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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2005-12-02

Time To Open A New Front

I have been encouraged over the past couple weeks with the President's aggressive defense of the Iraq War, a defense which the most recent FoxNews poll suggests is having a positive effect. Now, it's time come out swinging on the economy:

America's payrolls snapped out of a two-month hurricane-induced funk in November and grew by 215,000, the most since July. The unemployment rate held steady at 5 percent.

The fresh snapshot of the jobs situation by the Labor Department on Friday suggested that employers were feeling much better about hiring now that energy prices have retreated from record highs . . .

In October, payrolls grew by just 44,000, even less than the government first reported a month ago. But September's showing _ a month that bore the brunt of Katrina, the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history _ showed that jobs actually grew by 17,000, according to revised figures released Friday. That's an improvement from the loss of 8,000 jobs previously reported. . .

In November, employment gains were broad based. Construction, retail, leisure and hospitality, education and health services, financial activities and even manufacturing all posted job gains.

The growth in payrolls in November was slightly stronger than economists were expecting.

So, jobs are up, unemployment is holding steady at 5 percent (weren't we once told that's basically full employment?); GDP rose by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter; the deficits are shrinking; and today, I'm going to fill my tank for less than $2 per gallon. It's all good.

When, do you suppose, is this going to get reported? Exactly. Which is why the GOP needs to start swinging on this front. Perhaps a couple high-profile Congressman holding a press conference about the tax cuts, followed by a high-profile administration member saying something about the reckless economic policies of the Dems, followed by the President upping his rhetoric about the economy.

The last two or three rounds clearly go to the Dems, politically speaking; but it's pretty early in the fight still, as long as the GOP gets off its collective backside and starts "swingin' and stingin'."
Posted by: Michael / 12/02/2005 07:26:00 AM

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