I saw a stupid poll on CNN.com again the other day. It was asking the dumb masses if the US economy was in a recession. Over 80% of the sheep that responded agreed.
The media has been doing their best in perpetrating this fallacy and doing nothing to right the wrong information.
If the media cannot report the facts, then what are they good for.
Update: Fixed the misspelling in “Recession” in the title.
Yes job growth was twice what the expert analysts were predicting. I am beginning to wonder if these expert analysts are just making it up and phoning it in.
This is on the heels of better than expected GDP news for the month of October.
It seems those experts and analysts whose job it is to know these things, are about as good as I am about guessing what the future will bring.
U.S. Economy: Expansion Was Faster Than Estimated
Surging exports and business spending propelled U.S. growth to the fastest pace in more than a year before turmoil in the credit markets forced the Federal Reserve to warn of a bleaker outlook.
Gross domestic product rose at a 4 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said in Washington, up from an initial estimate of 3.4 percent. The median forecast of economists polled by Bloomberg News was 4.1 percent.
The figures may be the peak of the expansion for this year as the cost of borrowing increased in August and the Fed said that risks to growth “increased appreciably.” In a sign the job market is weakening, the Labor Department said today claims for unemployment benefits climbed to the highest level since April. A further report showed house prices in the second quarter rose at the slowest pace in a decade.
These guys are about as good as weather forecasters here in Indiana. Not good, until the day of. But hell I could even tell you the day of, so what good are they.
The great economy is yet another one of those things that democrats are refusing to tell the truth about. More to the point they are lying about it.
Fred Thompson speaks truth with facts about how well the economy is doing.
The economic reality I’m talking about, and about which I’ve written on numerous occasions, is how well our country is doing economically thanks to the hard work of the American people, the innovation and competition our free market encourages, as well as the Bush tax cuts that helped spur 5½ years of economic growth.
Lower tax rates have increased economic growth to such a degree that we have been breaking tax-revenue records.
These are facts that liberals will flat out refuse to believe.
Economy Growth Is Best in a Year
The economy snapped out of a lethargic spell and grew at a 3.4 percent pace in the second quarter, the strongest showing in more than a year. A revival in business spending was a main force behind the energized performance.
This is all Bush’s Fault.
From the Investors Business Daily: Bush’s Real Record
Economy: The mantra among critics of President Bush is that he’s been “incompetent” as chief executive. To which we respond: Looked at the U.S. economy lately?
In his “State of the Economy” speech Wednesday, Bush expressed justifiable pride in his economic accomplishments. Our good friend Larry Kudlow keeps calling it “the greatest story never told.” And indeed it is.
The Bush-is-a-failure mantra is, quite simply, out of touch with reality. What the economy’s done in the past six years, especially in view of what Bush faced on entering office, has been nothing short of remarkable.
Reference the article for some great actual facts and figures. Facts and figures, the MSM has failed to report on honestly.
From Breitbat.com: Economists
upgrade US outlook after surprisingly strong data
“Economists are hastily upgrading their forecasts for the US economy after a series
of surprisingly strong reports suggesting the so-called “soft landing” may be over
and growth is accelerating.Over the past week, surprises have come in stronger-than-expected reports on US
job creation, the trade balance and retail sales — all key contributors to economic
activity.Lehman Brothers chief US economist Ethan Harris on Friday boosted his forecast
for fourth quarter 2006 growth to an annualized rate of 3.3 percent, a leap from the
firm’s prior call for just 2.0 percent growth.”
Now I realize I get this from the MSM but, I am not expecting to see this played up big
time in the MSM. They are just covering their bases.
The economy has been strong for years now and evil corporations and small businesses
have been adding new employees to the payroll for much of that same time. Thankfully
I pay attention to more than the MSM and so I have been up on this for sometime now.
From the Associated Press: House passes minimum wage increase
WASHINGTON - The Democratic-controlled House voted Wednesday to increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, bringing America’s lowest-paid workers a crucial step closer to their first raise in a decade.
The vote was 315-116, with more than 80 Republicans joining Democrats to pass it.
