Disposing the “Sluggish Economy” Myth

All through 2004 we heard the endless mantra from the MSM and the Democrats that our economy was sluggish – The Wall Street Journal now asks the question: sluggish compared to what? (annoying, but free, registration required)

we live in a world economy, so when headline writers use the word sluggish, we have to ask: Sluggish compared with whom? According to the November forecast of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, gross domestic product in the U.S. is expected to increase by 4.4% in 2004. Elsewhere, the OECD predicts growth of 4% for Japan, 2.7% for the U.K., 2.1% for France and 1.2% for Germany. For the 12-country euro zone, the figure is 1.8%. To put matters in historical perspective, the last time Japan, Britain, France and Germany had growth rates at or in excess of 4.4%, the years were 1990, 1994, 1989 and 1991, respectively.

There is much more in the whole article, but the essential point is already made; compared to everyone else out there, we’re doing very well – and a deeper look into the data indicates that we’re doing better compared even to our own past best performance (overall growth in Clinton’s best years was 4.25%, a little less than our growth this year). The unfortunate thing about this is that no matter how good things are, as long as a Republican is President we’ll have to put up with this sort of reporting – just another cross the bear, as it were.

New Jobless Claims Down… AGAIN

Things just continue to look good for the economy.

The number of new people signing up for unemployment benefits dropped last week, a hopeful sign that the recovery in the jobs market is moving ahead.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for jobless benefits declined by a seasonally adjusted 5,000 to 326,000 for the week ending Dec. 25. That left claims at their lowest level since the week ending Dec. 11.
The newest snapshot of the labor market was better than economists were anticipating. They were expecting claims to rise to around 335,000.

UPDATE: Stocks surge…

White House to Name Bipartisan Tax Advisory Panel Soon

From Reuters:

The experts who will produce proposals for overhauling the U.S. tax code will be named within days, along with a timetable for their recommendations, Bush administration officials said Tuesday.
The panel of experts will cut across Democratic and Republican lines to produce a bipartisan report that will go to Treasury Secretary John Snow relatively early in 2005.
Treasury would refine their efforts, leaving the timing of the Bush administration’s final push on tax overhaul unclear.

Democrats, who have been unable to understand that they are minority party, will likely not give Bush any credit for having a bipartisan panel.

Gasoline Prices Drop For Eighth Straight Week

Obviously, this is because of a secret deal with the Saudis to lower gas prices before after the election:

U.S. retail gasoline prices fell to an average of $1.791 for regular unleaded as motorists took to the roads for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, the Energy Department said on Monday.
The drop represented a 2.4-cent fall from the previous week and U.S. retail gasoline prices have declined for eight weeks in a row.

Economy Grows Faster in 3rd Quarter Than Previously Thought

More good news on the economy…

The economy revved up its engine in the third quarter and advanced at an annual rate of 4 percent- even faster than previously thought.
The new reading on gross domestic product, released Wednesday by the Commerce Department, exceeded the previous estimate of a 3.9 percent growth rate for the July-to-September quarter. It marked the best showing since the opening quarter of this year and was up from a 3.3 percent pace in the second quarter.
Gross domestic product measures the value of all goods and services produced in the United States and is the broadest barometer of the country’s economic health.

I wonder if liberals are still telling themselves that the economy is terrible? It seems to me that during the past four years—and probably any time a Republican is president—that when the economy goes bad, that it’s the president’s fault, and when it improves, that’s because the economy is cyclical. And of course, the opposite would be true for a Democrat president.