And, keep in mind, that 10.2% figure does not include those no longer looking for work or those who are working part time but would prefer to work full time.  When you add these folks into the mix, the rate soars beyond 17%!

Administration officials like to point to the fact that the pace of job firings has declined in recent months.

But companies are still firing people and, more to the point, few are hiring back.

Was this the “hope” that so many of Barack Obama’s most ardent and early supporters were thinking about?

Rightly or wrongly, the impression is that Obama rushed to save the banks and financial institutions that were deemed “too big to fail,” but failed to move with the same sense of urgency when it came time to bail out those too small to survive!

Signing unemployment benefit extensions is good….but being tougher on banks that received taxpayer bailout money, by virtually forcing them to start lending out money again, would be a whole lot better!

One study I just saw said that it can take up to five years after a major recession for the job market to return to whatever is considered normal.

Five years!!  Hate to see what happens in this country if that turns out to be true this time around.

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That’s how the “boy wonder” Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, describes what he hopes will be the economic recovery ahead.

But, of course, this is the same guy who, before going to Washington to help bail out his old buds at the “too big to fail” banks, looked the other way at his post at the Fed in New York while the “too big to fail” banks did all the wrong things that set them up to fail—unless, of course, rescued by enormous infusions of taxpayer bucks.

It reminds me of how airline pilots often lie to passengers when they say they expect some “slight turbulence” as the aircraft enters a thunder cell and plummets hundreds of feet in mere seconds.

“A little choppy,” is what he says.

He makes his predictions on NBC’s “Meet the Press”–which, by the way, ought to be renamed since there is hardly any press left in this country as newspapers fold faster than a bad hand at a Vegas casino.

“…this is going to be a different recovery than in the past because Americans are going to have to save more,” says Geithner.
A lot of damage was caused by this crisis. It’s going to take some time for us to grow out of this.”

This fits into the “no shit” column of Washington statements that state the obvious.

I’d much rather hear him say how he thinks the government can make a recovery less choppy than warning us just how choppy it might be.

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As the Feds took over three more small banksFriday, the number of bank failures for the entire year now stands at more than 100 and that is a greater number than at anytime since 1992 on the heels of the infamous savings and loan debacle. Then, 181 banks flopped. So far, this year, the figure is 106.

The worst part is this: the worst may still be yet to come as people remain out of work and more homeowners face foreclosure…all meaning an even rougher time ahead for the smaller community banks whose bread and butter is local real estate development and consumer loans and credit cards. All areas in distress right about now.

Nice that the government bailed out Chase and Bank of America and Goldman and…..on and on and on.

But most banks in the country are smaller–or smaller ones–and they are still terribly exposed with no real relief in sight from Washington.

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Having said that, though, come on!  Obama, the peace prize!!!

I know, I said I would refrain from more discussion on this. Certainly no more jokes…like, how about giving Oscars out to actors who might, someday, be in a good movie? Hollywood would love that one.

Or, of course, I suppose you can give awards to books that have not, as yet, been written? Or, four stars to restaurants that are not yet opened. Or, diplomas for students who have not yet even started!

I mean, why the fuck not???

But, hey, I said I wasn’t going to add anything more to the whole Obama Gets Peace Award debate. So, I won’t!

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Sounds like a Republican president, doesn’t it? Maybe even the last Republican president?

But in this case we are talking about Barack Obama.

In his less than one year in office, he has transformed from the figure of “hope” he portrayed during the campaign into a figure of possible betrayal to the core values of the liberal wing of the Democratic party that championed his cause and largely propelled him into the White House.

What happened in the past few months is the topic of endless speculation in Washington and elsewhere.

Perhaps it is the normal growing pains any president experiences once assuming office?

But hardly a day goes by when Obama, or someone in his administration, doesn’t evoke howls of agony from previous supporters who now wonder exactly who–or what—they had once supported and voted for?

To say that Obama is turning into a surprise to many would be an understatement.

There are reports today that Obama is secretly trying behind the scenes to rally support for a public option in his health care reform initiative….this after only a lukewarm effort to fight for it despite his repeated insistence that it is the best way to even the playing field with powerful, private insurance companies.

But doing this quietly is not what is needed. Obama needs to the loudest voice advocating his initiative not the most hushed one.

