Had enough gloom and doom? Then consider this. The job market remains strong, not as strong as in the recent past, but strong enough to keep unemployment at low levels and to have Goldman Sachs' economists call it "robust." Productivity rose at the robust annual rate of 4.9 percent in the third quarter, causing labor costs to fall. Core inflation remains low. Most CEOs I meet are expecting profits to grow at double-digit rates in 2008. Personal incomes continue to rise. The economy did grow at a healthy pace in the third quarter. The World Economic Forum ranks America number one in competitiveness, up from sixth last year. The International Monetary Fund expects the world economy to grow at close to 5 percent, which bodes well for U.S. exports. And Ben Bernanke, while at the same time warning of downside risks to any projection, told the Joint Economic Committee late last week that "most businesses appeared to enjoy relatively good access to credit . . . the overall economy remained resilient in recent months," and that he expects growth to resume in the second half of 2008 after a "sluggish" first half, "as the effects of tighter credit and the housing correction begin to wane.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Beware bearers of bad news
Irwin Stelzer is supicious of the bad news coming out about the economy because those with the best information may be trying to pressure the Fed into cutting rates (from the Weekly Standard)
Despite the recent fluctuations in the equities markets, isn't the story of the US economy over the past few years the "great story that was never told." Especially in light of the rising energy costs and the housing surplus? The media elites seem so invested in besmirching every facet of the current administration, that they deliberately blind themselves to any evidence or indicator that the domestic economic situation is relatively healthy.
ReplyDeleteIt just seems as if the majority of American media outlets behave like the old soviet Pravda paper. They refuse to report on the situation as it reflected by facts, but rather they twist the story to conform with their own myopic agenda and outlook of how the world should be.
Perhaps they are captives of the fact that their industry is in rapid decline as it has failed to keep pace with the innovation curve of how information is decimated in this digital age. This failure to adapt is clearly evidenced in the biased reported and reinforces the notion that these people have no place in the modern economy as reporters. I hear public education is hiring.