewable energy development.
August 2010-11-27 www.huffingtonpost.com
First Posted: 08-25-10 06:16 PM | Updated: 08-25-10 08:18 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/25/stimulus-spending-programs-reasonable_n_694755.html#s131196
Lost amid those arguments is what exactly the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act did accomplish — which, by comparison to almost anything except the massive output gap it was supposed to fill, is a lot.
On Tuesday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the act added from 1.4 million to 3.3 million jobs during the second quarter of 2010.
In addition to $288 billion in tax cuts, the Recovery Act funded all sorts of worthy projects that created jobs, backstopped a number of safety-net programs, and made huge investments in infrastructure, energy independence, mass transit and other public goods.
This is just one instance I found… thought I would share…
Personally I believe the Recovery Act should have been bigger and bolder. Instead of a 2 year plan to create 2.5-3 million jobs, I believe a goal of 6.5-9 million jobs would have definitely had more affect on the suffering middle and lower classes. Instead, President Obama’s constituents were left waiting for more direct assistance through these horrible times, while many of the well to do was immediately made solvent and on even ground just as the crisis struck our economy. Think about it. A more aggressive and Progressive approach to assisting our hard working every day citizens, could have afforded them the ability to hold on to what they had worked and saved so hard for. Their homes, their jobs, their incomes and their peace of mind, while they worked their way thru the crisis. Instead our fates were left in the hands of the very financial institutions that had drunkenly driven our economy over the cliff. The American consumer, the back bone of our economy for decades, the middle class, has been devastated, mentally, physically and financially. It will take decades for the middle class to recover from the siphoning off of our retirement funds, pensions, and homes.
Think about it, because it affects us all.
M Taylor Nov27, 2010
An Honest opinion
