"It's the economy, stupid!" — Redux
Remember that trite phrase? Remember when that mendacious mantra helped to elect perhaps the most perfidious president in modern times? Well, the United States economy is booming and we haven't heard a positive peep out of the left-leaning Drive-By Media all these many months. Why is that? Do I really have to explain why, hmm?
Of course I don't — you know why — so instead let's take a look at what is happening economically:
The economy grew nearly five percent in the first quarter of 2006, following a trend of 18 straight quarters of robust growth. Construction and manufacturing are breaking records, and unemployment is at a ridiculous 4.7 percent — this is lower than any average in the last four decades. Wait, there's more.
More than five million jobs have been created since 2003, and personal incomes are up more than six percent the first quarter of this year. Despite the gloomy projections hammered out each and every day by the poor-mouthing Drive-By Media, housing continues to surge. Wait, there's still more.
According to a report in the Jewish World Review, layoff averages are nearly non-existent and worker productivity continues to rise. Minority business start-ups are setting records and are far above the national average. The Internal Revenue Service just reported that its tax revenues for the month of April were the highest ever collected.
Phew ... pretty heady stuff. I know my investments have done quite well these past three years. Where are all of the leftist brain surgeons who said the tax cuts would wreck the economy?
And all this prosperity is occurring despite the mass murder of September 11, war in Afghanistan and Iraq, several natural disasters of immense proportions, intense competition with China and India for critical natural resources, the bombast and pomposity of the despots in Venezuela and Iran causing commodity traders to drive up the price of crude, and a daily bombardment of Bush-hating negativity from the aforementioned special-interest slugs posing as legitimate, unbiased news people.
Why do the American people have to search for positive economic information? Why aren't we hearing about and reading about this incredibly good news on al-ABC, al-CBS, al-CNN, al-NBC, al-MSNBC, al-PBS, al-The New York Times, al-Washington Post, and al-Newsweek? For the same reason their ratings, advertising, and circulation numbers are in the toilet — agenda-driven reportage.
Here in the Sunshine State, and during all of the same horrible events of the past few years, Governor Jeb has managed: a triple-A bond rating, the only one of its kind for any state in the Union; a six billion-dollar rainy-day fund for emergency operations; an unemployment percentage that is, for all statistical purposes, zero, and a broad tax cut program that still yielded record-breaking Florida tax revenues for 2006. Haven't heard about these little miracles either, have you?
Remember, concerns over the growing socialist state and entitlements, and aging population, health insurance costs, the national debt, and the deficit are on the table each and every year and will remain so — those of you old enough to remember what an Edsel is understand that they are nothing new.
So quit your whining and stop feeling sorry for yourself! Get off your duff, take some personal responsibility for your life, and get out there and enjoy living in the greatest nation in the history of civilized man.
The worst day you ever experienced wasn't that bad — you survived, you're still here reading this. Despite the hate-driven gloom of the Drive-By Media, life is good in America.