Bush Not Responsible Anymore

Obama starts blaming Europe and Japan for US economic problems

President Obama is pointing to problems in Japan and Europe as challenges for the U.S. economy, placing some blame on events abroad for a domestic recovery that is showing signs of slowing down.

Government data released Friday showed employers in May hired the fewest number of workers in eight months and U.S. unemployment rose to 9.1 percent, up from 9.0 percent in April.

That bump is a political challenge for the president, whose re-election in 2012 may depend on his ability to convince voters that his economic policies have been successful.

Part of his pitch will include steering attention to outside forces as causes for economic woes at home...

Of course, there is always some truth the notion the external forces have some role in the current state of the economy.  But the biggest factor in our dawdling "recovery" is that the government has taken money out of the productive part of the economy, given it to the unproductive part, and called it "stimulus".