Any U.S. Administration would crow about strong GDP numbers. But where the New York Times always questioned economic fundamentals under Republican presidents, it appears unwilling to dig into other statistics that would put 4th GDP numbers into a larger historical perspective. Former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said in recent testimony that the U.S. is actually experiencing a jobless recovery…
Americans may not feel like they are in the midst of a strong recovery. The dollar remains weak, job creation lethargic and the stock market sluggish. But there are barometers that show the U.S. economy is beginning to rise again and any administration would be entitled to crow about these the numbers.
The critical difference here being that President Obama has The New York Times as a cheerleader.
“The United States economy grew at its fastest pace in more than six years at the end of 2009…, The Times reports. “The broadest measure of economic activity, gross domestic product, expanded at an annual rate of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter, after a 2.2 percent increase the previous quarter.”
Businesses are beginning to reinvest as growth returns, some experts note and Obama Administration officials believe this will ultimately translate into robust job growth.
“Employers are seeing demand go up,” Christina Romer, the chairwoman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers is quoted as saying. “They’re starting to hire temporary workers. We’re trying to get them to take the plunge and hire permanent workers. And do the hiring sooner rather than later.”
The report also describes a new jobs proposal from President Obama that would provide companies with a tax credit of up to $5,000 for each new hire. The timing is ideal the president explained while in Baltimore because businesses need this kind of incentive in aftermath of a recession.
And there’s the rub. The U.S. is in midst of a jobless recovery and there is some small acknowledgment of this reality for readers to absorb once they get past the GNP stats.
“The economy has been able to grow even without adding workers because employers have found ways to accomplish more with fewer workers,” the report says. “Productivity grew at a robust rate of 8.1 percent in the third quarter of 2009, the most recent data available.”
For Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao recently testified on the paucity of job creation and said the new administration has placed too much emphasis on policy changes favored by “Big Labor.”
“While the administration focused in 2009 on appeasing its organized labor allies, job creation ground to a halt,” she said in testimony. “Current job creation figures are abysmal. The dearth of job creation during this administration distinguishes this recession from other downturns…No one feels the lack of job creation more keenly than America’s fifteen million unemployed workers who have been without a job, on average for 29 weeks, the longest since that data began being collected in 1948.”
By all means, The Times should report on encouraging economic numbers. But it never did any cheerleading for George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan who both experienced robust job growth under their watch after cutting taxes.
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