Unemployment

Someone just let 12 million cats out of the bag . . . A lefty pundit has admitted what the Obama admin likely thinks but dare not say: that he would like to grant citizenship to all 12 million illegal immigrants in the USA.Chris Hayes of The Nation made his candid comment during an exchange with Pat Buchanan about the Arizona immigration law on today's Morning Joe.

In his weekly address today (video only at link; transcript was not present when this post was prepared), President Obama opened with these three sentences: It was a little more than one year ago that our country faced a potentially devastating crisis in our auto industry. Over the course of 2008, the industry shed 400,000 jobs. In the midst of a financial crisis and deep recession, both…

The Pentagon rescinded the invitation of evangelist Franklin Graham to speak at its May 6 National Day of Prayer event because of complaints about his previous comments about Islam. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation expressed its concern over Graham's involvement with the event in an April 19 letter sent to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. MRFF's complaint about Graham, the son of…

On the surface, it's one of the Associated Press's better dispatches from the real world on the state of the economy as people are experiencing it. Datelined in Twinsburg, Ohio, Megan Barr's Monday morning report, "Recession is ending? Some Americans don't buy it," does a good job of mixing macro and micro elements, painting a picture of a struggling town, a non-improving state economy (now…

Whenever you are bored or in need of a good laugh, help yourself to some mainstream media coverage of the economy under President Obama. Each month we at NewsBusters wonder how the recession will be spun anew, and each month news outlets act with increasing hilarity. First up for April was an earnest little piece by USA Today writer Matt Krantz published Thursday. Krantz insisted on reporting "…

NBC host Norah O'Donnell is taking it from all angles for pulling the race card on Newt Gingrich last Friday.Speaking at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Gingrich said "shooting three-point shots may be clever, but it doesn’t put anybody to work,” referring to President Obama's basketball skills. Norah O'Donnell embarrassed herself Friday by claiming the comment had racial…

After the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) cracked the 11,000 mark on April 12, some are asking if the economy is back. And while some want to credit President Barack Obama for this so-called recovery, is this financial market rally a true indicator of returning economic prosperity?  The anchor of "NBC Nightly News" asked just that question, pointing out the cover of the April 19 issue of…

A little over a year ago, President Obama signed into law the $787-billion stimulus legislation that was supposed to prevent the unemployment rate from exceeding 8 percent. And although the unemployment has receded some from its high, it's still well North of 9 percent. So if that stimulus is given more time, will unemployment improve? Last week's jobless claims numbers, showing a stagnant…

Pop quiz: how do you cut taxes on low and middle-income wage earners and end up with a greater percentage of people paying taxes?Such is a question the folks at the Associated Press should be asking themselves concerning a piece the wire service published Wednesday entitled "Nearly Half of US Households Escape Fed Income Tax: Recession, new tax credits have nearly half of US households paying no…

A recent blog post from Earl Devaney seeks to dispel several so-called myths involving the Recovery Board, but does little to dispel the notion that those operating the Recovery.gov Web site are woefully inept. In fact, Devaney's defense for the ‘phantom' congressional districts (clerical errors), the claims that he reports to the Obama administration (they simply listen and adjust their thinking…

Wondering how much faith the left has in your ability to run your own life? Chris Matthews was brutally honest today when he criticized that "idealistic notion" of self-reliance that ignorant conservatives insist on pushing.Matthews apparently believes that without massive social welfare programs like Medicare and Social Security, there would be "poor people all over the place, old people lying…

Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, has moved on from the health care debate and found a new oppressed, downtrodden minority: student loan recipients. And naturally, the Huffington Post was happy to afford "the Reverend" a platform for his activism.   "A plan to earn debt forgiveness retroactively must be instituted at once as an acknowledgment that an entire generation is mired in tens of…

Good Morning America's Bill Weir and Reuters editor Chrystia Freeland on Saturday gushed over Obama administration talking points on the new unemployment numbers. After Weir talked about a White House-created graphic showing job losses slowing, Freeland unselfconsciously rhapsodized, "Well, I was going to say, what I think that first tells you is that [presidential adviser David] Axelrod is a…

Democratic congressional efforts to steer the economy not working as advertised. The $787-billion stimulus passed back in early 2009 failed to curb unemployment as promised, and there are other risks of putting a blind trust in government to solve the nation's economic woes. And to give credit where credit is due, CNN's Christine Romans is pointing these risks out. On the April 5 broadcast of…