News like this is encouraging:
Americans' incomes, bolstered by strong gains in hiring, rose by 0.3 percent in February while consumer spending climbed at an even faster pace of 0.5 percent, the government reported Thursday. ...The 0.3 percent rise in incomes was attributed to a surge of 262,000 new jobs in February, the biggest increase in four months. Further solid gains in both incomes and consumer spending are expected in the months ahead as the consumer continues to be a driving force in the economy.
But commentary such as this, from the Associated Press, is downright gratifying:
The economic rebound was fueled by four rounds of tax cuts promoted by President Bush and easy credit from the Federal Reserve.
The induction of supply-side policy's private-sector benefits into common knowledge may have come two-and-a-half decades late but with a little luck and a little more pedagogy, this will be a lifetime membership.
LEFT HAND, WHAT IS THE RIGHT HAND DOING?: Let me volunteer that "consumer confidence" is a measure of how deeply media portrayals of economic health influence responses to surveys for determining consumer confidence. Consumer spending in past weeks was fivefold expectations. Yet on Monday, confidence had dropped for two months straight.
What headline does that deserve, "Dejected Consumers Go out on the Lash, Blow Money"?