Posted on 11/08/2004 6:20:11 AM PST by OESY
Within days of re-election, President Bush was greeted by a wave of economic news -- including strong job-creation data -- that could strengthen his hand as he prepares ambitious plans to overhaul the tax code and revamp Social Security.
Prices on oil futures last week fell below $50 a barrel, a potential source of comfort for consumers and businesses that have been squeezed by the rising cost of energy. Stock prices rallied, a sign that economic uncertainties are easing with the end of the contentious election. Chain stores reported better-than-expected sales for October. The dollar declined, which could bolster exports in the months ahead. And perhaps most important, the Labor Department reported that job growth was much stronger than had been indicated in previous economic reports....
Oil prices and stock prices could easily reverse course, and employment statistics can change markedly from month to month. But after a period of uncertainty about the outlook, the latest news provides assurance that the recovery is firmly entrenched, creating new jobs and household income growth....
The increase was skewed higher by the recovery from hurricanes in August and September. But the report was surprisingly strong in many other respects....
Economists have been puzzled by the behavior of the U.S. labor force for months. Even though the job market started turning stronger more than a year ago, labor-force participation rates continued to decline. Long-term trends have been at play. More people are retiring early, staying home to care for families and going back to school to upgrade their skills. But underlying these trends, some economists interpreted the decline in labor-force participation as a sign that workers remained discouraged about the prospect of finding jobs and thus weren't looking for work. Now there are hints this tide is shifting....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
This would be the wave of good news that was supressed by MSM. It was bound to leak out sooner or later.
Our family is part of the labor force, but I don't know if we show up in the numbers quoted by the media. We are small business owners, or as sKerry would say, we're "rich."
Our lives would have changed for the worse had the communist won the election.
Just what Rush was always saying. Guess it's pretty obvious. The media starting to admit a 'wave' of 'new' good economic data after the election. This coulda been Kerry's rally!!! Too bad!
After any presidential election there will always be a wave of news, either good or bad. Depending on whether the incumbent administration is Republican or Democratic.
We need to make Congress act at the President's direction on tax code reform and simplification.
The less businesses pay in taxes, the more people they can afford to hire, or the more they can afford to pay for skilled labor. Only one benefit.
I'd also like to keep more of my money.
I find the timing of this information very troubling.
-Dan Rather
I don't understand the more complicated economic factors like speculating and oil prices, etc., but does anyone think that the overspeculating on oil was a ploy to throw the election to Kerry? If the liberal media is behind democrats in coverage, if the EU was bribed by Saddam to not support the Iraq liberation, doesn't it seem possible that some oil speculators deliberately drove up the price of oil to try and influence the vote? If not, why is oil dropping now?
There was an article here on FR about a week before the election that predicted a burst of good economic news just after President Bush was re-elected. It may have been written by a Freeper.
(steely)
Its more like the unemployment rate did not drop for awhile even though we recieved pretty good economic news for many months. My theory is that outsourcing has affected job growth in this country to that extent - which is a bad thing. However, 2004 has been a good year so sfar.
I am a small business owner and was absolutely shaking at the thought of sKerry winning. We need immediate tax reform.
I know, and a lot of small businesses were afraid too.
Now that the election is over, a subtle form of electioneering can begin. Without mentioning parties, the benefits of tax code reform to employees, and health care reform should be circulated.
We need to get a letter writing campaign set up, to inform the Democrats in Congress that being obstructionists for purely partisan reasons is going to cost them their jobs.
Congressmen and Senators are poll watchers... Especially the minority party members. We can influence them if people are properly educated to the issues on the table with Bush and the Republicans.
Reform based on responsible performance measurements are good, same old complex and corrupt status quo... bad.
We have had good economic news since republican took control of the Senate after the 2002 election. That forced the Jeffords/Da$$hole/Kerry/Kennedy/GodZilliary cabal out of control. When this tax and spend rat control was removed from the senate, the markets responded in 2003.
GW's tax reducing/elimination has been driving the economy forward and has erased the recession he inherited from the Clintoon/Gore clowns.
Of course the MSM and the gloomers and doomers would never let America know the positives.
Now no one cares about their lies and whines.
We will see more tax reforms and as a result stronger American businesses. This year and next year should be good for most auto pilot indexes.
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