October 19, 2003
More Bad News for Democrat Candidates
Even the NY Times can no longer pretend the economy is tanking:
After a recession, a long period of sluggishness and growing concern about swelling budget and trade deficits, the economy is now getting back into high gear, a little more than a year before Election Day. Just last week, consumer confidence ticked up, new claims for unemployment insurance edged down, housing construction surged and industrial production increased. Stock prices hovered near 16-month highs. Analysts increased their estimates of economic growth over the summer and for the last three months of the year.
Although that doesn't mean that the NY Times has given up yet, as the title of the story indicates ("A Bright Economy? Only the Voters Know for Sure"):
Statistics are one thing; voter perception is another. That perception is shaped more than anything by jobs, or the lack thereof. Defying traditional patterns, this recovery has yet to generate sustained improvement in employment, after two and a half years of steady losses — 2.8 million jobs, as the Democrats point out at every opportunity, the worst record since Herbert Hoover. Among members of both parties, there is a strong sense that Mr. Bush's political fortunes could turn largely on whether the labor market finally begins showing marked gains over the next nine to 12 months, a question on which economists remain divided.
Bring out the Krugman/Dowd pessimism brigade, we got some distorting to do. Ignore all positive signs, focus on jobs.
Filed under Domestic Affairs by John Cole at 05:44 PM [ TrackBack ] |
