January 13, 2007

THAT'S AN AWFULLY GOOD ECONOMY FOR WHICH THE GOP REFUSED TO TAKE CREDIT:

Retail sales jumped 0.9% in December (Associated Press, January 13, 2007)

Consumers snapped up flat screen televisions and the latest electronic gadgets at a frenzied pace in December, helping retailers close out 2006 with better-than-expected sales.

The strong showing during the all-important holiday season and a big jump in consumer confidence in January lifted hopes that the economy, after a sluggish period in 2006, has begun to rebound.

Retail sales rose 0.9 percent in December, the best in five months, the Commerce Department reported yesterday. That was better than the 0.7 percent analysts had been expecting.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 13, 2007 11:02 AM
Comments

No wonder there has been so little in the papers about holiday sales. Always makes one suspicious that it's good news for us and bad news for the media.

Posted by: erp at January 13, 2007 11:39 AM

The media is so wrapped around the axle with the impending doom in their own industry that they cannot report on any good economic news (in addition to their anti-GOP bias).

The NYT is trying to decide if it can lay off 20 editorial positions (along with about 100 other union jobs) - so the sky is falling. Plus, they are selling off businesses as fast as they can, because they need the cash. The recent sale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wound up costing the McClatchy family about half their 1 billion plus investment of just 6 years ago. The LA Times may lose another 5% plus in readership before Sept. 1.

The GOP had no chance to take credit for the economy, unless the President had given a live speech from the a factory somewhere, complete with charts, to show exactly where the market was on Nov. 1, what the price of gas was, how the unemployment rate was at historical lows, and so on. He could have done it (on the Republican nickel), but would it have worked? Typically, Presidents don't act like Senators running for the Oval Office (I know, I know - Clinton was the exception). Such a speech may have put the Dems on the defensive, and certainly all GOP candidates could have endorsed it, but would they have backed the President?

Posted by: jim hamlen at January 13, 2007 4:07 PM
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