There have been many indicators that the U.S. is slowly pulling out of the current recession.  December 2009 was the first month since December 2007 that more jobs were added to the economy than lost.  Unemployment went down last month from 10 to 9.7 percent, and jobs were added in the health, education and professional services, and retail employment sectors.  The major factor the unemployment rate didn’t drop even more was because of the job losses in the housing sector, which continues to decline because of the housing bubbles collapse.

The following graph released from the Office of the Speaker was compiled with information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The graph shows the worst of the job loses were during the Bush Administration and jobs began to almost immediately recover after Obama was elected.  There were more jobs lost than added under Bush and more jobs added than lost under Obama.  Obama implemented stimulus spending to encourage economic growth that created new jobs and averted further job losses in most sectors.  The unemployment rate is a lagging indicator, so it recovers slower than net jobs added, which is why it is only now starting to recover.  With the current rate of job recovery we should start seeing a slow decline in the unemployment rate over the next few months.

Israeli Defense Force

Israeli and Obama administration officials have confirmed that the Bush administration sold weapons and other arms to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates in violation of the agreement with Israel to maintain the Israel Defense Forces edge over the Arab countries.  Haaretz reported, during George Bush’s last year in office his administration sold F-15s, advanced anti-ship missiles, smart bombs, and other weapons similar to what the Israeli army controls in violation of an agreement with Israel.

Bush administration officials believed they were arming the other Arab countries in order to combat any threat that Iran may have posed to them.  However, without the military advantage that Israel has maintained in the area in the past, Israel is now at a major disadvantage if those weapons were turned on them in the future.

The Obama administration said they want to maintain the pact and ensure Israel Defense Forces “qualitative edge” in the area.