A recent survey by the Pew Research Center indicates that only a third of Americans believe the economy is in good shape. How is this possible? The deficit is shrinking. We've seen 24 straight months of economic growth and the unemployment rate is down to 5.1%. The trade deficit is...
The Wall Street Journal gives us the news... This year's deficit is coming in lower than anticipated, thanks to the economic recovery and higher-than-expected tax receipts ... "With the president's focus on spending discipline, we are seeing positive signs for the American economy, and for the federal government's balance sheet,"...
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June 03, 2005
Unemployment Down To 5.1%, 24 Consecutive Months Of Job Growth
By Matt Margolis at
08:45 AM
The economy added 78,000 payroll jobs in the month of May... while this might be lower than expected, the unemployment rate fell to 5.1%, which is remarkably low. A year ago, the unemployment rate was 5.6%. This also follows a payroll gain of 274,000 in April. The unemployment rate also...
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May 16, 2005
Evil Republicans Shrink Pay Gap
By Mark Noonan at
05:28 AM
Wonder how our leftwing, feminist friends will explain this: WASHINGTON, DC, May. 15 (UPI) The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that women are gaining on men in income with one out of four working wives making more than their husbands. On average, paychecks for fulltime working women are 80...
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May 12, 2005
Trade Deficit Declines... Upward Revision To GDP Expected
By Matt Margolis at
11:05 PM
The Wall Street Journal reports that "[t]he U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $54.99 billion in March from the previous month, as American consumers pulled back sharply on purchases of foreign-made merchandise and shipments of apparel from China slowed. … The shrinkage in the deficit, significantly, suggested the government's preliminary estimate...
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May 07, 2005
The New Media Still Has a Long Way to Go
By Mark Noonan at
12:15 AM
While we New Media types rightly pat ourselves on the back for the good efforts we've made in bringing alternative views into the American mainstream, this Rasmussen Poll on the economy shows how much work we've still got to do: Thirty-six percent (36%) of American adults say the the U....
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May 06, 2005
The Economy Is Still Growing...
By Matt Margolis at
10:45 AM
Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released data on April’s employment situation. According to the report, 274,000 new payroll jobs were created in April, while the unemployment rate stayed at 5.2%, which is below the averages of the past three decades. Nearly 3.5 million jobs have been created since May...
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May 05, 2005
Out Of The Red, And Into The Black
By Matt Margolis at
09:19 AM
The Washington Post reports that tax receipts exceeded the predictions of the Treasury Department, thus lowering deficit projections. After three years of rising federal budget deficits, a surge of April tax receipts brought unexpected good news to fiscal policymakers -- the tide of government red ink appears to be receding....
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May 03, 2005
How is Our Economy?
By Mark Noonan at
09:35 AM
The recent GDP report, showing 3.1% growth in the first quarter, has been widely touted in the MSM as "proof" that our economy is on the rocks...leave aside the fact that Japan and the EU would sell their collective souls for such a "weak" quarterly growth rate, what is the...
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April 14, 2005
Jobless Claims Fall... Again
By Matt Margolis at
07:37 PM
Last week, the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefit http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=669440">fell by 10,000. This marks the second straight week of improvement, and as the AP reports, "The four-week moving average for claims, designed to smooth out volatility, edged up slightly to 338,000, but that level was still seen...
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April 03, 2005
Germans Seek President Bush's Economic Advice
By Mark Noonan at
11:06 PM
Or, at least, they should be getting President Bush's advice. Our unemployment rate is 5.2%; the Democrats, during the election, were saying that this is akin to 1930's depression-era employment...then what must 12% unemployment be like? BERLIN, Germany (CNN) The number of unemployed in Germany fell slightly in March, under...
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April 01, 2005
Unemployment Falls To 5.2%
By Matt Margolis at
09:58 AM
This morning the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report the March employment situation. Things continue to look good for country. Highlights of the report: Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 110,000 in March (the 22nd consecutive month of payroll job gains). The unemployment rate fell to 5.2%, from 5.4% in...
