The unemployment rate in June jumped to 9.5 percent, the highest since 1983, as 467,000 jobs were lost, yet the CBS Evening News managed to air a story that didn't mention President Barack Obama or his “stimulus” bill while the NBC story only touched Obama's policies by running a soundbite of the President defending the lack of positive impact so far from his policies: “It took years for us to get into this mess and it will take us more than a few months to turn it around.” CBS reporter Anthony Mason remarked: “Hopefully it's a one-month blip.”
In contrast, ABC anchor Charles Gibson teased Thursday's World News: “Tonight, job jolt. Unemployment reaches a 26-year high. Where are all those jobs the economic stimulus was supposed to produce?” Setting up ABC's lead (CBS and NBC began with Michael Jackson), Gibson proposed: “The rising unemployment raises questions about the economic stimulus, which was supposed to create jobs.”
(Refusing to hold Obama accountable for his economic policies is nothing new. See the early June post, “Finding the 'glass half full,' nets and newspapers find good news about job loss, ignore failure of stimulus to halt rising unemployment,” from the MRC's Business & Media Institute.)
The Thursday, July 2 NBC and CBS stories focused not on Obama administration policy but the plight of the unemployed.
From the start of the story on Thursday's NBC Nightly News:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: We turn to tonight's news on the U.S. economy and new numbers that prove what a lot of Americans already know, employers are continuing to fire and not hire. The unemployment rate now at 9.5 percent. Hasn't been that high in 26 years. 467,000 more jobs disappeared in the month of June alone, a surprise to a lot of the experts because May hadn't been that bleak. On Wall Street, the Dow, NASDAQ, S & P were way down on today's trading. CNBCs Trish Regan has more on the numbers and some of the real people behind them.TRISH REGAN: In New York City some instructions for the newly unemployed. It's become an increasingly popular class. And now news today that unemployment is at a 26-year high.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: It took years for us to get into this mess and it will take us more than a few months to turn it around.
REGAN: With the recession in its twentieth month, nearly 15 million Americans are out of work....
The complete CBS Evening News coverage:
KATIE COURIC: Turning to the economy now, while there have been signs the recession is easing, unemployment is only getting worse. The Labor Department reported today it's up to 9.5 percent now. That is the highest in 26 years. And 467,000 more jobs disappeared last month. Anthony Mason has the story.ANTHONY MASON: With another brutal month of job cuts, nearly 15 million Americans were out of work in June, disappointing analysts looking for green chutes.
STUART HOFFMAN, CHIEF ECONOMIST, PNC FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP: Right now, we need more than chutes. We need branches, leaves, and flowers to get the economy to look better.
MASON: Already a dozen states and the District of Columbia have unemployment rates above ten percent with Michigan the highest at more than 14 percent. Only two states, Nebraska and North Dakota, have rates lower than when the recession began. Many businesses are trying desperately to hang on to workers. At Tri-Star Industries, a metal working factory in Connecticut, owner Andrew Nowakowski laid off six of his 36 employees and was going to cut more until the state came to the rescue.
ANDREW NOWAKOWSKI: The program allows us to maintain our full-time workforce intact.
MASON: Under Connecticut's work share program, Nowakowski he has cut back his workers to three and four-day weeks, but the state makes up half of their lost wages with unemployment funds. Seventeen other states have similar programs.
JAMES CASSIDY, TRI-STAR EMPLOYEE: If I didn't have this, I'd probably be trying to get on the welfare line.
MASON: But rising unemployment has retailers hurting. At Stride-Rite and Payless shoes, CEO Matthew Rubel says he doesn't expect to see a rebound for at least another year.
MATTHEW RUBEL, CEO, COLLECTIVE BRANDS: There's still one out of every 10 people looking for a job, so you can do whatever you want with Wall Street numbers. Main street, they're still looking for work. Until we get them back working, they're not going to go out and spend.
MASON: And the picture gets worse when you add those people who settled for part-time work or given up looking. The so-called underemployed rate, is now a record 16.5 percent. Katie.
COURIC: Some very unwelcome news tonight, Anthony.
MASON: Hopefully it's a one-month blip.
