Economy still stinks

In case you missed this amid all the Obamacare hubub, here's the latest on Obama's Recovery Summer II:

The number of applications for unemployment benefits hovered last week near the highest level of the year, showing little improvement in the U.S. labor market.

Jobless claims decreased by 6,000 to 386,000 in the week ended June 23, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The prior week’s reading was revised up to 392,000 from 387,000, matching an April figure as the steepest of 2012. 

And if you happen to be, or are the parent of, a recent college graduate, this research from Rutgers University should make you think twice about your "Obama 2012" bumper sticker.

Just half of the college students who graduated during the Great Recession and its aftermath currently have full-time jobs, a new report says.

The survey, called "Chasing the American Dream: Recent College Graduates and the Great Recession" and conducted by Rutgers University’s John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, spoke to 444 people who graduated from college between 2006 and 2011.

Fifty-one percent of respondents had full-time jobs, the survey found, and 20 percent were in graduate school. Part-time workers made up 12 percent, while 11 percent were unemployed.

Bold added.  Our advice to the young:  unemployed college graduates, many of whom are facing a lifetime of student loan debt and fines for not buying health insurance, should refrain from voting for Obama again.