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March 30, 2005
Solid Economic Growth At End Of 2004
By Matt Margolis at
02:28 PM
Solid business and consumer spending helped the economy grow in the last quarter of 2004 at an annual rate of 3.8 percent. The first quarter of 2005 is expected to do even better. The economy added a sizable 262,000 jobs in February, the most since October. Analysts are hopeful that...
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March 19, 2005
Administration Accuses EU of Bad Faith
By Mark Noonan at
01:19 AM
This is sort of like accusing water of being wet: WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States said Friday it may reinstate a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization over government aid to Airbus after talks with European officials faltered. "Despite our best efforts it's clear that the (European Union)...
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March 18, 2005
Housing Starts At 21 Year High
By Matt Margolis at
01:23 AM
A Commerce Department report shows that U.S. housing starts rose 0.5 percent in February to a 21-year high, defying Wall Street expectations, who expected them to fall. Housing starts climbed to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.195 million units in February from an upwardly revised 2.183 million unit pace...
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March 09, 2005
On Those Gas Prices
By Matt Margolis at
01:00 AM
Larry Kudlow puts the high gas prices in perspective......
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March 08, 2005
Rise in Minimum Wage Spiked
By Mark Noonan at
05:28 AM
In a bit of political grand-standing, Ted Kennedy tried to tack on a raise in the minimum wage to the bankruptcy reform bill; meanwhile, Senator Rick Santorum offered an alternative amendment which would have raise the minimum wage less than Kennedy's amendment, but would also have increased tax breaks for...
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March 04, 2005
262,000 Jobs Created In February, 3 Million Since May 2003
By Matt Margolis at
12:25 PM
The latest new jobs figures show that payroll employment increased by 262,000 in the month of February. The economy has been been seeing regular job gains for 21 months. Over 3 million jobs have been created since May of 2003. It's those darn Bush tax cuts again......
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March 03, 2005
The Bush Economic Boom
By Mark Noonan at
04:34 PM
Larry Kudlow over at Real Clear Politics wrote a bit pointing out how the MSM buries the good economic news while highlighting anything which can be construed (or misconstrued) as bad economic news - thats all well and good, but I just loved the actual good news: The initial estimate...
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February 27, 2005
Job Growth Spurt In February?
By Matt Margolis at
12:23 PM
Promising forecasts by economists... This is it, the month everyone has been waiting for, the month that U.S. job growth finally takes off. At least, that's the forecast of economists ahead of next Friday's release of the February report on U.S. employment. They are forecasting, on average, nonfarm payroll gains...
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February 25, 2005
Economy Grows Better Than Expected
By Matt Margolis at
10:01 AM
That must have been a hard story for the AP to run. The economy grew at a solid 3.8 percent annual rate in the final quarter of 2004 - stronger than previously estimated- and an encouraging sign that the business expansion was firmly entrenched at the start of the new...
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February 24, 2005
Bush Praises Flat Tax
By Matt Margolis at
10:10 AM
Via the Drudge Report, I found that President Bush praised the flat tax that was implemented by Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda of the Slovak Republic: “I complimented the Prime Minister on putting policies in place that have helped this economy grow. The most important responsibility we have at home is...
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February 18, 2005
Brankruptcy Reform
By Mark Noonan at
01:58 PM
Bankruptcy reform has been a bit of a hardy perennial in Congress over the past few years - and it has repeatedly foundered upon one objection or another. Last year it was a provision inserted by the Senate which would have made certain that abortion protestors who were fined would...
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February 16, 2005
Economy Continues Growth. Unemployment Remains Low
By Matt Margolis at
06:38 PM
I think it would be a breakthrough if Democrats could just admit the economy is doing just fine. UPI reports that the U.S. Federal Reserve Board said today that "it expects the nation's economy to grow at a 3.75 percent to 4 percent clip this year," and growth is expected...
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February 09, 2005
Some In GOP Wary About Bush Budget Cuts
By Matt Margolis at
04:24 PM
Spending too much... cutting too much... it's a headache no matter what. Democrats are pretending to be deficit hawks, and Republicans are worrying about budget cuts now?...
