Saturday, February 05, 2005
Talking Down the Economy
President George Bush's economic plan has brought America through one of history's worst economic bubbles, such that unemployment now stands at 5.2% (far lower than it was when Clinton was reelected due to his "miracle economy") and more than 2.2 million jobs were created last year.
So let's read how CNN is still reporting this amazing recovery:
Jobs still can't get in gearTheir own chart belies their spin:
The job market started the new year in much the same way as it finished out the old -- posting disappointing job growth.
The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. payrolls grew by 146,000 jobs in January, up from a revised 133,000 in December. But that was below the 200,000 new jobs economists were looking for, on average, according to a survey by Briefing.com.
January marked the seventh time in the last eight reports that economists had overestimated the number of jobs the economy created.
The unemployment rate fell to 5.2 percent from 5.4 in December, but that came mostly from a drop in the size of the labor force, not due to strong employment gains. Economists were looking for an unchanged reading.
"Some of the signals pointing to job market improvement simply did not bear fruit this month," said Robert Brusca of FAO-Economics, who had forecast a gain of 225,000 jobs. "The report makes the economy look even less like it is building a head of steam."
Those numbers look very solid to me. Somebody needs to inform CNN that the election is already over.
