Jobs report sparks new presidential campaign drama
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama got new jobs figures Friday to buttress his argument that he's presiding over steady, if slow, economic growth. But the government's report that the overall rate of unemployment actually crept up by one-tenth of a point allows Republican Mitt Romney to keep pressure on Obama to defend his record.
The new unemployment numbers show that private employers added 163,000 jobs in July, the best pace of hiring in five months. The jobless rate rose, however, to 8.3 percent from 8.2 percent in June. Romney jumped on the report, calling the figures a "hammer blow" to middle-class families.
"We've now gone 42 consecutive months with the unemployment rate above 8 percent," Romney said in a statement. "Middle-class Americans deserve better, and I believe America can do better."
No U.S. president since World War II has been re-elected with unemployment above 8 percent.
White House economist Alan Krueger said Friday's report was evidence that the economy is recovering.
"It is critical that we continue the policies that build an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007," Krueger said.
Obama was expected to comment on the new jobs numbers later Friday at a White House event on middle-class tax cuts. Romney was campaigning in Nevada, the state with the nation's highest unemployment rate, before heading to a fundraiser in Idaho.
The economy remains the top issue for voters less than three months before Election Day.
While the overall race for the White House remains deadlocked, several polls show Romney with an advantage over Obama on economic issues. A USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted in late July found 50 percent of Americans said Romney is the candidate who would be better at job creation, with 44 percent siding with Obama.
Obama, while acknowledging that economic growth hasn't come fast enough, has sought to convince voters that the situation could have been far worse. He puts some of the blame for the sluggish recovery on congressional Republicans, accusing them of blocking his proposals for creating jobs.
Friday's better-than-expected jobs report follows months of dour economic news that erased any doubt that the U.S. was in a summer slump for the third year in a row.
The American economy grew at a listless 1.5 percent annual pace from April through June, even slower than the 2 percent rate in the first three months of the year. From April through June, the economy produced an average of just 75,000 jobs a month, the weakest three months since August through October 2010.
The slide comes after the optimism of early 2012, when the first three months of job growth averaged more than 225,000 a month.
The candidates sparred from afar on the economy Thursday. Romney, campaigning in Colorado, said his economic program would create 12 million jobs in the next four years. Obama told voters in Florida that his rival favors "trickle-down tax cut fairy dust" that has failed to fix the economy in the past.
Romney's plan for job growth included several broad ideas but few specifics. He said he would help small business owners, cut spending to reduce the deficit and cut taxes.
Obama sought this week to draw a contrast with Romney on taxes, saying the Republican's call for extending cuts for upper-income earners would mean higher tax bills for the middle class. The president's new television ad made the case with a highly personalized message: Romney has paid a lower proportion of his income in taxes than many people of lesser means.
Obama planned to hammer his tax message again on Friday by calling on Congress to extend tax cuts for families making less than $250,000 annually before those cuts expire at the end of the year. The president wants to end the tax cuts, first enacted under President George W. Bush, for families making more than $250,000.
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Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in Aspen, Colo., and Ben Feller and AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius in Washington contributed to this report.
The new unemployment numbers show that private employers added 163,000 jobs in July, the best pace of hiring in five months. The jobless rate rose, however, to 8.3 percent from 8.2 percent in June. Romney jumped on the report, calling the figures a "hammer blow" to middle-class families.
"We've now gone 42 consecutive months with the unemployment rate above 8 percent," Romney said in a statement. "Middle-class Americans deserve better, and I believe America can do better."
No U.S. president since World War II has been re-elected with unemployment above 8 percent.
White House economist Alan Krueger said Friday's report was evidence that the economy is recovering.
"It is critical that we continue the policies that build an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007," Krueger said.
Obama was expected to comment on the new jobs numbers later Friday at a White House event on middle-class tax cuts. Romney was campaigning in Nevada, the state with the nation's highest unemployment rate, before heading to a fundraiser in Idaho.
The economy remains the top issue for voters less than three months before Election Day.
While the overall race for the White House remains deadlocked, several polls show Romney with an advantage over Obama on economic issues. A USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted in late July found 50 percent of Americans said Romney is the candidate who would be better at job creation, with 44 percent siding with Obama.
Obama, while acknowledging that economic growth hasn't come fast enough, has sought to convince voters that the situation could have been far worse. He puts some of the blame for the sluggish recovery on congressional Republicans, accusing them of blocking his proposals for creating jobs.