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February 07, 2005
White House Budget Director: Rich Getting Larger Share of Tax Burden
By Matt Margolis at
03:49 PM
Drudge Reports... calls it "bragging." I don't think it's bragging. It just contradicts liberal spin on the tax cuts....
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January 29, 2005
2004's Economy Was The Best in Five Years
By Matt Margolis at
12:15 AM
Doesn't that just break Democrats' hearts? The economy finished 2004 with its best performance in five years despite slowing in the final stretch. The outlook ahead: a moderate jog, rather than a sprint. The broadest barometer of the country's economic standing, the gross domestic product, clocked a 4.4 percent increase...
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January 28, 2005
Economy Grows 3.1% in 4th Quarter of 2004
By Matt Margolis at
11:16 AM
Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced that the gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3.1% in the fourth quarter of 2004. This follows a 4% growth in the third quarter. You can read the BEA report here. Highlights of the report include: GDP increased at an inflation-adjusted annual rate...
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January 17, 2005
Guess What? The Deficit Is Shrinking
By Matt Margolis at
06:05 AM
Larry Kudlow tells us that the country's budget deficit is shrinking... actually, it is shrinking rapidly. Last week's Treasury report on U.S. finances for December shows a year-to-date fiscal 2005 deficit already $11 billion less than last year's. In the first three months of the fiscal year that began last...
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January 14, 2005
If you want to really understand the nature of things, ignore political rhetoric and focus on financial markets. Politicians will inundate with hyperbole and bombast, but the markets will never lie. That's because investors make millions of individual decisions to engage in mutually beneficial transactions, which aggregate to create markets...
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January 13, 2005
The Jobs Boom of 2004
By Mark Noonan at
10:16 AM
Remember that MSM/Donk mantra of the 2004 election? That President Bush would be the first President since Hoover to suffer a net loss of employment during his first term? We here at Blogs for Bush have long disputed the notion - mostly by pointing out that the payroll jobs survey...
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January 12, 2005
Federal Budget Deficit Shrinking
How is it that President Bush cut taxes, but tax revenues are increasing? That doesn't make intuitive sense, does it? This simplistic thinking by liberals is what prevents them from understanding how supply-side economics works, and they do work. The Treasury today released its December 2004 budget data, and a...
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January 07, 2005
2.2 Million New Payroll Jobs in 2004
By Matt Margolis at
11:44 AM
Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced that 157,000 new payroll jobs were created in the month of December, bringing the total to 2.2 million new payroll jobs created in 2004 (the best growth in five years). According to the household survey, which includes the self-employed, nearly 2.4 million...
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December 30, 2004
Disposing the "Sluggish Economy" Myth
By Mark Noonan at
05:45 PM
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...
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New Jobless Claims Down... AGAIN
By Matt Margolis at
12:12 PM
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...
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December 29, 2004
White House to Name Bipartisan Tax Advisory Panel Soon
By Matt Margolis at
12:15 PM
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...
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December 28, 2004
Gasoline Prices Drop For Eighth Straight Week
By Matt Margolis at
02:51 AM
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...
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December 22, 2004
Economy Grows Faster in 3rd Quarter Than Previously Thought
By Matt Margolis at
11:53 AM
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...
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December 21, 2004
Bush To Seek Simpler, Fairer, More Pro-Growth Tax Code
By Matt Margolis at
07:10 PM
Bush told us he wanted to improve the tax code. These changes may be incremental, rather than a complete overhaul. But the changes Bush will propose are still expected to generate huge opposition, especially if he suggests scrapping favored tax breaks such as the deduction for state income tax payments....
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December 19, 2004
Snow Sees Slashing Of Government Spending
By Matt Margolis at
04:41 PM
A lot of us will consider this to be good news... The Bush administration will seek to slash government spending next year, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said on Sunday, but he was less specific than the president in predicting how quickly the deficit would fall. Snow, who was asked...
