Mike Whitney: Memo to Obama: Create more jobs or Resign!

ABYSMAL! That's the only way to describe Friday's job report! On top of that, the unemployment rate has been heading higher for the last three months. Now, it's at 9.2%, a full two years into the "alleged recovery". Where are the jobs, Mr. President, and that's what everyone wants to know. Sending Americans into lethal wars, to return with serious wounds, is NOT the right answer. War is hell: When I served as Advisory Team Leader in Vietnam, I always drank at least six beers before I traveled the dirt road towards the 25th Infantry base, so that I would not feel very much pain when I would be destroyed by an enemy mine. In order to save my team from that folly, I took most chances by myself, and most of the time, I was "lucky". However, on one return trip, I noticed the huge motor of a 5 ton truck that had been thrown one hundred feet into a paddy dike. But I digress: Friday's job report, as you know, was MORE than abysmal. As you know, on top of that, the unemployment rate has been heading higher for the last three months. So much for a recovery. The stock market has regained most of the ground it lost since it touched rock bottom in March 2009, but the "real" economy is still stuck in the mud.
Here's a clip from economist Tim Duy, who sums it up perfectly: "the labor force fell, the number of employed plummeted, and the number of unemployed climbed. Private non-farm payrolls gained a paltry 57k, and the drag from government cutbacks pulled the overall jobs gain to just 18k. Far short of the numbers needed to even hold unemployment steady." Get the picture? It's ALL BAD! And guess what? Those "18,000 new jobs" falls within the Labor Department's margin for error, so there could actually be "no new jobs". Are you still awake, Mr. President? Probably NOT!