A GREETING FOR OBAMA – AT 9:12 A.M. ET:  The new unemployment report, out minutes ago, is a grim greeting for President Obama, as he prepares to speak to Congress tonight.  From Bloomberg:

Claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose last week, a sign the labor market is struggling to gain traction more than two years after the recession ended.

Jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 414,000 in the week ended Sept. 3, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a drop in claims to 405,000, according to the median forecast. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls and those receiving extended payments fell.

Companies are stepping up the pace of firings, raising the risk that consumer spending will slow further. Job growth stagnated last month and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.1 percent, the Labor Department reported last week. The Labor Department said there was no national effect from Hurricane Irene.

COMMENT:  Well, I'm relieved they didn't blame the hurricane, or global warming.  But the fact is that any number above 400,000 is considered very bad, and that's where the numbers have been, week after week.

There is now growing, and serious, talk of a double-dip recession, just as we head into the presidential election season.  Hope and change, those winners from the 2008 campaign, are losers today.

September 8, 2011