Sen. Tester (D-MT) says that Obama didn't stay focused on jobs and the economy

Makes sense, Obama himself did say that he "forgets [the magnitude of the recession]"

Sen. Jon Tester stands by President Barack Obama on issues like health care reform and withdrawing troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, but often thinks the Democratic leader doesn’t go far enough where rural Montana issues are concerned.

In an interview at the Missoulian on Friday, the first-term senator from Big Sandy said Obama didn’t stay focused enough on stimulating jobs and the economy after the financial meltdown of 2008. Passage of his Small Company Capital Formation Act in April – to help employers raise money for expansion – could have been done two years ago and sped up the recovery, he said.

While I like that Tester is saying this, and it will make a great ad for Romney or a Super PAC to run, I don't think he is correct. The sluggish economy isn't because Obama forgot to focus on it enough - it is because he tried to use his recession as a way to further expand the power of the government.

Instead of making it easier for companies to form and to hire, Obama used his recession to push for an expensive, government controlled health care system. He poured hundreds of billions of dollars into make work programs that are neither stimulative nor effective ways to promote long term growth. He has strangled businesses with new regulations and the threat of taxes so that they don't know if they will be able to afford to open a new plant or hire new employees.

Basically everything Obama has done during his recession has only helped prolong it. If Obama would stop trying to use his recession to further government control then the economy would improve but we all know that will never happen. Thanks to Obama's "never let a crisis go to waste" policy America will continue to suffer for as long as he is President.

Weekly Initial Jobless Claims:

Revised upward.... again.

In the week ending April 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 388,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 389,000. The 4-week moving average was 381,750, an increase of 6,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 375,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending April 14, unchanged from the prior week.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 14 was 3,315,000, an increase of 3,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,312,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,311,750, a decrease of 9,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,321,500.

That makes 59 of the last 60 weeks where the initial jobless claims has been revised upward. Of course, by putting out a lower number initially and then revising it upward the very next the Labor Department, and by extension the Obama Administration, is able to claim that initial jobless numbers are declining week in and week out.

Over the last five weeks initial jobless claims have increased by approximately 30,000 but the Labor Department has reported that number as declining week in and week out. Jon Corzine, the criminal and Obama fundraising bundler, did the same thing in New Jersey in the months leading up to his race against Christie.

I know that the initial numbers are never going to be spot on but over the course of 60 weeks you should see upward, and downward revisions. Yet, we consistently see upward revisions with the administration claiming that the new numbers are a "decrease." There is something fishy going on and Obama needs to be called on it.