Great Economy

[I lost two days to the flu!] It wasn't on the front page in my village. I guess they would have to blame President Bush for the good news. OK, it's today's news and they wait until tomorrow to not print it. Unemployment, after a small tick upward returned to the very low level of 4.7 per cent. This is good news for everyone, except those who want only bad news. Businesses are actively seeking to hire. Fox News reports:

Businesses are regaining confidence to the point where they are now actively hiring new workers," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America's Investment Strategies Group. Employment was stronger in March than economists were expecting. Before the release of the report, they were forecasting a gain of 190,000 jobs and they said they believed the overall civilian jobless rate would hold steady. Good news on the economy, however, hasn't been helping Bush in the eyes of the public. Bush's job-approval rating of 36 percent is at its lowest level in an AP-Ipsos poll.

Maybe the strong economy hasn't helped Bush's approval ratings because the news media don't report it. Or if they do they search far and wide for one possible side effect and trumpet the small negative part, while down playing the huge good that benefits everyone.

"I think the Fed wants the unemployment rate to stop going down pretty much immediately, and if it doesn't the Fed will keep tightening," said economist Jim O'Sullivan of UBS Securities in Greenwich, Conn.

-- Reuters, who also said this happened "unexpectedly." President Bush deserves some credit for this good news. He gives credit to the tax cuts he put in place in 2001. Some of them are set to end unless they are extended very soon. In fact, I think some have already ended, but the economic decision makers think they will be extended retroactively to cover this year. If that is not done, then the economy will take a hit. And let's have a hand for the top 10 tax cutters in Congress - at Human Events.