—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Come July 20th, it will be Obama's economy
July 2, 2009 - 19:45 ET by R D HelmBlaming it on the "mess he inherited" won't cut it anymore.
Except for with the corrupt SCM, that is.
-Dave
"Obama's health care 'reform' plan is to blow up the building in order to fix a leak in the roof." - Herman Cain
RD...As far as I'm concerned...
July 2, 2009 - 22:19 ET by PrairieSkythe minute that "porkulus" bill passed, it became his economy, and Obamessiah's "I inherited this mess" crap doesn't cut it now...
If Bush (or any other Repub) were in office right now with the same economic numbers and circumstances, the press would be screaming bloody murder.
"The problem is not that people are taxed too little...the problem is that government spends too much." ~President Ronald Reagan
Welcome to Bizarro World!
July 3, 2009 - 05:46 ET by motherbeltAnd as far as ignoring the failure of the stimulus to halt unemployment....who the big H was that woman on CNN the other day, claiming that people are feeling better because they have less money to spend and are being "frugal?"
See? The stimulus might not be working, but that's Obama's plan....he knows everyone will feel better if they are "frugal." He's making us take our medicine.
Sky, you are right...if Bush were in office right now...they headlines would be "joblessness continues to rise" "Stimulus not working" and "Where has all the money gone????"
I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows. -Bart Simpson
Dont Forget "Funemployment"
July 3, 2009 - 15:25 ET by deerjerkydaveDon't forget "funemployment." The state-run media are doing their best to make a rotten economy look sexy. Like this article by the LA Times which tries to make unemployment something fun.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-funemployment4-2009jun04,0,7581684.story
Fortunately Obama's poll numbers are sliding. American's are slowly getting it in spite of the liberal propagandist media.
“It took years for us to
July 2, 2009 - 19:47 ET by rbosque“It took years for us to get into this mess and it will take us more than a few months to turn it around.”
No. It took two Democrats, Bawney Fwank and Dodd to $@%& it up!
HOW U KNOW LIBS RULE !!!
July 2, 2009 - 19:52 ET by reelman46HOW U KNOW LIBS RULE
“Stocks tumbled Thursday after a report showed more jobs were lost last month than expected.”…
9.5% with hundreds of thousands not included that have given up looking…3.2 million and counting.
Vanguard Founder Warns of Stock Woes Ahead…
2009 budget grows to a deficit of $1.8 trillion, more than four
times higher than last year’s all time high and 50% of total budget.
The National Institutes of Health will pay $2.6 million in U.S. tax
dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job.
78,000 new government jobs added to the 2009 federal payroll..
Congress’s Travel Tab Swells…
Spending on Taxpayer-Funded Trips Rises Tenfold…
======
CRAWFISH NOTE: In just 6 months J. Carter Obama has
managed to show America what secular socialism does to a country…and he
is just getting started. The next phase (after the blame-shifting
fades) is the TAX U MORE phase. Will the voters ever learn that
democrats can’t manage a hot dog stand much less a country.
Take another look at that 401k statement this weekend…prepare
accordingly…we tried to warn you this radical newbie no-achievement
smiling liar was poison…but nooooo, you wanted “hope and change”…now
you better hope he changes!
Doug Schexnayder, Ph.D. (theconservativecrawfish)
But the MSM headline will be
July 2, 2009 - 19:56 ET by Radical1979But the MSM headline will be "Michael Jackson is STILL dead Family plans 25th memorial service to publicize Joe Jackson's new record label tickets available"
They are going to do all
July 2, 2009 - 19:51 ET by bigtimerThey are going to do all they can to avoid O's names...we all know it...after-all they got him elected...not about to undo any of the damage they have done now.
