NY Times Faces Reality

Well, the Times of all places could no longer deny that we are technically NOT in a recession. The technical definition of a recession is negative growth. We had less than 1% growth in the first quarter, but a growing economy is still a growing economy.

Here's other things to ponder:

• The unemployment rate is lower now than the average rate during the Clinton years.


• Almost 11,000,000 more people are in the job market now than when Bush took office. 146,291,000 currently in workforce minus 135,049,000 in the workforce in January 2001. President Bush is not directly responsible for that, except for the new Federal employees, but it is a handy frame of reference.

Now I admit that some people reading this have been hit by slowed growth. But, there were people that were laid off when the economy was growing at 4% and unemployment was 3.1% It is the nature of the marketplace - poorly managed (or just unlucky) companies fail and well managed (or just lucky) companies grow. It would still happen if the economy grew at 25%.


Here are some things that hurt our economy:

• The Federal Government has grown fat, especially in luxury items. Medicare/Medicade and Social Security are three times the Department of Defense.


• Congress keeps churning out new laws limiting competition in most industries. Federal bureaucracies also create their own rules - usually for not other reason than to have one. Each rule and law adds to the cost of doing business and rarely helps the consumer. It makes it harder for new businesses to be created, new markets to open, or even new products to be released.


• Congress and Federal bureaucrats think they can "help". The only way they can help is to ensure a level playing field and get out of the way. Right now, they are only "helping" entrenched businesses and/or those that lobby the most.


• The tax code is a drain on the economy. It is too complex and has too many rules that conflict with each-other. If you are audited, it is entirely up to the experience of the auditor as to what rules will be enforced. You know you are in trouble when you only have a 40% chance of getting a correct answer when you call the IRS help line. The other reason is it a drain is that it punishes success. It punishes savings and planning for your own future.


• Earmarks, earmarks and more earmarks

Have I missed anything?