The Facts Don't Support the Republican Rhetoric!
(Rhetoric aside, economy shows signs of recovery)
Tom Raum - Associated Press August 31, 2012 in "Business"
WASHINGTON – You wouldn’t know it from listening to the Republican National Convention, but the n
ation’s economic picture seems to be slowly getting brighter.
Economists cite some encouraging new data:
• The government reported Thursda
y that Americans spent at the fastest pace in five months in July, and personal income rose as well.
• Home prices rose in the first half of 2012 for the first time in nearly two years. Sales of both new and previously occupied homes also are up.
• Employers added 163,000 jobs in July, the most since February.
• U.S. exports, retail spending and factory production are all up.
Yet phrases such as “catastrophic debt,” “stifling the American dream,” “the tide of decline” and “an all-out assault on free enterprise” fill the air in the convention arena.
The rhetoric fits the GOP strategy of portraying President Barack Obama as out of touch and pursuing policies that have made the economy worse, not better, while Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is presented as the one with the business experience and savvy to turn things around.
Democrats get their turn for rebuttal next week at their own convention in Charlotte, N.C.
Obama has been relatively cautious – welcoming recent positive reports but warning there’s still a long road to a full recovery.
A report released Tuesday showed the U.S. economy grew at a 1.7 percent annual rate from April to June – an upward revision from the initial 1.5 percent estimate but still signaling continued sluggishness.
Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight, said “housing is the area where you’ve got the most positives,” and that’s extremely important since housing weaknesses were a central cause of the downturn.
“We are at the start of a long prolonged recovery in the housing market. We’re not bouncing along the bottom anymore,” Gault said.
But things aren’t as bad as Republicans portray, he said. “There is a recovery. We’ve been in a recovery in fact for over two years. It’s an unusually slow recovery but it is a recovery.”
© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
• Home prices rose in the first half of 2012 for the first time in nearly two years. Sales of both new and previously occupied homes also are up.
• Employers added 163,000 jobs in July, the most since February.
• U.S. exports, retail spending and factory production are all up.
Yet phrases such as “catastrophic debt,” “stifling the American dream,” “the tide of decline” and “an all-out assault on free enterprise” fill the air in the convention arena.
The rhetoric fits the GOP strategy of portraying President Barack Obama as out of touch and pursuing policies that have made the economy worse, not better, while Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is presented as the one with the business experience and savvy to turn things around.
Democrats get their turn for rebuttal next week at their own convention in Charlotte, N.C.
Obama has been relatively cautious – welcoming recent positive reports but warning there’s still a long road to a full recovery.
A report released Tuesday showed the U.S. economy grew at a 1.7 percent annual rate from April to June – an upward revision from the initial 1.5 percent estimate but still signaling continued sluggishness.
Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight, said “housing is the area where you’ve got the most positives,” and that’s extremely important since housing weaknesses were a central cause of the downturn.
“We are at the start of a long prolonged recovery in the housing market. We’re not bouncing along the bottom anymore,” Gault said.
But things aren’t as bad as Republicans portray, he said. “There is a recovery. We’ve been in a recovery in fact for over two years. It’s an unusually slow recovery but it is a recovery.”
© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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