[Mase]

Bush has the lowest ratings of his presidency on economic issues in the latest polls. gasoline prices, and the meltdown in private sector job security, compensation, pension elimination, etc - due to outsourcing and offshoring is the reason why.

You must be one of those who lives in John Edwards' other world. There is not one economic indicator out there that doesn't say these are very good times. Bush's approval rating is down because the MSM refuses to tell the truth about the economy. You read these threads every day on FR. The first comment is usually something about the MSM trying to make this look like the worst economy since Hoover.

The best way for a rat to get elected in 2008 is to adopt protectionist measures and send the economy into the tank. No way a rat gets elected president unless the economy is sucking wind. A sure way to make that happen is to roll up the isolationist drawbridge and eschew the lessons freer trade has taught us.

[oceanview]

and what I am telling you is that these "indicators" don't mean much to alot of real americans out there.

[hedgetrimmer]

There is not one economic indicator out there that doesn't say these are very good times.

How about the defict?

How about this?

The challenge will come once the price of imports begins to rise. At that point, Americans will have to produce for themselves much more of what they consume, or pay a lot more for the privilege. Ideally, the process would involve America becoming a much bigger producing nation, even stepping up its exports to Asia, while Asia, and especially China, takes up the role of consumer.

That is essentially the view of the Bush administration as outlined by Ben Bernanke, the newly appointed chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. "We probably have little choice except to be patient as we work to create" the necessary conditions for a reversal of roles, he said in a recent speech.

The president's own economic advisor says we have to get our manufacturing back or we're toast!