OH, SO IT WAS 8% INSTEAD OF 7?
BFD! THE ECONOMY STILL SUCKS

From the Nation:

The real "bottom line," taking into account the 3.4 percent gain in population since March 2001, shows that the economy is 6.9 million jobs short of where it would be if payroll levels had remained steady. And, according to Treasury Secretary John Snow's own projection, Bush will end his term with the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover in the Great Depression.

"The economic policies of the Bush Administration," economist Jeff Madrick , observes, "have been about as crude and destructive a cocktail of stimulants-- lavish income and estate tax cuts for upper-income Americans, elimination of taxes on dividends, stepped-up military and homeland security spending--as we have ever seen. The result is short-term growth and long-term damage...the administration's policies will weaken the economy over time, fall particularly harshly on its working middle and low-income citizens, and fail to prepare the nation for a century of far more intense global competition."

Which is what I've been saying for some months now: neo-liberalism, indeed, can provide a short term bump for business, but it's unsustainable; the only thing that can make an economy healthy is strong consumer demand. For that we need lots and lots of good jobs. Sadly, all that neo-liberalism can provide in the long run is lots and lots of jobs at Wal-Mart and McDonald's. This economic celebration will be short lived.

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