NYT:

Another 651,000 jobs were lost in February, adding to the millions of people who have been thrown out of work as the economic downturn deepens.

In a stark measure of the recession’s toll, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that the national unemployment rate surged to 8.1 percent last month, its highest in 25 years.

UPDATE: Slog’s resident right-wing trolls are blaming Obama for Feb’s job losses—because, you know, Obama had been president for nearly two whole weeks when February began. Nate Silver addressed this issue on FiveThirtyEight.com yesterday: When will voters begin to hold Obama accountable for the state of the economy?

Buried in the latest NBC/WSJ survey (.pdf) is a question asking voters who they blame for the country’s economic problems. Currently, 8 percent of voters say that Obama’s policies are “mostly responsible” for the poor economy and another 6 percent blame him in part. But the longer the crisis lasts, the less patient voters will be…. Obama crosses the 50 percent threshold at almost exactly 18 months from now, which would mean September 2010. At that point, a majority of voters say they will hold Obama accountable for the performance of economy.

Perhaps not coincidentally, 18 months is also about the point at which a majority of voters expect the recession to have ended. By comparison, of the several dozen economists polled in the Wall Street Journal’s monthly forecasting survey, 65 percent expect the recession to have ended by the third quarter of 2009, and 100 percent anticipate its conclusion by the end of 2010.

53 replies on “8.1%”

  1. Wow! Look at the Dow climb on this great news! Boy, the stock market sure is a great barometer of national health!

  6. Better start a huge campaign to mock this on every late night comedy show. John Stewart, Colbert, Letterman, et al.) Make anyone who is adopting this insane viewpoint look like the clowns they are. I’m serious. This needs to be laughed down before people actually start thinking it’s true.

  9. @2-4: Seriously. I hope you’re getting paid for all this shilling for the ultra-wealthy. Everyone else spouting these exact same boring republican talking points is getting paid.

    Slogs shill troll deserves no less!

  10. Right wing trolls, you’ve got 7 years and 10-1/2 months before you might get another chance.

    Rather than posting substance-free one-liners on blogs where you’d have a better chance of convincing readers that it’s Obama’s “fault” that the sky is blue, shouldn’t you be out trying to find a viable candidate? Sarah Palin ain’t it. It would appear that Bobby Jindal ain’t it either. The Republican Party is not ready for prime time! Dick Cheney must be spinning in his hyperbaric chamber. In conclusion, go suck it.

  11. The post doesn’t explain where the 18 month figure for Obama’s grace period comes from, probably because it is fiction.
    At the current rate of burn expect the honeymoon to be over in a few months.
    Obama-boys answer this: what has been done in the six weeks to address the economy? (hint- the stimulus package is a fiasco)
    Obama will not end the downturn in 6 weeks but he should show some sign that he has a handle on what the problem is and how it will be addressed.
    The administration is AWOL (to a large extent literally, only 70 of 1200 appointments needing Senate approval have gone thru) on both counts.

  12. 10
    2012 is closer than you think.
    Romney is the man.

    (You girl’s are in for another lesson in Mormon political power)

  14. Thank you for the postscript, Dan.
    Imaginary statistics pulled from some left-wing hack pollster’s butt are yummy troll snacks.

  15. You tool, did you even follow the link? It explains exactly where the 18 month figure comes from. That was the whole point of the post.

  18. @14 That “hack” called the last election closer than any other poll.

    @12 Oh, I didn’t realize. Mitt! Hahahahaha. Obama won’t even need to campaign.

  19. the sucky part is, the “unemployment” percentage is actually the “dole” percentage. So, since US dole payments are fixed to months within a 12 month period, the “dole” number will decrease by the laws of math and not necessarily through job creation later this or early next.

  22. Yeah, Blame him for everything because he has been President for sooo long!

    Come on give the man a chance, if he succeeds we all succeed.

    If he fails so do we.

  23. These trolls are from Georgia and Arkansas and other places where ignorant people live in clusters. Please continue to ignore them.

  26. nasdaq down 2%? Not obams, but its another Bush Repulican is selling his blue chip stocks instead of holding the course and not selling

  27. yeah well, spelling and proofing…
    nasdaq down 2%, it’s not obama’s fault, it’s another bush repubican selling his blue chip stocks instad of holding the course and not selling…

  29. 28

    It is nice in the wilderness.

