JK! The economy’s still in the dumps

A weekly round-up of hopeless recession news.

• We lost another 85,000 jobs in December, tempering hopes for a swift and sustained recovery from the Great Recession. The unemployment rate remains at 10 percent. [NYT]

Thanks to rising unemployment, Obama’s numbers aren’t looking too good

Something tells us that face won't look so smug in 2010.

The NYT reports that two new polls showed that President Obama’s approval rating had dipped below 50 percent for the first time.

Polls by Gallup and Quinnipiac University at the end of last week showed that Mr. Obama’s job approval rating had dropped below 50 percent, though not by much: it was 49 percent in the Gallup poll and 48 percent in the Quinnipiac poll.

Mr. Obama’s poll numbers reflect an array of challenges that have combined to create a sour climate for him. The unemployment rate has jumped above 10 percent and shows no sign of declining. At this point, even if Mr. Obama cannot be blamed for causing the economic decline, Americans seem increasingly impatient with him to fix it.

In fact, many of his biggest supporters are now writing scathing editorials against him. Arianna Huffington raises the question: will unemployment be Barack Obama’s Katrina?