These are a couple of stories from this week’s paper that are an indication of the improving U.S. economy. It looks like things are headed in the right direction and that the economic data from the end of 2012 was too pessimistic.

REPRORT: U.S JOB MARKET LOOKS SURISINGLY STRONG!

By PAUL WISEMAN and CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER | Associated Press – 17 hrs ago

Associated Press/J Pat Carter - In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013 photo, job seekers fill a room at the job fair in Sunrise, Fla. U.S. employers added 157,000 jobs in January, and hiring was much stronger at the …more end of 2012 than previously thought, providing reassurance that the job market held steady even as economic growth stalled, according to Labor Department reports, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter) less

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. job market is proving surprisingly strong and raising hopes that the economy will be resilient enough this year to withstand a budget standoff in Washington and potentially deep cuts in federal spending.

Employers added 157,000 jobs last month, and hiring turned out to be healthier than previously thought at the end of 2012 just as the economy faced the threat of the "fiscal cliff."

Many economists focused on the steady job growth — especially the healthier-than-expected hiring late last year. The Labor Department revised its estimates of job gains for November from an initial 161,000 to 247,000 and for December from 155,000 to 196,000.

The department also revised its figures for all of 2012 upward — to an average of 180,000 new jobs a month from a previously estimated 150,000.

"The significantly stronger payroll gains tell us the economy has a lot more momentum than what we had thought," Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, said in a research note.

The government frequently revises the monthly job totals as it collects more information. Sometimes the revisions can be dramatic, as in November and December.

The January jobs report helped fuel a powerful rally on Wall Street. Stock averages all jumped more than 1 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 14,000 for the first time since October 2007, two months before the Great Recession officially began.

Beyond the job market, the economy is showing other signs of health. Factories were busier last month than they have been since April 2012. Ford, Chrysler and General Motors all reported double-digit sales gains for last month, their best January in five years.

Home prices have been rising steadily. Higher home values tend to make Americans feel wealthier and more likely to spend.

Housing construction is recovering, too. Construction spending rose last year for the first time in six years and is expected to add 1 percentage point to economic growth this year.

The housing rebound appears finally to be producing a long-awaited return of construction-industry jobs, which have typically help drive economic recoveries. Construction companies added 28,000 jobs in January. Over the past three months, construction has added 82,000 jobs — the best quarterly increase since 2006. Even with the gains, construction employment is about 2 million below its housing-bubble peak of 7.7 million in April 2006.

Health care employers added 28,000 jobs in January. Retailers added 33,000, and hotels and restaurants 17,000. The job growth in retail, hotels and restaurants suggests that employers have grown more confident about consumer spending, which fuels about 70 percent of the economy.

The government uses a survey of mostly large businesses and government agencies to determine how many jobs are added or lost each month. That's the survey that produced the gain of 157,000 jobs for January.

It uses a separate survey of households to calculate the unemployment rate. That survey captures hiring by companies of all sizes, including small businesses, new companies, farm workers and the self-employed. From month to month, the two surveys sometimes contradict each other. Over time, the differences between them usually even out.

Some economists had feared that federal budget standoffs might chill spending, investing and hiring. They worried that companies wouldn't hire and consumers would scale back spending in November and December because big spending cuts and tax increases were to take effect Jan. 1 if the White House and congressional Republicans couldn't reach a budget deal.

It turns out, the fears were overblown. In the midst of the budget fight late last year, employers kept hiring.

And Friday's jobs report showed that average hourly wages — up 4 cents to $23.78 in January — were staying ahead of inflation. They had generally failed to keep up with prices since the recession ended in June 2009.

"It looked like the Great Depression," he said.

Yet the burst of hiring at the end of 2012 has raised hopes that the recovery from the Great Recession is finally strengthening.

"This could be a breakout year for the economy," Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, wrote in a note to clients. "The economy, sales, employment and the stock market are all higher in spite of the bickering and rancor in Washington."

Kaltura, a New York-based online video software company, plans to hire 100 people in 2013, which would bring their staff to 300. The company has 17 open jobs.

DOW TOPS 14,000, PUSHED BY HIGHER JOBS REPORT!

 Feb 1, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. jobs report pushed the stock market forward on Friday, putting the benchmark Dow Jones industrial average above 14,000, a milestone it hasn't reached since before the financial crisis.

Overall, the government's jobs report was mixed, but traders chose to focus on the positive. The U.S. said it added 157,000 jobs in January, which was in line with what traders had been expecting. Unemployment inched up to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in December. But, encouragingly, the government also reported that hiring over the past two years has been higher than it originally thought.

The jobs number is based on a survey of employers, and the unemployment rate is based on a separate survey of households, which is why they can diverge.

The index rose as high as 14,000.97 in early trading. The index last traded above 14,000 in October 2007.

The Dow has gained 6.7 percent since the start of the year.

The Dow hasn't closed above 14,000 since Oct. 12, 2007. That time, more than five years ago, was almost a different era — before signs of the devastating financial crisis were apparent to the average observer.

In all, the Dow has closed above 14,000 only nine times in its history.

President Obama and Republican, John McCain, Agree!

When two of the most respected, most powerful, people in the free world, from opposite sides of the political spectrum, agree on something, shouldn't we take notice! Democratic President Obama and Republican presidential candidate, and Sena...tor, John McCain, agree that the Supreme Court's decision in 2010, "Citizen's United", is the worst decision in decades. Senator McCain goes on to say that it was the worst decision, EVER! Why are people afraid to talk about this issue? Most Tea Party members, most Fox viewers, the most extreme factions from the Republican Party, agree, on this particular issue, with the most liberal factions from the Democratic Party, and most MSNBC viewers. Why are people so afraid to expect our politicians to do something about this issue? Is it too bold, too extreme, to expect our politicians to do something about this issue, at least talk about it?
https://movetoamend.org/