The private sector has created job gains for each of the past nine months. GDP has been up for a full year now. So of course it comes as no surprise that the recession is over.
Wait, hold that. It in fact DID come as a huge surprise to everyone, because both the left and the right are reinforcing the message that the economy keeps getting worse. Why is that?
(Monthly private sector jobs, via Washington Monthly)
Yes, the number in the headlines today is "95,000 jobs lost," but that's because the government laid off 159,000 workers, undoing the 64,000 private sector jobs gained. And that's not due to Census employment. The Census is largely out of the picture now. Federal and local governments are laying people off. And that's because Republicans are blocking government spending, claiming that freezing the spending of money does good things for the economy, when in fact it just stalls a major component of GDP.
Republicans destroyed the economy, and they're the reason the economy is still hurting. But the private sector has been building jobs for nine straight months now, and GDP is on the rise. Why, as we enter an election, is that not our message? It seems like we have absolutely incompetent messaging. We know we still have a long way to go, but Democrats have put us back on the right track. Run for election on that, not on "Well, things are terrible but it could be worse."