This headline probably has given Rethugs heart palpitations.

[Are_grits_groceries]

"The Job Drought May Be Over"

<snip>
In my Off the Charts column in Saturday’s newspaper, I will cite one economic indicator that indicates the unemployment rate has peaked. Whether or not that turns out to be the case, I think the bad days for jobs are very close to being over, and that this will not be a jobless recovery.
http://norris.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/the-job-drought-may-be-over/?hp

If the job outlook begins to steadly get better, they are toast. They also have a lot of problems with party splits.
However, this is the factor they are counting on to give them an edge. They have doubled down betting on a very poor job outlook.
The Rethugs figure they can obstruct any bills and mislead people about them. If the job outlook stinks, that will be what they run on. It will probably obscure most other issues. With an improving job outlook, the Rethugs will probably be seen as the clueless party who tried to stop any help while offering no solutions for the economic situation.
Call! (soon)

[RoyGBiv]

1. I hope he's right ...

... but the predictive indicators are all over the place right now. As Krugman pointed out yesterday (maybe the day before), the risk of a double-dip recession is also increasing.

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. I agree.

Everything is still all over the map. I still bet anything like this gives them agita.

[RoyGBiv]

4. Oh, yes ...

Didn't mean to detract from that point. Even the potential of good news is enough to send the Republicans screaming for a terrah alert.

[Beetwasher]

3. A Jobs Program Will Be The Second Stimulus That Will Get The Recovery Really Pumping

We will have a jobs program coming out of congerss early next year.

Just LET the Repubs TRY to get in the way of a JOBS PROGRAM. Just let 'em try.

[RoyGBiv]

5. And I hope you're right ...

We have to have another stimulus because as almost everyone rational said, the first one wasn't big enough. But to sell it politically, it will be branded something else. A "jobs bill" works for me since that's the point anyway.

[Beetwasher]

7. They Are Already Talking About It, It's Happening And Yes

It will be called a "Jobs Bill" or an The "National Employment Act" or something like that.

And to toot my own horn, I've been saying they would do this since before they passed the first stimulus bill and everyone was saying it was too small.

[mrcheerful]

6. Well even if the job problem starts getting better the nit wits who vote con

will say see * tax cuts worked, most nit wits still are under the impression that economy woes take time to show up, it's a way they can cancel out the Carter got stuck with Nixon and Ford screw ups on the economy. The same way folks say NAFTA is Clintons bill even though it was a pushed through by a con controlled congress who could have had the votes needed to over ride a veto.

On a local forum someone posted how every since Nixon jobs rates dropped when cons held control and went up when Democrats were in power, he posted the graphs and charts that showed the numbers each year from 1970 until present. First post on that was how con tax cuts saved jobs, even though the graphs clearly showed job loss during con tax cuts. The stupid gene runs deep.

[seafan]

8. Yes. 'The America Back To Work Bill' and refer to it as the JOBS BILL.

Hartmann: "Call it the JOBS BILL. Harry Reid, make 'em filibuster! Roll back the Reagan tax cuts.", February 4, 2009



Dare we hope the beltway is finally getting a clue?




And we are already hearing from John "Orange Man" Boehner:


December 4, 2009

.....

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that using TARP funds for a second stimulus would be a “very big mistake,” pointing out that TARP was intended to deal with the financial industry.

“The TARP money was intended to solve an economic emergency in the financial sector,” Boehner said at a press conference on Thursday. “Now that that money is being paid back, it should be used to lower the federal budget deficit and the national debt.”

“This idea that we’re going to take this money that’s being paid back to the government and then turn around and spend it on useless government programs is a very big mistake,” he said.

.....

And from the OpEd pages in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in one of the worst-hit states in the fallout of the past 30 years of Reaganomics:


December 4, 2009

.....

Congress is almost certain to authorize an extension of unemployment benefits, food stamps and subsidies for the health insurance of the recently unemployed (COBRA) to lessen the blow of the recession, and that is probably wise. It's direct help to the neediest, and it's money that goes straight back into the economy.

But any larger jobs stimulus would be irresponsible. We can't go any further down this road. We can only hope we haven't already gone too far already.

Let's drag these people, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century. It's for their own good.

And ours.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. The problem that so many are ignoring

is that there are no jobs. Our manufacturing base is gone. Until we actually create jobs many of our unemployed will have no jobs to choose from.

[no limit]

10. Is our manufacturing base gone? Last I check we had the largest manufacturing base in the world

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. What do we make here?

Other than cars.

[treestar]

12. lots of stuff

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/16/BUL615V1SI.DTL
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_the_US_manufacture

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. From Thom Hartman:

This country prospered after WWII because we were the only country left with a manufacturing base and we sold our goods to world creating one of biggest engines of wealth the world has ever seen. Now we are giving our manufacturing base away, destroying our economy and potentially our way of life. WHY: because we as Americans have let our Corporations feed us untruths about the global economy and because we liked being able buy cheap stuff. Yes, the China factor has brought us goods that we can buy less expensively than comparable American Made product, but if you don't have a good job you can't afford to buy things no matter how cheap. And, if you don’t have a job you can’t afford health insurance, college, a home, a car, retirement or the American way of life.



http://community.thomhartmann.com/_The-real-economic-problem/BLOG/228990/93519.html

[treestar]

16. That may be his opinion, but the facts are that the US is still the largest

manufacturer in the world.

[no limit]

13. The company I work for makes electronic control systems for research projects

but I think you got a much more general answer above.

[NightWatcher]

15. is any of the "good news" because WalMart hired part timers for Christmas?

I dont know per se about Wally World, but isnt this the time of year for seasonal part time help? We'll see what happens with January's numbers.