BW & all, for some real comedy, I have to post this>>>
Treasury Sec, Sees Recovery Coming Soon
Tuesday July 29, 1:03 pm ET
By Glenn Somerville
MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - As protesters lamented the dismal job market and data showed a plunge in consumer confidence, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow on Tuesday said he saw an economy on the brink of a much faster recovery.
"This economy is poised to take off. It's spring-loaded to go," Snow said during a CNBC interview on a bus tour of Wisconsin and Minnesota with Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.
(I want whatever he is smoking)
The tour was to promote President Bush's economic agenda, including the latest $350 billion tax cut package, in the run-up to the 2004 election.
"I think in the months ahead, you're going to see growth rates in GDP (gross domestic product) for the American economy rising significantly. We're looking at well over 3 percent for the third quarter, 3-1/2 (percent) for the fourth quarter and over 4 percent for next year," Snow said.
Snow, Evans and Chao, arriving for a tour of a Harley- Davidson plant in a Milwaukee suburb, were greeted by about three dozen protesters from a Wisconsin group less than sanguine about the economy's prospects.
The group brandished signs reading: "read Bush's lips'-- no new jobs," in protest against job losses in the state's manufacturing sector. The slogan was a reference to a speech by former President George Bush in 1988 in which he said "read my lips -- no new taxes."
U.S. manufacturing was the main victim of the 2001 recession and the halting recovery that followed, shedding more than 3 million jobs.
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I guess we must draw our own conclusions........ |