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December 17, 2004
A Call to Arms - We Have Won Nothing Yet
It was difficult to come up with a title for this entry that would concisely encapsulate the entire sentiment: while we had a glorious victory last month, we have not achieved anything yet and we will need to replicate the same hard work and dedication that led to the President's...
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December 16, 2004
Bush To Cut Domestic Spending
By Matt Margolis at
06:57 PM
I wouldn't expect Democrats to be happy about this. The White House is telling federal agencies to expect lean budgets next year, with congressional aides and lobbyists saying President Bush appears ready to propose freezing or even slightly cutting overall domestic spending. Targeted would be all annually approved programs except...
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From CBS Marketwatch: The number of people filing for state unemployment benefits plunged last week to its lowest level since July, the Labor Department said Thursday. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 43,000 to 317,000 in the week ended Dec. 11. This is the largest decline in jobless claims...
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The Coming Bush Economic Revolution
By Mark Noonan at
02:45 AM
President Bush held the first of two White House conferences on his economic agenda on Wednesday with the second slated for later today. The three main points of President Bush's economic agenda over the next four years are tax, tort and Social Security reform. While the war will continue to...
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December 15, 2004
Cheney: Economy Needs Permanent Tax Cuts
By Matt Margolis at
12:35 PM
Amen to that! Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday that it is critical to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent during his second term, while achieving broader reforms in the tax code and bolstering Social Security. Speaking at the start of a two-day White House conference on the economy, Cheney...
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December 03, 2004
15 Straight Months Of Economic Growth...
By Matt Margolis at
10:47 PM
House Speaker Dennis Hastert noted some very important fact about the economic data released today: The economy has posted steady job gains for each of the last fifteen months -- creating over 2.4 million jobs since August of 2003 when the tax relief package signed into law by President Bush...
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112,000 New Payroll Jobs In November, Unemployment Rate Falls To 5.4%
By Matt Margolis at
09:29 AM
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today that in the month of November 112,000 new payroll jobs were created and the unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent. Based on the payroll survey and benchmark revision, "2.4 million new jobs have been created since August 2003, and over 2 million...
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December 01, 2004
3rd Quarter GDP Revised Up To 3.9%
By Matt Margolis at
07:06 PM
In case you missed it, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced yesterday that "that real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 3.9 percent during the 3rd quarter of 2004." According to the BEA, the revision "was driven by stronger growth in consumer spending and...
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November 27, 2004
In or Out of Kyoto, We Still Get Screwed
By Matt Margolis at
03:36 PM
Even Clinton new the Kyoto Protocol was not a good idea... Yet today, even though Bush stood his ground, we're still going to pay a price for other countries signing on to the Kyoto Protocol. With Russia signing onto the treaty, it has enough votes to become "global law" on...
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November 24, 2004
The Associated Press Scripts The Economic Debate
By Matt Margolis at
11:45 AM
I kid you not, I found this on the AP wires... THE PROBLEM? There are 371,000 fewer jobs since Bush took office in 2001. THE BRIGHT SIDE? Employers hired 1.8 million new workers this year. BUSH'S PLAN? Extend tax cuts, make health care more affordable by limiting jury awards in...
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November 18, 2004
Jobless Claim Dip Again...
By Matt Margolis at
10:12 AM
The election is behind us, but our economy continues to get stronger, and there's plenty of reason to look forward with optimism: The number of people filing new applications for unemployment benefits dipped by 3,000 last week, offering a hopeful sign for the nation's labor market. The Labor Department said...
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November 05, 2004
The October Jobs Surprise
By Matt Margolis at
10:26 AM
Things are looking good everyone... Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that 337,000 new payroll jobs were created in the month of October... This exceeded market expectations! Highlights of the BLS Report include: During the month of October, 337,000 new payroll jobs were created. Since August 2003, 2.3 million...
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October 31, 2004
U.S. employers probably added 175,000 workers to payrolls in October
By Paul Lewis at
06:41 PM
This is where you Democrats get to blame President Bush's tax cuts once again for our "terrible" economy. I know I do. U.S. employers probably added 175,000 workers to payrolls in October, the most in five months, while the unemployment rate held at a three-year low of 5.4 percent, the...