“You should not be relegated to poverty if you work hard and play by the rules,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
Steny Hoyer must be an idiot if he believes the crap that is coming out of his pie hole. I suspect he does not and it is just politics of the lowest common denominator.
There are few main reasons workers make a minimum wage; (1) if you are making the minimum wage it probably means that you are not qualified to make that, but the only reason you are is because the Feds or the State mandate. (2) if you are making the minimum wage, you are probably a teenager working at a fast food joint. (3) you are retired, looking to supplement your paltry social security check and probably just to get out of the house and have something to do. Those probably cover just about 90% of those making minimum wage.
The simple fact as I see it, if they raise the minimum wage this will in turn raise the cost of goods and services, in turn putting these poor saps back in exactly the same place they started if not worse off.
From Reuters: Big
Oil profits in danger as price of crude slides
“NEW YORK (Reuters) - Energy stocks have taken a beating as crude oil prices plummeted
this week, but oil producers will really feel the pain on the bottom line, threatening
to wipe out billions of dollars in profits.If this week’s $5.50 oil price drop is sustained over the year, Exxon Mobil Corp.
would lose nearly $3 billion in profit — about $540 million for every dollar off
the price of oil per barrel, analysts said.Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips , the second- and third-largest U.S. oil companies,
would lose about $330 million and $200 million, respectively, for every dollar off
the price of oil per barrel per year.”
I doubt we will be hearing any concern from the looney’s about this.
If the general public only had a smidgen of knowledge of economics, they would probably
understand the problem here.
This was good news to see today. The Maryland Law against only Wal-Mart was overturned today.
From Chicago Sun Times: Thousands
apply for jobs at new Wal-Mart
Eighteen months after the Chicago City Council torpedoed a South Side Wal-Mart,
24,500 Chicagoans applied for 325 jobs at a Wal-Mart opening Friday in south suburban
Evergreen Park, one block outside the city limits.The new Wal-Mart at 2500 W. 95th is one block west of Western Avenue, the city
boundary.Of 25,000 job applicants, all but 500 listed Chicago addresses, said John Bisio,
regional manager of public affairs for Wal-Mart.“In our typical hiring process, you’re pretty successful if you have 3,000 applicants,”
he said. “They were really crowing about 11,000 in Oakland, Calif., last year. So
to get 25,000-plus applications and counting, I think is astonishing.”
Great job for the folks at Wal-Mart. I was glad to see you thumb your nose at Chicago.
This is the best part of all of this:
The 141,000-square-foot store has 36 departments, a “tire and lube express,” vision
center, Subway restaurant, pharmacy, garden center and drugstore. It will sell some
groceries but no fresh produce or meats and no liquor. It is expected to generate
$1 million in sales and property tax in the first year — a windfall in a village
that collects about $3 million a year in sales taxes, said Evergreen Park Mayor James
J. Sexton. Evergreen Plaza, with 100 stores, generates about $2 million.
I would rather see a more deserving city like Evergreen Park to get the tax revenue
than a bunch of left wing liberals in Chicago that are trying to oppress free enterprise.
Now if they would just do the same thing in Maryland by moving the necessary number
of jobs out of Maryland to fall below the 10,000 mark, that would just make my day.
Wal-Mart, have the pop-corn shrimp ready, I am on my way.
This is the Headline: Job growth below expectations in December
This was the story:
The Labor Department said the unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent from 5 percent in November. During the full year 2005, payrolls grew by nearly 2.2 million new jobs.
While the December total of new jobs came in well under forecasts for 200,000, it came with an upwardly revised 305,000 new jobs in November — the strongest hiring since April 2004 — instead of 215,000 the department reported a month ago.
The unemployment rate is 4.9 percent. Not in my memory at least, can I remember that the rate has ever been 4.9 percent. This is a rate most European countries would give a pant load for and yet it hardly rates to be the headline.
God forbid, that Glenn Sommers would headline his articles with something that reflected the good/true news on the economy. That must be against policy at Reuters.
