Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is saying that the uptick in economic growth will soon stimulate job growth as well. Already jobless claims are falling which would bear Greenspan’s analysis out.
2004 could be the year the economy gets back on its feet – good news for job seekers like myself, but very bad news for the Democrats.
At this point in 2000, we were told that economic recovery and a bonanza of great new jobs was right around the corner. In 2001, the message was a bit subdued because of the 9-11 attacks, but we were still informed that a pot of gold was waiting at the end of a very short rainbow. In 2002, the exact same message was conveyed. Yet with each assurance made, the number of available jobs continues to shrink. Certainly, the law of averages says that if you make the same prediction enough times, you’ll eventually get it right, but I’m not sensing 2004 will be the time. There are way too many factors suppressing job growth in this country, and the reality of a soft-bellied nation of chickenhawks being trapped in a war with no exit strategy will be a psychological poison pill for consumer confidence. It would very much surprise me if any real job growth is seen between now and November 2004.
Greenspan is fulfilling his duty as a soldier for his party, putting a smily face on a scenario that is incredibly murky. The irony is that he’s more responsible than anyone else for inspiring the recession, having raised interest rates six times in the year 2000 to combat non-existent inflation. For the most part, he’s good at his job, but my opinion of him dropped a few rungs today after such a shameless plug for a ruinous administration agenda.