    Once you realize that all problems are the fault of POTUS inner peace follows.

  30. Rush Limbaugh was calling this “Obama’s economy” in December. So the ditto-heads have had their talking points in place for months; They’ll just keep repeating them until it starts to sound true to the gullible. Many Americans have short, short memories and the GOP’s ideological shills are banking on this fact. They really have nothing else to run on.

    I’m sure the ditto-heads would tell you that John McCain would’ve presented a package of tax cuts for the wealthy in January and by now the economy would be showing signs of improvement. ‘Cause we never tried tax cuts for the wealthy before, and the reason for our current troubles is that somebody is talking about raising taxes on the wealthiest — not even doing it, mind you, just talking about it. The wealthy are hothouse flowers, you see, and even talking about making them pay a tax rate closer to what they paid under Reagan makes them clutch their loot all the tighter, rather than running out and creating jobs, which is their natural inclination.

    Billionaires crafting the talking points and working-class rubes lapping them up. Same as it ever was.

  31. Actually, the unemployment rate is likely closer to 16% when you include he “underemployed” …… those who are working part time and would rather be working full time and those who simply gave up looking for employment. If I recall, that percentage got as high as 20%+ in the early 1980’s.

    Unfortunately we don’t appear to be anywhere near a bottom with regard to unemployment, and we won’t until we start to see people and business begin to invest. Unfortunately the opportunities to invest have been hampered by the debacles in banking, credit and the vaporization of the shadow banking system.

    This is not going to be “fixed” anytime soon, however if anyone wants to assign blame for the problem, you should go look into a mirror.

  34. if you keep repeating it, that makes it true.

    the american voter surprised the living fuck out of me in november & proved themselves more intelligent than the GOP thinks they are. obama is continuing to treat us that way.

    trolls, if obama’s doing anything wrong, it’s the half measures he takes to appease wall street & your ignorant paranoia. the situation calls for MORE socialism, not less.

    last time i looked, this is a GLOBAL economic crisis – obama isn’t the president of the friggin planet.

  36. 35
    Part of the Master Plan.
    Like @34 says, this crisis is TOO BIG.
    After the economy has chewed on Obama’s ass for a few years the nation will be in a GOP mood.

  39. What makes a rube a rube, you ask? Is it poor spelling ability? Is it an inability to grasp cause and effect, leading to faith-based theories of how the world works, such as “if we just let the chaotic forces of the market batter us about as they will, things will get better by the Grace of God?” Is it a blindingly foolish belief in the good intentions of a class of people that have consistently shown themselves to be utterly devoid of good intention? The belief that the benefits of wealth somehow “trickle down” to those without it?

    It is all these things and more. The rube prefers the snake-oil cures for his genuine ills because with the snake-oil comes a promise of fantastic rewards somewhere down the road, and it is this empty promise to which he clings when all reasonable hope has abandoned him.

  40. @37: No he didn’t, that was Volcker on the fed side and the rise of personal electronics on the private sector side.

    Reagan was a smooth-talking hack with little governing ability and who more than certainly had the beginnings of dementia as early as the late-70s.

  41. Blaming the current economic free-fall on Obama is like blaming the pilot because the sky-diver refused to open his parachute…

  45. Want to solve this?

    Start killing CEOs.

    Seriously, this would help the economy fast – as their estates would come due, their pensions would liquidate, and well it’s just a good idea.

    Think about it.

    So, if you’re looking for something fun to do, why not consider a killing spree in the Hamptons this summer, or drive by shootings in the coastal islands back east?

  48. by what measure do any of our new trolls think that the nation will turn to the party responsible for the crisis when obama’s (and the rest of the planet’s) half measures prove inadequate?

    what ideas will the GOP bring to the table that aren’t already discredited & laughable?

    who will bring these ideas? what messenger will convince america that the GOP can fix it THIS time? gingrich? jeb bush? every possibility gets progressively more laughable after that.

    just leave slog alone & start hoarding ammunition – you’ll need it when the poor start raiding your chicken coop.

  50. 48
    In 2012 when America is asked “are you better off than you were four years ago…” they will flock to the GOP.

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