Unemployment rate jumps to 7.2%

First raise taxes on Over $250,000 then down to $200,000, and even $150,000; Now it’s “Everybody is going to have to give!”

We all knew during the campaign that Obama would soon speak these words once in office. He jumped ahead by 10 days on his plan to take money from “Everybody”. Obama is setting up Americans for the largest transfer of money ever; from our pockets to his:

Socialism is on the march!

Incremental sacrifice for the good of the whole!

Brace yourselves folks, he means what he says…..I think?

From George’s Bottom Line:

I asked the president-elect, “At the end of the day, are you really talking about over the course of your presidency some kind of grand bargain? That you have tax reform, healthcare reform, entitlement reform including Social Security and Medicare, where everybody in the country is going to have to sacrifice something, accept change for the greater good?”

“Yes,” Obama said.

So I guess this means that we all will be paying for his programs, government bailouts, stimulus packages, welfare increases, wilderness expansions, Public Radio, the greening of America, job creation, boob tube buyout….etc.

“Everybody’s going to have to give. Everybody’s going to have to have some skin in the game”, Obama said. (George’s)

I wonder how Ms. Joseph feels now?

Of course Peggy and others will just buy the party line that it is all Bush’s fault and the problem is worse than we thought!

The AP will help support the Dems contention that it is all Bush’s fault. (Video at Hot Air)

Fr0m Hot Air:

posted at 10:48 am on January 9, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

Employers shed over a half-million jobs in December as the year ended in the grips of a full-blown recession. The total job loss for 2008 went over 2.6 million, mostly in the latter half of the year, as prospects for growth look dim indeed. Even with all of that truly bad news, the AP manages to add a little hyperbole:

The U.S. unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest since early 1993, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs.

The Labor Department’s report, released Friday, underscored the terrible toll the deepening recession is having on workers and companies, and highlights the hard task President-elect Barack Obama faces in resuscitating the flat-lined economy.

For all of 2008, the economy lost a net total of 2.6 million jobs. That was the most since 1945, when nearly 2.8 million jobs were lost. Although the number of jobs in the U.S. has more than tripled since then, losses of this magnitude are still being painfully felt.

Uh, okay, thanks for the no-context context. Job losses in 1945 were catastrophic for a nation of 132 million people. We have over 300 million today, and we have increased the workforce by a much larger factor as women have entered the workplace. Total employment in December 1945 was 39.111 million Americans. Total employment in December 2008 was 138.078 million Americans. (Hot Air)

And Hot Air has this peace of Obama lowered expectations:

Obama: We’re all going to have to sacrifice for the greater good

posted at 1:07 pm on January 11, 2009 by Allahpundit

Fair warning from this morning’s long chat with Stephanopoulos; follow the link for fudging about whether he’ll investigate Bush or why it might take more than 100 days to close Gitmo, both of which have the nutroots wringing their hands. When I first saw the headline on this bit, I thought for sure he was hinting at raising taxes. And maybe he is, but that’s not the context in which the exchange occurs. Stephanopoulos’s question, quite explicitly, is about entitlement reform, including — dare I say it? — social security.

Exit question: What does The One have in mind? Click the image to watch. (Great Video at this post)

*** *** ***

Oh Yeah! and What about that Gitmo Thing?

From Michelle Malkin:

President-elect Barack Obama said this weekend that he does not expect to close Guantanamo Bay in his first 100 days in office.

Obama: Gee, this Gitmo thing is more complicated than I thought

By Michelle Malkin • January 11, 2009 12:00 PM

I razzed Team Obama over their newfound appreciation of the nuances of closing Gitmo back in November. Now, we are hearing it from the Messiah directly.

This morning on ABC’s Sunday show, he admitted that his recklessly simplistic promise to the nutroots to shut down the detention facility had run into some barriers.

Namely: Reality.

When he says “a lot of people,” he means himself. (more Malkin)

*** *** ***

And what about that Job Creation Thing?

How much is that going to cost?

I’ll call your 3 million and raise you 1 million

and take your all of your money at the same time!

From Hot Air:

Obama: Did I say I’d save three million jobs? Make it four million

posted at 1:30 pm on January 10, 2009 by Allahpundit

Assuming a $775 billion stimulus, the new estimate means we’ll be paying $193,750 for each job “saved or created” instead of just north of $258,000. Come 2010, of course, we’ll be told that he actually saved many more jobs than even that, so who knows? A little fine tuning of the numbers — they are, after all, “subject to significant margins of error” — and we might get down to under $100,000 per job before all’s said and done. Assuming there are no other stimulus bills passed before the midterms, of course.

And this from Right Voices:

In a new report, his transition team says his spending plan would create between 3.3 million and 4.1 million jobs. The report was released as Mr. Obama battles fellow Democrats in Congress over the size and details of the bill, which the president-elect wants to total slightly less than $800 billion but which some Democratic