Obama faces backlash from middle classes left behind
Business Times - 10 Sep 2009 Obama faces backlash from middle classes left behind By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT AS Americans were preparing to start their long Labor Day weekend last Friday, they might have been cheered by new data showing that job losses had slowed down in August. But slowing job losses is not recovery: unemployment surged higher than expected in August to 9.7 per cent, the worst in 26 years. Overall, there are 14.9 million Americans out of work. The US economy has lost a net total of nearly seven million jobs since the recession began in late 2007, with some of those losses coming in August, as employers shed 216,000 jobs. So the only good news was that America experienced the smallest total loss since August last year. Clearly, notwithstanding the less bearish mood in Wall Street, no one will be popping the champagne corks in Washington this week, as President Barack Obama and lawmakers return after a summer recess that was dominated by the nasty political ...