Great Economic News

The US had a very good year in 2005 on the economic front, despite Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (and Wilma and others) that did great damage to our economic infrastructure and production.

Janic Parshall hosted Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez in a broadcast and a podcast at Beyond the News.

• The US economy grew at 4% over the year. (Preliminary number; will be adjusted later.)
  
• Employment grew, resulting in an unemployment rate of 4.9%. Twenty years ago 6% was considered full employment; it was thought to be impossible to get lower.
  
• The average hourly pay was up 3.1%.
  
• Average take-home pay (real) up 1%, that is, after adjusting for inflation. The Bush tax cuts caused a 1% benefit; without them take-home pay would have been flat.

Let's enjoy it. And, since everything is Bush's fault, Bush get credit for this good news. Fair?