What stimulus?
Thomas J. Whalen
Professor of Social Science, Boston University :
What this means for Democratic candidates this fall is that they won't be inviting President Obama to their home districts to campaign for them. He is the political equivalent to box office poison, thanks to the underwhelming performance of the economy and the perceived failure of the stimulus program to create more jobs.
Thomas J. Donohue
President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce :
Our chief economist, Dr. Martin Regalia, summed it up pretty well this morning:
“While the private sector continued to add jobs at a paltry rate in July, the numbers were clearly insufficient to drive the unemployment rate down or to re-employ those workers displaced during the recent downturn. With only 71,000 net new private sector jobs created in July and downward revisions to the last two months, the economy is creating only 90,000 jobs per month this year. This number doesn’t even cover the new entrants into the workforce. The unemployment rate held constant at 9.5%.”
“Policies that have increased taxes, increased regulation, and increased uncertainty have clearly not been a prescription for returning America to work.”
Rep. Michele Bachmann
Congresswoman (R-Minn.) :
A day after congressional Democrats passed the $787 billion stimulus last year, President Obama made a hallow promise:
“Congress has passed my economic recovery plan – an ambitious plan at a time we badly need it. It will save or create more than 3.5 million jobs over the next two years, ignite spending by business and consumers alike, and lay a new foundation for our lasting economic growth and prosperity.”
Here we are, a year and a half later, and the unemployment rate sits at 9.5 percent, as released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today. Where is the ignition of spending or economic growth promised by President Obama?
David Mark
Moderator :
About a year and a half after the enactment of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package, the nation's jobs situation is not showing many signs of improvement. The Labor Department announced today that the July unemployment rate remained stuck at 9.5 percent and the economy created a modest 71,000 private sector jobs.
What happened to all the jobs the president and congressional Democrats promised? And how damaging to the Obama administration are the departures of two of its top economic officials - Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag a week ago, and Council of Economic Advisers Chairwoman Christina Romer on Sept. 3?
Karen Kerrigan
President, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council :
The stimulus is working so well that President Obama and those who voted for it have stopped calling it a stimulus. Maybe they'll start listening to those who actually create jobs. It's not too late to start adopting pro-growth policies, but much too late to make a difference for Democrats in November. The "stimulus" did not even stave off jobs cuts, as noted by SBE Council Chief Economist Raymond Keating in his statement regarding today's numbers:
"While the loss of 131,000 jobs in July according to the payroll survey obviously is worrisome, the data from the household survey is even more troubling. The size of the labor force has fallen for three straight months - down by 181,000 in July and by 1.2 million since April. Meanwhile, employment declined by 159,000 in July, and is down by 495,000 since April. Given that the bulk of new jobs come from smaller firms, these numbers indicate a continued dearth of entrepreneurship and small business growth.
(Some stimulus! The tidal-wave of change, the real change from Socialistic plans, to American plans and the salvation of our country is coming in November!Obama is so bad that the Democrats do not want him to campaign for them. Read it and cringe you Liberals. For your info I AM A REGISTERED DEMOC-RAT, WHO LOVES DEMOCRACY,& HATES SOCIALISM!)
