| New numbers on jobs and deficit | Michael Tomasky DATELINE, WASHINGTON -- The private sector added 64,00 jobs in September, the eighth consecutive month of gains, signaling that though still tepid, the economy is in fact in recovery...Well, something tells me that ain't the headline and lede (that's how we spell it, at least in US journalism, I guess so as not to confuse it with the metal) you're going to be seeing and hearing today and tomorrow. This is how the AP is actually touting things, which actually seems pretty even-handed to me:WASHINGTON (AP, CHRISTOPHER RUGABER) -- A wave of government layoffs in September outpaced weak hiring in the private sector, pushing down the nation's payrolls by a net total of 95,000 jobs.The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate held at 9.6 percent last month. The jobless rate has now topped 9.5 percent for 14 straight months, the longest stretch since the 1930s.The private sector added 64,000 jobs, the weakest showing since June.Local governments cut 76,000 jobs last month, most of them in education. That's the largest cut by local governments in 28 years. And, 77,000 temporary census jobs ended in September.State and local governments are cutting jobs, of course, because the Senate didn't act to pass the funding to prevent it. The Republicans blocked it. Gee...you don't suppose they blocked it knowing that doing so would lead to a lousy jobs report, in which the public-sector firing would more than offset the private-sector hiring, thereby leading to a raft of negative stories for the Obama administration, do you? You're so cynical!Meanwhile, another report came out yesterday that will get far less attention. It seems that the deficit was, according to the CBO, reduced in fiscal year 2010 by $125 billion since the previous year. That's a single-year record. Receipts were $57 billion higher than previously, and outlays $67 billion lower.Of course the deficit is still very high. Close to $1.3 trillion, and 8.9% of GDP. Here's a chart giving some history on that.Substantively, this is probably the worst of all possible worlds, because I'd rather see more government spending to get us out of this crisis, but that proved impossible, so instead we have this mish-mash situation in which spending isn't high enough to spur recovery and slashing isn't low enough to satisfy the deficit hawks. I just point it out because if the R's were in the White House, "record deficit reduction" would be a major talking point, while I can guarantee you that you won't hear one Democrat use that phrase.US politicsUS economyMichael Tomaskyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Ahmadinejad's Lebanon Trip Looks Set to Raise Tensions Iran's President had threatened to throw stones at Israel during his Lebanon visit. Even if he doesn't, his showboating on a longtime regional battleground will raise tensions feedproxy.google.com |
FIFA Probes Bribery Allegations FIFA, soccer's world governing body, is investigating an incident in which two members of its executive committee allegedly sought payments in exchange for support when the organization selects the locations for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup. online.wsj.com |
Robotic arm man Christian Kandlbauer dies in hospital after crash Christian Kandlbauer, first in Europe to have a mind-controlled bionic arm, dies from his injuries after a car crashAn Austrian man who was the first in Europe to wear an innovative high-tech artificial arm has died after the car he was driving veered off the road and crashed into a tree.Christian Kandlbauer lost both of his arms in an electrical accident in September 2005 but was able to live a largely normal life thanks to a mind-controlled robotic prosthetic left arm and a normal prosthesis in place of his right arm.The 22-year-old died yesterday said Andreas Waltensdorfer, a senior physician at a hospital in the southern city of Graz, where Kandlbauer had been in intensive care since Tuesday, the day of the crash.The cause of the crash remains unclear. Both Waltensdorfer and local police said today it was impossible to tell whether the accident was caused by problems with Kandlbauer's prosthetic arms.Kandlbauer, who drove himself to work every morning after getting his driver's licence last year, had said his quality of life improved dramatically due to the mind-controlled prothesis, which recognised signals from his brain and moved accordingly."Thanks to the mind-controlled prothesis, I'm almost as independent and self-reliant as I was before my accident," Kandlbauer said in comments on the Web site of Otto Bock HealthCare Products, the company that produced the prothesis. "I can pretty much live the life before the accident."Kandlbauer's car was adapted with special equipment and was approved by local transportation authorities.Notburga Halbauer, a spokeswoman for Otto Bock, said Kandlbauer was the first person outside the United States to wear the mind-controlled prothesis.AustriaRobotsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Tea Party Could Stir Afghan Policy One variable after the midterm elections is whether candidates backed by tea-party activists force a shift in the terms of debate over the Afghan war. online.wsj.com |