February 19, 2004

Economic Expansion Continues

The Bush economic plan continues to expand the economy and points to strong growth for the year:

A key economic forecasting gauge advanced a strong 0.5 percent in January, suggesting that the nation's economy will expand further in coming months. The business-funded Conference Board said Thursday its Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose to 115.0 last month following gains of 0.2 percent in December and 0.3 percent in November. Analysts had expected a rise of about 0.3 percent for January.

Ken Goldstein, the business group's economist, noted that the index has been gaining since last spring. The rise points to "sustained economic growth, perhaps through the first half of this year," he said.

And guess what's fueling the strong growth in the economy? Tax breaks, which are enabling increases in both exports and business infrastructure investment. Jobless claims dropped in the past week as well, demonstrating that job growth will be a consequence of that investment. Business has gained confidence in the recovery and are now tooling up for expanded production and distribution, and that means more people will be needed to fill those orders.

Don't expect the Democrats to talk too much about this, though. They have the Chicken Little economic forecasts too tightly integrated into their stump speeches to survive their amputation now.

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