MORE BAD NEWS FOR THE BUSH-HATERS



From the AP:

Stocks barreled sharply higher Thursday following news that the economy grew at a much stronger-than-expected pace in the second quarter and that claims for jobless benefits fell for a third week. The Dow Jones industrials climbed more than 150 points as upbeat earnings from components Exxon Mobil and Procter & Gamble also contributed to the market's first gain in four days.



Investors enjoyed a renewed sense of confidence that the economy is poised for robust growth in the second half of the year, as Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan predicted earlier this month during testimony before Congress.

If our economic performance continues to improve, this will come as a huge disappointment to those on the fringe left, for whom any good news during a Republican administration is viewed as anathema.



Also, I wonder if this would have changed the view of the reporter who asked this question (obviously from a Democrat press release)at yesterday's Presidential press conference:

Q Thank you, sir. Since taking office you signed into law three major tax cuts -- two of which have had plenty of time to take effect, the third of which, as you pointed out earlier, is taking effect now. Yet, the unemployment rate has continued rising. We now have more evidence of a massive budget deficit that taxpayers are going to be paying off for years or decades to come; the economy continues to shed jobs. What evidence can you point to that tax cuts, at least of the variety that you have supported, are really working to help this economy? And do you need to be thinking about some other approach?

This was part of the President's answer:

And yet our economy is growing. In other words, what I'm telling you is, is that we had a lot of obstacles to overcome. The '01 tax cuts affected the recession this way, it was a shallow recession. That's positive, because I care about people being able to find a job. Someone said, well, maybe the recession should have been deeper in order for the rebound to be quicker. My attitude is, a deeper recession means more people would have been hurt. And I view the actions we've taken as a jobs program, job creation program.



Secondly, there are hopeful signs. I mean, most economists believe that over the next 18 months we'll see positive economic growth. Interest rates are low; housing starts are strong; manufacturing indexes are improving.

Today's news clearly demonstrates that the President is on the right track.