The
June jobs report was “very disappointing” for the Obama administration
and to people looking for work, according to CNBC’s John Harwood. The
80,000 job gains was 20,000 short of expectations, and the unemployment
rate was unchanged.
Moody’s economist Mark Zandi, who has often found [1] a bright side [2]
to negative reports, reacted that way again saying there were “silver
linings” in the report. But former Office of Management and Budget
Director James Nussle strongly disagreed with those claims.
After
Zandi’s said that “the recovery is intact and moving forward,” and
Diane Swonk of Mesirow Financial had agreed with his sense of things.
The
2007-2009 budget director replied, “Recovery? Recovery? Seriously?”
Co-host Joe Kernen prodded Nussle, “Are you saying lipstick on a pig?”
“And
Obama’s in Ohio right now trying to explain this to a bunch of diners.
No way!,” Nussle said. “This doesn’t compute to anybody out there.
There’s no recovery.” (watch video [3])
Later
in the “Squawk Box” program Rick Santelli took a dig at the CNBC panel
for not being “riled” up. “My opinion: the 80,000 fits exactly the feel
of the economy and you know I wish our esteemed panel would be a little
more riled over these weak numbers. Maybe they can go to Ohio and jump
in that crowd and explain to the president what’s going on,” Santelli
said.
When
former Obama administration official Austan Goolsbee tried to make a
claim that Obama was doing better than Bush had, Santelli shouted over
him saying: “But less people have jobs! Who cares about Bush. You know
that’s the problem Austan, you guys live in the past.”
In February, Obama claimed “the economy is growing stronger -- the recovery is speeding up. [4]”
At an April fundraiser, according to Investor’s Business Daily, Obama
touted his economic record as “extraordinary progress.” By June, Obama
was forced to temper those words saying, “It’s going to take time.”
John Merline at IBD pointed out on May 30, 2012, that the “recovery” hasn’t been extraordinary, “It hasn't even been ordinary.” [5]
“In
fact, it's come in well below average on several key indicators
compared with the previous 10 economic recoveries, dating back to 1949,
according to an IBD analysis of various economic data. And on several
measures, the current recovery — which started five months after Obama
took office and is now in its 35th month — is the worst on record since
World War II,” Merline wrote.
He
cited the 1.9 percent job growth and “far worse than average” GDP
growth as well as lower income growth (still at negative 5.4 percent)
and large deficits.
