Dow 12,000

The stock market is record territory today as the Dow Jones Industrial Average lurched past 12,000 this morning before retreating just below the threshold. It even poked up again just before noon. What a tease!

But of course the economy sucks and it's Bush's fault, right?

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Deficit Keeps Shrinking

In 2004, President Bush pledged to the American people that, if re-elected, he would seek to reduce the federal budget deficit by half before he left office in 2009.

Two years later, despite the Congress' spending spree and his refusal to veto any of it, Bush has kept yet another campaign promise - three years sooner than expected.

Today's deficit for the government fiscal year end close dated 9/30/06 has plunged to $247.7M.

And it wasn't magic. Nor was it some illusory anomaly like a dot.com bubble. It was tax cuts, which led to higher tax receipts.

Capt. Ed has more about the best economy that you're not hearing about.

Posted by: Gary at 02:10 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Sorry, Hugo

From Al-Rueters: Chavez says oil should not fall below $60 a barrel

AFP report this morning: Brent oil price dunks below 58 dollars in London

Tough shit, dude.

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BAM!!

Dow hits all-time record!

How's your 401K doin' these days?

Posted by: Gary at 04:10 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Almost There...

Dow creeping up to new all time high (previous record high is 11,722).

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Deficit Still Shrinking

Down 14%.

The Treasury Department said that with just one month to go in the budget year, the deficit totals $304.3 billion, down from $354.1 billion during the same period a year ago.

The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting that the deficit for the entire year will be $260 billion, which would mean that September will see a sizable surplus. [note: the Federal Gubment's Fiscal Year End is September 30th]

It's those damn tax cuts for the rich!!

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Unemployment Down To 4.6%

But only 75,000 jobs were created last month.

Statistically speaking, we're at near full employment. But CBS can still find a way to spin this news as negative. Check out the headline: "Unemployment Dips, But Hiring Slows". WTF?

They just have to find that cloud in the silver lining. Umm, guys. Maybe hiring slowed because employers can't find enough unemployed people to take the jobs.

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We're Here To Pump..."Clap"...You Up

Gadzooks! Economic growth for the first quarter 2006 was just revised up to 5.3% - the strongest in 2.5 years!

One of the biggest reasons? You and me: "Consumer spending was one of the primary reasons overall GDP performance accelerated to such a brisk pace in the period." As Jack Kemp likes to say, "A rising tide lifts all boats".

And the Liberal girlie-men are still screaming about "tax cuts for the rich". Sigh.

Posted by: Gary at 10:55 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Consumer Confidence Highest In Four Years

Hmm. Not a lot of buzz about this little factoid:

The Conference Board said that its consumer index shot up 4.5 points to 107.2, the highest level since May 2002, when the reading was 110.3. Analysts had expected a reading of 102.

The latest measure was up from a revised 102.7 in February, which was down 4.1 points from January and broke a three-month rebound from last yearÂ’s Gulf hurricanes.

Even more interesting. The fine print in the chart registers the Consumer Confidence rating for 1985 as 100. So with the exception of a post-Katrina dip, Consumer Confidence was higher during most of the last year than it was during the heyday of the mid-1980's.

Yeah, sounds like the worst economy since Herbert Hoover to me.

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The Worst Economy Since Herbert Hoover

Yeah, right. Just take a look at quarterly GDP growth since the President handed out his "tax-cuts for the rich":

Not to mention 5% unemployment and a deficit shrinking every day from higher Federal tax revenues.

Now imagine if we made those tax cuts permanent?

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"Voo-Doo" Economics Increases Federal Receipts

For the third time since the early 1960's, drastic cuts in the marginal tax rates have produced more - NOT LESS - tax revenues, as demonstrated by the following chart just released by the Treasury Department:

Lower Tax Rates = Higher Tax Receipts = Lower Budget Deficits. Kennedy understood it. Reagan understood it. Bush understands it.

You see, this is how economics works in the real world as opposed to Paul Krugman's fantasy world.

h/t: Ace of Spades HQ

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Economic Growth Revised "Up"

Third-Quarter GDP which originally clocked in at a solid 3.8% has now been revised to an even more robust 4.3%.

The upwardly revised reading for GDP in the third quarter also exceeded the expectations of business analysts. Before the report was released, they were forecasting the economy to clock in at a 4 percent pace.

Consumers and businesses did their part to keep the economy rolling — even as they coped with elevated energy prices during the third quarter.

Must be all those Bush "tax cuts for the rich", huh?

Add this news to the rise in consumer confidence, the surge in home sales and the Dow approaching the 11,000 mark and it's easy to see why Democrats are putting all their eggs in the "Iraq" basket.

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Unemployment Drops...Again!

Looky here, if you scroll down far enough on MSNBC.com you can actually find this story: U.S. Payrolls Expand, Jobless Rate Falls.

It seems the unemployment rate is now down to 4.9%, with 169,000 jobs added in August. What, no "the increase in jobs exceeded analysts expectations" commentary? If it fell short of expectations, you can bet your bottom dollar that would be part of the headline.

But wait. The article sets the tone for next month, when the job growth numbers will undoubtably slow because of Katrina. And you just know the MSM will be ALL.OVER.THAT. And guess whose gonna get the blame? Hmm. Let me think...

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