BMO Chief Economist on US Great Recession

Sherry Cooper, the chief economist at Bank of Montreal has this to say in the BMO's economic research group's weekly publication Focus:

The abysmal U.S. jobs report crowns a two-week period of shockingly weak data for virtually every sector of the economy. While the slowdown in manufacturing might well be reflective of the disruptions emanating from Japan’s earthquake, and the weakness in consumer spending might be reflective of the earlier rise in food and energy prices, there is clearly more going on than just these temporary headwinds. Housing and jobs are crucial to a sustainable rebound in confidence and growth. And both are contingent upon confidence in the longer-term outlook.

... If this is the cyclical peak, the U.S. economy is far from healthy. This extremely difficult period calls for cooperation, not just bipartisan cooperation, but cooperation between government and business as well. Leadership is essential. The President, along with Congressional leadership, Geithner and Bernanke need to meet with business leaders to develop a private-public Back to Work program that rivals the Depression-era New Deal. This time, government cannot do it alone, but government can provide the pro-business environment to re-kindle confidence in the outlook for the future.

She's calling for a CCC and WPA level effort to get the 14 million unemployed back to work. Obama has pussy-footed long enough pretending that his anemic "stimulus" program provided sufficient impulse into the economy. It hasn't. It is utterly obvious it hasn't. And Obama needs to step up and do what is needed.

She calls for "cooperation" from the Republicans, but they won't provide it. They are political hacks more interested in destroying America in order to win power than to actually help lead the country out of the worst recession since the Great Depression.