The Unfavorable Perky Economy

The US Department of Labor reports that American companies added 288,000 workers to payrolls in April which follows a revised gain of 337,000 jobs in March. Added up, job gains since the beginning of 2004 total more than 850,000. Notably, these numbers exceed the experts' predictions while contributing to a decrease in the overall unemployment rate.

"The economy has gotten into a strong upward glide path," Treasury Secretary John Snow said in a Chicago speech. "There's still a lot of firepower left in the economy."

One would naturally expect there to be a general sense of optimism with such positive reports on the economy, however, that's not the case. Oddly, about the same time the Labor Department reports repeated job gains, the Gallup Organization releases polling data that indicates that the Bush administration's approval rating for handling of the economy sank to a record low of 41 percent. So, while economic indicators are swimmingly positive, Bush's approval rating is circling the drain.

Go figure.