Saturday - February 04, 2006

Paycheck

If you’re looking for this story in the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times or on CNN, ABC, CBS or NBC .... good luck. If they even mention it all, it’s on the back pages or in a 10-second summary at the end of a broadcast. No, my little ones. They must not publish anything that makes the evil Chimp Bushitler look good, must they?

Well, let the Skipper sum it up for you: the recession that Clinton/Gore dumped on us when the dot-com bubble burst in 2000 and the horrible hit the economy took on 9/11 has been pretty much erased. We’re out of the recession the Democrats and terrorists (what’s the difference?) left us in, unemployment is at five-year lows, hourly wages are at the highest ever and inflation is not a factor since the consumer price index has stayed level with wage increases. Got all that? The economy is good and America is chugging along.

Thanks to who? Ahem .... I can’t hear you! Try again .... Thanks to who? Did I hear you mumble “Bush and the Republicans”? Yep. I thought so. Guess what? You’re right. The President’s tax cuts and other incentive plans to small businesses has paid off. All of which, I might add, the Dummycraps opposed with every breathe in their whiney lungs. Remember that when you go to the polls to vote ....

Unemployment Rate Declines in January
Feb 3, 12:53 PM (ET)
WASHINGTON (AP)

Employers stepped up hiring in January, boosting payrolls by 193,000 and lowering the nation’s unemployment rate to 4.7 percent, the lowest since July 2001. The fresh snapshot of the jobs climate, released by the Labor Department on Friday, suggested that the economy started the new year on fairly good footing.

Although the 193,000 gain in payroll jobs in January fell short of the 250,000 new jobs that economists said to anticipate before the release of the report, it still marked a sturdy showing and was the biggest increase in jobs since November.

“There’s no question we’re getting back to better days for job creation,” said Ken Mayland, economist at ClearView Economics. “There’s been a sense of unease in the American workplace and this should help relieve that. The economy is getting on off to excellent start in 2006.” Moreover, job growth in December turned out to be stronger than previously thought. Revised figures showed payrolls expanded by 140,000 - an improvement over the 108,000 new jobs first estimated a month ago. Employment was revised up for some previous months as well.

The unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 percent in January, from 4.9 percent in December. On Wall Street, stocks fell as investors worried the Federal Reserve might raise rates this year more than they had previously thought. The Dow Jones industrials were off 46 points and the Nasdaq was down 19 points in morning trading. President Bush welcomed the new jobs figures.

“We’ve overcome a lot,” Bush said. “I really ascribe that to that, mainly, the entrepreneurial spirit of American is strong. The small business sector is strong. I do happen to think good tax policy helps. I think keeping taxes low is an important way to make sure this economy continues to grow.” In another report, the Commerce Department said that factory orders rose by 1.1 in December, a good sign that manufacturing was off to a strong start in the new year.

This improvement followed an even higher 3.3 percent gain in November and marked the third straight month where new bookings to factories went up. December’s performance was in line with the 1 percent increase in factory orders that economists were forecasting before the release of the report. For all of 2005, factory orders rose 8.1 percent. That followed a gain of 9.7 percent in 2004. Job gains were fairly broad based, with employment growing in construction, manufacturing, professional and business services and education and health care. Those employment gains blunted job losses in retailing and government.

For all of 2005, the economy created nearly 2 million jobs - close to the number posted for 2004, according to annual revisions. In New York, the Institute for Supply Management reported that the service sector grew in January but at a slower pace than the previous month. Its index dipped to 56.8 from 61.0 in December. The new figure was lower than the 60 reading forecast by analysts. A reading of 50 and above points to a growing service sector, while a figure below that signals contraction. January marked the 34th consecutive month of growth for the service sector, ISM said.

Despite good news on some economic matters, Americans still feel anxious about the economy, polls indicate. Bush, coping with relatively low job-approval ratings, is seeking to ease those fears. In his State of the Union address as well as subsequent speeches Bush has been talking about ways to make the country more competitive and is pushing plans to deal with pocketbooks issues, such as high energy prices and rising health care costs.

Bush also is calling on Congress to make his tax cuts permanent. Democrats, however, contend the tax cuts mostly helped the wealthy and are a big reason why the government’s balance sheets are bleeding red ink. Employees’ average hourly earnings climbed to $16.41 in January, up 0.4 percent from December. That increase was slightly larger than the 0.3 percent rise that economists were expecting.

_{Graph: Bureau Of Labor Statistics, HIstorical Unemplyment Rate}

Posted by The Skipper     on 02/04/2006 at 09:04 AM   
Filed Under: • Economics •  
• Comments (8) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner