"The Worst Economy Since The Great Depression" Gets Even Worse
March 17, 2006
(Foxnews)
The Dow climbed 26.41, or 0.23 percent, to 11,279.65, its highest level since reaching 11,301.74 on May 21, 2001.
"Luck o' the Irish?" :)
The unemployment rate has been below 5% for many months now.
That is considered full employment by any sane economist.
However (bold by Republicus):
Andrew Taylor
(Associated Press)
WASHINGTON - Congress pushed the ceiling on the national debt to nearly $9 trillion Thursday, and the House and Senate promptly voted for major spending initiatives for the war in Iraq, hurricane relief and education.
The Senate, on a 52-48 vote, sent President Bush a measure allowing the government to borrow an additional $781 billion and preventing a first-ever default on Treasury notes. The move allows lawmakers and the president to pay for the war in Iraq without raising taxes or cutting popular domestic programs.
They have to borrow $781 billion to pay the interest on borrowed money. :(
posted by John | 6:19 PM
2 Comments:
You're absolutely right. Heavy deficit spending is bad enough. Raising an already-high debt ceiling to avoid default on our bonds is a genuine economic indicator, and it's hardly rosy. Here's hoping that Iraq becomes a full and free democracy and a good trading partner for the United States. That could help us in the long run with the terrible cost of this war.
As for the optimistic reports about employment, etc., employment just isn't as relevant a sign of a healthy economy as it used to be. The reason? Many of the jobs created in the past few years are low-paying service-industry jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, the decent-paying manufacturing jobs are evaporating like a puddle in the desert as U.S. companies try to remain competitive by shifting their labor to cheap overseas operations.
I'll raise a tankard of grog to the future of the good ol' U.S. of A. and hope that we'll be all right. Let's just hope some of our larger debt-holders don't decide to cash in their chips and trade Treasurys for E.U. bonds.
Welcome, Anonymous.
"You're absolutely right. Heavy deficit spending is bad enough. Raising an already-high debt ceiling to avoid default on our bonds is a genuine economic indicator, and it's hardly rosy. Here's hoping that Iraq becomes a full and free democracy and a good trading partner for the United States. That could help us in the long run with the terrible cost of this war."
Ditto.
"As for the optimistic reports about employment, etc., employment just isn't as relevant a sign of a healthy economy as it used to be."
Understood, but it was demagogically used by the Democrats/Bush-Hating Left in the last presidential campaign cycle as *the* indicator (and so "justifying" the charge that the growing economy in the fall of 2004 was "The Worst Economy Since The Great Depression" because of gross job losses since President Bush first took office).
It was irresponsibly-opportunistic, deceiving, and fear-mongering propaganda.
They were "talking down the economy"--a charge levied at Candidate Bush in 2000 when he warned of an approaching Recession!
"The reason? Many of the jobs created in the past few years are low-paying service-industry jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics."
Well, a job's a job...
"Meanwhile, the decent-paying manufacturing jobs are evaporating like a puddle in the desert as U.S. companies try to remain competitive by shifting their labor to cheap overseas operations."
Right. Ross Perot's "giant sucking sound"--only not south of the Rio Grande, but across the Pacific...
Well, that's globalization for ya.
And here's the irony: While the Left screams loudest about the immigration of jobs overseas, they simultaneously make it costlier for corporations to operate with all the imposed profit-choking union rules and environmental regulations-- things you won't find in the countries which are supposedly "better" than America ("better" by virtue of not being Evil America!).
So, as usual, the Left's good intentions backfire and what do they do?
Blame the Right (i.e. "corporatism").
"I'll raise a tankard of grog to the future of the good ol' U.S. of A. and hope that we'll be all right. Let's just hope some of our larger debt-holders don't decide to cash in their chips and trade Treasurys for E.U. bonds."
Yes. But we should be prepared for that possibility (if not probability).
Anyway, the globalizing, economic forces are a natural progression and should not be stopped.
The challenge is to ensure that the United States maintains its pole-positioning and stays on top and at the vanguard of progress.
However, as you've indicated, we've made ourselves vulnerable...
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