has been unprecedented obstructi obstruction, when you talk about jobs, the republicans have said no to absolutely everything. they are the party of no. how can you say that, when there are 100 bills sitting in the senate? we said yes to a ton. we said yes to a ton. the president s policies are slowing the economy down. the american people know it. the american people know it and by the way, it s great news that there are 288,000 jobs created. it s great news that the unemployment rate such as it is with all the proviso that sean mentioned is down to 6.1%. the stock market is at record highs because the fed is printing money, the only place you can earn a return. so when it was bad it was obama s fault and now that it s got it s not for him. when it was bad obama blamed bush. six years later it s clearly obama. i want to ask carly about a book she wrote once. question on the question, right track, wrong track is a really good indicator for poll numbers. so when you look at it
but 63%, we re going in the wrong direction. exactly. that is not great news for november for democrats. no, it is not. all i can say is again, there has been unprecedented obstruction. when you talk about jobs, the republicans have said no to absolutely everything. they are the party of no. how can you say that, when there are 100 bills sitting in the senate? we said yes to a ton. we said yes to a ton. oh, please. the president s policies are slowing the economy down. the american people know it. the american people know it and by the way, it s great news that there are 288,000 jobs created. it s great news that the unemployment rate, such as it is with all the proviso that sean mentioned, is down to 6.1%. the stock market is at record highs because the fed is printing money, the only place you can earn a return. so when it was bad it was obama s fault and now that it s good it s not because of him? when it was bad obama blamed bush. six years later it s clearly ob
pressure so that iran understands the only course they have is to give up their nuclear weapon ambitions. changing gears here, earlier on the broadcast i spoke with your colleague in the house, congressman john yarmuth. and i want to get your take on this, that we are getting these new positive signs on the economy. look at the dow, it has surpassed 17,000 for the first time this past week. employers adding 288,000 jobs in june, which is far more than was expected. however, here s the curious part. just 34% of americans approve of president obama s handling of the economy. this is from the latest gallup poll. senator, what y. do you think that is? why isn t the president getting more credit? well, i think the president has taken decisive action in washington. however, republicans, particularly in the house, have blocked a lot of the programs that could help our economy grow even stronger. we talked a little while ago about the immigration reform. that would help our economy. passin
let s switch and talk about the economy here. some big news to discuss. the dow surpassing 17,000 for the first time last week. also employers adding 288,000 jobs in the month of june, which is far more than expected. however, this is interesting. the latest gallup poll shows only 34% of americans approve of the president s handling of the economy. so how do you explain this disconnect? why isn t president obama getting more credit on the economy? alex, i think these polls are kind of meaningless in this day and age. i think what we need to have is kind of a relativity index of confidence. so if congress has confidence of 7% or 8% of the american people and president obama has 34%, that s five times greater. if you probably compare confidence in the president with confidence in corporate ceos and members of the clergy and journalists, you name it, he s probably going to be just as high. the only institution in this country that has any real credibility right now is the
like they questioned so many others. i think that s a great point. everyone is questioning institutions. at the end of the week last week, we have got a great jobs number, mark. much better than people expected, 288,000 new jobs created. but just a week earlier, we got a gdp that contracted, 2.9%. how do these two things jive together, from your standpoint? actually, i think we can reconcile that. and the fact is, in the first quarter, that was a weather-induced number that i don t think is likely to be repeated in subsequent quarters. we re not likely to see polar vortexes of every quarter in 2014. but that said, i think what we re seeing in the labor market is encouraging. today s number, while inarguably good, is also building on a pattern of elastic, where we have averaging 230,000 jobs a month, providing the horsepower for consumer spending. we will have a snapback in two gdp reading shortly in the next couple weeks and see moderation after that.