We also know if this was the same program but a different President named Bush, his name would have been inserted every other word if possible.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
bt, LOL-Yeah, it would have sounded like this:
July 2, 2009 - 20:05 ET by R D Helm"BRIAN WILLIAMS: We Bush turn Bush to Bush tonight's Bush news Bush on Bush the Bush U.S. Bush economy Bush and Bush new
Bush numbers Bush that Bush prove Bush what Bush a Bush lot Bush of Bush Americans Bush already Bush know, Bush employers Bush are Bush continuing Bush to Bush fire Bush and Bush not Bush hire Bush. The Bush unemployment Bush rate Bush now Bush at Bush 9.5
Bush percent Bush. Hasn't Bush been Bush that Bush high Bush in Bush 26 Bush years Bush . 467,000 Bush more Bush jobs Bush
disappeared Bush in Bush the Bush month Bush of Bush June Bush alone Bush, a Bush surprise Bush to Bush a Bush lot Bush of Bush the Bush
experts Bush because Bush May Bush hadn't Bush been Bush that Bush bleak Bush."
-Dave
"Obama's health care 'reform' plan is to blow up the building in order to fix a leak in the roof." - Herman Cain
Dave... ROFLMAO! Doublin
July 2, 2009 - 22:21 ET by bigtimerDave...
ROFLMAO!
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
BTW, I heard a caller on
July 2, 2009 - 20:26 ET by GrannyGrump42BTW, I heard a caller on Limbaugh today describe how the BO administration got its "jobs created and preserved" numbers.
The caller runs a small manufacturing firm. After they'd filled an order, he got a form sent to him by the government -- because the order had been paid for by stimulus money. The form asked how many jobs had been created by the order, and how many had been preserved by the order.
Since the order had made no impact whatsoever on his workforce, the guy put 0.
He got a call from a government official explaining that he couldn't put 0. The guy pointed out that he'd not hired anybody to fill the order, nor had he been facing the prospect of laying anybody off prior to the order. It had neither created nor preserved any jobs at his company.
The official explained that he was supposed to include *anybody who had worked on the order at all*. Evidently including the receptionist who answered the phone, the clerk who processed the order, the guy who ran the machine to make the stuff, the guy who packed the box, and whoever slapped the postage on it and shipped it off!
So the guy said, "One", since obviously SOMEBODY had to have worked on it. "But it's one too many," he told Rush, since the number of jobs preserved was, as he'd originally answered, zero.
Figures lie and liars figure.
I guess the government
July 2, 2009 - 20:31 ET by Radical1979I guess the government official could count as one, since he wouldn't have a job if he wasn't calling people to give him bogus numbers. Of course he doesn't produce or create wealth...but that's just a technicality to this president.
Granny... I heard that
July 2, 2009 - 20:33 ET by bigtimerGranny...
I heard that today too.
You put it so well.... Figures lie and liars figure.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Good grief Granny
July 2, 2009 - 20:44 ET by general companySo if it creates 10 min of work it is suddenly counted as a job. Hannity is counting down the top 100 stealfromus programs. Really pitiful
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
You know what really sucks?
July 2, 2009 - 23:25 ET by GrannyGrump42You know what really sucks? I work at a welfare to work program. Each client is required to do a certain number of hours of federally approved activity a week, based on how long they've been on welfare and how many parents are in the household, if anybody is disabled, etc.
If a person is required to do 35 hours a week every week, but their old clunker of a car breaks down, or the bus is late, or they get sick, or their babysitter cancels, or whatever, so they did 35 hours the first week of the month, 35 hours the second week, 35 hours the third week, but due to the problem only 34 hours the last week, know how many hours the government counts them as having done?
ZERO.
Having worked their butts off trying to learn a skill, or get a GED, or do volunteer work to build up a work history, all they need to do is miss one lousy hour over the course of the month, and it's counted as if they were a lazy slob who did nothing whatsoever.
But if a freaking dollar of stimulus money gets spent on a pack of gum, the 7-11 has to report to the government that the stimulus money "preserved" AN ENTIRE JOB.
Tell me that makes any freaking sense.
Granny... Now that is
July 2, 2009 - 23:37 ET by bigtimerGranny...
Now that is outrageous...simply infuriating...you must really get more than frusrated along with your clients who you naturally come to know...past sad really....pathetic.
I despise what the govt. has incrementally become.
Soon it will be total control....they're chipping away at break-neck speed.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Yeah, it's frustrating.
