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The Washington Times
President Obama promised he’d put America back to work again. Four years into his presidency, things aren’t looking much brighter. It is a sign of the times that a fractional boost in the mood of shoppers is hailed as joyful news. Consumer confidence ticked up from 73.1 to 73.7 in November, according to the Advisory Board’s index, which was released Tuesday. While that’s the highest mark achieved in more than four years, it remains far below the 90 score seen in a healthy economy.
It’s likely holiday cheer — and a dip in global petroleum prices — contributed to the positive trend. The economy remains fundamentally stagnant otherwise. Uncertainty about what Washington is going to do to address the fast-approaching “fiscal cliff” and increases in the regulatory burden are souring hope for a robust recovery fueled by investment.
The Chicago Federal Reserve put out the most sobering data Monday. The Fed’s weighted average of 85 indicators of national economic activity (which goes by the acronym CFNAI) considers production, income, employment, personal consumption, housing, sales, orders and inventories. The national activity index is weighted so that a normal economy rates a zero and positive values show booming growth. For October, the index stood at -0.56 — just shy of the -0.7 score that signifies the economy is headed into recession.
Manufacturing output declined, production fell, inventories dropped, sales tanked, and consumption diminished. All together, 54 indicators were down. Housing starts were up to their highest level since July 2008, but even this does not generate hope as an indicator of a robust recovery. Housing permits declined, suggesting that the construction industry is not likely to experience a boom anytime soon.
Read more: GHEI: Obamanomics still isn’t working - Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/28/obamanomics-still-isnt-working/#ixzz2DczpogNG
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