May 2012 Jobs Report

[Torie]

At least this will spur Congress to pass further economic stimulus like any high school economics textbook teaches, right? Right?

How much debt do you think the US  can stand to accrue trying to prime the "unprimeable" pump, doing the same thing that really didn't do much before?  Macroeconomics sucks. So many have an opinion about something so few understand, to the extent it is even understandable.  Heck even the gurus are confused. Sometimes you just don't get the behavior changes that you expect.

[Torie]

At least this will spur Congress to pass further economic stimulus like any high school economics textbook teaches, right? Right?

How much debt do you think the US  can stand to accrue trying to prime the "unprimeable" pump, doing the same thing that really didn't do much before?  Macroeconomics sucks. So many have an opinion about something so few understand, to the extent it is even understandable.  Heck even the gurus are confused. Sometimes you just don't get the behavior changes that you expect.

The stimulus appeared to lack efficacy because at the same time the biggest measures were kicking in 2010, states were carrying out ravaging budget cuts and public employee layoffs that served to diminish its positive effects. At the same time the stimulus obviously was designed to be smaller than it should have been and lacked the most effective measures to appease Collins, Snowe and Specter. The stimulus was ineffective because it wasn't large enough and because it didn't address the state and muni budget problem properly; not because stimulus "doesn't work".

Well I admire your confidence at least. The downside, is that the first step to knowledge is awareness of one's own ignorance. I have at least got to step one.

[Torie]

So what are everyone's predictions for the next 5 months. Are we heading into negative territory or will job growth pick up again??

Put investors, and corporations siting on tons of cash they won't use to buy machinery and bricks and mortar, and consumers who won't spend, on the coach, maybe hypnotize them to get them spill their guts about their subconscious hopes and fears, and maybe one might move closer to finding an answer, assuming therapy is worth a darn, but that is another issue.