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During the past 30 years, the economy grew an average of about 3 percent a year (Carter was at 3.3 per year compounded over 4 years, Reagan was at 3.4% per year compounded over 8 years)
Thank goodness that today's release of last month's figures and revisions from prior months allowed President George W. Bush to avoid becoming the first president since Herbert Hoover to lose jobs during a term in office. :-)
The U.S. gained 119,000 jobs since Bush took office in January 2001 and is up 27,000 since employment peaked a month later. The U.S. now employs 132.57 million people in payroll jobs. :-)
After all, it took a decade (based on the yearly statistics - the only statistics kept back then) to recover all the jobs lost during the Great Depression that started in 1929, when Hoover was president. :-)
The economy is forecast to grow 3.6 percent this year after expanding 4.4 percent in 2004, based on the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg from Jan. 3 to Jan. 7. The unemployment rate may fall to 5.2 percent by year-end, according to the survey. (ANYONE WANT TO BET AGAINST EACH AND EVERYONE OF THOSE NUMBERS BEING TOO OPTOMISTIC? :-) )
SBC Communications Inc. will eliminate 2,600 jobs after its planned purchase of AT&T Corp.
ArvinMeritor Inc. will reduce salaried workforce by as much as 8.3 percent - between 400 and 500 jobs will be eliminated from the 6,000 salaried positions worldwide.
Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange averaged $46.85 a barrel in January, up from $43.26 a barrel in December and $41.48 last year.
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