Obama touts job growth; GOP says it's not enough
President Obama on Friday touted the strongest three months of job growth since the before the recession started five years ago as further evidence the U.S. economy is improving, though he cautioned that too many Americans remain out of work.
Mr. Obama, speaking to workers at a Rolls Royce aircraft-parts manufacturing plant in Virginia, highlighted the 233,000 private sector jobs added to the U.S. economy in February.
"More companies are bringing jobs back and investing in America. And manufacturing is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s," Mr. Obama told the crowd, "the economy is getting stronger."
The Labor Department said Friday that the economy added 227,000 net new jobs in February. It also revised higher the figures for job growth in December and January, with 61,000 more jobs created in those two months than previously thought. The unemployment rate, however, remained at 8.3 percent, after falling for five consecutive months. The cumulative job growth for the three months through February was the fastest pace since early 2006.
The president also unveiled a new proposal aimed at creating a nationwide network of institutions - including government agencies, universities, and manufacturing plants - meant to work together to increase technological and manufacturing innovations.
"We are Americans. We are inventors. We are builders," Mr. Obama said. "That's who we are. That's what we do. We invent stuff, we build it, and pretty soon the entire world adapts it."
Even while the White House touted the new jobs report as evidence that the economy is growing - a message that will likely prove central to Mr. Obama's re-election campaign - Republicans highlighted the unemployment rate as proof that Democratic efforts at improving the economy had yet proved insufficient.
"Today's report provides some encouragement for millions of families and small businesses who continue to struggle in this economy, but unemployment remains far too high," said House Speaker John Boehner, in a statement. "It is a testament to the hard work and entrepreneurship of the American people that they are creating any jobs in the midst of the onslaught of anti-business policies coming from this administration."
Boehner also urged Senate Democrats to pass a Republican jobs act "so we can stop government policies that are adding to our debt, raising gas prices, and preventing robust private-sector job growth."
In a statement Friday morning, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said, of the job growth rate, that "any new job is a welcome paycheck for the American worker, but as past recoveries show, the current rate of growth will leave the American economy sputtering for years to come."
"The unfortunate reality for American families is that any marginal job growth is muted by soaring prices at the pump," Gingrich added. "The Obama administration has routinely hampered attempts to increase domestic oil production and is actively hobbling a truly American recovery."
Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, of Texas, also accused the president of hampering job creation by denying a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a 1,700 mile underground oil pipeline linking the tar sands fields of northern Alberta to oil refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.
"I would say that the one area where employment has gone down, is the construction sector," Hutchison told reporters Friday in a press conference. "And if we could just get the president to let the Keystone Pipeline go through, we could increase jobs exponentially."
Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman, said in a briefing Friday that it wasn't getting "too excited about one month's job numbers" but that the "today's jobs numbers are a continuation of a trend that is encouraging."
He also said that Mr. Obama was focused on a number of new initiatives - including the one he announced in Virginia today - aimed at strengthening the U.S. economy in the long-term.
"There are a range of other proposals that the President offered -- last fall, the American Jobs Act, that Congress has not yet acted on," Earnest told reporters. "And so we want Congress to do more to strengthen our economy, create jobs, and support the private sector as they lead our economic recovery."
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When republicans were in power their policies supported and encourage outsourcing of American jobs overseas. Now with Obama administration, the new word is insourcing. This is refreshing.
We need to bring manufacturing back to the United States of America and both parties are ignoring tariffs as a way to level the playing field, raise money and bring jobs back home. Let's guess why. Oh that's right, tariff is a dirty word. Hum, maybe it's that our so called leaders (political leaders) are beholden to the same people who are exporting our jobs.
I guess we should keep letting Corp Boards, Wall Street and CEOs promote sending US jobs to countries where they work for slave wages, no benefits, no OSHA safety standards or no real environment regulations. How's that been working for us?
The so called "Global Market Place" is not a level playing field. Companies may have made higher profits by "out sourcing", but they've been putting middle class Americans who are a good part of the world's customer base out of work. I'm not a lefty or member of any union. I run a business that employs over 20 people and produces products that are purchased by customers that do manufacturing and packaging. I'm just an average Joe, but I've been saying this for more than 10 years now. If I can see it, so can our so called leaders (political leaders) who are beholden to the same people who are exporting our jobs.
We need to add tariffs that are proportionate to the inequities in wages and regulations in the country where the goods were produced and or where we're importing them from. We could then use the money raised by these tariffs to help companies build state of the art manufacturing plants here in the USA, which would create more jobs here at home for US citizens, which would then in turn increase our income tax revenue.
We need to bring manufacturing back to the United States of America and both parties are ignoring tariffs as a way to level the playing field, raise money and bring jobs back home. Bringing manufacturing back to the US not only gives jobs to the US citizens who would be working in those manufacturing facilities, but to the people that would be working in the businesses that would spring up all around them. This should also include the safe harvesting, production and distribution of our own natural energy here in the USA, rather than paying for fuel from countries where they hate us. Let's keep that money and those jobs here in the US.
