Confidence Rebounds As Data Drown Fears Of A 'Jobless Recovery'

This is concerning. If the economy is off the table as an issue, will Iraq be enough for us to win?

http://biz.yahoo.com/ibd/040512/feature_1.html

Confidence Rebounds As Data Drown Fears Of A 'Jobless Recovery'

Americans' faith in the economy bounced back in May, after a three-month slide and a turnaround on jobs.
The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index rose 2 points, or 3.8%, to 54.8, its first move up since hitting a 22-month high of 60.6 in January. Over 50 means optimism.

"Americans' economic confidence is quite strong," said Raghavan Mayur, president of TIPP, a unit of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, IBD's polling partner.

"The improvement is nearly universal," he said. "The past few months have been positive on the job front, and this is going a long way towards bolstering the economic outlook."

Department fabricated the job growth for March and April. I wouldn't worry about it yet.

There should be PLENTY to be able to oust these fuckers with without having to count on everything going badly.

to us about the state of things.

I already know that the economy is going nowhere but down. How do I know? Because, the GOP has not passed a single bill that will help our economy's long term strength.

http://www.gallup.com/content/?ci=11611

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Last Friday's job report suggests that new hiring is finally beginning to happen in the U.S. economy, with the addition of 600,000 new jobs over the past two months. Add in the fact that the economy continued to expand at a 4% annual rate during the first quarter, and one might reasonably assume that consumers have good cause to be increasingly optimistic about the economic outlook.

New Gallup Poll economic data, however, show just the opposite. In early May, more consumers rate current economic conditions as "poor" than at any time this year. Even more surprisingly, half the public thinks the economy is "getting worse" as opposed to "getting better" -- nearly twice the number who held that view in January. Combined, these two key findings suggest that consumer confidence is now at its lowest point of the year.

Why is consumer confidence declining just when the economic expansion finally seems to be building some positive momentum? Part of the explanation may involve growing consumer concerns about increasing prices and higher interest rates. Another part lies in the way higher-income consumers remain much more optimistic about the economy and its future prospects than do their middle- and lower-income counterparts.

Inflation Expectations Increase in May

Two in three Americans tell Gallup they expect inflation to increase over the next six months. This is up eight percentage points from April and is the highest percentage of the public expecting prices to go up since Gallup began measuring inflation expectations in October 2001.

With oil closing at 40.77 per bbl. Gas prices averaging $1.96 gal, and a bunch of new layoffs anounced today, it's only a matter of time until the better parts of the Whore media discover and report that the Dept. of Labor has been cooking the books in the last few jobs reports. Even the Freeped out NY Post can agree to this:

<snip>

Back in the March employment report, the government added 153,000 positions to its revised total of 337,000 new jobs because it thought (but couldn't prove) loads of new companies were being created in this economy.
That estimate comes from the Labor Department's "birth/death model." You can look up these numbers on the Department's Web site.

As staggering as the assumption about new companies was in March, the Labor Department got even more brazen in April.

Last Friday, it was disclosed that these imaginary jobs had been increased by 117,000 to 270,000 for the latest month - because, I guess, the stat jockeys got a vision from the gods of spring.

Without those extra 117,000 make-believe jobs, the total growth for April would have been just 171,000 - sub-par for an economy that's supposed to be growing at more than 4 percent a year, but right on the pros' targets.

Take away all 270,000 make-believe jobs and, well, you have the sort of pessimism that the political pollsters are seeing.

More

<http://www.nypost.com/business/23936.htm >

:shrug:

on job growth the last two months.

who are you voting for in 2004, oh master of rings?

Bush/Sauron?