"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
With credit to NOYB for bringing this up in another thread, and with the
understanding
it deserves a separate thread to counter the lib claims of record
unemployment and a
worsening economy, here are some facts on the growing economy:

Ya got balz, Jim.

Your report does not support what you purport! You can run that skunk out of
the bushes all afternoon and try to convince us country boys it's really a
black and white house cat, but the perfume gives it away nonetheless.

Let's look at a few of the details in the report you're so proud of, shall we?

new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to
a six-month low

A one-week drop in the number of "new claims" for unemployment only means that
the layoffs have slowed down a little bit.
Has nothing to do with how many people are employed, merely defines the rate at
which new people are joining the ranks of the unemployed. As the work force
shrinks, layoffs will naturally slow down. Much of the deadwood has already
been chopped- along with a good bit of the forest core.

Simple math: as the workforce shrinks, a decreasing number of people losing
their jobs in a given week can actually represent
a steady or even increasing *percentage* of the diminishing base.


Ahh, but if you bothered to read my entire post, it was not only a one week drop I
reported but a drop in the month of July. Spin it anyway you want to. The fact is
that unemployment dropped in July.




Productivity -- the amount that an employee produces per hour of work -- grew
at an
annual rate of 5.7 percent in the April to June quarter, the best showing
since the
third quarter of 2002, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Good news for employers and investors, true. How does this get our people back
to work?


Another spin on your part. The fact is that productivity increased for 2 straight
quarters.


In a second report from the department, new applications for jobless benefits
fell by a
seasonally adjusted 3,000 to a six-month low of 390,000 for the work week
ending Aug.
2. It marked the third week in a row that claims were below 400,000, a level
associated
with a weak job market.

400,000 layoffs a week is considered a "weak job market?" No doubt. So, if only
390,000 people are involuntarily separated from the source of their paychecks
the Bush Administration is doing a whiz-bang job of managing the economy? Your
standards are far too relaxed.

I have some things I have to get done tonight. I will respond to the rest of your
dribble tomorrow.