New UE is 7.7 percent

[flyboy56]

And now the President wants unlimited automatic debt ceiling increases. It's pretty obvious Obama will do anything to keep from going into another recession while he is president. After all it would be his legacy.

[soulflower]

Since we know both parties use this formula mostly for bragging rights, hopefully, depending on the party you are rooting for, this argument has pretty much hit a wall. Shall we agree to disagree on the accuracy and need for, accurately determining the UE rate?

Employment statistics are not about "bragging rights." The stats are a snapshot of labor market conditions and they have a small margin of error. Nothing more, nothing less...

[flyboy56]

And let's hope the Republicans listen to reason.

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen is going on the offensive once more, this time in pursuit of cuts to military spending.

http://thinkprogress.org/tag/defense-spending/

[flyboy56]

Employment statistics are not about "bragging rights." The stats are a snapshot of labor market conditions and they have a small margin of error. Nothing more, nothing less...

And like Obama wasn't nervously waiting the results of the last stat just before the election? Politically they matter.

[soulflower]

And like Obama wasn't nervously waiting the results of the last stat just before the election? Politically they matter.

Not really. The jobs numbers and UE rate usually lags behind most other economic indicators. Plus, as you noted, democrats and republicans view economic numbers differently...

[flyboy56]

Not really. The jobs numbers and UE rate usually lags behind most other economic indicators. Plus, as you noted, democrats and republicans view economic numbers differently...

The jobs report came out just days before the election which showed it moved below the election killer of 8%.

And I never said the parties viewed the number differently. What I said was the number could be used for bragging rights depending on who the results benefited. In Obama's case the number favored his campaign.

[ms maggie]

But you failed to mention the increased spending the President was asking for in his 2011 Budget Act

Debt limit

The debt limit will be increased by $2.1 T no matter what Congress does.
The debt limit can be increased up to an additional $300 B depending on what Congress does on deficit reduction and a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA).
The debt limit increase will happen in three steps: $400 B immediately, then +$500 B, then the remainder after Congress tries to enact further deficit reduction and pass a BBA.
Assuming the economy doesn’t go into the tank, this should eliminate the risk of another cash flow crisis for about 18 months, into early 2013. (No, it was never a “default” crisis.)

http://keithhennessey.com/2011/08/01/bca-summary/

Increased spending has nothing to do with the current debt ceiling. The debt ceiling has to be raised to meet financial obligations, to pay what we owe. Over time decreased spending would lower the debt ceiling but not in the foreseeable future.

[flyboy56]

Increased spending has nothing to do with the current debt ceiling. The debt ceiling has to be raised to meet financial obligations, to pay what we owe. Over time decreased spending would lower the debt ceiling but not in the foreseeable future.

It would decrease the national debt if the money saved by cutting spending would actually go to paying off the debt. I just have my doubts that will happen in any meaningful way.

[soulflower]

The jobs report came out just days before the election which showed it moved below the election killer of 8%.

And I never said the parties viewed the number differently. What I said was the number could be used for bragging rights depending on who the results benefited. In Obama's case the number favored his campaign.

8% unemployment wouldn't have killed Obama's reelection. He was favored to win even before the rate went to 7.9

[flyboy56]

8% unemployment wouldn't have killed Obama's reelection. He was favored to win even before the rate went to 7.9

I was referring to the news media's statistics of past incumbent Presidents. I don't think Obama could have done much of anything wrong to prevent his reelection. He was promising growth through spending and Romney and Ryan were hammering away at debt solutions which hinted of lots of austerity. Now who in their right minds would vote for those two party poopers.

[BlandFood]

8% unemployment wouldn't have killed Obama's reelection. He was favored to win even before the rate went to 7.9

Unfortunately you're correct, maybe 5 dollar gasoline and it's effects will eventually piss his ignorant supporters off in the future?

[Grindelwald]

I'm not going to argue with you about how we acquired so much debt. It's how we are ready to deal with it is the issue Democrats don't be to concerned with. They are more worried about OBama looking bad rather than do the right thing. This is why, like Howard Dean, I believe going over the fiscal cliff is the best way to get started on addressing our more serious problem. I hope Boehner does the right thing as well and accept the blame he will get, but he would be doing the right thing by the country in the long term

I think raising middle class taxes in a recession is a mistake.

[flyboy56]

I think raising middle class taxes in a recession is a mistake.

Dig our selves deeper in dept and face a totally unmanageable crash within a few years or start adjusting slowly with small tax increases for everyone while we have some control left. I don't think we have a lot of options at this point. We spending more than we make and the US has been threatened with another credit rating downgrade.

[cprenegade]

Employment statistics are not about "bragging rights." The stats are a snapshot of labor market conditions and they have a small margin of error. Nothing more, nothing less...

As has been shown, that snapshot is inaccurate. The overall trend of moving upward are downward percentage wise remains roughly the same, but the government formula greatly underestimates actual unemployment and thus does not give a true snapshot of labor market conditions.