You can’t rebut the record GNP increases and record low unemployment, can you (with any degree of credibility)?

The economy is neither as bad nor as good as it appears. Things aren't anywhere near as rosy as some folks would like to pretend. But it's starting to look like we'll get through this year without a recession, too.

For example:
[quote]The headline number in the Establishment Survey (ES) (also known as the Payroll Report) looked quite strong at 263k. Realize that 93k of this was a “plug” number from the BLS’s “birth/death” algorithm, a mathematical formula that simply plugs in about 100k/month because the ES does not contact any small businesses. So, the measured number was closer to 170k. Still, not too shabby. What wasn’t widely reported was that the workweek contracted 0.3% in April, and, has fallen in three of the past four months. In terms of income, the shorter workweek is equivalent to a loss of about -375k jobs. But, because that inconvenient fact doesn’t fit the Wall Street narrative, it was not discussed in the media.

What about the fall in the unemployment rate to 3.6%? Isn’t that the quintessential sign of great economy? The “other” employment report, the Household Survey (HS) done concurrently with the ES, produces the unemployment rate. That HS showed a decline of -103k jobs in April, the fourth month in a row that the two surveys have been at 180-degree odds. The fall in the unemployment rate from 3.8% to 3.6% was heralded by Wall Street as further proof that the economy remains on “solid” footings. The media failed to mention that the only reason the unemployment rate fell was because the labor force shrank by -490k (which followed a -224k drop in March and a -770k drop since last December). If not for the drop in the labor force, the unemployment rate would be somewhere north of 4%. When the labor force itself falls (rises), that generally means that job seekers have been discouraged (encouraged) by labor market conditions.[/quote]

But things are ticking over.

No but that's not what the libs want. The libs want destruction, they want Obama's dream of America being a third world country.

No not with credibility but the left isn't interested in credibility. They just spout lies and know their base will believe them because they can't think for themselves.

But they will try

What is the GNP and why should I care about it? I mean I know it stands for Gross National Product, but what is that?

As for record low unemployment, the unemployment rate is on the same trajectory it was on at the end of the Obama administration, it has been dropping steadily for roughly the last decade. But are the jobs any good? How many people have to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet?

"It is isn't real, but if it 'is', then Obama did it and 8 years of complete stagnation are finally paying off!"

No. There's other economic indicators that you could reasonable talk about - like the economy is hot and there's near-total employment, but what's the quality of life like for most Americans? Is that improving? Are people paying their mortgages and getting food on the table?

Because if all those gains are going to a few hundred people they don't mean shit.

So throw away checks and balences because the stock market ?

Don't most governments and economists use G[big][u][b]D[/b][/u][/big]P now?