It may be “practical” politics, but only leads to more speculation and angst about the perceived political drifting of the President to some unknown point of the political spectrum.

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This was the week of wall to wall Barack Obama saturation coverage…He was on more often that the now dead Taco Bell dog used to be in those awful commercials.

He was on five….count them….five Sunday news/talk shows and followed that with being the only guest on the David Letterman show.

The man clearly likes the attention and being on TV.

And, it doesn’t hurt that he is pretty good at it…In fact, the other night, he seemed more relaxed (and was funnier) than the host, David Letterman, was!

Obama is clearly America’s first talk show president….and how long will it be before he starts popping up endorsing all sorts of products?

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On the surface, that sounds good.  Till you get to this part of the Times story: “…because the rules would be applied through the confidential bank examination process, it would be hard for consumers and investors to judge how strictly the rules were being applied.”

Nice touch!

In other words, the Feds may come up with some nifty new rules to cut back some of the greed bankers have shown in this financial crisis, only no one will really know if the rules are working, except, of course, the government. But it is asking a lot of taxpayers to trust government officials to keep the banks honest when they did such a terrible job in recent years keeping just about anyone honest!

What happened to the Obama administration’s emphasis on transparency?

I know the officials and banks probably have some fancy reason why they think it is better to keep this information in the dark, but, whatever it is, I am not buying it. And, neither should you!

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A year since the global financial system seemingly (and, largely, actually) had a meltdown.

The U.S. government came to the rescue…or, rather, American taxpayers did.

But things worked out far better for many financial institutions than they did for the rest of us.

A few of the “too big to fail” banks were kept from failing by taxpayer bailouts;the world’s largest insurance company ended up being insured by the U.S. government; and the banking and brokerage firm executives managed, for the most part, to hang on to their gilded compensation packages.

And, the rest of us?

Well, let’s see: the unemployment rate is way up across the nation; more and more people are not even bothering to look for work; companies are cutting back on health care coverage; banks are lowering or eliminating personal and even business lines of credit; home prices are still falling in many places; and, getting a mortgage that is affordable, still difficult. And, those proposed mortgage modifications? Best to forget about those,too.

Like they say, what a difference a year makes?

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Rightly or wrongly, his address tonight before a rare joint session of Congress was billed as a sort of make or break moment for his presidency.

Maybe it was; probably it wasn’t.

More to the point, he did a reasonably decent job in trying to explain his proposed health care reforms (for the first time, actually spelling each element of the plan out) while, at the same time, talking directly to the elderly to calm their fears that were stoked by a campaign of lies orchestrated by the insurance industry and its allies among the right wing GOP who would like nothing better than to see health care reform buried for another four, or eight or even eighteen more years.

Taking the guess work out of whether he would or would not stick with his so-called public option, Obama couldn’t be clearer: “…an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange.”  But, the president was quick to add that ” it would only be an option for those who don’t have insurance.”

All in all, a very good speech. But whether it will really change the tone in Washington is not at all certain. Not yet. 

In one of the more amazing moments of what is usually a highly scripted political event, a North Carolina Republican Congressman actually shouted at the President, “you lie!” when Obama told the assembled body that his health care reform proposals would simply not cover illegal immigrants, as some Republicans and right wingers are claiming.

This small, but unusual outburst may signal that the acrimony the President asked the Congress to end, may just be getting into a higher gear?

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In other words…ENOUGH OF THE POST-PARTISAN…crap.  Government, especially our government, IS partisan. So, it is time the president stop pretending otherwise while wasting previous time trying to convince the GOP nut jobs to come on board his health reform platform.

A president is elected to lead. So, Barack, this is YOUR cue to do just that.

It is time to say that a public, government-run alternative to private health insurance is a must…is the way it is going to be….and that if they don’t like it, too freakin’ bad! He doesn’t need their votes anyhow.

Having The Afghan Rug Pulled Out From Beneath Him

Looks more and more like the elections in Afghanistan were as legit as the elections in Iran. The one difference is…American soldiers are dying in record numbers in Afghanistan to protect a corrupt president and administration.

Barack, time to get out of there and let them kill one another—something the Afghans seem particularly adept at doing. Not another drop of American blood ought to be wasted for these Afghan crooks.

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