He did the bailout thing, while being wildly unpopular, does appear to have stopped the financial industry from disappearing, we do still have an economy, you know, it’s not the best one, but we have one. And to sort of saved us from going into the Great Depression was the thing he didn’t ever plan on having to do, but he actually did it...

Also did the giant stimulus, which even conservatives are starting to admit now worked. And if he gets health care signed, that’s something that, what, six, seven presidents have tried to do, and nobody’s been able to. So everybody’s slagging him off and saying what a disappointment he’s been while he’s quietly doing everything he wants to do.

I think global warming probably means extreme weather of all kinds.

Originally posted by Schaden

Originally posted by jibeho
Stimulus working?? 85,000 people lost jobs in December. Clearly nothing is working!!!

85,000 compared to how many people 6 or 9 months ago ?

I think the unemployment trend, while still horrible, is improving.

The participation rate in the labor force -- the portion of adults either working or looking for work -- fell in December to 64.6 percent, the lowest since August 1985.

The drop was particularly steep in the second half of last year. That suggested that people were becoming discouraged about their job prospects even as layoffs slowed. The reason is that job openings remain far too few.

The labor force has shrunk by 1.9 million people since May. Without the drop, December's jobless rate could have been as high as 10.4 percent, according to Larry Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute. And some economists think the rate will near 11 percent as more job-seekers eventually stream into the work force.

Friday's report caps a disastrous year for U.S. workers. Employers cut 4.2 million jobs in 2009. And the unemployment rate averaged 9.3 percent. That compares with an average of 5.8 percent in 2008 and 4.6 percent in 2007. Nearly 15.3 million people are unemployed, an increase of 3.9 million during 2009.