Bad Numbers

The October jobs numbers are out and it is not good. "The United States economy shed 190,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate reached a 26-year high of 10.2 percent, up from 9.8 percent in September".

I think it is time to refocus our efforts on job creation.

Paul Krugman, Obama’s Faces His Anzio (and why we need more jobs/stimulus):

If the Democrats lose badly in the midterms, the talking heads will say that Mr. Obama tried to do too much, this is a center-right nation, and so on. But the truth is that Mr. Obama put his agenda at risk by doing too little. The fateful decision, early this year, to go for economic half-measures may haunt Democrats for years to come.

Obama was left with a lot on his plate by the last administration. And the efforts at health care reform, environmental policy change, financial reform, an education bill, immigration reform are all important but the jobs picture has become, I think, the number one priority.

The Republicans proved yesterday that they are not serious about moving the country forward. The Republican leadership embraced extremism at the Michele Bachmann 'tea party' event on the Capitol steps. It was an ugly spectacle. It just reinforced the notion that the GOP is not going to partner with this administration to address the problems that we face. Moreover, it proved that they are seriously pushing the fact that they are, if not completely insane, irresponsible and detached from the reality that is America today. We cannot count on them to be at our side as we try and move forward.

We need to re-prioritize and get something done that will add jobs and, in turn, build the economy.