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Patch Poll: Is it Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down for Economy?

What do the numbers mean to you?

 

The economy added about 120,000 jobs in March.

The jobless rate ticked down a percentage point to 8.2.

Gas prices appear to have peaked and are coming down.

These signs could be interpreted that the economy is improving. However, some of these numbers come with a “But … .”

The Labor Department reported that employers added 120,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, but well below economists’ forecasts for a 203,000 gain.

The unemployment rate fell, but experts said it was largely due to discouraged job hunters giving up the search for work.

And, gas prices. They may have peaked, but will they rise again during the high-demand summer months?

What do you think?

  • Do you think the economy is headed in the right direction?

    (Voting has been closed for this question)
    • Yes. I think things are getting better.
        40 (31%)
    • No. The economy is still going downhill.
        80 (62%)
    • I'm not sure.
        9 (6%)
    Total votes: 129
  • Your vote will only count once. This is not a scientific poll. View Results Vote!
Related Topics: 04082012TopStories, Economy, Gas Prices, and Jobless Rate

marebjs

9:20 am on Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Those 4 voters must be Republicans.

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Jose

8:40 pm on Wednesday, April 11, 2012

I'M NOT A SO CALL ECONOMIC EXPERT BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE ONE TO TELL WHERE THE ECONOMY IS GOING BASE ON WHAT IS HAPPENING....AMERICA # 1 ECONOMY KILLER ?? OUTSOURCING OF THE JOBS TO CHINA AND TO OTHER COUNTRIES....JOBS IS THE GAS OF THE ECONOMY, JOBS KEEP GOING TO OTHER COUNTRIES.....SO THE ANSWER IS ? THE ECONOMY IS GOING NO WHERE.....IT LOOKS LIKE THE ECONOMY IS GETTING BETTER, BUT ONLY BECAUSE OF THE SUMMER HIRING...LIKE GREAT AMERICA, THEY ARE HIRING 5 TO 10 THOUSAND PEOPLE FOR 6 MONTH'S....THE FED LOOK AT THAT AS IMPROVEMENT IN THE ECONOMY, DUH...STOP THE OUTSOURCING OF OUR JOBS IS THE ONLY WAY OUR ECONOMY WILL IMPROVE...THE JOBS THAT BEING CREATED ? ARE LOW PAYING RETAIL JOBS THAT DON'T PAY FOR YOUR GAS..

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Gloria Casas

10:40 am on Wednesday, April 11, 2012

I'm hopeful the economy is better by the time my kids graduate from college, in 2030.

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Jose

8:40 pm on Wednesday, April 11, 2012

HI THERE GLORIA.....IF WE DON'T STOP THE OUTSOURCING OF OUR JOBS ??? I REALLY BELIEVE THAT AMERICA WILL BECOME A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY....WE ARE ALREADY 50 % OF THE WAY THEIR IN MY OPINION.....CNN DID A REPORT 50 % OF AMERICANS ARE POOR---ON WELFARE--HOMELESS....I BLAME THE OUTSOURCING OF OUR JOBS AND UNBALANCE FREE TRADE......CHINA IMPORT 5 TIMES MORE GOODS TO THE U.S. THAN WE EXPORT TO CHINA....THE SAME STORY WITH EVERY COUNTRY...NAFTA WAS A HUGE MISTAKE....THE ONLY PEOPLE MAKING MONEY ARE THE TOP 25 %, ..THEY BRIBED OUR POLITICIANS TO TILT THE PLAYING FIELD IN THEIR FAVORS......AMERICAN WORKERS ARE ON THEIR OWN...LETS HIRE SLAVE WORKERS FROM CHINA AT $ 1 DOLLAR AN HOUR WITH ZERO BENEFITS....I FEEL SORRY FOR THE YOUNG AMERICANS , THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE A TOUGH TIME.....WE MUST STOP THE OUTSOURCING OF OUR JOBS...

Dan Arenov

8:40 pm on Wednesday, April 11, 2012

How can the latest jobs numbers be so lousy but unemployment actually went down a tick?

It's because the unemployment number, by itself, is misleading.

A Republican Congressman has recently written a bill (that no doubt will not be passed by the Democrat run Senate after it passes the House) which calls for the methodology of figuring the 'number'.

He suggests that we take all of the potential workers who are here legally, from age 16-67, and use that number as the 'base' number. We would then use Dept. of Labor/ IRS data to tell us how many people are working, and then come up with the REAL unemployment number calculated from these two numbers, by percentage.

This should be bipartisan. However, the Obama administration is not going to go for something like this in 2012...they are very happy that most of the country is ignorant of the actual number of unemployed in this country and rely simply on the published number, currently at 8.2%.

The facts are much worse. There are three million people who have dropped off the face of the earth since Obama has been elected. These people don't count anymore.

which brings to mind the old joke..

Layman's definition of:

recession. Your neighbor loses his job.

depression. You lose your job

recovery. Obama loses his job

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Dan Arenov

8:40 pm on Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Patch, where is the byline for this article? never saw an 'opinion' article without one.

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Stuart Tindall

6:05 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012

In this thread, Gabriel's theory of the internet.

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