Friday's better-than-expected jobs report follows months of dour economic news that erased any doubt that the U.S. was in a summer slump for the third year in a row.
The American economy grew at a listless 1.5 percent annual pace from April through June, even slower than the 2 percent rate in the first three months of the year. From April through June, the economy produced an average of just 75,000 jobs a month, the weakest three months since August through October 2010.
The slide comes after the optimism of early 2012, when the first three months of job growth averaged more than 225,000 a month.
The candidates sparred from afar on the economy Thursday. Romney, campaigning in Colorado, said his economic program would create 12 million jobs in the next four years. Obama told voters in Florida that his rival favors "trickle-down tax cut fairy dust" that has failed to fix the economy in the past.
Romney's plan for job growth included several broad ideas but few specifics. He said he would help small business owners, cut spending to reduce the deficit and cut taxes.
Obama sought this week to draw a contrast with Romney on taxes, saying the Republican's call for extending cuts for upper-income earners would mean higher tax bills for the middle class. The president's new television ad made the case with a highly personalized message: Romney has paid a lower proportion of his income in taxes than many people of lesser means.
Obama planned to hammer his tax message again on Friday by calling on Congress to extend tax cuts for families making less than $250,000 annually before those cuts expire at the end of the year. The president wants to end the tax cuts, first enacted under President George W. Bush, for families making more than $250,000.
___
Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in Aspen, Colo., and Ben Feller and AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius in Washington contributed to this report.
So, there's a lot of complaining and whining here, but not much in the way of resolutions. Why we find ourselves in this position is not from one cause. The worse unemployment rate was in 1984 when it was just over 10%. Most of us probably don't even remember that. America had a population of 235,825,000 according to the Census of that year. In 2011, America has a population of 311,705,000 according to the Census, which most like does not reflect any of the illegal immigration that's rampant now. Big business has gone out of their way to outsource the jobs overseas. Most small business can't afford to co-locate overseas. Ergo, the most reliable resource for jobs IN AMERICA, is small businesses. So what's a President to do? We have rampant illegal immigration, we have extraordinarily high incarceration costs due to crime, we have jobs being outsourced by the millions, we have military personnel returning for foreign wars, we have a population explosion of over 75,880,000 by the last census, we have the 1% that supposedly trickle their advantages to the rest of us through employment opportunities, we have an social structure about to collapse due to greed, self-interest, lack of insight....Ad infinitum. so what's your plan?
Yea, the Bush administrations cure for unemployment was the meat grinder of war. Is that what we want? Excess population driven into foreign wars to protect oil interests? Do we ever learn?
WASHINGTON (AP) - "President Barack Obama got new jobs figures Friday to buttress his argument that he's presiding over steady, if slow, economic growth."
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Is it any wonder that the vast majority of Americans consider the mainstream media to be a joke? Really? Honestly KOMO? AP?
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Apparently you believe the average American is a fool.
When will Obama just give up. He has obviously caused more problems than he has cured! Time to go back to Chicago and help his buddy Rahm screw that city up more!
Where's the food stamp line?
The actual change, when not rounded was from 8.24 to 8.27.
C'mon people.Â
 @WWRJD It's supposed to be going the other direction. C'mon. Stop being so one sided and look at what's really going on for once.
I am a leftist! I make Stalin look like a right wing whacko because I put family needs above corporate needs! I hate both right wing, fascist, corporate welfare giving, political parties and a quick review of the comments here clearly illustrate why the US is a failed, bankrupt shell of itself. Half of you blindly follow what you think is one side while the other side blindy follow the other side. BOTH sides are exactly the same and their both against YOU ALL! Obama is a corporatist at every turn and Romney is a corporatist at every turn. You people can't survive either party. So party on! They have divided you all up and won, while you continue to lose your freedom and democracy through bought of lobbied up politicians from both sides.
 @T_BONE_WALKER Sucks to be you Dude!
The Prez has his head up his...... I have been out of work for over 3 years - I can't even land a job at McDonalds or any other fast food! But then the prez is busy controlling how he thinks everyone should say and do!
 @raven What do you think the President is....KING! My gosh folks, he's the Commander-and-Chief and the head of the Executive Branch of ALL the DC mess! Haven't you watched him struggle to get Congress to decide on something....one thing...anything? Bicker-Bicker-Bicker, that's all we see in Congress these days! In my opinion, it's the Congress that needs a big flush so we can start with new people that care more about America than how much of their tax debt they can dodge and how many big business guru's they can schmooze to their side!!!
