TWiA has been silent these past several weeks, as World Headquarters have moved north (to the turf patrolled by America's Most Corrupt SheriffTM). Life's been busy, but we'll try to get back into some kind of a regular schedule. In the meantime, there are a couple of stories in the news this week important enough to drag us out of our hiatus.
This Week in the Economy
Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times is one of America's best writers on economic issues. He can explain economics in such a way that non-economists can understand what he's talking about, which is a rare talent. No wonder President Obama chose him to have a series of long conversations about his economic legacy. Those who watch Fox "News" or listen to the nonsense spouted by some presidential candidates think our economy is still in the doldrums, but it's not. As the Brookings Institute reported this week:
"After a decade when most Americans saw their incomes decline, the latest Census Bureau income data contain very good news: A majority of U.S. households racked up healthy income gains in 2013 and 2014. The facts may not fit the narratives of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, or Bernie Sanders, but they do help explain why President Obama’s job approval and favorability ratings have finally passed the 50 percent mark. They also show that Hispanic households made more income progress in 2013 and 2014 than any other group, which may be one reason for their growing support for Democrats. A third surprise: households headed by Americans without high school diplomas racked up their first meaningful income gains since the 1990s, thanks to the large job gains in 2013 and 2014 and the Obamacare cash subsidies beginning in those years. "
A couple of key paragraphs from Sorkin's story illustrate the paradox:
Obama is animated by a sense that, looking at the world around him, the U.S. economy is in much better shape than the public appreciates, especially when measured against the depths of the financial crisis and the possibility — now rarely even considered — that things could have been much, much worse. Over a series of conversations in the Oval Office, on Air Force One and in Florida, Obama analyzed, sometimes with startling frankness, nearly every element of his economic agenda since he came into office. His economy has certainly come further than most people recognize. The private sector has added jobs for 73 consecutive months — some 14.4 million new jobs in all — the longest period of sustained job growth on record. Unemployment, which peaked at 10 percent the year Obama took office, the highest it had been since 1983, under Ronald Reagan, is now 5 percent, lower than when Reagan left office. The budget deficit has fallen by roughly $1 trillion during his two terms. And overall U.S. economic growth has significantly outpaced that of every other advanced nation.
Gene Sperling, the former director of the National Economic Council who spent hours inside the Oval Office debating and devising the president’s economic strategy, told me, “If we were back in early 2009 — when we were coming to work every morning with clenched stomachs, with the economy losing 800,000 jobs a month and the Dow under 7,000 — and someone said that by your last year in office, unemployment would be 5 percent, the deficit would be under 3 percent, AIG would have turned a profit and we made all our money back on the banks, that would’ve been beyond anybody’s wildest expectations.”
This Week at Target
Target announced this week that in their stores, transgendered people should feel free to use whichever restroom they're most comfortable in. Which makes sense, unlike Sen. Ted Cruz's absurd flailing fearmongering about "grown men" looking for young victims in ladies' rooms. But the American Family Association--declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center--has called for a boycott against Target. Sounds like a good reason to shop at a Target near you.
This Week in the National Mammal
We've never had a national mammal in this country, but we will soon. It's the bison. Perfect choice (except maybe for the grizzly bear).
This Week in Bears
Speaking of bears, what happens when a bear cub tries to jump through a window, only the window's closed? You get to see what an embarrassed bear cub looks like.
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