As soon as I heard Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spew the following line after hearing of the February unemployment numbers, I immediately thought of Steven Colbert’s political comparison: Is George Bush a great president, or the greatest president?

Let’s hear it from Harry Reid himself:

Harry, let’s see if I can explain the difference between news that is less bad and good news. First of all, 36,000 people losing their jobs wasn’t a one day affair as your statement portrays, but it’s the number of jobs lost for the month of February. 36,000 less people now have a job than had a job at the beginning of February. Secondly, between 125,000 – 150,000 jobs need to be created each month to merely break even with population increases. So if you at the 36,000 that no longer have jobs to the 125,000-150,000 jobs that weren’t created to absorb population increases, you have a total shortage of 161,000-186,000 jobs for the month of February alone! And that’s good news?

While I try to give the benefit of the doubt to those who misspeak, I find it hard to do that with politicians that are so disengaged from those who are suffering. But here is Harry’s explanation:

“I want to talk about some remarks I made this morning — especially in the light of how they are being irresponsibly mischaracterized by those seeking to score more political points,” Reid said on his second trip to the Senate to the floor of the chamber.

Reid said the February report — unemployment was stuck at 9.7 percent — was “undeniably devastating.” But he argued that the situation could have been worse without the Democrats’ economic stimulus package.

Then Reid cautioned his Republican critics against celebrating bad news, The Hill newspaper reported.

“And I warn them, once again, that this country has no place, and no patience, for those who root for failure.”

Maybe unemployment would have been worse without the stimulus package, but that’s no excuse for such a careless statement. Harry quotes the standard U3 unemployment rate of 9.7%, but if he was honest, he would quote the U6 unemployment/underemployment rate, which actually increased last month from 16.5% to 16.8%!

[M]any seem to have missed that real unemployment, or the BLS' U-6 series actually climbed by 0.3%, to 16.8% from 16.5% in January. Additionally, the Non-Seasonally Adjusted U-6 number was barely changed, and was flat at 17.9%, just a hair away from January's record 18%.

via Real Unemployment Rises 0.3% To 16.8%, Non-Seasonally Adjusted Number Near All Time Highs | zero hedge.

U6 uenmployment rate for February 2010

Now let’s look at an even more chilling February employment number; the underemployed rate:

Also, just as relevantly, a comparable data series tracked by Gallup indicated the February “underemployment” came in at 19.8%, virtually unchanged from January's 19.9% reading.

via Real Unemployment Rises 0.3% To 16.8%, Non-Seasonally Adjusted Number Near All Time Highs | zero hedge.

Underemployment rate February 2010 - Gallup

After looking at a more complete picture of unemployment, it’s clear to see that “good news” is not a phrase which should be part of the unemployment discussion at this time.

Democrats and Republicans can’t even agree to give the consumer, you and I, some bare bones protections against the sharks and shysters who abuse, misuse and confuse consumers about student loans, credit card regulations and mortgage obligations. As I’ve said on many occasion, the two party system has degenerated into a single party that is beholden to the large pockets of its campaign contributors and not the American people at large.

Here’s an entertaining video that puts a laugh into an otherwise disappointing consumer protection story:

Mohammad Ali introduced boxing fans to his controversial rope a dope strategy against the heavily favored George Foreman during their 1974 championship fight – The Rumble in the Jungle – in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali leaned back against the ring ropes and let George Forman hit him repeatedly for six long rounds and then as Forman tired in the heat and humidity of that African morning, Ali took charge in the eighth round and nailed the desperately swinging, exhausted Forman with four punishing blows that sent Forman to the canvass for a 10 count. Ali showed the world that he could handle the strongest fighters by taking their best shots, tiring the opponent and then landing the winning blows.

Why do I mention Ali’s “rope a dope” in an article titled “Hope a dope”? For the past few months I have seen similarities between Ali’s rope a dope boxing strategy and what I call Obama’s hope a dope plan. President Obama, once the agent of hope and change, seems to be taking shots from his once fervent supporters over issues such as healthcare reform, the banking and auto bailout, the stimulus binge, a comprehensive jobs bill, his war strategy, and deficit spending to name but a few. Is he taking those punches from his supporters to tire them and remove their fight?

Obama ran his campaign on the premise of bringing hope back to the masses and changing the political tenor in Washing D.C. His message of hope and change seem to be fading from his supporters, who continue to see the same games played with the same people benefitting.

Obama’s hope a dope goes like this: Let’s start with healthcare; a majority of Americans and a large majority of Obama supporters want single payer healthcare. According to 16 separate polls taken from October 2003 to July 2009 between 49 – 75% of those polled would want to have a single payer healthcare system. One poll from Time magazine in July 2009 was the only poll where less than 50% favored single payer, but the 49% who approved of single payer was higher than the 46% who opposed it. What has Obama done with all these poll numbers that indicate Americans want single payer? He has tried to get Olympia Snowe (R-ME) to go along with a watered-down plan that insures some, taxes all and is a winner for the healthcare insurers. Hope a dope wins this round as Obama’s taken the best punches from the American people who want single payer and has worked closely with the healthcare CEOs to make sure it never happens.

