By Colin Campbell 3/08 9:27am

Numbers Game

(Photo: Getty)

Mayor Bloomberg Explains Why the Unemployment Rate Is ‘Relatively Meaningless

Earlier today, there was a rare bit of good economic news with the announcement that job creation broke out in February as the United States’ unemployment rate fell from 7.9 percent to 7.7 percent. This morning, however, Mr. Bloomberg urged the public to ignore the widely discussed unemployment number and instead look at the raw job total nationwide–a net increase of 246,000 new jobs last month.

“The unemployment number is relatively meaningless,” Mr. Bloomberg said during his weekly interview with John Gambling. “It is the number of people who have jobs–the number of jobs. I think the national economy is doing a little bit better. Not going down, it is going up a little bit better, [but] nowhere near fast enough to give jobs to a lot of the people who want them. And a lot of the people who have dropped out of the workforce [are] saying, ‘I’m never getting a job, I’m not going to even look.’ Then you don’t get  counted. … That’s why the unemployment number is bad–is not really a good indicator.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 2/12 11:46pm

Strategery

US-POLITICS-OBAMA-STATE OF THE UNION

In State of the Union, Obama Makes Controversial Issues All About the Benjamins

In his State of the Union address this evening, President Barack Obama addressed several hot-button political issues including climate change, immigration reform and gun control. Overall, the president’s speech struck a populist tone, but when bringing up his proposals to address some of these more controversial issues, he characterized them as making good business sense. Read More

By Hunter Walker 11/02/12 1:24pm

Cash Money

Tom DiNapoli

State Comptroller Estimates Hurricane Sandy Could Cost New York at Least $18 Billion

New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli estimates the damage from Hurricane Sandy could cost the state at least $18 million. Mr. DiNapoli announced his estimate in a statement this afternoon.

“My office’s preliminary estimate of economic losses due to the storm ranges from $15 billion to $18 billion. Our daily infrastructure of highways, power, sewer and water–the elements of modern life that we take for granted–have all been altered by this storm,” Mr. DiNapoli said. “Though the rebuilding effort may offset some of these losses, we must continue to monitor what the long-term economic impact to New York will be.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 6/20/12 1:24pm

Evasive Maneuvers

Mitt Romney

Romney Campaign Repeatedly Dodges Immigration Questions

This morning, Mitt Romney’s campaign policy director Lanhee Chen, his deputy communications director for media affairs Kristy Campbell held a conference call with the press to “discuss the latest in a series of devastating economic news and President Obama’s record of failing to put America back on a path to prosperity.”

However, all three of the questions from reporters on the call were about what Mr. Romney’s position is on President Barack Obama’s newly announced immigration policy. Despite the clear connections between immigration policy and the job market, the Romney campaign staffers repeatedly dismissed the questions as “off topic” before ending the call entirely. Read More

By Hunter Walker 6/12/12 2:33pm

Fighting Words

President Obama (Photo: Getty)

Obama Says Romney’s Campaign Messsage Would Fit ‘On A Tweet’

At a fundraiser in Maryland today, President Barack Obama criticized the core message of Mitt Romney’s campaign as simplistic.

“Because folks are still hurting right now, the other side feels that its enough for them to just sit back and say, ‘Things aren’t as good as they should be and it’s Obama’s fault,’” the president said. “You can pretty much put their campaign on, on a tweet and have some characters to spare.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 6/12/12 9:06am

Critiques

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney Calls Obama ‘Anti-Business,’ ‘Anti-Investment’ And ‘Anti-Jobs’

Mitt Romney appeared in friendly TV territory, Fox & Friends, this morning where he addressed recent statements made by President Barack Obama that the private sector is “doing fine,” why he thinks “Obamacare” is one of the “worst offenders” when it comes to killing jobs and what he thinks of the Obama campaign’s attacks on his work with Bain Capital.

“The president has the most anti-business, anti-investment, anti-jobs administration I think I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Romney said. Read More

By Hunter Walker 6/04/12 8:56am

Cash Money

Mitt Romney

New Obama Ad Calls Romney’s Massachusetts Record ‘One Of The Worst In The Country’

The Obama campaign released a new ad this morning calling Mitt Romney’s performance as governor of Massachusetts “one of the worst economic records in the country.” In the ad, which is called “We’ve Heard It All Before,” criticism that the state fell to 47th in job creation and fell into debt on Mr. Romney’s watch is interspersed with footage of Mr. Romney campaigning by touting his business record.

“Now, when Mitt Romney talks about what he’d do as president … remember, we’ve heard it all before,” a narrator says in the ad. “Romney economics, it didn’t work then and it won’t work now.”

Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul quickly issued a response calling the ad an attempt to shift the discussion after the weak May jobs report. Read More

By Hunter Walker 5/29/12 12:09pm

Fighting Words

President Obama

Romney Campaign: ‘The Only Thing President Obama’s Ever Managed Is His Own Narrative’

After a brief respite for the holiday weekend, the battle over Bain Capital waged on in the presidential race. Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul took the first shot on CNN this morning by saying Mitt Romney’s work at the private equity firm led to more new jobs than President Barack Obama’s first term in the White House.

“Governor Romney has 25 years of experience as a businessman and entrepreneur, creating jobs. The only thing President Obama’s ever managed is his own narrative,” Ms. Saul told CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien. “Governor Romney has that experienced, he’s learned from his successes and failures and he created more jobs at Bain Capital, or helped create more jobs at Bain Capital, than President Obama has in the entire nation as president.” Read More