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A Little Afternoon Cowbell

Too late to influence the election, but it's nice to know the economy is getting healthier.

Jobless claims down again:

WASHINGTON - The number of new people signing up for jobless benefits fell sharply last week, offering a dose of encouraging news that the recovery in the labor market may be strengthening a bit.
The Labor Department (news - web sites) reported Thursday that new filings for unemployment insurance declined by a seasonally adjusted 25,000 to 329,000 for the week ending Oct. 16. That marked the lowest level since early September. In the prior week, claims had climbed by 16,000.

The latest snapshot of the layoffs climate was better than economists were expecting. They were forecasting claims to total in the 345,000 range.

The more stable, four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week fluctuations, decreased by 5,500 last week to 348,250, the best showing since late September.

Thanks to Mark.

And highlights from the Joint Economic Committee's latest report on state employment:

* Over the past year (since September 2003), the unemployment rate has fallen in 46 states. 36 states have unemployment rates at or below the national unemployment rate of 5.4 percent.
* Non-farm payroll employment has increased in 47 states over the past year. The largest over-the-year gains in employment occurred in Florida (+125,500), Texas (+123,700), California (+121,900), Virginia (+81,900), and New Jersey (+68,800).

* In 2004, 49 states have added new payroll jobs.

* Non-farm payroll employment increased in 33 states in September. The states with the largest payroll job gains during September were Kansas (+12,400), New Jersey (+12,000), Missouri (+10,400), Nevada (+6,700), and Texas (+6,500).

posted by Ace at 12:59 PM

Comments

Yes, but Florida and NJ were the only Swing states with significant employment gains. Perhaps because of the high numbers of very wealthy people there.

Not Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, NH, Maine.

Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy may have caused a local boost in states where most of the tax cuts went to - but not elsewhere. Wealth is not only concentrated in the few in America, but it is also geographically concentrated, curiously for Bush -in Democratic "Blue" bastions like CT, Massachusetts, LA, San Francisco, NYC, Seattle.

Posted by: Cedarford on October 22, 2004 02:31 PM

Considering the size of the NJ economy, I wonder if them being up there with CA in terms of jobs gain is creating some "street cred" for Bush.

Posted by: fat kid on October 22, 2004 02:35 PM

Why, it's not curious at all, Cedarford - it's long been understood that liberal states such as those you mention are full of rich, reactionary oligarchical hypocrites. And that's why they overwhelmingly support Kerry - he's one of them.

P.S. - Don't tell "the wealthy," but Bush must have diverted a fairly good chunk of "their" tax cut to solidly middle-class folks like me. And along with my wife and me, all of the contractors working on my house right now (and their solidly middle-class families) thank him.

Posted by: Rocketeer on October 22, 2004 02:37 PM

Perhaps because of the high numbers of very wealthy people there.

Numbers, not conjectures my friend. I need definitions for "high numbers of very wealthy people".

Posted by: fat kid on October 22, 2004 02:37 PM

Actually Maine has some very high income individuals, they dont call it "vacationland" for nothin. There are more vacation homes there than full-time residents or some stupid statistic like that. Of course we all know only super-poor people have second (and third) homes. But you know, I wouldn't want to by the fly in Cedarford's ointment. Heh.

Posted by: fat kid on October 22, 2004 02:41 PM

fat kid - Numbers, not conjectures my friend. I need definitions for "high numbers of very wealthy people".

Well, isn't it nice that you "need", fat kid!

If you look at US census maps, you will see wonderful geographical distinctions on concentration of wealth. Not much is shown in "flyover country". Most of the money Dubya borrowed from the Saudis and Chinese to fund his tax cuts went to Kerry Blue state well off folk.
Yeah, snicker...."IT'S THEIR MONEY"!! (So why did we borrow the funds to pay them from foreign countries?)

Rocketeer -

Paraphrasing..."Well, I'm not rich but I'm happy as a pig rolling in shit since Dubya's tax cuts let me buy a satellite dish for my double-wide!"

32.5% of the borrowed Chinese, Saudi, and French money went to the Richest 1%. 80% of the foreign loan money went to the top 10%.

Glad you are doing well on scraps.

Ever read Dickens?

Love that Porter family. Once they chased off the dogs, they dined well for years on the scraps thrown out of Lord Albrighton's manor. And, within their perspective, the Porters were quite happy with their lot. Stale bread, sour wine, and half-gnawed bones made a spendid stew.

Posted by: Cedarford on October 22, 2004 11:17 PM

Cedarford,

What's it like, going through life as a condescending little shit?

Ever read Thucydides?

Love those Athenians, talking to to Melians. "Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must."

Enjoy four more years out of power, punk.

Posted by: Rocketeer on October 23, 2004 08:56 AM

Post a comment

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Top Headlines

Oh no! Hamas' de facto press agent at the UN complains that she can't use her credit cards or rent a card now that she's been sanctioned as a terrorist operative
Why does this keep happening to members of the "political organization" (per Tucker Carlson) of Hamas?!?!

