The Big Ass Second Term/Politics thread part V

[KevinNYC]

are the US really that incompetent in dealing with the issues at Iraq?


the UN for that matter

Which issues are you speaking of?

[KevinNYC]

The Mitt Romney comeback begins



In a poll of New Hampshire voters, Republican voters show Mitt Romney would dominate other Republicans. Once they added Romney's name to the list, no other Republican candidate tops 10%

[KevinNYC]

Good news on new unemployment applications. Lowest since before the Great Recession began. Sept 2008 end was when the economy totally tanked, but it later determined that it was in recession since December 2007 and we are now seeing numbers that we have seen since August 2007.

More good news on the job front.

Jobless claims fall to lowest level since early 2006

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in nearly 8-1/2 years last week, suggesting the labor market recovery was gaining traction.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 284,000 for the week ended July 19, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

That was the lowest level since February 2006, and confounded economists' expectations for a rise to 308,000.

The prior week's claims were revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported.

The four-week average of claims, considered a better gauge of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 7,250 to 302,000, the lowest level since May 2007.
......

Employment has grown by more than 200,000 jobs in each of the last five months, a stretch not seen since the late 1990s.