Well, I suppose that's one way to put it. Certainly the economy has "turned a corner" as DNC chairman Tim Kaine is telling candidates. It's just that the corner they've turned leads to a dead end and a very sheer cliff:
Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," the former Virginia governor said the Obama administration has helped the U.S. economy "turn the corner" after nearly a decade of irresponsible fiscal policies, pointing to statistics that show the country's GDP numbers are growing."After nearly 20 months in a row of private-sector job losses, we've gained jobs in the private sector for eight months in a row," Kaine told Fox News host Chris Wallace. "There were some net losses over the summer because the Census [jobs] phased out. But we have the private sector growing again... We've had a net turnaround from negative to positive. It's clear that we have a long way to go, but we've just got to keep at this. We are climbing out of the ditch."
Kaine confirmed reports that President Obama plans to announce a package of stimulus legislation this week, and pointed to a bill to boost small businesses that has stalled in the Senate as proof that Democrats are trying to overcome GOP obstruction to jump-start the economy. The bill would increase lending options for small businesses and cut their capital gains taxes.
Yes, there were net losses over the summer - but not entirely due to temp census jobs ending. In fact, since the private sector needs to create about 125,000 jobs a month just to keep pace with new workers entering the job market, the private sector has actually lost ground. It is a fantasy to believe the economy has turned any kind of corner as it relates to jobs.
Mr. Kaine's cheerleading notwithstanding, I doubt very much if many Democratic candidates will follow his lead in touting the great job Democrats have been doing on the economy.
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