Not what the president wanted to hear

The new employment numbers weren’t what the President wanted to hear. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The new employment numbers weren’t what the President wanted to hear.

And as CBS’ Moneywatch’s Jill Schlesinger points out not they weren’t what ANYBODY wanted to hear. Especially the retail numbers.

“Actually a fall of 34,000 in March – very unexpected there,” Schlesinger said.

And yes the official unemployment rate went down but as economist Peter Morici will tell you, that’s not good news either.

“Unemployment fell only because more Americans decided not to look for work,” Morici said. “Discouraged, they just sat down.”

And as economist Antony Davies said – it’s actually even worse than that.

“If you take a job part-time or you take a job that is at a much lower payscale then you were at before, on the books you’re counted as EMPLOYED,” Davies said. “Despite the fact, that you really aren’t fully employed.”

But what about the stock market … if the recovery is sputtering, what do you do about your retirement account? Back to Schlesinger who is also a former investment advisor.

“Well, I would say relax, first of all,” she said. “This is one report. It’s one day. You are a long term investor. So we don’t bail when we get one report.

Dang straight. Real investors don’t bail. We … actually, remind me why we don’t bail …

“What would you have done?” Schlesinger asks. “You would have sold at the end of the first quarter, when we had a fantastic first quarter. So just make sure you stay on top of it you keep your balance in line with your goals and do that every single quarter four times a year. That’s all I’m asking you to do. Rebalance four times a year and you’ll stay out of trouble.”

Rebalance four times a year and don’t bail.

“Hey,” Schlesinger added, “don’t get to despondent by the way. The stock market is up 20 percent from October.”