Gibbs Warns Of Dismal Unemployment Report

Whatever optimism the White House had Thursday on the heels of the G20 Summit was temporarily muted by anticipation of another brutal unemployment report.

Speaking to the press aboard Air Force One Friday on his way with the president to France, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said it is "safe to expect additional severe job cuts."

On Thursday, the Labor Department reported new jobless claims jumped unexpectedly last week to a seasonally adjusted 669,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 657,000. The total exceeded analysts' expectations and was the highest in more than 26 years.

(AP/Department of Labor)

The overall number of laid-off workers claiming benefits for more than one week rose 161,000 to 5.73 million, setting a record for the 10th straight week.

"There are some green shoots in the economy," Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy, "but if we continue to lose 700,000 jobs per month, these green shoots are just going to burn out."

He added: "I think the unemployment rate will peak at just around 10 percent probably in the spring, maybe early summer of 2010."

[sjc_1]

I think you see the rise after July 2008, when the hedge funds drove the price of oil past $140 per barrel. That is what happens when you give the rich tax breaks. They put it in hedge funds and drive up the price of oil. We trust the rich to do the right thing with their money....sure.

[davidwyllie]

Dear George Bush: Please come home! All is forgiven!

[aziridine]

Man, look at that graph! Unemployment just headed straight north just after the Dems took over in early 2007 and Pelosi said "there's a new sheriff in town"!!

Time for that "new sheriff" to take resonsibility!!!

[aziridine]

800 billion for 4 million jobs where are the job obama Posted by bumpedoff1
___________________________________________

Bumped, thats 4 million jobs created OR "SAVED". Created = 0, "Saved" = whatever Obama wants to claim it is. So, we'll end up with 5 million FEWER jobs, Obama will say "it WOULD have been 9million FEWER and claim he has "SAVED" 4 million jobs!

He's tricky, kinda like Clinton and his bogus "balanced budget"....or "that woman,......Miss Lewinsky"

[schotzy81]

The only question now is whether Obama's massive spending and payoff bill will help the economy turn around or whether it's going to be a repeat of FDR's disastrous policies that created a decade-long depression.

If he pushes through his carbon-tax bill, there's no question which way the economy will go. Start stocking up on pencils to sell on the street!

[bumpedoff1]

800 billion for 4 million jobs where are the job obama

[griking]

I'm not saying that these articles are the only factor but its hard for a person to read the news nowadays without getting depressed. If you keep warning of doom and gloom then that's what people are going to prepare for. I'm not saying to not report the news but was there really anything newsworthy in this article?

[rationalthought22]

A labor Department report is sensationalism? Why do some wish to blame the media for the fact that Republican/conservative's are in this position because they created them? Take some responsibility, investigate why your party is in such ruins at the moment and fix the problems.
You seriously think a business owner is just going to lay off or fire people because of a Labor department report? Don't you find that a little silly? Please apply rational thought.

[curse914]

I think that a lot of the layoffs are due to sensational articles like this one. People read these things and panic regardless of whether the information is valid or not.

Posted by griking at 5:17 AM : Apr 3, 2009

So, you are saying that a CEO at say, GM, is laying people off not due to zero car sales but news article? You may want to rethink that. I know it is politically useful for Rush Limbaugh to try and blame the words of people or institutions that do not share his "values", but it is in most instances it is untrue.

[griking]

Yeah, cause Bush had us on the right path

/facepalm