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October 29, 2004
GDP = 3.7%; What Was Bill Clinton's at Same Point in '96? 3.4%
By Kevin Patrick at
10:06 AM
Robust growth in the economy continues despite media spin, Wall Street estimates, and John Kerry talking down anything that is good in America today. And don't forget that for the last few months ALL revisons to reported numbers have been substantial improvements in economic performance. Wall Street seems to initailly...
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October 22, 2004
New JOBS Act Signed By Bush Leave Kerry with No Economic Plan
By Matt Margolis at
01:54 PM
Today President George W. Bush signed the JOBS Act, which according to Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), "reduces corporate tax rates for domestic manufacturers, allows American companies to repatriate their foreign profits back into America at a lower tax rate, and most importantly, remove tariffs being placed on American companies...
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October 12, 2004
Nobel Laureate: U.S. Taxes Too High
That's right... John Kerry won't like to hear this... Edward Prescott, who picked up the Nobel Prize for Economics, said President George W. Bush's tax rate cuts were "pretty small" and should have been bigger. "What Bush has done has been not very big, it's pretty small," Prescott told CNBC...
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Kerry Advisor Hails Outsourcing
Anyone familiar with the study of economics understands that increasing prosperity is dependent upon greater productivity. And this productivity results, as Adam Smith noted, from specialization and, as David Ricardo added, from comparative advantage. While these truths are well known among the economically literate, they don't make for nearly as...
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October 11, 2004
That condescending mantra ("do as I say, not as I do") would be an apt slogan for John Kerry's tax plan. As the indispensable Club for Growth's Stephen Moore points out in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece today (subscription required), while Kerry has been badmouthing President Bush's growth-oriented tax...
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October 08, 2004
Framing the Economic Debate
By Matt Margolis at
04:38 PM
The Heritage Foundation has a great articlethat everyone must read to get an understanding of the state of the econmy. I am told "It should be valuable anti-spin for anyone watching the debate tonight." From understanding payroll vs. household durveys, the unemployment rate, real earnings, economic growth, and the tax...
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John Kerry Has Been Outsourcing Truth
By Matt Margolis at
12:11 PM
One of John Kerry's major arguments on the economy has been obliterated by a recent study released today that states, "Fears that an exodus of white-collar jobs to India and other low-wage economies will lead to massive employment losses in rich countries such as the United States and Britain are...
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Employment Growth Continues in September; 1.9 Million New Jobs Since Last April
By Matt Margolis at
11:45 AM
Good news on the economy came out today, with September seeing companies adding 96,000 jobs. This is fewer than expected, but explainable: The four hurricanes striking Florida and other coastal states the past two months "appears to have held down employment growth, but not enough to change materially," the Labor...
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President Bush Has the Last Laff(er)
Kerry & Co. delight in attacking President Bush's tax cuts as harmful to America and as the cause of the return of deficits. Since President Bush took office and enacted multiple tax cuts, let's look at the impact on federal revenues, also called tax receipts (CBO's 2000-2003 actuals here and...
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October 07, 2004
"Lastly, there is another reason [a legislative solution to the asbestos litigation crisis] won't happen. I picked up my Wall Street Journal last night...and what did I learn? 'The plaintiffs' bar is all but running the Senate.' Now, I really, strongly disagree with that, particularly the words 'all but.'" -Fred...
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New Jobless Claims Down Sharply...
By Matt Margolis at
10:32 AM
...So are John Kerry's hopes for victory: The number of new applications filed last week for unemployment benefits fell sharply, offering a hopeful sign that the recovery in the job market may be gaining some steam. The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of new people signing up for...
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October 05, 2004
Friday's Numbers...
By Matt Margolis at
06:58 AM
This Friday, we will get a new glimpse into the state of our economy. September's unemployment figures will be released. Also, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will put out its revised employment figures for the past year. To put the pending revisions in perspective, an economist on Capital Hill...
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October 04, 2004
Bush Delivers Fourth Tax Cut... "At Just The Right Time For America"
By Matt Margolis at
