nice econ analysis....

[the Disemboweler]

Here are a few of the many reasons to be optimistic about the economy:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has issued its annual revision of employment statistics, adding 810,000 more jobs to the previous total. The latest numbers show 2.54 million new jobs in the last 12 months, and 5.5 million in the last 24. Unemployment is at 4.7 percent.

The Dow Jones has now topped 12,000 and is up 51 percent since the tax cuts in 2003, while the S&P 500 is up 63 percent and the NASDAQ is up 80 percent.

The U.S. economy has grown at a 3.7 percent annual average rate in the same period.

Despite vastly increased federal spending (spending is $907 billion higher than it was in 2000), the federal budget deficit is down to $248 billion in FY2006 due to increased tax revenue.

[St. Jerry]

Here are a few of the many reasons to be optimistic about the economy:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has issued its annual revision of employment statistics, adding 810,000 more jobs to the previous total. The latest numbers show 2.54 million new jobs in the last 12 months, and 5.5 million in the last 24. Unemployment is at 4.7 percent.

The Dow Jones has now topped 12,000 and is up 51 percent since the tax cuts in 2003, while the S&P 500 is up 63 percent and the NASDAQ is up 80 percent.

The U.S. economy has grown at a 3.7 percent annual average rate in the same period.

Despite vastly increased federal spending (spending is $907 billion higher than it was in 2000), the federal budget deficit is down to $248 billion in FY2006 due to increased tax revenue.

The liberal in me says the above may be misleading.:
1. What were the quality of the new jobs? A new job at Walmart is not the same as a new manufacturing or white colar job.

2. Corporate profits are up, which helps shareholders. But only a small percentage (I don't remember what the percentage exacty is, somewhare around 20%?) of Americans own stocks.

However, the republican in me says:
1. Excellent! I love watching the value of my investment portfolio go up this year! rock-on! and if you want to have 3 kids and 2 SUVS that you can't afford instead of using that $ to invest in your future (be it through education or in the market, or both), we'll that's your own stupid fault.

I think the republican wins here.

[BigKahuna13]

2. Corporate profits are up, which helps shareholders. But only a small percentage (I don't remember what the percentage exacty is, somewhare around 20%?) of Americans own stocks.

Does that 20% include people who indirectly own stocks - like in 401Ks and mutual funds?
Gotta believe when you factor those people in the number's higher than
20%.

[CAPBOY]

Here are a few of the many reasons to be optimistic about the economy:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has issued its annual revision of employment statistics, adding 810,000 more jobs to the previous total. The latest numbers show 2.54 million new jobs in the last 12 months, and 5.5 million in the last 24. Unemployment is at 4.7 percent.

The Dow Jones has now topped 12,000 and is up 51 percent since the tax cuts in 2003, while the S&P 500 is up 63 percent and the NASDAQ is up 80 percent.

The U.S. economy has grown at a 3.7 percent annual average rate in the same period.

Despite vastly increased federal spending (spending is $907 billion higher than it was in 2000), the federal budget deficit is down to $248 billion in FY2006 due to increased tax revenue.

The liberal in me says the above may be misleading.:
1. What were the quality of the new jobs? A new job at Walmart is not the same as a new manufacturing or white colar job.

2. Corporate profits are up, which helps shareholders. But only a small percentage (I don't remember what the percentage exacty is, somewhare around 20%?) of Americans own stocks.

However, the republican in me says:
1. Excellent! I love watching the value of my investment portfolio go up this year! rock-on! and if you want to have 3 kids and 2 SUVS that you can't afford instead of using that $ to invest in your future (be it through education or in the market, or both), we'll that's your own stupid fault.

I think the republican wins here.

The real estate guy in me says with office vacancies at a pretty low level in many markets, those would be in offices and not starbucks.

Again, the real estate guy says corporate profits high = money for the corporations to spend on employees, and capital spending for r&d.

And all of this is in spite of a moron at 1600!

[XtremeJibber2001]

2. Corporate profits are up, which helps shareholders. But only a small percentage (I don't remember what the percentage exacty is, somewhare around 20%?) of Americans own stocks.

Not sure if that includes peoples invested via 401k's, but either way that's surprising.

[St. Jerry]

2. Corporate profits are up, which helps shareholders. But only a small percentage (I don't remember what the percentage exacty is, somewhare around 20%?) of Americans own stocks.

Does that 20% include people who indirectly own stocks - like in 401Ks and mutual funds?
Gotta believe when you factor those people in the number's higher than
20%.

"It probably would surprise a lot of people to know that less than half of American households are
invested in the stock market in any form--either directly or indirectly through mutual funds or
401(k)s. The percentage of households that own stock declined from 51.9% in 2001 to 48.6% in
2004 – the first decline recorded. Furthermore, the percentage of households with more than
$5,000 in stock fell from 40.1% to 34.9%--the first decline in this share.
Stock ownership remains concentrated among the wealthiest households. The wealthiest 20% of
households own over 90% of all stock value. For the top 1%, the average value of stock holdings
was $3.3 million in 2004, down from $3.8 million in 2001. The average value of stock holdings
for the middle 20% was $7,500 in 2004, down from $12,000 in 2001."

from: http://www.epinet.org/newsroom/releases ... -final.pdf