Read the entire article and you will notice that the majority of the article is of good news. Good news of the economy that the MSM is trying hard to subdue. Also notice a couple jabs that just had to be put in, to make I guess what Reuters considers an attempt to be ”Fair and Balanced”. Would not want to let the news be too good.
UPDATE: Over at Ankle Biting Pundits, they have an example of the same bias surprisingly, at The New York/DNC Times. Check it out.
From the AP: Jobless Claims Plunge to Five-Year Low
The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in more than five years last week, providing strong evidence that the labor market is shaking off the effects of a string of devastating hurricanes.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for unemployment benefits dropped by 35,000 to 291,000, the smallest number since Sept. 23, 2000, when the economy was in the concluding months of the longest economic expansion in history.
Nice!
Great article from Michael Barone: The
Wal-Mart Model
Wal-Mart has been much more skilled at adapting to market conditions. Its computers
keep it instantly apprised of sales, and its distribution system keeps stores stocked
with items consumers want. Someone making a 3-ton car cannot adapt so quickly, but
even so it still takes GM years to get new models on the market — and often they’re
not what consumers turn out to want.Then there are employment costs. Yes, Wal-Mart does not pay high wages or provide
healthcare benefits to all employees. But not all workers today want full-time jobs
(they may want to be home when kids return from school) or health insurance (many
are covered by a spouse’s policy or Medicare). And Wal-Mart promotes from within:
You can work your way up from the store floor to management ranks. GM and the UAW,
in contrast, insist on a sharp line between labor and management, with all employees
working full-time and getting full benefits. That made sense when almost all workers
were men supporting families. But it is a poor fit with a labor market in which many
workers are women, teenagers or retirees seeking extra income.
He does a great job in illustrating how companies like General Motors being strapped
to labor unions have been forced into a corner. The years of being able to pass high
labor costs on to consumers are coming to an end because of competition in the market
place. By contrast Wal-Mart is not strapped to labor unions. It can hire and fire
as it sees fits and does not have to pay employees more than the market demands.
Then there are employment costs. Yes, Wal-Mart does not pay high wages or provide
healthcare benefits to all employees. But not all workers today want full-time jobs
(they may want to be home when kids return from school) or health insurance (many
are covered by a spouse’s policy or Medicare). And Wal-Mart promotes from within:
You can work your way up from the store floor to management ranks. GM and the UAW,
in contrast, insist on a sharp line between labor and management, with all employees
working full-time and getting full benefits. That made sense when almost all workers
were men supporting families. But it is a poor fit with a labor market in which many
workers are women, teenagers or retirees seeking extra income.
He also made this point:
Wal-Mart has been much more skilled at adapting to market conditions. Its computers
keep it instantly apprised of sales, and its distribution system keeps stores stocked
with items consumers want. Someone making a 3-ton car cannot adapt so quickly, but
even so it still takes GM years to get new models on the market — and often they’re
not what consumers turn out to want.
Read the whole thing.
From the AP: Post-Christmas
Sales Keep Shoppers Buying
DEARBORN, Mich. — Shoppers armed with newly obtained gift cards and poorly greeted
presents returned to malls and stores in search of returns, post-Christmas discounts
and fresh merchandise.The day after Christmas offered merchants another shot at getting consumers to
open their wallets, with retailers hoping customers would be lured by sales and come
to spend their gift cards, which are recorded as sales only after they are redeemed.
Then we have this from SF Chronicle: Amazon
reports record holiday sales Online shoppers boost retailers’ numbers by 24%
Online retailers are enjoying a
cheerful holiday season, with industry leader Amazon.com reporting record sales during
the period. Through Dec. 22, sales for the industry were up 24 percent from the previous year
to $17.5 billion, according to ComScore Networks Inc. By the end of the month, Internet
sales are expected to reach $19 billion.Analysts had forecast strong growth in online retailing during the holidays, driven
by an increase in the number of shoppers seeking convenience, free shipping, and ways
to avoid sales taxes and high gasoline prices.>
I bet if this wasn’t such good news,
we would be hearing more about it. It would be front page news on The New York/DNC
Times I am sure.UPDATE: Wizbang has a nice
array of links from the media.
