From the Crooks Who Brought You Enron! The BUSH BOOM!

[Beetwasher]

I give you the Bush Boom!

Don't look behind the curtain folks and don't you dare really look at the numbers! Don't fret about employment because that always LAGS I tells ya! It's a lagger! Mayber we'll put the unsticker on that lagger!

Expect massive economic propoganda from here to the election based on the same accounting standards being applied to the US Gov't that Enron used. Smoke and Mirrors. Expect to hear the phrase "Unemployment is a lagging indicator" about a billion times while thousands continue to be laid off.

You can believe this propoganda about as much as you now believe the Mission was accomplished, Iraq was an imminent threat and they had WMDS.

For a breath of fresh air on all this bullshit, I suggest you read Krugman today, who as usual, put it all in perspective:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/31/opinion/31KRUG.html

Some key points:

"The big question, of course, is jobs. Despite all that growth in the third quarter, the number of jobs actually fell. And new claims for unemployment insurance, a leading indicator for the job market, still show no sign of a hiring boom. (By the way, for the last month there's been a peculiar pattern: each week, headlines declare that new claims fell from the previous week; a week later, the past week's number is revised upward, and the apparent decline disappears.)"

--snip--

"This can't go on — in the long run, consumer spending can't outpace the growth in consumer income. Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley has suggested, plausibly, that much of last quarter's consumer splurge was "borrowed" from the future: consumers took advantage of low-interest financing, cash from home refinancing and tax rebate checks to accelerate purchases they would otherwise have made later. If he's right, we'll see below-normal purchases and slower growth in the months ahead."

Now read this:

Consumers Pare Spending in September

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/economy_income_dc

Krugman is right on the money.

[radwriter0555]

1. REMEMBER! BUSH is responsible for the BOOM and CLINTON is responsible

for 9.11 and our economic woes.

If you're a freeper.....

[Beetwasher]

3. Kick W/ More Info in the Original Post!

n/t

[SlavesandBulldozers]

2. what a great economy we have

Bush blamed Congress for not passing a bill that would generate jobs. So, if we're to believe him, if congress would just get their act together we would be living in the most vibrant economy ever seen in 'Merka.

[Beetwasher]

7. The Buck Stops Over There

Unless it's good news! Yay, Bush's tax cuts save the world! It's time for another one! I have an idea, since his tax cuts are so successful, let's just get rid of ALL taxes, that way, we'll be living in utopia....

[lovedems]

4. And the tax cuts will be responsible for the boom

that is "apparently" taking place. We will hear from the same people who were trying to convince americans that the tax cuts were more beneficial to middle and lower class americans. If you read Corn's new book, you will see they leave important figures out or literally pull numbers out of their ass. This is going to get disgusting for awhile, I can feel it. The worst part is going to be the millions of americans who actually believe it.

[Beetwasher]

5. Yup. Read the New Krugman

It really puts it all in perspective. The propoganda is truly sickening...

Nobody is planning on hiring anytime soon...

[kimchi]

6. Recession is prosperity.

We must bomb the Iraqis to bring them democracy...we must give up our rights to be free.

Get with the damn program already, Krugman. And please stay out of small planes.

[eleny]

8. I agree abut the refinancing point

We didn't have a mortgage but we got one to do some much needed remodeling. The rates were about 4.5 and we didn't want to pass it up. So, now, we're spending it on the big fix-up.

[Beetwasher]

12. It's A One Shot Splurge

and completely unsustainable...

[teryang]

9. My theory is that additional money spent on elective war

...are about the least effective way to improve the economy. In the intermediate and long run they are economically counter productive.

[Beetwasher]

10. It's Money That's Essentially Being

Thrown into a black hole...

That's the thing w/ these deficits we're currently running. Defits can be OK if the money borrowed is INVESTED into something that will ultimately have a return, like jobs...

[bleedingheart]

11. good article