U.S. Economy Grew 7.2% in 3Q, Fastest Pace in 20 Years
Thu Oct 30, 8:41 AM ET

By Deborah Lagomarsino

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. economy roared ahead in the third quarter, growing at its fastest pace in nearly 20 years, fueled by greater consumer and business spending.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=808&e=9&u=/dowjones/200310300841001006

You should also note that inflation is on the rise, which leads to the raising of the interest rate, which stagnates growth and spending. We'll see if this spike leads to a measured recovery (hopefully), or if it's just another short-term effect of a $350 billion giveaway.



" I say to the President, Mr. President on your watch, we have lost more than 3.2 million private sector jobs. You have the worst record of job performance since Herbert Hoover. Mr President, where are the jobs? The American people will not settle, nor should be the Republicans celebrate a jobless recovery. "

- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

"which leads to the raising of the interest rate"

True, but it's not like they are overly low right now

1. How much did President Bush's policies contribute to the surge in third-quarter economic growth?

Hardly at all 42%

A little 17%

A lot 41%


41% of America need to understand how a deficit economy works. Bush isn't giving us tax cuts, he's borrowing money and giving it to us to "imply" tax cuts, but we'll have to pay it ALL back in 10-20 years WITH interest. The only thing Bush cares about is getting re-elected, not the good of this nation now and in the future.

To me, polls about economics are useless. 90% of 4 year degreed people who had 1-2 econ classes cannot even tell you what GDP stands for, let alone how the economy really ticks.

As far as Bush only wanting to get reelected, I hope we can agree regardless of who is in office and from what party, their main focus would be getting reelected, I have expect this from any politician.

Also, regardless of who and from what party, I don't think anyone wants to see our country struggle, I think anyone in office would want to do SOMETHING to help this country out.

The tax cuts are working right now, I just HOPE things keep picking up. From the job market side, this is our slow season and Oct has been our best month in a long time.

BTW I want to thank for you continuing with your points about Bush and the Tax cuts, I am just wondering where all the other bashers are?

Originally posted by lex400sc
41% of America need to understand how a deficit economy works. Bush isn't giving us tax cuts, he's borrowing money and giving it to us to "imply" tax cuts, but we'll have to pay it ALL back in 10-20 years WITH interest. The only thing Bush cares about is getting re-elected, not the good of this nation now and in the future.

There you go with your zero sum economics again. A rising tide really does raise all boats AND diminish the deficit. It's like a car engine. You have to SPEND a lot of energy to get it started, but once it's started it can recharge the battery and generate huge excess energy.

Clinton's terms didn't erase the deficit by increasing taxes. It was because the dot com economy caused an UNEXPECTED AVALANCHE of tax income to the government. I'm not denying Clinton did GOOD THINGS during his term to help the economy, but not much of it contributed either way to the good and bad of the deficits.

Originally posted by bitkahuna
Clinton's terms didn't erase the deficit by increasing taxes. It was because the dot com economy caused an UNEXPECTED AVALANCHE of tax income to the government. I'm not denying Clinton did GOOD THINGS during his term to help the economy, but not much of it contributed either way to the good and bad of the deficits.
I agree. Presidents can only do so much to affect the economy. That's why I don't wholly attribute the recovery of our current economy to Bush.

Originally posted by 93LexoGS300
I agree. Presidents can only do so much to affect the economy. That's why I don't wholly attribute the recovery of our current economy to Bush.

Exactly - they don't really deserve a lot of the blame or the credit. The economy is simply too huge to be impacted that significantly by our government, although monetary policy can drag things down and the IMAGE the government gives can impact confidence.

And on the subject of job growth- employment is a lagging indicator. businesses need to grow before they have a need for new employees

Sad to not see all the recent bashers.......


Jobless Claims Plunge, Productivity Soars

By Tim Ahmann

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits took an unexpectedly sharp plunge last week, reaching a level not seen since before the economy tumbled into recession in 2001, a government report showed on Thursday.

A separate report showed U.S. business productivity soared in the third quarter, suggesting little risk inflation will flare despite signs the economic recovery is on firmer ground.


Initial claims for state unemployment aid fell 43,000 to 348,000 in the week to Nov. 1 from a revised 391,000 the prior week, the Labor Department (news - web sites) said. It was the lowest level since late January 2001, two months before the recession began.

Payrolls Surge, Third Straight Rise
41 minutes ago Add Business - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Anna Willard

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy added more than twice the number of jobs expected in October, the third straight monthly gain, and the jobless rate fell, the government said on Friday in a report pointing to a labor market recovery.




The Labor Department (news - web sites) also made substantial upward revisions to payrolls for August and September, a sign sizzling economic growth in the third quarter translated into more jobs.


