Let me preface the below by saying if you've got an eviction notice in your hand and no job, right now this is a meaningless "woo-hoo." I myself am only working by means of a wing and a prayer (okay, many prayers) BUT, to me, this news is huge in terms of vindicating the stimulus package and all the incentives and intiatives that Obama and our Dem-majority Congress have put into place over the last year. And with an even stronger push for job creation currently in place, things are definitely looking up.
The GOP will no doubt continue their faux-lamentations about "spending" and "big government" and are also no doubt, as we speak, working on a way to turn the fastest economic growth in six years into a "fail" for Democrats, but the reality is, this is a superb result for the WH and Congress, and I would think that this provides huge cover for Democratic candidates going into the mid-terms.Here's some snips from a Bloomberg article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=acQASpga4OhM&pos=1
Economy in U.S. Grew at 5.7% Pace, Most in Six Years
By Timothy R. Homan
Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The economy in the U.S. expanded in the fourth quarter at the fastest pace in six years as factories cranked up assembly lines and companies increased investment in equipment and software.
The 5.7 percent increase in gross domestic product, which exceeded the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, marked the best performance since the third quarter of 2003, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Efforts to rebuild depleted inventories contributed 3.4 percentage points to GDP, the most in two decades.
Manufacturers such as Intel Corp. may keep leading the recovery as increasing sales prompt companies to restock. A slowdown in consumer spending last quarter is a reminder that 10 percent unemployment is causing Americans to hold back, one reason why the Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates low and the Obama administration is proposing new plans to create jobs.
“The economy is still healing and improving,” said John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, who projected a 5.6 percent gain in GDP. “I think this is a sustainable recovery.”
Confidence Rising
Private reports released today showed confidence among U.S. consumers improved in January for a second month, and companies expanded this month at the fastest pace in more than four years as orders and employment increased.
Third-quarter purchases received a boost from the government’s auto-incentive program that offered buyers discounts to trade in older cars and trucks for new, more fuel- efficient vehicles. The plan expired in August.
Today’s report showed purchases of equipment and software increased at a 13 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the most since 2006. The gain helped offset a 15 percent drop in commercial construction, leaving total business investment up 2.9 percent over the past three months.
Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, posted its biggest quarterly revenue in more than a year last quarter, a sign the computer industry has emerged from last year’s global recession.
In other areas of the economy, today’s report showed a smaller trade gap contributed 0.5 percentage point to fourth- quarter growth, while government spending was little changed, dropping at a 0.2 percent pace.
Residential construction climbed at a 5.7 percent rate last quarter after expanding at a 19 percent pace in the previous three months.
Bloomberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=acQASpga4OhM&pos=1GOBAMA! GO DEMS!
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