The US Economy

I must admit that I have never before heard of the "Consumer Comfort Index.' From ABC, huh?
I'm familiar, of course, with the respected "Consumer Confidence Index."

The ABC News/Money magazine
Consumer Comfort Index: Methodology

The ABC News/Money magazine Consumer Comfort Index represents a rolling average based on telephone interviews with about 1,000 adults nationwide each month. Field work is by ICR Survey Research of Media, Pa. The survey began in December 1985.

Based on ratings of the economy, the buying climate, and personal finances, the index is derived as follows: The negative response to each index question is subtracted from the positive response to that question. The three resulting numbers are then added and divided by three. The index can range from +100 (everyone positive on all three measures) to -100 (all negative on all three measures).

The three questions used to calculate the index are:

National Economy: "Would you describe the state of the nation's economy these days as excellent, good, not so good, or poor?"

Personal Finances: "Would you describe the state of your own personal finances these days as excellent, good, not so good, or poor?"

Buying Climate: "Considering the cost of things today and your own personal finances, would you say now is an excellent time, a good time, a not so good time, or a poor time to buy the things you want and need?"

-- ABC News Polling Unit

Above: President Bush urges America's jobless to get off their duffs.

"The economy has been on the rebound for months, but 5.6 percent of you are still out of work," Bush said. "Come on, people: Get a job! Don't just sit there hoping that you'll win the lottery. Turn off that boob tube, get off that couch, and start pounding the pavement."

When the number of people taking part-time jobs because they can't get full-time work is factored in, the unemployment figure approaches 15.1 million, a number Bush called "unacceptable."

"My fellow Americans, don't come crying to me," Bush said. "I've got a job. I go to work every day, whether I feel like it or not. I don't take handouts, and I don't give them. That's a belief my daddy taught me. Now, let's get this show on the road!"

Is it your understanding/opinion that the Bush administration is purposively seeking to starve government of funds so as to eliminate such programs?

Re: not vetoeing spending.

IMO, he's setting the stage for future constraint. He's happy to let a future admin make the painful cuts and is setting the stage for their necessity.

What I see coming up with the next president is a tax increase. That's the only way they're going to be able to continue to spend on all the programs already approved by congress.

Arizona Daily Star
Published: 04.19.2004

Billion-dollar boondoggle

As pork barrel projects go, Rep. Don Young's two "bridges to nowhere" are in a class all their own. Young, a Republican from Alaska, managed to tuck into the recently passed national highway bill allocations totaling $2.2 billion to construct two useless bridges in his home state.

One of the bridges would be a mile long and rise 200 feet above the water. It would connect Ketchikan to an island that has about 50 residents. That bridge would cost an estimated $200 million and replace a 10-minute ferry ride. People around Ketchikan, population 7,800, think the ferry is perfectly reliable and know the bridge is not needed, though they acknowledge that constructing it will generate about 600 badly needed jobs.

The second of Young's boondoggle projects is even worse. It consists of a bridge that would extend two miles across an inlet, connecting Anchorage to a port that has only one regular tenant. The bridge will cost up to $2 billion.

These misuses of public funds are made possible by the power Young yields as chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. It approved the projects as part of the national highway bill.

Young, a former tugboat captain known for his brash and sometimes coarse language, makes no apologies for this abusive use of taxpayer dollars. On the contrary, he boasts about it. He says a politician has only so many opportunities to wield this kind of power.

He knows his party's rules limit him to three terms as committee chairman and also that the highway legislation comes up for renewal only about every six years. At a Republican luncheon, Young said of his pork barrel bridges, according to a New York Times report, "If you don't do it now, when are you going to do it? This is the time to take advantage of the position I'm in."

Young also said he would support higher federal taxes on gasoline to finance even more transportation projects than were included in the bill just passed.

Pork barrel projects, of course, are not new, but as the Times noted in an editorial on Friday, Young's raid on the treasury is for projects that have "such a grotesquely negative cost-benefit ratio that even the most cynical citizen snaps awake."

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group in Washington, D.C., has given the Gravina Island Access Bridge, the Ketchikan project, a Golden Fleece Award, which recognizes specific examples of outrageous waste in government.

A spokesman for the group , Keith Ashdown, said "It's a gold-plated bridge to nowhere. At a time when we have bridges and roads crumbling around the United States, and traffic congestion worse than ever, why build a $200 million project that will serve only a few hundred people?"

It's a good question, and one that should be asked of every member of Congress who voted in favor of Young's arrogant amendments to the national highway bill.