The number of workers on U.S. payrolls outside the farm sector in October soared 126,000, the largest rise since January, after climbing 125,000 in the previous month. The number far outstripped analyst expectations

So the hemorrhaging has finally subsided. There are still 9 million jobs to fill in America, 3 million before you can consider any new job a growth and not a recovery. 126,000 extra jobs is 126,000 lay-offs being reinstated. Once that number eclipses 3 million, we will finally be back to year 2001 levels. Manufacturing jobs, I might add, are still in a 32 month decline---meaning the blue-collar working class is still feeling it. How much did Bush's foolish tax plan have to do with any economic recovery? Not likely much at all I think. Unfortunately, I think any sort of economic progress would be attributed to Bush's tax plan, even though recovery would be inevitable regardless of good policy or poor policy. Let us now worry about the $6.6 trillion debt we owe against ourselves :(.

Originally posted by lex400sc
...recovery would be inevitable regardless of good policy or poor policy.

Exactly. Bush, AND his predecessors deserve little of the blame or of the credit for recession or recovery.

You mention millions of jobs still to be recovered, which is true, but it would be very hard to find correlation between Bush's policies and the loss of those jobs. The tech boom had ended before he got into office and 9/11 happened and caused an avalanche of layoffs.

As far as manufacturing jobs, Robert Reich (again) said on NPR that manufacturing jobs are disappearing WORLDWIDE, with the U.S. about average for rate of decline. Even China is seeing about the same rate of decline. Reason? Automation! China used to gain manufacturing jobs in huge inefficient massively people intensive factories. Now they're automating and reducing the workforce dramatically. Those jobs worldwide are NEVER coming back. Just like happened in agriculture in the developed world, now it's happening in manuafacturing. IT in turn is now moving to low cost producers, and who knows, maybe code writing will be more automated in the future too. What will people do then? We'll all work at WalMart or Starbucks or a nursing home! :D

Originally posted by lex400sc
So the hemorrhaging has finally subsided. There are still 9 million jobs to fill in America, 3 million before you can consider any new job a growth and not a recovery. 126,000 extra jobs is 126,000 lay-offs being reinstated. Once that number eclipses 3 million, we will finally be back to year 2001 levels. Manufacturing jobs, I might add, are still in a 32 month decline---meaning the blue-collar working class is still feeling it. How much did Bush's foolish tax plan have to do with any economic recovery? Not likely much at all I think. Unfortunately, I think any sort of economic progress would be attributed to Bush's tax plan, even though recovery would be inevitable regardless of good policy or poor policy. Let us now worry about the $6.6 trillion debt we owe against ourselves :(.

Originally posted by lex400sc
The problem I'm pointing out with George Bush is his idiotic supply-side delusion in his obviously failed economic policy. If tax cuts didn't work in 2001, didn't work in 2002, didn't work in 2003, what the hell makes you think they will work in 2004? We were told for three years that the sunshine was just around the corner. Hell the recession technically ended months ago according to Bush economists! So why are people still losing jobs?

Originally posted by lex400sc

For the 37th month in a row, America is continuing to see job loses with 93,000 jobs lost in manufacturing and 67,000 jobs lost in the service sector in the last month alone. The middle class is continuing to shrink and blacks are losing white-collar jobs at the fastest rate since the 1970's. And with this monumental failure in Bush economic policy, the President is pressing on for a permanent tax cut mirroring his 2003 plan, which adds and additional $1 trillion weight to what is already the largest federal deficit in American history. There is only one question that remains: where did the hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief go to? Who is winning if not the working class? Could it possibly be the very richest segment of society who is benefitting? In other words, the favortism goes to those who are already best equipped to weather a down economy? There is no question about it! With this ugly shadow upon Bush's policy, the President has scheudled a national address on Sunday morning. Let's see what he has to say about the economic climate in regards to his sorry plan---if he'll even address the issues and claim responsibility (for the first time ever), or instead just highlight his few and far between term accomplishments.

So... When will he ever get credit for anything right? You bashed him when his tax cuts went through, and now that they are in place and they are WORKING you still bash him, but this time you say: "How much did Bush's foolish tax plan have to do with any economic recovery? Not likely much at all I think."

It appears that he will never get credit for doing ANYTHING well from you. The question is, does it matter how a person sees our President when its clear that this person is only looking for the worst in everything he does?

Originally posted by 2Lexus430s
So... When will he ever get credit for anything right? You bashed him when his tax cuts went through, and now that they are in place and they are WORKING you still bash him, but this time you say: "How much did Bush's foolish tax plan have to do with any economic recovery? Not likely much at all I think."

It appears that he will never get credit for doing ANYTHING well from you. The question is, does it matter how a person sees our President when its clear that this person is only looking for the worst in everything he does?

Very interesting point you make. I'll be waiting for an answer from lex. But again, a point well made.

-Anthony