 @raven Oh and darn. He's gearing down the wars in the middle east, there goes a job opportunity for ya!
 @raven I see very little that any US president could do to personally get you a job. Get off the computer and go look.  In three years, you might have got some training or other help.
 @raven Conservation Corps are hiring.Â
@raven. I am sorry to hear that you are out of work. Especially for that long. So what do you think of Herman Cainâs statement of: âIf you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself.â 10/5/11? Have you checked out Godfatherâs.?
 @flyskiwindsurf And Herman Cain controls the national economy how? What policy decisions of his effect the number of jobs available nationwide?Yeah... obfuscate your heart out. Herman Cain is not in the White House. Let's stick with someone who actually has some say in how things are going, okay?
@Middle Ground. Wow! You really like going into a lot of histrionics donât you? All I asked was âwhat do you think of Herman Cainâs statementâ. You really do need to calm down. Okay? But yeah maybe that is at least one of many reasons that he has not made it to even the Rep nomination let alone to the general election or especially the presidency. Much as some of McCainâs, and especially Sarahâs, statements helped to destroy their chances.
Neither option is a good option for this country, IMO. Tired of Obama making trips here to Seattle when that money could be used for families who actually need money.
if democrats want Romney to show TEN YEARS of tax returns, then lets demand that Barry Sotero show us his Harvard and Columbia transcripts.
@Saving Grace - Is there a long standing precedent that Presidents and candidates for President show their college transcripts? There IS a precedent that candidates release at least 5 years worth of returns. Romney knows there are things in there that would be BAD publicity for him, so he's trying to dictate terms that no other candidate has tried to do before.
 @Superman_1967  @Saving Hey Stupid man 67 the only thing Mitt by law has to release is nothing! There is no law to release the records. GWB college transcripts were released, so why not Obama's? What does he have to hide?
 @Superman_1967  @SavingA more important question is whether presidential candidates hide ANY historical document regardless of what it is. Why would ANY of them not release everything unless they had something to hide?
 @Superman_1967  @Saving leftists went ballistic over George W Bush's college years, AF career, TX career, all  with a fine tooth comb...and Dan Rather inventing lies on air. I recall liberals bragging how Kerry's grades were better but as it turned out, President Bush had better grades We know this because they had nothing to hide so come on, ask Barry to reveal the transcripts.
@Superman_1967 actually you are wrong. If others release more than that is their right but it is also Romney's right to show just the required years! You just don't get the game that Obama and his puppets are doing!
I don't see how anyone can believe that our economy could possibly be fixed in a 4 year term in office, not even in 8 years. It took a long time to get where it is right now. I think it will have ups and downs before it can come out of the mess. And why does everyone over look the good things that our president has done. Who got rid of Sadam, who is bringing our troops home. Romney is going to find fault with anything Obama does after all he is running for office he can't agree!
 @yoda Obama got rid of Osama. Sadam went down during Pres. GW Bushes reign.
 @yoda Who got rid of Saddam? Bush
Who set the timetable to pull out of Iraq? Bush
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You might want to study history a bit before commenting on it.
@yoda Obama is also responsible for the murders of the Special forces being murdered. He just had to open his big mouth to claim credit and let the world know it was the Special Forces 6 who killed Osama. NO President in history has ever done what Obama did.
@raven. It wasnât âSpecial Forces 6â and it wasnât Obama who divulged the identity of the forces, the name of which you do not remember. And what âmurders of the Special forces being murderedâ are you posting about?
Obama himself said in February 2009 that his presidency would be "one-term proposition" if the economy did not recover in three years
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCN5-ovvFL0
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Bye Bye Barry
 @ByeByeBarry It has recovered to a point. How recovered do you want it before you cut a guy some slack? 8 years of oil cronies and good 'ole boys ruling this country have gotten us where we are. You can't sweep that up in a few years. Especially when many of the good 'ole boys are still in Congress!!
@ByeByeBarry Hoped you save that video. Wouldn't surprise me to see that flagged down on YT.
