Obama Says U.S. May Have Passed Worst of Recession
President Barack Obama said today’s unemployment numbers indicate “the worst may be behind us” for the recession and that his administration has “rescued our economy from catastrophe.”
The Labor Department report showing a slower rate of job losses, along with gross domestic product figures released earlier, show “we are pointed in the right direction,” Obama said in remarks at the White House.
Obama spoke hours after the government reported the unemployment rate dipped to 9.4 percent in July from 9.5 percent the month before and job losses slowed more than forecast.
“We’ve pulled the financial system back from the brink,” Obama said. “I am convinced that we can see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
For more than a week, the president has been changing his rhetoric as economic indicators show the nation’s worst recession since the Great Depression may have hit bottom.
On July 29, Obama first signaled the economy may have begun to improve when, during speeches in North Carolina and Virginia, he said the U.S. “may be seeing the beginning of the end of the recession.”
‘Still a Lot Wrong’
The administration still expects the unemployment rate will rise to 10 percent or higher before beginning a sustained decline, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said earlier.
“Obviously, there’s still a lot wrong with our economy,” Gibbs told reporters. “I would describe today’s report as the least-bad report that we’ve had in a year, right? We still have a long way to go.”
The state of the economy later this year is likely to have an impact on the president’s ability to push through Congress his top two domestic priorities: overhauling the health-care system and curbing carbon emissions to combat global warming instant credit report.
In recent weeks, polls show the president’s job-approval ratings have been sinking, fueled by concern about the rising unemployment rate and the growing budget deficit.
A Quinnipiac University poll found half the registered voters surveyed from July 27 to Aug. 3 approve of the job Obama is doing, compared with 42 percent who disapprove. That’s down from 57 percent approval and 33 percent disapproval in a poll taken in late June.
Jobs Lost
The latest Labor Department numbers brought total jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007 to about 6.7 million, the biggest decline in any post-World War II recession.
The Commerce Department reported July 31 that the GDP shrank at a better-than-forecast 1 percent annual pace in the second quarter after a 6.4 percent drop in the prior three months.
The GDP figure “showed a marked improvement over the last few months,” Obama said today. “This morning we received additional signs that the worst may be behind us.”
He used the figures to argue that the $787 billion stimulus plan he pushed through Congress and other measures are having an effect. He also said the U.S. must take steps to ensure a more stable economy in the future, including enacting his health-care and energy initiatives.
“We can’t afford to return to an economy based on inflated profits and maxed-out credit cards, an economy where we depend on dirty and outdated sources of energy, an economy where we’re burdened by soaring health-care costs,” he said.