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Conservatives Celebrate Bad Unemployment Numbers

(WASHINGTON) — Conservative pundits celebrated the rise in unemployment reported today, with many of them making fun of President Obama and the economic stimulus with posts on Twitter and in the blogs. Rather than offer constructive critiques of what can be done to pull America out of this funk generated largely by the economic policies of President George W. Bush, they chose to follow in the footsteps of radio host Rush Limbaugh, who famously said he hoped for the Obama administration to “fail”.

Unemployment Over 10%

US unemployment hit over 10% Friday, with 16 million Americans out of work even as the recession is ending: “The Labor Department said Friday that jobless rate rose to 10.2 percent, the highest since April 1983, from 9.8 percent in September. The economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs in October, less than the downwardly revised 219,000 lost in September, but more than economists expected.”

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Obama Re-Nominates Bernanke As Federal Reserve Chairman

Ben Bernanke picture

“President Obama on Tuesday nominated Ben S. Bernanke to serve a second four-year term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, electing to maintain continuity in the nation’s most powerful economic policymaking job in a time of crisis. ” Link

Obama's Cash For Clunkers Bill Boosts Auto Sales

“Edmunds.com, the auto buying site, predicts that sales in July will be up 10% from June despite the fact that the program was only in effect the last week of the month. J.D. Power and Associates also predicts a bump, as well, predicting sales going from an annual selling rate of 9.7 million in June to an annualized rate of 10 million.” Link

$2.7 Billion Profit For JP Morgan Chase

“JPMorgan, the second big bank to report stronger earnings this week after Goldman Sachs Group Inc., earned $2.72 billion, up from $2 billion a year earlier. Revenues soared 39 percent to $25.62 billion. ” Link

After Bailout, Goldman Sachs Expected To Announce Huge Profits

“Up and down Wall Street, analysts and traders are buzzing that Goldman, which only recently paid back its government bailout money, will report blowout profits from trading on Tuesday. Analysts predict the bank earned a profit of more than $2 billion in the March-June period, because of its trading prowess across world markets.” Link

Downturn Pushing Women To Sex Work

“Industry insiders like to say that they’re seeing more ‘normal’ people, girls ‘with good minds.’ Mike of A&M Studios, a producer of X-rated video chats, says: ‘A couple years ago, we’d have a lot of strippers or people who might be on meth — a lot of shiftier people.’ He continues, ‘Now we’re seeing performers who are more educated and used to working on a regular schedule. There’s been a shift to a very different class of people.’ Much as his phrasing gives me chills, it isn’t just a cliché that women with limited job opportunities often turn to sex work.” Link

Recession Causes Increase In Sperm And Egg Donation

“‘We’ve seen a definite spike’ of about 40% since February, says Kim Springfield, vice president of sales for Health News, an Irvine, Calif., company that operates a national referral service for donors. Once prospective donors learn that medical and psychological screening can take weeks or months and eliminates most interested men and women, many opt out, Springfield says. ” Link

Unemployment Gets Worse

“There was a net loss of 467,000 jobs in June, compared with a revised loss of 322,000 jobs in May. This was the first time in four months that the number of jobs lost rose from the prior month. The June job losses were also far worse than the forecast of a loss of 365,000 jobs by economists surveyed by Briefing.com. The unemployment rate rose for the ninth straight month, climbing to 9.5% from 9.4%, and hitting another 26-year high. Economists had been expecting that the unemployment rate would hit 9.6%.” Link

New Home Sales Down 0.6% In May

“The Commerce Department said Wednesday that sales dropped 0.6 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000, from a downwardly revised April rate of 344,000. Sales were down nearly 33 percent from May last year. The results fell far short of economists’ forecast of a 360,000 sales pace, according to Thomson Reuters. However, many analysts think new home sales hit bottom in January and will increase gradually as the economy gathers steam.” Link