Will Obama’s Budget Respond to Dismal Jobs Report?
In early March the market reached record highs, Americans were gaining back wealth lost in the great recession, and the unemployment rate was at its lowest point in the Obama presidency. At the time, many supporters of the president were ready to declare that we were in Obama's economy now, finally beyond (and longer able to blame) Bush.
Just a month later we see that little still has changed.
The new jobs numbers Friday even had former White House advisor Austan Goolsbee saying they were a "punch to the gut." Businesses created just 88,000 jobs in March-less than half of what Wall Street had expected. A quick look at the numbers suggests that the greatest impact on the job numbers came from the payroll tax hike, which has hit the retail sector especially hard.
The unfavorable jobs report comes as the president is expected to release his budget proposal next week. Will we see a course correction? The president's proposal will reportedly be a retread of the last "grand bargain" offer he made to Boehner prior to the sequester, including small entitlement cuts but trillions of tax hikes.
On 'Real News' Friday the panel opened on Friday's jobs numbers, and went on to debate what we are likely to see in the president's budget. Watch a clip below with guest Dan Mitchell:
