Obama Stimulus Fails. Unemployment Claims Up Again

Washington DC, Jun 9, 2011. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly creeped higher last week, stoking fears of a promised but failed economic recovery.

To make matters worse, our trade gap with China jumped up 20% higher.

Initial claims for state jobless benefits increased 1,000 to 427,000, the Labor Department said. This was despite forecasts that it would drop to 415,000 from a previously reported count of 422,000.

The rise kept first-time claims above the 400,000 mark for the 9th week in a row. 

"It's the same dismal trend continuing. It's not getting worse, but it's not getting better either," said Keith Hembre, chief economist at Nuveen Asset Management in Minneapolis.

Fueling concerns about job creation, the U.S. government said on Friday the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 9.1 percent in May while nonfarm employers added a paltry 54,000 workers to their payrolls.

Hembre said the unemployment rate could rise to 9.2 percent in the June report. That would add to President Barack Hussein Obama's, D-Kenya, political woes heading into the 2012 race for the White House.

The closely watched U.S. trade deficit with China jumped nearly 20 percent in April to $21.6 billion. It continues at a pace to exceed last year's record of about $273 billion.

Despite rising unemployment, soaring deficits, and the growing trade gap with China, President Obama is planning to spend $160 billion in taxpayer money to bail out the economy of Greece!