From the Mall to the Docks, Signs of Rebound

[TomCADem]

Source: NY Times

PORTLAND, Ore. — The docks are humming again at this sprawling Pacific port, with clouds of golden dust billowing off the piles of grain spilling into the bellies of giant tankers.

“Things are looking up,” said Dan Broadie, a longshoreman. No longer killing time at the union hall while waiting for work, instead he is guiding a mechanized spout pouring 44,000 tons of wheat into the Arion SB, bound for the Philippines.

At malls from New Jersey to California, shoppers are snapping up electronics and furniture, as fears of joblessness yield to exuberance over rising stock prices. Tractor trailers and railroad cars haul swelling quantities of goods through transportation corridors, generating paychecks for truckers and repair crews.

On the factory floor, production is expanding, a point underscored by government data released Friday showing a hefty increase in March for orders of long-lasting manufactured items. In apartment towers and on cul-de-sacs, sales of new homes surged in March, climbing by 27 percent, amplifying hopes that a wrenching real estate disaster may finally be releasing its grip on the national economy.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/business/economy/26econ.html?src=busln

[DavidDvorkin]

1. The right will insist that this has nothing to do with Obama

and is happening despite him, and because of Bush policies. That is, once they stop insisting that there is no recovery.

As for the left, we'll see that response soon enough right here, I'm sure.

[greiner3]

3. It's all Clinton's fault.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. That's because it takes X months/years for a president's economic policies to have an effect

where X is a variable and changes in such a way that Rep presidents get all the credit, while Dem presidents get all the blame.

The economy was recovering when Carter was defeated. Reagan took office and immediately took credit for the recovery. The subsequent recession became Carter's fault.

I remember a cartoon from that era. Reagan's in the Oval Office, being served coffee. He complains that the coffee is cold and says, "It's Jimmy Carter's fault!"

[stubtoe]

2. Sounds like the continuation of the recovery hinges on jobs creation

once the stimulus runs out later this year. Either it will click into place, or we'll get the dreaded double dip.

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. The good news just keeps on coming. Rec. (nt)