288,000 Jobs Created in April (UE Rate Down at 5.6%)

CNBC | May 7, 2004

[William Terrell]

Is quantity of jobs and quality of jobs the same thing?

[PhiKapMom]

Have to say one thing -- some of you posters who have signed on in the last year are the most negative posters we have on here. Good news is always met with negative comments. Unbelieveable.

This is fantastic news and some of you on here act like the end is coming!

Wake up and smell the roses and lose that negativity which is the mantra of the Clinton/Kerry/McAuliffe democRATs!

[randog]

Say Kerry, spin this.

"...but many of these new jobs don't provide a living wage, adequate health care coverage, or child care benefits for working families, like Belinda Johnson's family of Akron, Ohio. Belinda is a single mother that has to provide for herself, her sickly mother and 3 children, one of which has terminal leukemia and the other two with Down's Syndrome.

Not only must Belinda somehow find a way to support this burden, but she must do so under the strain of knowing that Iraqi prisoners are being tortured in Iraqi prisons under the direct orders of George Bush. She has confided in me that she is confident that a highly-decorated Vietnam War veteran such as myself would never allow such atrocities to take place."

</spew>

[petercooper]

No, the strikers at Mom and Pops Bait&Tackle shop are still holding out for: fish that doesn't smell, more 401k investment options and weekends off.

[Rutles4Ever]

I've been here for three years plus.

The same cheerleaders that insisted the economy was GREAT going into 2000/2001 were "shocked" when the recession hit.

The markets are forward-looking. Current indicators (unemployment numbers) don't say squat about a slowdown in personal spending, increase of debt, and the value of the dollar six months down the road. So when everyone is aghast that the markets are not ecstatic over the enmployment numbers, it has nothing to do with May 7, 2004, and everything to do with November 7, 2004.

Don't forget, there's an election coming. The financial world does not want John Kerry in the White House.

[Moby Grape]

So where is the democrat who posted here yesterday (Joe_Northrop) who said that UNEMPLOYMENT IS RISING under Bush?

[mwl1]

Dang, I wish I shared your optimism. I'm thinking oil prices + inflation + higher interest rates = economic slowdown this fall.

No way. The momentum of this recovery will carry us into 2005 and well beyond. Oil and gasoline prices will start dropping by August and continue to head down into the fall.

The larger point: given that we have a $10 trillion economy, it takes longer to come out of a recession and longer to go into one than in the past. Your fears of the economy overheating and heading downward prior to the election are not grounded in reality. We're going to be fine.

The unemployment rate is the only economic barometer that can elect Kerry, and that is now working against him.

[CurlyDave]

Yeah but the 288,000 includes the striking workers who returned to work at Mom and Pops Bait&Tackle shop.

I never have been able to understand the RAT logic on that one.

Guy goes on strike, that counts a a lost job.

Strike ends, guy goes back to work. That doesn't count as a new job. RAT math.

[NYC Republican]

You didn't spell "misunderestimated" correctly...

LOL!

[Wyatt's Torch]

Higher interest rates are in reaction to the higher oil prices as a symptom of inflaiton. Coupled with the tightening of the money supply, this should reduce inflation overall. Greenspan, who I think overplayed the low interest rate hand which has lead to the skyrocketing commodities prices, has been playing the interest rate game such that he won't raise them until he's sure the economy can absorb them. The hihger rates have already been priced in. Problem is, if the rates remain too low and inflation continues to accelerate, then there will be expectations of even larger increases in rates.

[TomEwall]

I agree with this. The economy goes in cycles, but it is so large it takes time for momentum to shift. It could be that the economy takes a down turn, but I think it will take some time for that to happen. The fact that the GDP hasn't been increasing too quickly gives hope that the upturn may be sustainable for some time.

[Jorge]

Yeah but the 288,000 includes the striking workers who returned to work at Mom and Pops Bait&Tackle shop.

That's right and we all know the drop in unemployment to 5.6% only reflects all the hopeless Americans who've given up looking for work..

[Once-Ler]

LOL! That was hilarious, and undoubtedly what the 'rats will be saying on Sunday.