He's a politician, you aren't really going to hold him to this "promise" are you?Â
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 @ByeByeBarry Finally I have found a compelling reason to vote for Romney.Â
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And your non-partisan name really sells this brilliant argument. Take a bow.Â
 @caphillkidÂ
Truth hurts, doesn't it Cap? Four years later we are $6 trillion more in debt, the Democrats haven't produced a budget in over three years, we are running trillion dollar +Â annual defecits, and what does Obama propose doing? Another stimulus and possibly more quantitative easing. The American people are not going to let this fool double down on failure, Barry's gone.Â
 @ByeByeBarry caphill or"california phil" always makes me laugh when he's hit the bottle! Don't take him seriously. Apparently, he is a multi-millionaire Obama supporter with a mysterious past regarding the Archdiocese.
 @ByeByeBarry We can only hope however, there are tens of millions of minions out there who care little for facts or figures. They only care for the initial of the party behind the candidate's name. Very, very sad.
Could it be? Governments finally starting to shrink in size?
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While losing a Government job is just as devastating to that person(s) as does a private sector job, how can anyone believe that any kind of INCREASE in Government hiring is an actual benefit to an Economy?
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The ONLY way a Government can IMPROVE private sector hiring and pay is to get out of the way! Everything else is a drain on the Economy.
 @RTNavy Oh I don't know. Worked for Roosevelt.
@RTNavy. Yeah if you need (or need upkeep/repair/maintenance, etc. on) a road, bridge, airport, dam, military, etc., show a little initiative and just do it yourself.
 @flyskiwindsurf Or better yet.... hire a private contractor to do the work.
@Middle Ground. Now that is what is really sick about a lot of you types. You want to higher private contractors to replace even our military. The rest should be somewhat obvious. I.e. are you yourself going to hire someone to build or repair roads, bridges, airports, etc.? I suppose then you would want all kinds of tolls, etc. etc. Or would you stand a better chance of a bunch of people banding together to do the same? The uber rich might be able to do some of the former but not necessarily for the betterment of anyone but them. For the rest. Well it might sound more like at least some kind of an organization (govt.?) is needed to do a lot of that. You are obviously just completely delusional.
'The new unemployment numbers show that private employers added 163,000 jobs in July, the best pace of hiring in five months'.Â
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What they like to hide is the fact that 1,462,000 folks filed for 1st time unemployment benefits in the same time frame!
FANTASTIC! We're now at ONLY -1,299,000 jobs created.
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This is a good thing!
small business hire 70% of the people in this country and they are scared to death of Obama's anti-business diatribes and his regulations. They will not hire until the business climate improves.
 @lin And what credentials do you have to speak for millions of small business owners?Â
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All you are doing to regurgitating Fox News talking points.
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A bottle blonde with a tight dress and a push up bra can do exactly the same.Â
@caphillkid
Credentials?? I'm a small business owner with no light in tunnel due to regulations.
What are your credentials?
 @caphillkid  @lin it's a matter of record. look it up. any business under $30 mil is considered a "small" business. a business doing under $30m typically employs about 100-200 ppl. that IS not alot, BTW. could be a local distribution company, or maybe a Dicks drive in. Do you own a business?
 @Middle Ground I wonder if Gibson Guitars is thinking of expanding in the US?
 @caphillkid So what companies are you a part owner of. We the people want to know other wise what you have posted is pure BS! Like everything else you post!
 @caphillkid They're probably talking about businesses that actually produce something rather than businesses that specialize in taking government money and giving it to people who produce nothing other than more demand for free money from the government.
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But if you want some examples, let me provide a few:
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1. House builders now have to provide rain gardens, public open space, park impact fees, fire impact fees, school impact fees, and road impact fees even though the property tax from the new home will be many times what it was before the house was built.
2. Any supplier that provides material for any job with state monies has to pay prevailing wages and hire people to document that prevailing wages were paid.
3. Builders and developers are not allowed to purchase private worker's injury insurance. It all must go through the state.
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The list goes on and on and on.
@caphillkid @Saving Grace  Capkid.... a 401 vested in a few companies is alll you own.  Doesn't count.
@caphillkid @Saving Grace  DODD FRANK BILL.... Do some research into why one of the major drivers of our economy is stalled.... Housing.
 @Saving Grace I'm part owner of several businesses, yes. And they are all small. Why don't you share with me which regulations, specifically, are keeping my businesses down.Â
 @caphillkid regulations have everything to do with it. do you own a business?
 @Saving Grace What you just said has nothing to do with lin's assertion that small businesses aren't currently hiring bc of "regulations" and this "anti-business" stuff. You guys need to stay more current with the Fox News talking points. Even they aren't saying that stuff anymore.Â
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