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If ever there was a market test of economic policy, the last three years have been it. The stock market has recovered from its implosion in Bill Clinton's last year in office, unemployment is down to 4.7%, and growth has averaged 3.9% in the three years since those tax cuts passed--well above the post-World War II average and more than twice the growth rate in Euroland. Yes, gas prices are high and interest rates are rising, which helps to explain the anxiety felt by some of the public. But these headwinds are all the more reason to be impressed by...

March 30, 2006--Fifty-five percent (55%) of Americans say they are better off today than they were four years ago. A Rasmussen Reports national opinion poll of 5,000 adults found that 36% disagree and say they are not better off. The sense of progress is found across most demographic groups. Fifty-six percent (56%) of men and 54% of women say they are better off today. That view is shared by 55% of white Americans, 52% of black Americans, and 58% of all other Americans. There are some difference--retired Americans are less likely than working age Americans to say they are better...

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. (snip) The decline of 35,000 claims was much better than Wall Street had been expecting and bolstered the belief that the labor market is on the mend after a rough period in the fall when Gulf Coast hurricanes caused the loss of more than 600,000 jobs over a period of four months. The total for weekly jobless claims was...

Former GE Chairman and business management guru Jack Welch has some advice for President George W. Bush: Start bragging about the economy. Welch told Fox News Channel that President Bush has much to be proud of with regard to the economy, but he has to get out there and sell himself - and his accomplishments - to the American people to let them know about it. "President Bush put a tax bill through that supported capital formation and risk taking,” Welch said. "We’ve created 2 million jobs a year after the 9/11 attacks. That’s a remarkable accomplishment. Bush has to...

George W. Bush is laying a claim to be the President who did the best job creating jobs for blacks. Currently, black unemployment is 9.4%, which is significantly lower than the 10% it averaged in the Clinton years. The current rate is also much lower than the average black unemployment rate over the past 30 years, which is 12.4%.

The Bush years have seen an economic boom take place among the world's developing nations, according to my analysis of the CIA world fact book, and www.indexmundi.com, an internet site which keeps historical record of past CIA world fact books. This article is merely describing a positive trend that appears to be benefiting billions of the world’s poor. I make no inference as to why it is happening, apart from the title tease; I do find it ironic, however, that it is occurring at this time: Among those who most vocally profess concern for the world’s poor, their most hated...

The personal, commercial and civic desolation left by Hurricane Katrina has inevitably bred comparisons to another scene of unthinkable loss and ruin: lower Manhattan after 9/11. While the recovery effort on the Gulf Coast is unique, one area in which New York's experience provides an example is its support for small business reconstruction. Like Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 attacks destroyed or crippled thousands of the smallest local businesses and nonprofits... the "soft" infrastructure of any commercial or industrial district.... After 9/11, Seedco became the primary organization assisting these businesses. We tailored a specific response to the challenges faced... Our approach...

Many organizations in the MSM have tried to label Bush as a lame duck because of the Hurrican Katrina situation. Did anyone notice that the DOW went up 80+ points after the day of his speech? Business operators are enthused at the state of the economy and this will only attract more foreign investment. The rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina can only be a success. The true test will be on October 15th, the biggest day of the New World Order history. If Iraq is successful in passing the Constitution foreign investment into the U.S. will sky rocket, especially if rebuilding...

The government promised banks a hands-off approach in overseeing nearly $5 billion in Sept. 11 recovery aid to small businesses. What it got in return was numerous loans to companies that didn't need terror relief - or even know they were getting it, The Associated Press found.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - In the name of helping businesses hurt by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the federal government approved nearly $111 million worth of loan guarantees and low-interest loans for a motley mix of Pennsylvania enterprises, including doughnut shops, a bowling alley, an exercise gym, a flour mill and a tree nursery. The U.S. Small Business Administration provided almost $5 billion through a mix of direct loans and federal guarantees for bank-issued loans. The SBA loans carried low-interest rates and payments deferred for two years; the guarantees assured banks that taxpayers would cover any defaults, and the government...

