Ping to my freeper pals. A Bushbot run web site.
PKM, here's my commercial for your FR Blog List. Let me know how that's going.
Bobthenailer, thank you and freepmail me at your convenience.
Posted on 09/21/2003 6:34:09 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter
President Bush has sounded upbeat about the economy of late: and he should. His tax cuts and Fed rate cuts are proving naysayers wrong. Not only did the economy grow at a stronger than expected 3.1% rate during the wartime second quarter, but the third and fourth quarters are on track for what could be 6.0% real GDP growth.
Retail sales show a 12.1% annualized increase in the June-August period. Housing starts are at a 17-year high, new and existing home sales have set new records this year, and disposable personal income is up an annualized 9.4% in the past three months. Productivity growth in the non-farm business sector expanded at an astounding 6.8% in the second quarter, while spending on computers and peripheral equipment jumped 57.5% at an annualized rate. The future looks just as bright. …
Under the radar screen, high tech is making a serious comeback. … Even in the services sector -- which many thought immune to efficiency gains -- productivity is rising. With it, incomes and profits will rise, setting the stage for a strong economy and equity market in the coming election year. …Yet these productivity gains have created at least one problem. Gains in efficiency are one factor undermining job growth in this recovery when compared with those in the past.
In late August, the AFL-CIO issued a press release titled "U.S. Workers Struggle in Worst Job Slump Since Great Depression." They said this with a straight face even though, at that time, the unemployment rate was 6.2%. In the Depression it was above 20% and in the early 1980s, at the height of union membership, unemployment was 10.8%. … While manufacturing output has held steady as a share of GDP, manufacturing employment has fallen from 25% of all jobs in 1970 to 11% today. …
… creative solutions are allowing small businesses to succeed despite extraordinary obstacles. In fact, they are creating jobs while large businesses are eliminating them. We know this because there is a big divergence between the two surveys of employment run by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the Establishment Survey, non-farm payroll jobs fell by 93,000 in August, creating a total job loss of 437,000 for the first eight months of 2003. …
The BLS also collects data directly from households … This data is used to calculate the unemployment rate, which fell to 6.1% in August from 6.2% in July. Interestingly, the Household Survey shows that 1.186 million new jobs have been created this year. …
In the end, the jobs picture isn't as good as it could be, but not as bad as demagogues or some data suggest. Virtually every sector of the economy is booming today, especially high-tech. Weak job growth is an anomaly and cannot last.
With the capital gains tax rate lower than at any time since 1941 and dividend tax rates cut by 60%, the 2003 Bush tax cuts have stimulated venture capital investment, mergers and acquisition activity, and the stock market. … So while partisans will continue to produce pessimistic analyses, there should be no doubt that this economy is gathering momentum. The strength of economic activity will surprise many, just as it did in the early '80s following the Reagan tax cuts. George W. Bush should get the credit this time.
If, fortuitously, you were able to correct all the government regulations you cited (which would be good), you would still have the corporate governance problems I cited.
Removing the government regulations are neccessary (agreed) but not sufficient (corporate governance needs to return to sound business and economic fundamentals).
Both require fixing.
About Iraq and how the war is going:
Being sarcastic, Ann Coulter said it's notable how the situation in Iraq suddenly worsened when the imbedded reporters left their units. Worst casing is what we now see, read, and hear from the mainstream media.
The lovely Robin Wright, LATimes Middle East Expert (almost a regular traveling companion of Colin Powell), said on Meet The Press yesterday that except for specific hot pockets, Americans have achieved significant success in most of the country. She just returned from there and I think I recall her being pleasantly surprised at what she saw.
Just this morning I'm listening to Neal Boortz tell about a letter he got from a Georgia father whose son is in Iraq. The son's unit has an Iraqi, and when the unit was assigned to the Iraqi soldier's village, the entire village threw a huge party for the unit. That's just one good example we didn't hear, and I think it's smart to ask how many others we haven't heard.
The economy:
You mentioned seeing white collar jobs leaving the country. I've seen articles about that too....specifically mentioned the jobs that are moving to India. I'm sure this is happening, and I remember all the complaints last year on a 60 Minutes segment, about how the very brilliant, extremely well educated Indian computer geeks are coming here to capture all the best jobs.
Unemployment definitely a problem for Bush, but evidently the democrats are paying attention to all the leading indicators which are signaling in strong measure, that Bush's economic plan is working. I think Democrats have figured out that the economy won't be their strong attack line after all, which might explain why Clark entered the race. (I think if the economy were really the best weapon for Democrats, Gebhardt would be doing better.)
melchizedek, I don't think either one of us is completely incorrect in how we are sizing up the war or the economy. We just weigh what we think we know to be true, by our own measure.
"Media's dark cloud a danger
Falsely bleak reports reduce our chances of success in Iraq"
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0903/22international.html?urac=n&urvf=10642373241680.28346530679213333
some dimwit east coast elitist financial journalist telling me everything's a-ok.
Ping to my freeper pals. A Bushbot run web site.
PKM, here's my commercial for your FR Blog List. Let me know how that's going.
Bobthenailer, thank you and freepmail me at your convenience.
Accounting scandals. CEOs falsifying their resumes. Investment bankers being indicted. Biased research. Auditing firms that look the other way in exchange for money. Companies granting executives millions of stock options, giving them a huge incentive to cash out and leave. Companies hiring auditors to do nonaudit work. Market timing & late trading scandals at Funds & Brokerages. Enron. Adelphia. WorldCom. Arthur Anderson. Qwest. Xerox. Imclone. Martha Stewart. Freddie Mac derivatives....
Then there's he whole gray area of pro-forma reporting of company financials, pension asset valuations, off-book stock option expenses...
There are many fine companies in which to invest or work for....but they must be judged on a case-by-case basis.
We swim with sharks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
