Obama's various legislative initiatives have so unsettled the business world that it went Galt (on strike). Big business is making money by cutting expenses and investing elsewhere. Small businesses merely hoping to survive. Citizens who are not rushing to pay up debts, worry that what remains of their savings is about to be taxed away. Atlas Shrugged and the Road to Serfdom are best sellers and Democratic politicians are preparing to become unemployed.

The far from conservative magazine Atlantic predicts an America transformed by unemployment:

The Great Recession may be over, but this era of high joblessness is probably just beginning. Before it ends, it will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults. It will leave an indelible imprint on many blue-collar men. It could cripple marriage as an institution in many communities. It may already be plunging many inner cities into a despair not seen for decades. Ultimately, it is likely to warp our politics, our culture, and the character of our society for years to come.

Does he care that 6.13 million people are unemployed for more than 26 weeks or that they constitute 4 percent of the civilian workforce—a record since the the Bureau of Labor Statistics started collecting this data in 1948?

Does this reality shake up a president whose wife insists that he loves the country?

Does Obama accept his responsibility for making his enthusiastic supporters pay the highest price for his inept tinkering?

Does the former Community organizer care that the unemployment rate among blacks climbed in January to 16.5 percent or that youth unemployment is 53.4%?

Does he focus like a laser on jobs as he promised?

Not on your life. Like other radical ideologues, he ignores reality and doubles down on the very health care agenda which has been undermining job creation in the last year. As Harry Griendling, president of DoubleStar Inc., a West Chester-based recruiting company explains:

Uncertainty is keeping companies from bolstering payrolls, he said. For example, questions about the future of health-care legislation mean that hospitals, insurers and pharmaceutical companies will hold back. Uncertainty over regulation in banking will deter financial hiring.

"Uncertainty," he said,"is the enemy of job creation."

As many a ruthless man, Obama may be hoping that a few Republicans would end up pitying.

Who knows? He may turn out to be right.

Well, Republicans did help pass another"jobs bill." Much good will it do given the ongoing uncertainty about health care and such.

I wonder what that will cost the economy given that the last 600 billion one cost the private economy 900 billion according to Harvard professor Robert Barro.

Gallup finds 20% underemployed and, surprise suprise, unlike the government with its money printing machine, the unemployed CUT their spending which means in an economy built on consummerism that translates to no growth!

People understand the situation even if economist do not - The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® Declines Sharply

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had increased in January, declined sharply in February. The Index now stands at 46.0 (1985=100), down from 56.5 in January. The Present Situation Index decreased to 19.4 from 25.2. The Expectations Index declined to 63.8 from 77.3 last month. . . .

Says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center:"Consumer Confidence, which had been improving over the past few months, declined sharply in February. Concerns about current business conditions and the job market pushed the Present Situation Index down to its lowest level in 27 years (Feb. 1983, 17.5). Consumers' short-term outlook also took a turn for the worse, with fewer consumers anticipating an improvement in business conditions and the job market over the next six months. Consumers also remain extremely pessimistic about their income prospects. This combination of earnings and job anxieties is likely to continue to curb spending."

Consumers' assessment of current-day conditions soured in February. Those claiming conditions are"good" decreased to 6.2 percent from 8.5 percent, while those claiming business conditions are"bad" increased to 46.3 percent from 44.7 percent. Consumers' assessment of the labor market was also more pessimistic. Those saying jobs are"hard to get" rose to 47.7 percent from 46.5 percent, while those saying jobs are"plentiful" decreased to 3.6 percent from 4.4 percent.

Confidence also dropped"unexpectedly" in Germany, Italy and France.

Clarence Page, Black Frustration

Imagine, for example, the Revs. Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton during previous economic downturns. By now, a pending employment bill might well have stirred marches and demands by black community leaders for special aid to communities hard hit by the recession. But not this time. As much as Barack Obama's presidency has stirred anger on the right, it has brought a new patience to activists on the left. Black leaders still want the nation's first black president to pay attention to black issues, but they don't want to be perceived as getting in his way.

Few outside of black-oriented media noted the three black men who trudged to the White House through blizzardlike wind and snow to meet with Obama in mid-February. Sharpton, Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, and Benjamin Jealous, president of the NAACP, met with Obama for about an hour to talk about black unemployment. . . .

For example, when the overall unemployment rate eased slightly to 9.7 percent from 10 percent in January, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Team Obama must have breathed a guarded sigh of relief. But Ohio State University's Kirwan Institute, which studies the recession's impact on African-Americans, found black unemployment actually had gone up three-tenths of a percent — to 16.5 percent.

How about simply telling him to stop advocating job killing legislation?!

The 'Stimulus' Actually Raised Unemployment