First off, the New York times ran a nice piece on the growth of the economy in the 4th quarter. Though it didn't match the 8% growth in the 3rd quarter, the 4% growth in the 4th quarter was evidence of a strong, growing economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy grew at a 4 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2003 — a slowdown from the red-hot performance of the prior quarter but still compelling evidence of a recovery in full motion at year's end.
The reading on the gross domestic product for the October-to-December quarter, reported Friday by the Commerce Department, came after the economy grew at a sizzling 8.2 percent rate in the third quarter. That had been the strongest performance in nearly two decades.
Analysts were predicting a slowdown in economic growth in the fourth quarter as the simulative impact of tax cuts and a refinance frenzy — which propelled the economy during the summer — faded with the onset of winter.
Which is true, the economy tends to slow down during the winter. People don't travel as much, don't buy cars, and tend to stay home. Who can blame then with the nasty Northeast weather we are experiencing. 4% growth is still good, the only thing we are waiting on is a jobs boom, but that should follow. Just last week for eample we got this good news from Big Blue:
IBM will hire 15,000 new employees--50 percent more than originally planned--in areas such as software and services because of a rebound in the economy, a top executive said Saturday.
It's a start.
Meanwhile President Bush continues to spend like a drunken sailor. He just announced an increase in funding for the National Endowment of the Arts. A program much maligned for it's pork and for the types of art that sometimes comes out of its grants.
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration on Thursday proposed an $18 million increase in next year's budget for the National Endowment for the Arts.
The 15-percent boost would be the largest percentage increase in funding that the agency has received in 20 years. It was announced by first lady Laura Bush at the endowment's headquarters in Washington.
Article comments
1 - David Flanagan
the only thing we are waiting on is a jobs boom, but that should follow.
I think 2004 is going to be the year of jobs growth. My company is frantically hiring, which is why I had a very looong week this week.
I spent the whole week organizing interview blitzes for my department, we've been told that we need to hire 60 people by March and, ultimately, we may well hire a couple hundred this year, and my department is not all that big. Overall, my company is in rapid expansion mode, bringing in consultants like crazy for long-term stints and hiring as fast as we can.
My company just this past year finished construction of a new building to house our new staff, and already its over full! We just purchased a building down the road and are working as fast as we can to convert it for our uses; rewiring, etc.
I think we are not the only company getting into recruitment mode. I may have to do a post on this. :-)
David Flanagan
2 - Ms. Tek
"IBM will hire 15,000 new employees--50 percent more than originally planned--in areas such as software and services because of a rebound in the economy, a top executive said Saturday."
Did he say if those jobs would be in the USA or India?
3 - Mac Diva
Tonight's CBS news led with a long piece about job losses. I don't recall the number the various businesses added up to, but it was more than 15,000. One of the companies described makes Domino's sugar. Hundreds of people in a poverty-ravaged part of New York, among others, are now out of work. When I read material suggesting the opposite of what the news is, I wonder if Right Wingers filter out the real news and just hear what they want to.
Here's a fuller picture of what is happening at IBM:
Note that the job cuts are real. People are idle and wondering where their next rent or mortgage payment will come from. The hires are merely projected.
4 - Ms. Tek
I live in Illinois. I know that HERE, what we read in the paper and see in the news nearly every night is more and more layoffs and closings and bankruptcies.
5 - Eric Olsen
The big picture is looking up by almost every measurement, which does not reduce the pain of individuals on the micro level by very much, but it should at least give hope.
6 - Mac Diva
I live in the state tied for the third highest unemployment rate. Ten minutes away is the one with second highest unemployment rate. Another Pacific Northwest state is first, an 'honor' we had a few months ago. Bux and Flanagan apparently live in Never Never Land. (On the second thought, probably not. I've heard it is racially integrated.)
You can keep up with the rankings here.
7 - JR
Cool site. Using dinosaur icons for historical data is hilarious. Those wacky bureaucrats.
It looks to me like WA has lower unemployment than OR, which is tied with MI. Puerto Rico has some serious unemployment. With AK at number one, I suppose we can expect them to be screaming for more oil drilling.
For all the jobs lost, we haven't heard about people losing homes or starving yet. Is that because they've been able to collect unemployment, or did they have money saved up, or are they depending on relatives? Apparently about two million people are going to lose unemployment benefits in the first half of this year, so if the new jobs don't appear we might find out the answer to that question. It promises to be an interesting year.
8 - Ms. Tek
Well, I am a freeloader who lives with my parents. See, I couldn't pay rent anymore so...
I know a few people who have lost mortgages. I have a friend of mine who has moved in with her ex-boyfriend.
I've seen pieces on the news about people not being able to pay mortgages.
In the meantime, as a person who sits on her ass, trying to live off the government (I've been ineligible for unemployment for a year now...), I have not be able to find one of these "grants" for artists that the Cons keep telling me about. I mean, supposedly all of us people without jobs are living off the government doing just that. But I am so damn lazy, that I take any little bit of freelance work that I can get, even if it is only for $40 a day.
I miss having my own apartment. I miss having a real job and being able to go to the doctor. But you know, it is so much more fun to sit here an not be able to get a job just so I can hear the Cons say that I am sucking off a system that I paid into when I was working and hasn't given me any benefits for year.
People who say things are getting better are the ones who are sitting there with the jobs.
But you know, its all OUR fault we don't have jobs. They should just shoot us for being the worthless slobs that we are.
9 - JR
They should just shoot us for being the worthless slobs that we are.
Can't. The army is over-extended as it is. ;-)
10 - Mac Diva
Oregon and Washington keeping trading second and third back and forth -- when neither is first, that is. The usual out in the Pacific Northwest is for people to move among Oregon, Washington, Alaska and northern California when they can't find a job in a given state. But, for the last couple years, that hasn't been an out because the entire region is economically depressed. So, move to another region, you say. I have stopped bringing that up in conversations with people who are unemployed. N'westers are so attached to this area that for many of them the horror of the suggestion is traumatic. (I wish I were kidding.)
JR, where are you?
11 - Ms. Tek
Some people cannot move because they cannot afford it. If you are on Unemployment or don't even have it, how can you move?
12 - TDavid
I know a lot of people who love this area (Washington state), but can't stand the cost of living here which is very high. Most states that people move here from complain about the cost of living. Oregon has the whole state income tax thing, so I'm not sure it is much better there.
When we retire we're going to where it is inexpensive to live; just as long as there is broadband internet ;)
13 - JR
I'm in Northern Virginia, which got hit pretty hard by the dot-com bust but seems to be recovering somewhat. The big Republican spending spree may be directly helping the D.C. area.
I moved out here from California four years ago and I'm still traumatized!
Actually, I left California for a change of scenery. It has definitely been interesting (they have this thing called "weather" out here and buildings more than 30 years old. Whoa!), but I don't think I could ever feel at home here. I intend retire back on the West Coast, even if I have to live in a refrigerator box.