July 3, 2009 - 00:57 ET by GrannyGrump42Yeah, it's frustrating. There's very little room for common sense. Or for rewarding progress. They're supposed to get where they're supposed to be in just a matter of weeks, or they get booted from the program -- which means months of getting back into old habits of sitting around again doing nothing while their cases get kicked around inside the bureaucracy. Then they get sent back to the same program they got kicked out of and expected again to go in just a few weeks from having no demands on them to having to keep up a full and demanding schedule. Which, of course, they fail at.
If they're trying to develop good habits, they keep getting the rug yanked out from under them and they lose their momentum. If they're trying to get away with doing nothing, they get rewarded for laziness by having the demands on them removed for the time their cases are being batted about. It hurts both kinds of clients, the diligent and the shiftless.
It's absolutely insane.
gc.... We're watching
July 2, 2009 - 23:39 ET by bigtimergc....
We're watching Hannity now...and you know the words I want to use here and can't.
Color me red.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Yeah, the economy is getting creamed...
July 2, 2009 - 20:28 ET by lotr... but that's because it's all George Bush's fault!
"Let's wrap him up, alright?" -- Keith Olbermann
Any second now...
July 2, 2009 - 20:30 ET by Prester John....we still start hearing about all the homeless people, just like we heard about them all through the 1981-82 recession and even during the fantastic recovery that followed.
(crickets chirping)
Waiting will be the issue with ObamaCare.
July 2, 2009 - 20:43 ET by Retired GeekWaiting to see a Doctor, decided upon by a Government worker.
Waiting to see Tests a Government worker will authorize.
Waiting to see what Treatments a Government worker will allow you to have.
Waiting to see what Prescriptions or Medications a Government worker decides they will pay for.
Waiting to see if You can go to a Hospital or which Hospital a Government worker allow.
Waiting to see how many days a Government worker will allow you to stay in the Hospital.
Waiting to see if a Government worker will authorize any Therapy or follow up treatments for you once you leave the Hospital.
ObamaCare will be WAIT - WAIT -WAIT and you will have to rely on ObamaHope, that you won't die while waiting for a Government worker to make these decisions for you and your Doctor.
And don't forget that Obama
July 3, 2009 - 05:33 ET by motherbeltAnd don't forget that Obama says these decisions will be made by your doctor, not some faceless insurance agent!
<Chris Matthews imitation>: HAH!
I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows. -Bart Simpson
Barack Obama creating jobs for Americans.
July 2, 2009 - 20:46 ET by Retired GeekBarack Obama will need hundreds of workers for his 'Socializing America Tour'.
Experienced chanters are needed.
--------------------------------
1) 'Yes we can' - experts
2) 'Change we can believe in' - experts
3) 'Hope' - experts
4) 'Yes We Can' - experts
5) 'God Damn America' - experts to assist Mentor Wright.
6) 'Obama is the One' - experts when Obama arrives.
Experienced fainters desperately needed (bring smelling salts).
People to carry water to fainters.
People to assist those experiencing extreme leg shivers and to mop the floor around them.
People to 'Wipe' those having involuntary orgasms that will not stop. (Bring wipes)
People to hand out 'Save The Planet' tire gauges.
People to hand out 'Obama Current Truth Flyers' as Obama changes solutions.
Large Black men to stand in front of voting places with 'Night Sticks' so that NO one will be intimidated.
Singers are needed to 'Sing' endless verses of "Obama Messiah".
People to hand out 'Free Abortion' coupons in honor of Dr Tiller.
Apply for employment today!
Para hablar en Espanol Oprime el Numero Uno
Press 2 For English
The economy is bad, but there is a silver lining.
July 2, 2009 - 21:14 ET by big.league.sliderThe Carter administration was the last time there was this combination of high inflation (13.5% in 1980), high unemployment (7.1% in 1980), federal automotive bailouts (recall the Chrysler Corp. Loan Guarantee Act of 1979?), democrats controlling the WH and Congress, unrest in Iran, fiscally punitive attacks by congress on oil companies (re: the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act), presidential run-ins with wild life (Obama killed a helpless fly; Carter was attacked by a killer rabbit), etc.
History has a very strange way of repeating itself, and the Carter administration is unfolding again, in almost every grim detail, right before our very eyes. And the clueless Obama administration seems intent on repeating every stupid move the Carter administration made.
