Hilda Solis- Shill

“I’m optimistic!”

That was the message from Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor, in response to a jobs report that can only be described as appalling.

The Obama administration is in a complete disconnect from the Main Street economy and Ms. Solis looked pathetic and frantic as she denied reality on behalf of her employer.  It’s really not a good sign when you let a CNBC reporter PWN you like this.

Unless Obama can change these numbers (or at least the stink of failure that permeates his record) he is doomed no matter what nut job the Thugs put up.

The Mistake of 2010

By PAUL KRUGMAN, The New York Times

Published: June 2, 2011

In fact, in important ways we have already repeated the mistake of 1937. Call it the mistake of 2010: a “pivot” away from jobs to other concerns, whose wrongheadedness has been highlighted by recent economic data.

…

Back when the original 2009 Obama stimulus was enacted, some of us warned that it was both too small and too short-lived. In particular, the effects of the stimulus would start fading out in 2010 – and given the fact that financial crises are usually followed by prolonged slumps, it was unlikely that the economy would have a vigorous self-sustaining recovery under way by then.

By the beginning of 2010, it was already obvious that these concerns had been justified. Yet somehow an overwhelming consensus emerged among policy makers and pundits that nothing more should be done to create jobs, that, on the contrary, there should be a turn toward fiscal austerity.

…

(T)he news has, indeed, been bad. As the stimulus has faded out, so have hopes of strong economic recovery. Yes, there has been some job creation – but at a pace barely keeping up with population growth. The percentage of American adults with jobs, which plunged between 2007 and 2009, has barely budged since then. And the latest numbers suggest that even this modest, inadequate job growth is sputtering out.

…

(T)he mistake of 2010 may yet be followed by an even bigger mistake. Even if that doesn’t happen, however, the fact is that the policy response to the crisis was and remains vastly inadequate.

Somewhat corrected transcript below.

Somewhat corrected transcript-

White House Reaction to Jobs Report

CNBC

Fri 03 Jun 11 | 09:35 AM ET

The jobs report for may falling well short of expectations. payrolls increased by 54,000, that was below the consensus. now for the White House reaction. Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor. Madam Secretary, thank you very much for joining us.

Thank you.

Americans at this point don’t want to hear that about the economy, that the economy is on the mend and getting better. They want to know why it hasn’t gotten better so far and why this number today was so bad. What do you tell them?

Well this, number is a bit disappointing, but if you look back at the last four month, we on average, put in 200,000 jobs in the last four months each month and if you looked at the past 15 months it’s well over 2.1 million private sector jobs. We’re on the right path. We knew all along that we were going to have some bumps in the road and we’re going through that now. Every time that I’ve been asked to report on the jobs whether it’s good or bad, I say that we have to create more jobs and that’s the bottom line. We have to increase jobs in the infrastructure and in those industries that we know we’re deficient. We need to have more investments in education and obviously, we have to remember that in December the President made some very, very strong commitments to allow for credit and tax credits to be made available to working-class people. People had more disposable income to use and R&D, research credits that are also very helpful. We need to continue on that path and we have to continue to create more private sector jobs and we need to have business to help us build that confidence by hiring up more people.

Can you understand, Madam Secretary, your propensity is to see the glass half full rather than half empty and for Americans the glass is, in fact, half empty, that’s what the equity markets and bond markets, every single market around the world are telling us that. Are you telling us that this is a bump in the road and there number that is a third of what exist economists had expected doesn’t that keep you up at night?

It does keep me up at night. We have to move out quickly and build confidence, consumer confidence. The way we do it is by keeping on the path and making investments. That’s why the President is out today in Toledo to talk about what’s coming back in the automobile industry. The fact that suppliers are coming back, thatr jobs are coming back eventually and we have to keep that pay steady and we have to have cooperation and the President thinks every single day just like I do that it’s about putting people back to work.

You’re head of the labor department, Madam Secretary, why is this happening? Why are we turning around in this way? What is your analysis? I read yesterday that the National Federation of Independent Business has now got a disturbing finding that there is an increase in small businesses preparing now to fire people. What is your analysis of what is going wrong?

Obviously, people aren’t as confident and I think they’re waiting to see the Congress move to resolve some major issues like the debt ceiling, so I would urge people to think about not — what is just happening today in this jobs report.

Secretary Solis — Secretary Solis —

We actually added a lot of jobs.

Forgive me.

Yes, we’re moving ahead but the pace will be with peaks and valleys and you have to be mindful of that and I’ve said that all along.

Secretary, are you actually suggesting that small businesses are preparing or increasingly are preparing or increasingly preparing to fire people because they’re worried about the debt limit? Do you really think that is what is going in the economy at the moment?

I think there are a lot of things going in the economy, and one of the things that we have to stay focused on is helping small businesses. That’s why it’s important to allow for more assistance through small business administration, for tax credits for small business. The president has passed well over 17 different tax credits for businesses alone and we need to make sure there is confidence being built. That’s the President is out there today at the Chrysler Jeep plant in Toledo and he’ll be talking about that. So we need to continue on our path. It’s going to be a bumpy road, but it’s one that we all along knew would be a hard road and one that we have seen in the past some recovery. We have seen 2.1 million private sector jobs added.

Madam secretary, let me ask you this. I think it’s amply clear that this will be the primary issue related to the next presidential election and it would be about employment and that puts you on the hot seat. How likely will it be that this administration decides to do something to try to create, not stimulate, but actually create jobs in the private sector? Will there be a policy put in place in the next 12 months to try to do that which will obviously increase the deficit?

Well, actually, I think that, you know, the President has outlined even in the State of the Union that we need to make investments in infrastructure and are that’s why he’s made proposals for high-speed rail and continuing down that line and making investments in education so we can compete with India and China. Those are real, very real factors that the American public can really understand, and I just came back from a visit in Washington State where I saw a graduating high school class of children of farmworkers who are now going on to college, who are going into nursing, into medical research, into teaching and different areas.

Right.

And there’s a lot of optimism out there as well and we’ve got to keep — we have to keep optimistic, but we also have to be realistic about where our investments are.

So Secretary Solis, be realistic with the American people because a month ago you came on this very program and you said things were getting better. Here we are, the unemployment rate has ticked higher. The creation of jobs came in well below expectations and tell the American people what to expect in the next two or three months here? How confident are you that things are actually getting better?

I expect that we’re going continue on our road to recovery, in the last four month as you well know we’ve created hundreds of of thousand of jobs in the last 15 months and 2.1 private sector jobs.

Look down the road for the American people.

By the end of the year — I’m optimistic — where it is now? I would hope that we’re going to be able to grow jobs. As there’s more confidence and as Congress gets their work done I think that we’ll be on the right path and that’s what the President’s going talk about today in his visit in Poledo about the automobile recovery occurring and helping to put people back to work.

Madam Secretary, thank you very much for your time. we do appreciate it.

Another Recovery Summer.