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Daily Kos || Labor Markets and Elections, Then and Now

Daily Kos || Labor Markets and Elections, Then and Now

An excellent post by DHinMI on the topic of jobs. The field reports from the Federal Reserve's Beige Book does not support the astroturfed economic prospects the Administration's boosted GDP growth figures portray. The administration portrays this spike as the highest single quarter of growth in 20 years. That may be, but it is accompanied by a lack of other news which would support the idea that this growth represents a sustainable recovery. Job growth is lagging, the credit sector is sagging, core living expenses such as health care is spiking, and what people see with their own eyes about the economy is not to their liking.

Jobs continue to lag behind Administration projections. We still have 2.3 million fewer jobs now than we did in 2001, and job growth lags seriously behind working age population growth in almost every state. The situation is increasing dire in the Midwest and the Mississippi-adjacent states of America where the GOP has to hang on to retain the Presidency. Combined with the trade-related woes in key states resulting from Rove's steel tarriff fumble, the GOP will have a real battle hanging on to key states won by narrow margins in 2000.

Here are some brief talking points on this topic for casual discussions:

So there is supposedly over 8% growth in the economy? Did your income go up 8% or did you expenses?

8% growth in the economy. Must be somewhere else, I don't see it around here, do you?

How many people do you know personally that are out of work? How many of those are out of benefits?

That 8% doesn't seem to be too useful to the millions who are still looking for work.

8% doesn't seem that impressive considering. Think about the billions Bush has poured into the economy with tax cuts for the wealthy, little tax bribes to people like us, and the billions of deficit spending we can't afford. How could the economy not boom a bit?

Do you have good talking points for taking the hot air out of the Bush Boom?

posted by Michael Bryan @ 11/29/2003 12:21:00 AM