Still the President of Zero

October 7, 2011

Latest Unemployment Report Shows Economy Failing to Keep Pace While Zero Democrats Co-Sponsor Obama’s Second Stimulus

Speaking about Friday morning’s latest dismal unemployment number, Democrat economist Mark Zandi noted that current levels of job creation are failing to keep pace with population growth. The economy will need to create far more jobs, he said, in order to lower the nation’s sky-high unemployment.
These dismal jobs numbers come the day after Harry Reid leveled the “nuclear option” to prevent his caucus from having to vote on the new Obama stimulus. In the House, not a single Democrat has yet co-sponsored the president’s second stimulus.
That makes Obama the President of Zero: zero co-sponsors in the House and the nuclear option in the Senate for his second stimulus. After two years of failed policies, even Democrats are recognizing that more of the same Obama policies is politically toxic.

BACKGROUND

Speaking about Friday morning’s latest dismal unemployment number, Democrat economist Mark Zandi noted that current levels of job creation are failing to keep pace with population growth. The economy will need to create far more jobs, he said, in order to lower the nation’s sky-high unemployment:

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE STUCK AT 9.1%: “The U.S. jobs picture beat tepid expectations, with the economy creating a significantly better than expected 103,000 new jobs in September that nonetheless was not enough to cut the unemployment rate from 9.1 percent.” (Jeff Cox, “Job Creation Posts Jump, but Rate Still Steady at 9.1%,” CNBC, 10/7/2011)

NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED “REMAINED UNCHANGED” AT 14 MILLION: “The level of unemployed people remained unchanged, though, at 14 million.” (Jeff Cox, “Job Creation Posts Jump, but Rate Still Steady at 9.1%,” CNBC, 10/7/2011)

DEMOCRAT ECONOMIST MARK ZANDI: “THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE. WE NEED TO SEE BETTER JOB NUMBERS.” AND ECONOMY NEEDS AT LEAST 125K JOBS JUST TO KEEP PACE: “And for context, we need 125, maybe 150k a month to maintain a stable rate of unemployment. So these numbers are good. We’ll take them. But they’re relative to very, very low expectations, and they’re certainly not good enough. If we don’t see better job growth, then unemployment will notch higher and the economy will throttle back. So this is not sustainable. We need to see better job numbers.” (Remarks from Mark Zandi, CNBC’s Squawk Box, 10/7/2011)

MORE THAN 2 MILLION JOBS LOST UNDER OBAMA: “The RNC figure—2 million jobs gone—actually underplays the number of jobs lost since Obama took office.”(Mark Naymik, “Republican National Committee’s Ad Says There Are 2 Million Fewer Jobs Since Obama Took Office,” Politifact, 7/7/2011)

These dismal jobs numbers come the day after Harry Reid leveled the “nuclear option” to prevent his caucus from having to vote on the new Obama stimulus:

REID INVOKES “NUCLEAR OPTION” THURSDAY NIGHT: “In a shocking development Thursday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) triggered a rarely used procedural option informally called the ‘nuclear option’ to change the Senate rules.” (Alexander Bolton, “Reid’s ‘Nuclear Option’ Changes Rules, Ends Repeat Filibusters,” The Hill, 10/6/2011)

WHY? TO PREVENT A VOTE ON OBAMA’S SECOND STIMULUS: “McConnell had threatened such a motion to force a vote on the original version of President Obama’s jobs package, which many Democrats don’t like because it would limit tax deductions for families earning over $250,000. The jobs package would have been considered as an amendment.

“McConnell wanted to embarrass the president by demonstrating how few Democrats are willing to support his jobs plan as first drafted.” (Alexander Bolton, “Reid’s ‘Nuclear Option’ Changes Rules, Ends Repeat Filibusters,” The Hill, 10/6/2011)

SENATE REPUBLICANS “STUNNED” BY EXTENT REID WILL GO TO PREVENT VOTE ON STIMULUS 2.0: “The surprise move stunned Republicans, who did not expect Reid to bring heavy artillery to what had been a humdrum knife fight over amendments to China currency legislation.” (Alexander Bolton, “Reid’s ‘Nuclear Option’ Changes Rules, Ends Repeat Filibusters,” The Hill, 10/6/2011)

In the House, not a single Democrat has yet co-sponsored the president’s second stimulus, contradicting White House claims that 95% of their own party is on board. That makes Obama the President of Zero: zero co-sponsors in Congress for his second stimulus. After two years of failed policies, even Democrats are recognizing that more of the same Obama policies is politically toxic:

OBAMA’S SECOND STIMULUS HAS ZERO CO-SPONSORS IN THE HOUSE:(Thomas.gov, Accessed 10/7/2011)

WHITE HOUSE: “95 PERCENT” OF DEMOCRATS SUPPORT STIMULUS 2.0: “The White House said its package enjoys the support of 95 percent of Democrats and that by the end of the year it will be clear to voters that Obama and his party are trying to work for more jobs while Republicans are obstructing progress.” (Sam Youngman and Russell Berman, “Rep. Cantor rejects Obama, says president’s jobs package is dead,” The Hill, 10/3/2011)