The Economy Is Roaring Sputtering!

We continue to reap the devastating rewards of hope-n-change:

The Labor Department said the number of laid-off workers applying for benefits dipped to 570,000 last week from an upwardly revised 574,000. That was a weaker performance than the drop to 560,000 claims that economists expected.

The number of people receiving jobless benefits totaled 6.23 million, up 92,000 from the previous week, which had been the lowest level since early April. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected that number, which lags new claims by a week, to fall to 6.13 million. ….

Most retailers posted sales declines last month as shoppers restrained back-to-school purchases to focus on necessities. Discounters did better than upscale chains, but the results Thursday raised further concern about the upcoming holiday season.

Hot Air asks the $787 billion question:

...the August numbers belie the notion that a significant recovery is upon us in the job market.  The CBO made that plain enough for everyone last week, when it predicted net job losses throughout 2010.  Economies do not recover through job losses, although they eventually recover despite them.

What is also plain enough is that the stimulus has done very little to stimulate, now more than six months after its passage.  Joe Biden will make the mistake today of bragging about Porkulus rolling ahead of schedule, which should prompt people to ask — where's the stimulus?

Indeed, who's been stimulated except for the federal government and liberal constituency groups?  No one.

Heritage has some additional analysis:

As bad as these numbers sound (and they are bad) the real threat facing our nation's economy is that, as Gallup's Chief Economist Dennis Jacobe puts it: "job creation in August is just not taking place in the U.S. economy."  Why is job creation more important than job loss numbers? Heritage fellow James Sherk explains:

The American economy is highly dynamic. Industries continually expand and contract while entrepreneurs create new companies and uncompetitive firms go out of business. Workers move between jobs frequently as this occurs. … Recent research shows that an increased likelihood of layoffs is not the main reason that unemployment rises during economic slumps. … The main reason unemployment rises during economic downturns is that job creation falls while the labor force continues to grow, making available jobs scarcer. As a result, many without work stay unemployed longer, driving up the unemployment rate.

If our economy is going to avoid double digit unemployment, the private sector is going to have to start hiring people again. Unfortunately, every agenda item emanating from the White House is will only hamper, not allow for, private sector job growth.

They go into more details which I'll omit here, but the bottom line is that the stimulus package, ObamaKennedycare, cap-n-<strike>trade</strike>tax, straight tax increases, and trillion dollar deficits would all have serious negative impacts on the economy individually.  Americans are hard workers, born and raised for success and achievement, so the nation would eventually recover from any of these.  But, roll them all together and we have the perfect storm of economic disaster that is going to be tremendously difficult to overcome, even for America's historically unprecedented wealth generator.

But don't worry, Obama is planning to create over a quarter million government jobs to help out.  I think I agree with Ace of Spades when he says:

Perfect. I was just saying to myself, "What this economy really needs is more federal workers. Real go-getters and value-adders and wealth-creators."

HOPE! CHANGE! SLAY THE AMERICAN ECONOMY!

There's my two cents.