Good news on the home front
The March jobs numbers are out. Here's what Steve Hayward at No Left Turns has to say about them: "This morning’s March jobs report is the worst possible news for Kerry. The consensus estimate was for 123,000 jobs; the wildest optimists thought it might be as high as 200,000. But the number is (drum roll please): 308,000. (And it is possible this might be revised upward in a few weeks.) The stock market is poised for a monster upmove on the opening because of this news. Kerry and gang can’t say this is a "jobless recovery" any more. But I’ll bet they try anyway." Look for the nation's investigative reporters to start questioning the "quality" of the new jobs.
UPDATE by BIG TRUNK: The March Jobs Report released earlier this morning shows not only that the economy added 308,000 jobs in March. The January and February reports were also revised upward, such that 759,000 jobs were adding in the first quarter of 2004. This is excellent news, both for the country and the administration. This clearly shows that the economy is moving along and that President Bush's tax cuts are working to provide a solid jobs stimulus.
But if your only news source is the web site of Minnesota's largest newspaper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, you might not know about this fantastic news. As of 10:30 a.m. Central Time, almost 2 hours after the report was released, the Star Tribune's web site still didn't have any reference to the report or the news on their home page. This report is clearly headline grabbing news, yet the Star Tribune prefers to bury it in an AP wire story on the business page, and not even at the top.
Even the New York Times, not known for their strong support of President Bush, prominently features this news on their home page ("Job Growth in March Strongest in 4 Years"), so I'm hard pressed to explain the actions by the Star Tribune as anything but another example of liberal bias in our state's largest newspaper.
MORE by BIG TRUNK: Reader Matthew Salzwedel adds: "The Star Tribune finally reports job growth...but, of course, it leads with the fact that unemployment increased in March. 'Unemployment rises in March; hiring picks up, too' is the link on the Strib's website."
DEACON adds: The Washington Post website was honest enough to run the headline, "U.S. Job Growth Posts 308.000 Surge in March." Inside, the headline is "U.S. Firms Add 308K New Jobs in March -- Bush Says New Report Shows That 'Policies Are Working.'" The Post reports that the Democrats' response is "one-month boost isn't enough." But, as Trunk notes above, with the revised figures for January and February the job creation count for the first quarter of 2004 stands at more than 750,000. And the Post even reports the upward revisions fairly early in its story.