The government promised banks a hands-off approach in overseeing nearly $5 billion in Sept. 11 recovery aid to small businesses. What it got in return was numerous loans to companies that didn't need terror relief — or even know they were getting it, The Associated Press found. "Had we known it was 9/11 money, we would not have borrowed it," said John Adams, a vice president of Brankle Brokerage and Leasing in Marion, Ind., who didn't know until informed by AP that his company's $1.33 million loan had been drawn by his bank from a program created by Congress to...

The government's $5 billion effort to help small businesses recover from the Sept. 11 attacks was so loosely managed that it gave low-interest loans to companies that didn't need terrorism relief — or even know they were getting it. And while some at New York's Ground Zero couldn't get assistance they desperately sought, companies far removed from the devastation — a South Dakota country radio station, hair salons in Monroe, a Virgin Islands perfume shop, a Mukilteo pet-grooming shop and more than 100 Dunkin' Donuts and Subway sandwich shops — had no problem winning the government-guaranteed loans.

SEP. 9 2:31 P.M. ET Four years after the worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, nearly three quarters of Americans believe the government did a good job helping the economy recover from Sept. 11. An AP-Ipsos poll found there was general satisfaction with the economic relief efforts from Congress and the Bush administration among people in all gender, race, educational and age categories.

First, more Americans have jobs today than at any other time in history. Second, over the past two decades or so, the U.S. has created more than 40 million jobs — twice as many as Europe and Japan combined. And third, the U.S. has one of the lowest jobless rates of all developed nations. It was only a year ago that John Kerry was blasting the “jobless recovery.” Lou Dobbs was flogging “outsourcing” every night on CNN as a sign of peril for the American workforce. That criticism now looks wildly off base. The 5% jobless rate today is almost...

Silicon Valley employment expanded in July, the first month since the dot-com bust that more people were earning paychecks than a year earlier. According to a state report released Friday, Santa Clara and San Benito county employers tallied 871,300 positions on their payrolls last month -- 600 more jobs than in July 2004. It represented a barely-there increase of 0.1 percent. ``It's just crossed that number by a hair's breadth, but you could say it's a landmark in that it's positive for the first time,'' said Steven Cochrane, senior economist at Economy.com. He cautioned it's still too early to celebrate...

In July 207,000 jobs were created, above expectations, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.0% Upward revisions for May and June as well.

When it comes to economic policy, ...Bush has all the luck. He's like a drunk who wanders across a six-lane highway and somehow never quite gets smushed. 1-Bush proposed enormous tax cuts to shore up his conservative credentials in the 2000 primaries. ...after the first reckless cuts were enacted, along came the perfect after-the-fact justification: terrorism. Suddenly people were terrified about air traffic grinding to a standstill, consumers being too frightened to go shopping and buildings being uninsurable. The economic boost from the tax cuts seemed almost prescient. 2-the post-Sept. 11 economic trough ended in time for Bush's reelection. Bush...

Growth clocked in at a solid 3.4 percent in the spring quarter, a sign that record-high energy prices did little to impair the economy, the Commerce Department reported yesterday. Record spending on housing, steady spending by consumers and businesses and a big drop in the trade deficit all contributed to the pace of expansion, which was somewhat slower than the first quarter's 3.8 percent annual rate. But while sales of autos were strong, they served primarily to empty full lots at dealerships, contributing to a massive drawdown in inventories that subtracted substantially from growth during the quarter, the department said....

The economy grew at an annual rate of 3.4 percent in the second quarter on the strength of consumer spending, investments and exports, the government reported today. The report from the Commerce Department showed broad and sustained growth in areas like software, housing, car sales and government spending, with few signs of inflation. It was the ninth straight quarter of growth exceeding 3 percent. As expected, the gross domestic product slowed from the first quarter when it increased by 3.8 percent. Economists were expecting second-quarter growth of 3.5 percent, and it appeared much of the shortfall was caused by businesses...