Tucker Carlson claims that it's weird that Ted Cruz is interested in the massacre of Christians by Nigerian Muslims, because he has "no track record of being interested in Christians," then blows off the massacre of Christians by Nigerian Muslims, saying it might or might not be a real concern
Tucker Carlson enjoys using the left-wing tactic of "Tactical Ignorance" to avoid taking positions on topics. Is Hamas really a terrorist organization? Tucker can't say. He hasn't looked into it enough, but "it seems like a political organization to me." Are Muslims slaughtering Christians in Nigeria? Again, Tucker just doesn't know. He hasn't examined the evidence yet. He knows every Palestinian Christian who said he was blocked from visiting holy sites in Bethlehem, but he just hasn't had the time to look into the mass slaughter of Christians in Nigeria that has been going on since (checks watch) 2009. He doesn't know, so he can't offer an opinion. Wouldn't be prudent, you know? Don't rush him! He'll sift through the evidence at some point in the future and render an opinion sometime around 2044.
Of course, if you need an opinion on Jewish Perfidy, he has all the facts at his fingertips and can give you a fully informed opinion pronto. Say, have you ever heard of the USS Liberty incident...?
You'd think that the main issue for Tucker Carlson, who pretends to be so deeply concerned about Palestinian Christians being bullied by Jews in Israel (supposedly), would be the massacre of 185,000 Christians in Nigeria itself. But no, his main problem is that Ted Cruz is talking about it, "who has no track record of being interested in Christians at all." And then he just shrugs as to whether this is even a real issue or not.
Whatever we do we must never "divide the right," huh?
Tucker is attacking Ted Cruz for bringing the issue up because he's acting as an apologist for Jihadism, and he can't cleanly admit that Jihadists are killing any Christians, anywhere. There is no daylight between him and CAIR at this point.
One might conclude that Tucker Carlson himself isn't interested in the plight of Christians -- except as they can be used as a cudgel to attack Jews.
Just gonna ask an Interesting Question myself -- why is it that Tucker Carlson's arguments all track with those shit out by Qatarian propaganda agents and the far left? That if Jews crush an ant underfoot it is worldwide news, but when Muslims slaughter Christians it elicits not even a vigorous shrug?

Sydney Sweeney has passed from celebrity to Meme Legend

Garth Merenghi is interviewed by the only man who can fathom his ineffable brilliance -- Garth Merenghi
From the comments:

I once glimpsed Garth in the penumbra betwixt my wake and sleep. He was in my dream, standing afar, not looking my way, nor did he acknowledge me. But I felt seen. And that's when I knew I was a traveler on the right path. I'm glad he's still with us.

Now that's some Merenghian prose.
Garth Merenghi on the writer's craft

Greetings, Traveler. If you still have not experienced Garth Merenghi -- Author, Dream-weaver, Visionary, plus Actor -- the six episodes of his Darkplace are still available on YouTube and supposedly upscaled to HD. (Viewing it now, it doesn't appeared upscaled for shit.)
I think the second episode, "Hell Hath Fury," is the best by a good margin. Try to at least watch through to that one. It's Mereghi's incisive but nuanced take on sexism.

TJM Returns with a discussion of Auteur Theory.

Podcast: The elections! NYC, Virginia, New Jersey, Texas, California, and the future prospects of the Republican party...

Update on Scott Adams:

Scott Adams had approval for this cancer drug but they hadn't scheduled him to get it. He was taking a turn for the worse. Trump had told him to call if he needed anything, so he did. Talked to Don Jr (who is in Africa) , then RFK Jr, then Dr Oz. Someone talked to Kaiser and he was scheduled. Shouldn't have needed it but he did and he says it saved his life.
Posted by: Notsothoreau

"Trump" goes trick-or-treating

Funny retro kid costumes, thanks to SMH
Good to see people honoring Lamont the Big Dummy

Four hours of retro Halloween commercials and specials
The first short is the original 1996 appearance of "Sam," the dangerous undead trick-or-treater from Trick r' Treat.

ICYMI: Australian journalist actually presses Kamala Harris when she repeatedly dodges questions about Biden's mental fitness
Kamala admits she didn't have the stamina to run for president, while continuing to insist he had the mental capacity to serve as president. He was too frail to run but perfectly strong enough to govern. Yeah sure whatever lying whore.

On Wednesday, we'll see the "Beaver Super-Moon." Which sounds hot.

Podcast: Historian and Pundit Robert Spencer joins us for a wide-ranging discussion about the Islamists in our midst: Mamdani in NYC, all across Europe, and others.

Full Episode: The Hardy Boys (and Nancy Drew) Meet Dracula
I don't remember this show, except for remembering that Nancy Drew was hot and the opening credits were foreboding and exicting

According to Grok, Latrine John-Pissoir has never failed to mention she is "black" (or "queer") during her book interviews
She may not know what the hell her book is about, but she definitely knows that "every day I wake up black and queer." Join the club, sister!

Schmoll: 53% of New Jersey likely voters say their neighbors are voting for Ciattarelli, while 47% say the cheater/grifter Mikie Sherrill
The "who do you think your neighbors are voting for" question is designed to avoid the Shy Tory problem, wherein conservative people lie to schmollsters because they don't want to go on record with a likely left-winger telling them who they're really voting for. So instead the question is who do you think your neighbors are voting for, so people can talk about who they themselves support without actually having to admit it to a left-wing rando stranger recording their answers on the phone.

Hackers take over University of Penn website, calling the school a "dogshit elitist institution full of woke retards" and threatening to release its admissions files to prove illegal racial discrimination
No lies detected so far

Live Now: Dana Loesch is interrogating Heritage President Kevin Roberts on his insistence that the gay Nazi Nick Fuentes is an absolutely essential "conservative" voice whose ideas we must take seriously and who we must absolutely not exclude based on his Naziism

TJM Complains about Wreck-It Ralph The very topical premiere of TJM's YouTube Channel.

Interesting football history: How the forward pass was created in response to the nineteen -- 19! -- people killed playing football in 1905 alone
The original rules of football did not allow forward passes. The ball was primarily advanced by running, with blockers forming lines with interlocked arms and just smashing into the similarly-interlocked defensive lines. It was basically Greek hoplite spear formations but with a semi-spherical ball. As calls to ban the sport entirely grew, some looked for ways to de-emphasize mass charges as the primary means of advancing the ball, and some specifically championed allowing a passer to throw the ball forward.