How about the banking bailout?

While the Obama Administration is pledging up to $2.5 trillion in support for the troubled U.S. financial system, 56% of Americans oppose giving bankers any additional government money or any guarantees backed by the government.

via 56% Oppose Any More Government Help For Banks – Rasmussen Reports™.

July 20 (Bloomberg) — U.S. taxpayers may be on the hook for as much as $23.7 trillion to bolster the economy and bail out financial companies, said Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

via U.S. Rescue May Reach $23.7 Trillion, Barofsky Says (Update3) – Bloomberg.com.

Obama and the Fed bailed-out the banks to the tune of almost $24 trillion, yes, trillion.

On the other hand, unemployment is now 9.7% (17.5% if you include underemployed and discouraged workers).

The banking hope a dope goes to Obama again. The people are getting frustrated, but they are hanging in there to try and get some justice. Maybe the people can win the next round.

Let’s take a look at the auto bailout.

Americans Continue to Oppose GM, Chrysler Loans

Fifty-nine percent disapprove of the loans the government has made

via Americans Continue to Oppose GM, Chrysler Loans .

Again, the American people are fighting back against corruption, mismanagement and greed, but what did they gain? Not much. Chrysler and GM have laid-off tens of thousands, shuttered plants and moved manufacturing operations to China and Mexico. Another round goes to hope a dope.

A September 25 poll by the New York Times showed a majority, 32%, favored withdrawing troops from Afghanistan as compared to those who favored an increase in troops 29%. Need I say more? Hope a dope grabs another round.

And the latest hope a dope is the proposed February 2010 jobs bill that started out at $100 billion and was reduced by $85 billion in the senate to a paltry $15 billion. This shows a president who is losing control of the argument because he has neglected to live up to his campaign’s mantra of hope and change.

Although only 37 percent rate the President’s efforts to reduce the budget deficit as excellent or good, 71 percent saying reducing unemployment is more important. And voters favor 72 – 22 percent Obama’s $100 billion dollar package of tax cuts for small business and government spending to increase employment.

via National (US) Poll * February 11, 2010 * U.S. Voters Split On Obama, Do – Quinnipiac University – Hamden, Connecticut.

The latest poll from the New York Times/CBS News shows that hope a dope may be losing its effectiveness as Obama’s approval ratings have fallen from 68% in April 2009 to 46% in February 2010.

Obama Approval Rating

I was hoping - there’s that word again – that Obama was an honest broker who wanted to change the normal routine of giving the connected more power at the expense of the average voter, but I knew that it was a long shot at best. I didn’t vote for Obama, or McCain for that matter, since I’ve been hope a doped so often that I can no longer support major party candidates for president. It’s a pathetic state of affairs when the people are continually smacked around by hope a dope; but where else do they have to turn? Until we all realize that the current two-party system favors the lobbyists, the connected and the special interests, hope a dope will be all we deserve.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hearing; Winner by a knockout, hope a dope…………………..

In a previous article I wrote about Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein’s delusional relationship with God in Blankfein – “doing God’s work” or doing gods work? The sordid tale of how Goldman and its henchmen keep pillaging the taxpayer and infesting government with cronies continues in the following PBS videos from the News Hour: First segment, second segment:

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Many people are outraged that the banking system was given a generous and widely publicized $700 billion bailout, but that’s just the tip of the proverbial banking iceberg. What has been dramatically less publicized is the fact that the backstops that the fed have given the banks and other failed financial institutions such as Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie. Unfortunately, a large percentage of people are angry over a $790 billion stimulus program, which is one of the few job creation items that benefit the people, yet they don’t know that the banksters have held up the government for more than 30 times that $790 billion. I’ll let one of my favorite financial commentators explain what has happened behind the closed doors of the Fed and the Treasury:

There is an nice breakdown of the trillions in bailouts and backstops shown at Source of 23.7 Trillion Bailout Cost? SIGTARP Report Summary.

Financial System Support

It’s called “Total potential support” because not all of the money has actually been spent.  Much of the potential costs are associated to government guarantees for financial system transactions, which according to the financial institutions, are backed by a pile of worthless paper “assets”.

Two additional SIGTARP quarterly reports have been released since the July report with the $23.7 trillion reference.  True to government form, there is not much consistency in the look and feel of these average 250 page reports.  The section which contained the $23.7 trillion figure – “TARP in context with other programs”- has been removed from subsequent reports.  It’s likely still possible to extract the new figure with a painstaking comb through of the report.  My hunch is that this was intentional.  SIGTARP and the government agencies that created it do not want the true cost of the financial bailout known, or at least not easily known.

So if you are angry about supporting a dishonest, unethical, greedy financial system with $700 billion in bailouts, you now have 30 times more reason to be angry.

At least there is one Congressional representative that has the nerve to present the conflict of interest between the government and the banksters. Here’s Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) grilling Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner about the Goldman Sachs bailout: