Those “glimmers of hope” for the start of the recovery met up with a dose of reality yesterday:

The president and the Federal Reserve chairman voiced cautious optimism yesterday that the economy could be beginning to stabilize. But the economy wasn’t cooperating. Retail sales dropped sharply in March, the government reported, and wholesale prices fell steeply. Both pieces of data underscore the hard slog the nation faces to emerge from its deep recession and the limitations of more optimistic talk from Washington. The stock market fell 2 percent, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index.

If you are in the White House you never want headlines like: “Weak Data Clash With Officials’ Call for Confidence.” But the problem may only get worse, despite the effort to cut out the gloom and doom talk which characterized the early days of his term.

The drag on consumer spending, which is responsible for about 70% of economic activity, is going to lag as long as job losses continues. As an MSNBC producer comments:

It’s still about jobs, jobs, jobs. Until the employment market starts showing signs of improvement, it will cast a pall over any ‘green shoots’ of growth poking up through the destruction left by the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression. That’s even though banks say they’re getting back in the black, home sales are perking up and inflation is low. It’s simple: No jobs means no spending, even though President Barack Obama sees a light at the end of the tunnel.

Perhaps the administration should have done more on private sector job creation and less on bailouts and government pork in the first three months. At this point there is no indication we’re getting much of anything out of the stimulus plan. But we sure did take on a lot of debt.