the talking dog

Well, for those of you who missed it, the jobless recovery has moved into fat city, as the Commerce Department revised its third quarter growth figures for the economy to reflect a blistering 8.2% annual growth rate. The good news just keeps coming for the Bush Administration: it can save face with a sovereignty handover in Iraq by June, Granny will get her pills thanks to Congress' passage of the $400 billion Medicare revamp (at least, we think Granny can get her pills), and now, the Commerce Department assures us that the economy is growing at its fastest rate in decades. (Too bad about that Energy Bill and those judicial confirmations going down, though you can't have everything... until that "murder enough Democratic senators from states with Republican governors" plan gets into full swing.)

I suppose there must be parts of the United States where people feel the economic upswing; here in New York City, however, we're not there yet. Even on a national basis, however, the purported economic gains are not being reflected in job growth (or even in stopping job loss). Further, consumer debt (forgetting business and government debt) is at staggering levels, and if it is relied upon to continue to propel the economy, it is by definition unsustainable.

Again, many employers are afraid to hire because of concerns over the cost, especially of health care costs. The Medicare bill, confined as it is to people already recipients of governmental provided (or managed) health care does not address this problem at all, and indeed, will ultimately require a tax increase to pay for it.

Well, we'll see what the voters think about all this, as reflected in polls. The data may be subject to revision again, or they may be accurate, particularly given slower quarters before it, or may even be in part the result of a spate of governmental spending (such as on Iraq). From where I'm sitting, even if we had that kind of quarterly growth, it just doesn't seem sustainable for long.

We'll see though: Junior Bush is doing his damndest to make the timing right for him; Dad's recession just went on a quarter or two too long. Coupled with counter-logical appeals based on jingoism, racism, culture-wars and personal smears on whoever the Dems put up, irrational exuberance over an illusory economic recovery may just be the centerpiece of the Bush Cheney 2004 reelection effort.

May the best man win. It didn't happen last time, of course, but hope springs eternal.

TrackBack (0)

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Hey TD,

Have you ever given W the benefit of the doubt?
You liberals are just too tough on him.
Haven't you noticed that the rise of liberalism coincides with the rise of negative partisanship in government and the inability of politicians to do the right thing.
Simply put, I'm saying you guys started it.
Figure out a way to end it, instead of constantly naysaying (and at the rate the Democrats keep putting up these losers, it will be for some time).

Posted by Fritz G. at November 26, 2003 04:57 PM

Fritz:

From your comment, I extract the following: "opponents of the President would be better served vy formulating constructive arguments on why most people should vote to remove him rather than simply knee-jerk opposing everything he says and does." Well, in cased you missed it, I occasionally make doing just that the centerpiece of this blog-- so if that's your point, we agree on it.

I'm afraid, however, that with your statements like "You liberals are just too tough on him. Haven't you noticed that the rise of liberalism coincides with the rise of negative partisanship in government and the inability of politicians to do the right thing. Simply put, I'm saying you guys started it."

Fritz, my friend, we be living in the DECLINE of liberals-- we ain't in control of a single branch of government now. So if incivility is your problem, blame it on the party in power. Us lib'ruls been out for 3 years and counting...

Also, I dislike the term "you liberals". It implies there is a problem with believing things like "the government should collect enough taxes to actually pay for the things it does" and "people with more income should pay more taxes than people with less income" and "government provided services are often a good thing" and "decent schools, health care and
a clean environment are things the government should strive to provide"; these aren't really "liberal" issues, even if the Bush Administration has done its damndest to rebut those propositions.

Fritz, I'm afraid you're either with us, or against us... get right with the power, man... at least on MY blog...

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TD,

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