Surging U.S. Unemployment Rate Puts Pressure on Obama

By Bob Willis | Bloomberg.com

The jump in the U.S. unemployment rate to the highest level in a quarter century last month suggests the recession is deeper than the Obama administration forecasts and additional measures may be needed to restart growth.

The jobless rate rose to 8.1 percent in February as employers reduced payrolls by 651,000, the Labor Department said yesterday in Washington. Losses have now exceeded 600,000 for three straight months, the first time that’s happened since collection of the data began in 1939.

Unemployment has already reached the average rate the White House projected for the whole year. The administration needs to keep its focus on repairing the banking system and implementing the stimulus rather than get diverted by other goals such as healthcare changes, said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics LLC in New York.

“They should be focused on stabilization” of financial firms “and stimulus — and that should not only be ‘Job one,’ that should be the only job right now,” Ryding said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “The question is, is it recession or is it something worse than recession?”

U.S. stocks posted the biggest weekly decline in three months after American International Group Inc. reported a $61.7 billion loss and billionaire investor Warren Buffett said the economy is in “shambles.” …

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Opinion from News Donkey: Obama recently held a White House summit to facilitate progress on the important issue of health care. An underlying pillar of health care is the economy, which is in a state of major distress that is only going to get worse unless Geithner and the US Treasury Department take swift action. However, Geithner is virtually working alone right now. For a nation with the extensive resources of the United States, we really ought to be able to do better than this. Obama may want to hold a summit to facilitate vetting and confirmation for all the Treasury Department positions. It is alarming that of 15 key positions only one has been filled, despite the fact that it has been over four months since the presidential election. One might have thought priority attention would have been given by Obama’s transition team to staffing for the Treasury. Past administrations may not have filled positions for the Treasury any faster, but then they did not face such huge economic challenges either. Health care is an important issue, but the economy is truly an emergency and needs to be more than just a high priority issue along side other issues. Fielding an incomplete team to tackle our huge economic problems is not putting forth our best foot. Washington needs to spend less time worrying about distractions like Rush Limbaugh and instead work non-stop on solving our economic problems.

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Amid Obama’s Change, There’s also More of the Same

By NANCY BENAC | Associated Press

WASHINGTON – For all the sweeping changes that President Barack Obama has delivered, there also has been an ample helping of more-of-the-same.

The Bush policy of imprisoning enemy combatants in Afghanistan without trial? The Obama White House is OK with that.

The Bush tax cuts for the rich that candidate Obama promised to wipe out early? President Obama will let them run their course.

The Bush team’s claim of a “state secrets” privilege to avoid releasing information? The Obama White House has agreed thrice over, even as it reviews the policy.

Across the landscape of government, there are plenty of other instances in which Obama is staying his Republican predecessor’s course — at least for now …

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Obama Tells Treasury to Begin Cutting Taxes

By Ross Colvin | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama ordered the U.S. Treasury on Saturday to implement tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans, fulfilling a campaign pledge he hopes will help jolt the economy out of recession.

The tax cuts are part of a $787 billion economic recovery plan passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress over Republican opposition. The aim is to put more money in the pockets of Americans and stimulate the economy by increasing consumer spending.

“I’m pleased to announce that this morning the Treasury Department began directing employers to reduce the amount of taxes withheld from paychecks, meaning that by April 1st, a typical family will begin taking home at least $65 more every month,” Obama said in his weekly radio address.

“Never before in our history has a tax cut taken effect faster or gone to so many hard-working Americans,” he said …

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