We may have to pay a bit more for products made here in the USA by US citizens, but at least we'll still have jobs and a future for our children.
The bottom line is that "Our Government" has to protect American industry and the jobs that those industries provide. If they do that, the rest will take care of itself.
Bringing manufacturing back to the United States of America not only gives jobs to the US citizens who would be working in those manufacturing facilities, but to the people that would be working in the businesses that would spring up all around them. The "Global Market Place" is not a level playing field! The whole idea of the tariffs is so we can pay our factory workers a decent wage and not be blown out by these other countries we're they don't play by the same rules.
We may have to pay a bit more for products made here in the USA by US citizens, but at least we'll still have jobs and a future for our children.
We need whoever wins the next election to Start Protecting American Jobs and do whatever it takes to bring back the jobs they let go. They've got to give us somebody who will stand up for the American people. We need to bring manufacturing back to the United States of America and both parties are ignoring tariffs as a way to level the playing field, raise money and bring jobs back home. Oh that's right, tariff is a dirty word. Hum, maybe it's that our so called leaders (political leaders) are beholden to the same people who are exporting our jobs.
(Under Clinton jobs to China, Under Bush I & II influx of illegals or cheap easily abused labor into the US and jobs to Mexico/NAFTA) - ps: I voted for Reagan, Reagan, Bush, Perot, Dole, Bush, Bush and McCain
It should be about doing the right thing for our country and the majority of it's citizens.
Both parties have sold out the bulk of the American citizens, who they're supposed to represent, by allowing the "out-sourcing" floodgates to open wider and wider without taking any sensible measures to stem the tide. (Under Clinton jobs to China, Under Bush I & II influx of illegals or cheap easily abused labor into the US and jobs to Mexico/NAFTA)
All this single-minded, left versus right, ideological one dimensional bull crap has got to go! This is the problem the with our country. It shouldn't be about Democrats or Republicans! It should be about Americans, especially our elected officials, doing the right thing for our country and it's citizens.
We all REALIZE that the unemployment rate is a funny number because the denominator changes with numbers employed and/or actively looking for work.
However, 200+K jobs added is good. 500+K more people looking for work because they sense the job market may be improving is also good. The rate be damned, this is all good news for now.
They was a studies that was done which showed that those who listen to FOX were actually less informed than people who don't listen to any news. In a nutshell, they are saying that FOX is not actually a news channel. However, they are people like you who actually think they are listening to real news.
The Republican game plan is to destroy the economy blame the Democrats and President Obama. This is their strategy to obtain the White House and the Senate in the 2012 elections. If you think the Republicans are death on average Americans, working-class and middle-class people now. Just think of how much more damage they could do to this country if they had the house,the Senate and the presidency to consolidate power to do whatever they want. They would then have free reign to turn America into the Third World country that they want for their corporate overlords.
They've already shown their hand by not approving extended unemployment benefits for people and anything else that would help the average American. Then they took America to the brink of default with the debt ceiling crisis. A crisis in which they created. Republicans on the supreme court ruling corporations are people and therefore can give unlimited funding to politicians. Republicans fighting for tax cuts for corporations, big oil and the wealthy while advocating cutting social security, medicare and medicaid. For those reasons and more I can't imagine any thinking working-class poor or middle-class person voting to support Republicans after all the damage they've done to this country. Americans must reject republicans at town hall meetings and the polls for their anti American unpatriotic strategy and tactics. The only difference between Timothy McVie and the republicans is he used explosives and they used their congressional positions.
The phony debt ceiling debate and agreement is another part of the republican game plan to take back the senate and white house. They create artificial crisis to stall (run out the clock on President Obama's term) and cripple him and the economy to prevent JOBS from being discussed or created. They are counting on voters blaming the president for the bad economy even though they the republicans are sabotaging every step of the way. Even a blind man can see republicans couldn't care less for average Americans. Just imagine what they would do if they controlled the house, senate and presidency. Americans cannot let that happen. Because it is crystal clear by the behavior of republicans they do not want America to progress and will hold it hostage to prevent it.
Republicans are screwing up government to prove their mantra " government doesn't work". This is designed to frustrate and turn off non supporters from voting thus paving the way for their depraved zealots to vote republican. Americans need to punish republicans at town halls and the polls. They cannot be allowed to get away with sabotaging our great nation. Americans need to recognize that republicans have no intention or incentive to do anything to bring America out of its economic woes.
After all, they think they can also get elected by blaming President Obama and Democrats. Time will tell if voters will fall for this again. Prevent abuse of struggling Americans and America. Just say no to voting for republicans.
-250,000 jobs per month.
Is that good enough for ya?