A Year Later, We’re Still Waiting for that Summer Recovery

A new Wall Street Journal poll shows nearly half of Americans think the country is headed for another recession, and todays news isn't helping.

Not only was last year not a summer of recovery, but in the 365 days since that proclamation, it hasn't been a year of recovery! And the future isn't looking so bright either.

A new Wall Street Journal poll shows nearly half of Americans think the country is headed for another recession, and todays news isn't helping.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week is still above 400,000 (the level many economists equate with a healthy economy).This is the 10th straight week that applications have been high and employers added only 54,000 new jobs in May. The economy needs to generate at least 125,000 jobs per month just to keep up with population growth. At least twice that many are needed to bring down the unemployment rate - which stands above 9%.

Without a boost in hiring, consumer's incomes are stagnant and that means consumer spending70% of the overall economy--grew at a weak 2.2%annual rate, down from 4% in the previous quarter. That pushed down total economic growth to under 2%!

Manufacturing, which was supposed to be the bright spot in this so-called recover,is becoming anything but. A gauge of activity in the Philadelphia region fell this month for the first time in nine months to the lowest level in nearly two years.

Separately, builders broke ground on more new homes in May, but not enough to signal a recovery in the housing market. The rate of new home construction came in at 560,000 units per year--that pace is far below the 1.2 million new homes per year that must be built to sustain a healthy housing market.

This, as home prices continue to slide down more than 3.5% to the lowest level since 2003.

Bottom line: We're still waiting for that summer of recovery, yet one of Obama's top advisors, David Axelrod, recently said Americans don't care about all these numbers.

Guess what? They do care. These numbers reflect the struggles we're all facing in our day to day life; to Americans these aren't bumps in the road. We care and the president's team better to if they want to keep their jobs come next year.

Be sure to catch the Willis Report on the FOX Business Network every weekday from 5-6pm ET.