So with history as a guide, the future of the Obama presidency seems obvious: one term and out. The silver lining is that Tuesday November 6th 2012 will be day one of a new golden age of conservatism. A popular conservative Republican ex-governor, that lost a tough campaign four years before, will win the presidency in a landslide, and Republicans will take control of the Senate.
You don't have to be Nostradamus or the Amazing Kreskin to see this one coming.
"Fascism is rightly seen as the merger of the Corporation and Government." -B. Mussolini
tired of liberal
July 3, 2009 - 00:24 ET by stunnedtired of liberal lies
"Hopefully it's a one-month blip"... CBS wil go down sucking on the kool-ade
Just a Guess??
July 3, 2009 - 01:05 ET by kilrodJust a guess; The bulk of the stimulous money is not set to kick in untill 2010, ya reckon things might start to looking a little more rosy right before the elections?? Then, if the dimocraps are able to consolidate their power you better brace yoself cause they aint gonna be any kissin or vasaline.!!~~!!
(grins) kilrod
Remember, only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier
Kirod
July 3, 2009 - 06:47 ET by jacktherippervery well put !!!!!
I gather these guys in the media did not...
July 3, 2009 - 06:53 ET by jdrippergraduate from any accredited colleges. The economy is in the tank. Hello?? Hello?? Don't they get it?
Look our credit industry is still down because they are still carrying the toxic assets. No one has spent the first dime yet to clean up that mess.
Second the deficit (the cash load of our outrageous debt) means we are first in line to get money. To secure out debt we are paying higher and higher interest rates. This lags the same way that unemployment does.
If these pukes in the congress had any brains at all they would kill the rest of this "pretend stimulus bill". When that money is released it will drive inflation through the roof.
Third inflaton and no credit will throw us into 20 to 30% unemployment.
It is like these people want to see the destruction of this country.
Jack
"If at age 20 you are a conservative then you have no heart. If at age 30 you are a liberal then you have no brains." Sir Winston Churchill
When will we hear about "power of the purse"?
July 3, 2009 - 07:24 ET by ChrisMillsI expect the news to not blame Obama, but it's surprising that conservatives don't counter with the fact that the Constitution prescribes power of the purse (which sounds to me like the power that most involves the economy) to Congress. Obama didn't inherit this mess, he used his power as senator to help create it. Why don't we hear this from actual news sources like FNC?
Obama is causing this mess
July 3, 2009 - 09:51 ET by sevenLet me remind people. Issuing secured bonds to expand a company doesn't work. Obama says secured bonds are no good. Chrysler is the case.
Obama also says other colateralized contracts are not good unless the administration says they are good. Now why loan money to business for expansion since the new rules don't protect investors/bankers?
Would you make a car loan to buy a Chrysler wondering if it would be a worthless collateral in 2 years?
We have financial anarchy now.
What Jobs?
July 3, 2009 - 11:02 ET by Blogger Guy00001The Stimulus was never going to create jobs. It was never anything but an opportunistic power grab.
Re How to Lie
July 3, 2009 - 11:46 ET by slickwillie2001Some of you will recall that I posted this a couple of days ago in the OT:
Obama Asking States to Lie When Counting Jobs: http://www.americanthinker.com
It's disturbing how easily the Bamster lies, and at times I wonder if he believes his own lies. He can get away with it because the liberal media covers for him.
jessieH
July 3, 2009 - 12:33 ET by jessieHjessieH Cause and effect. They show the effect, but not the cause. The cause was mr. obama, pelosi, reid, dodd, and let's not forget frank, waxman, and the rest of our govt....
It took years to get into this mess....
July 4, 2009 - 15:41 ET by teeaa01Yeah, about 13 years, right back to slick Willy and his pals (Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick, etc...) taking over Fanny Mae and Frddy Mac and pushing loans for people who couldn't affford them and then cooking the books. And how many people (liberals) went to jail for that fiasco?
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, susidize it." Ronald Reagan
"Blip"...Okay...so can we
July 5, 2009 - 01:58 ET by RR GOP"Blip"...Okay...so can we just expect smaller unemployment numbers in the following months...as if that's somehow normal or good?
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 61% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory (yep...approval for Congress now at 39%...do you believe that!?).