Well, the jobs report is bad today, just 80,000 private-sector jobs gained, and economists are all warning that this is how it's going to be for a while. You'd think, as Jonathan Cohn notes in his new blog at TNR, that there would be calls in this case for more stimulus:
But most of the economists I know and trust think numbers like these are proof that we need a major new stimulus package, in order to create jobs and--oh, by the way--help everybody who's out of work. Meanwhile, conservatives--most but not all of them in the Republican Party--continue to block action even on a much smaller jobs package.
But you knew that already, didn't you? Sigh.
Yup. Think Progress has produced this handy chart of the 17 senators whose states have double-digit unemployment rates but who have blocked, in most cases three times, the extension of unemployment benefits.
It's really indefensible, both their actions and the Beltway conventional wisdom that more stimulus is a terrible thing. Obviously, this is a terrible situation politically for Obama and the Democrats, after those glimmers of recovery in the spring seemed to suggest a narrative that now doesn't exist. But more importantly it's really bad for the people of the country. I'm really starting to believe the talk of 9% unemployment for a long time to come.
