ECONOMY UPDATE DEPT:
Our economy, after close to a year of Obama, is mending, but only slowly, and...note what else is being found:
"A report on unemployment claims and a forecast of U.S. economic activity pointed Thursday to an economy mending slowly, without the job growth needed to fuel a vigorous recovery....employers across the country remain reluctant to ramp up hiring. "People who have already lost their job are having incredible difficulty finding a job," Dan Greenhaus, an economist at Miller Tabak, said in a research note Thursday. A big problem is that companies lack confidence in the strength and sustainability of the recovery. FedEx Corp., for example, offered a tepid outlook Thursday for the quarter that ends in January. The package delivery company expects the recovery to continue next year. But FedEx questioned whether demand for its services will stay strong after the peak holiday-shipping season."
Hmmm. So little job growth, and little confidence. And this months after the hundreds of billions of dollars of "stimulus" money pumped into this economy by the Obama administration which, they told us, would really help things. But it hasn't. Conservatives told you so.
And by the way--the RCP average of the generic congressional vote for 2010 now has Republicans averaging out on top by more than 2 points.
HEY, WHAT'S UP IN IRAQ THESE DAYS? DEPT:
Answer--not much, and that's a very good thing, as stability is being found there along with a lot less casualties:
"e don’t hear all that much about Iraq these days, do we? The war at one point almost tore apart this country. Public anger sent George W. Bush’s approval ratings plummeting. And the outrage over our losses helped elect vocal anti–Iraq War candidate Barack Obama. But Iraq is hardly in the news anymore. That seems odd, given there are still 120,000 American troops stationed there. So, why the silence? In short, Americans are not dying in Iraq as they were from 2006 to 2008. Twice as many Americans have died in Afghanistan this year as in Iraq. As of this writing, in December, there have been four coalition fatalities. That’s about one-tenth of the number of people murdered per month in Chicago in 2008."
And don't forget--much of that is due to the fact that the Bush administration refused to abandon the mission there, put in more troops when it seemed like everyone was screaming not to do it, and now...we may be approaching victory there.
NBA DIARY:
The Dallas Mavericks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder last night. The Mavs are now quietly sporting a 19-7 overall record, and are 10-4 on the road so far. What was impressive about last night was that they trailed at one point by 4 in the 4th quarter...but rallied impressively to win comfortably. That's what good teams do--take control in the 4th quarter.
The Detroit Pistons, though, blew a 16 point lead and lost to New Orleans on the road, 95-87. Typical thing for a road game--the Pistons moved the ball well and executed in the first half, and that got them the lead; but in the second half, when the home team made its inevitable run, they got away from it.
