Is anybody watching CNN Headline News?

[SimpleMan]

Take a look at the news flashes that they write out below the picture.

They keep posting something that basically says that the Iraq war is what caused the 2.4% increase in the "annual" growth rate.

Specifically, it says:

"Iraq War Spending Helped push 2Q US econ growth rate to 2.4% annual rate"

The thing is, they keep running the same blurb over and over and over again...every other post is THIS POST. It is usually several posts before a post repeats.

Seems like someone is trying to push up Shrub's poll ratings on the economy up in a very subtle way.

[ferg]

1. it's bad news for the Shrub

Of that 2.4% GDP growth they're bragging about, something like 1.2% is due to military spending, i.e. the 100 billion or whatever the invasion cost us.

In other words, if you take out that bogus boost, the real economy only grew by a lame 1.2% or so.

So that's actually a decent job of reporting. I'd thought they would bury that fact and try to pretend that the tax cuts for the rich was boosting the economy.

[BlueState]

4. Yes ferg that is my take on it too.

I think that this fact, if people are made aware of it, combined with the fact that jobs are still being lost will do nothing to sway popular opinion that things are not rosy.

The worst thing that the Bushies can do is to tout modest GDP growth as a positive when people are losing their jobs.

[RamboLiberal]

2. Reminds me a little of Vietnam

I was a little too young to remember the finer details but I do remember. The war helped drive the economy in the very late 60's, but by the early 70's its spending had caused the economy to be in the shitter and for jobs to be hard to find.

[hotphlash]

3. basically, we have to stay at war for the economy to grow...

if Bush has his way.

[MuseRider]

5. They discussed this

on CBS evening news tonight and said that if we didn't have the war we would be in pretty bad shape. Something like that, I was doing work and that is what I heard.

[CookieD]

6. They may be on to something here ...

Perhaps we can just "invade" our way out of this recession.