They say the economy is moving in the right direction, that we should stay the course, that it takes time to pull out of the recession that began in late 2007.

In fact, things are getting worse.

The economy was creating 153,000 new jobs per month last year. That dropped during the first seven months of this year to an average of 139,000 per month. In August, we were down to 96,000.

The labor-participation rate, the share of the working-age population in the labor force (as either employed or looking for work), dropped to 63.5 percent in August, the lowest labor-participation rate in more than three decades. “The average length out of the job market continues to be a stunning 39 weeks
*Today’s unemployment rate would be 10.1 percent if the labor-participation rate was the same as it was in February 2010, when the job market allegedly bottomed.*

Measured against previous recessions and recoveries, federal reports show we’re doing about half as well as average. “The Joint Economic Committee reports that private payrolls have climbed only 4.3 percent in the last 30 months compared to a rate of 8.3 percent over a comparable time period for the other nine recoveries since World War II
The impact? Income data from the Census Bureau show that the median household income, adjusted for inflation, dropped by $4,019 from January 2009 to June 2012. On behalf of the president I AM SORRY!