NewsView: Bad economic news tests Bush

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apelection_story.asp?category=1131&slug=Bush%20Economic%20Woes

WASHINGTON -- Soaring fuel prices and slowing job growth are presenting President Bush with a difficult choice: He can concede there are problems with his economic policies or insist the recovery is progressing - and risk looking out of touch.

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Bush, meanwhile, is trying to hedge his bets - insisting that the recovery is on track while his aides weigh a series of possible new economic campaign themes and initiatives for a second term, including tax code simplification.

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"The economy clearly has weakened. It's not clear why, and therefore it is particularly uncertain how the economy is going to perform between now and Election Day," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com. "So Bush is taking a risk. But I don't know that he has a choice. The die has been cast."

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Bush remains on track to be the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a net loss of jobs. The nation has about 1.2 million fewer jobs than when Bush took office, despite the creation of more than a million jobs over the past 12 months.

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Bush remains on track to be the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a net loss of jobs. The nation has about 1.2 million fewer jobs than when Bush took office, despite the creation of more than a million jobs over the past 12 months.
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Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I am not native to the English language, so perhaps I am misinterpreting the above statement, but how is it possible that the US has 1.2 million fewer jobs when there are more than a million new jobs created? Isn't that kind of a contradictory statement?

:hi:

simply a matter of addition and subtraction -

total jobs lost:

2.2 million

jobs added in past 12 months (if you use their numbers)

1.0 million

net loss of 1.2 million jobs

until tomorrow when Greenspin takes the stage.

See, it seems the media must continue to repeat the phrase "Bush created more than a million jobs in 12 months". It's one of their things, say it often enough and folks believe it. Say it often enough and due to its positive tone, no matter what context it's used in, it becomes a rally cry.

You're getting sleepy, your eyes are getting heavier, sleep, sleep sleep.

"Bush created more than a million jobs in 12 months"
"Bush created more than a million jobs in 12 months"
"Bush created more than a million jobs in 12 months"
"Bush created more than a million jobs in 12 months"
"Bush created more than a million jobs in 12 months"

:evilgrin:

"The economy is strong and it's getting better," Bush told reporters Monday in the Oval Office. "This campaign is going to be talking about visions, about how to keep the economic recovery going."

Uh-oh, a cornered animal can become especially dangerous. He is certainly not going to want his presidency remembered for another recession, or worse. He easily blames the mess we're in now on 9/11 :scared:

"There are no policy tools left for Bush to use. He's taken his best shot," said Thomas Mann, a scholar at the Brookings Institution.

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"You have to look at the overall picture. The economy is moving forward, and we're not turning back," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

is doing exactly what one would expect from the policies put in place by the Bush administration.The tax cuts which favored the wealthy have done two things.Put excess cash in the hands of those who do not need it in purchasing any goods.The middle and lower income groups who need it the most for purchasing daily necessities have been stripped of their purchasing power.This has shown up as decilining retail sales at discount stores like Walmart, target etc., while upscale stores like Nordstrom,Bloomingdal's and others continue to thrive.The same is true of the automotive industry where cars from GM, Ford and Chrysler are sitting unsold at dealer lots while Toyota, BMW and other imports favored by the well-to-do have been snapped up.

Thus two major industries, retail and autos, which provide large amount of employement are seeing red.

The second part of the problem is that the tax cuts for the wealthy which was supposed to provide capital for investment has indeed done so but not in this country.Most of that investment, seeking higher returns, is now migrating to India and China.This is another reason why the whole idea of supplyside economics is bankrupt.In a global economy, capital released by tax cuts is mobile and find its way at the click of a mouse to India or China or wherever the returns are bigger.

and from the content of your post, I'd say you would do a hell of a lot better job than Snow, Chow, or any of the others that are playing economist at the administration (not to mention AEI, Heritage, and the other K Street whore outfits).

Send a ballot to all those in India and China whom the tax cuts helped. Their vote for * should offset the votes against from the downsized and outsourced in this country.

If we are to have a global economy, we also need a global election. < /sarcasm>

It's Bush's dirty little secret, but it goes unreported. No one, except Lou Dobbs, wants to talk about where the investment capital is going. The U.S. economy is being dismantled piece by piece and shipped overseas. It's a historic transfer of wealth from middle class Americans to cheap overseas labor.

We send our children to Iraq and Bush sends our jobs overseas.

This should be the Dems #1 talking point!

They are attractive because they are well-built affordable cars that people don't need to sink a lot of extra money into. What's more, a large number of them are built in Kentucky.

The Mercedes M Class and Honda Odyssey are built in Alabama.

"You have to look at the overall picture. The economy is moving forward, and we're not turning back," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

The economy is moving forward...and all downhill.

so he wants yet another tax cut. The man is deluded