MSNBC "analyst" Charlie Cook: "We've had good economic news all year"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

On Hardball. He REALLY said that, folks.

Tweety asked him how you reconcile the "good news" with the thousands of layoffs at GM and he DID NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION.

He asked him TWICE and he eventually muttered something like "Well, are you on the right path but going in the wrong direction?"

:grr:

[bluestateguy]

1. I COULD make fun of his appearance

I COULD call Cook a fat blowhard.

I COULD do that.

But I won't do that.

[Don Claybrook]

2. That's because it's been a great economic year for people like him

So long as the investor class is making money, it's all good. I know I'm only pointing out the obvious, and I'll forego the cursing screed I was going to type here, becuase we've all heard it before.

I wonder if the economy was looking pretty good in France in 1789.

[kineneb]

19. would you like cake with your economic statment? n/t

[Dudley_DUright]

3. Who is we Charile?

Real wages are down, or haven't you heard?

[Canuckistanian]

7. Exactly. Define "we"

The regular crowd at your favorite restaurant on Wall Street?

[missouri dem 2]

4. Well he hasn't missed any meals.

The economic news has not been swell at our house for the last 5 years. If your rich you have been geting richer. It's a let em eat cake economy.

[stanwyck]

5. If you repeat a lie often enough

you'll have enough of a freeper margin to sqeak by in elections.
Until the freepers get it through their thick skulls that they have no healthcare. No benefits. No pensions. No significant cost of living raises. No bonuses. And that more and more Americans are under-employed. You can be employed. And going nowhere.
But this is just another talking head looking at how the fatcats have benefited. And, so, things are swell.

[AX10]

6. Cook is Republican.

According to him, the New Jersey Governors race was a "tight race". Unless he meant "tight waist" as in his paints. :rofl:

[Canuckistanian]

8. Now there's a surprise

NOT

[spooky3]

9. I think he inspired Darrin Bell's cartoon:

[Faygo Kid]

10. Inside The Beltway. Too bad. He is a bright guy.

Like Bob Woodward, et al, he has no clue. Probably has never even been in a Wal-Mart parking lot. I have heard him speak, and he's bright, for the Beltway analysis. But he desperately needs to take at least six months and forget about commentary, and get out here in the Real World. He is obviously out of touch with what's going on. Geez. Great post, though. Thanks.

[CatholicEdHead]

11. While "growth" is up, jobs are going

[LibDemAlways]

12. This idiot isn't even an economist.

He's a political hack writer. How do blowhards like him get to be "analysts" on cable shows and pass themselves off as experts while they're actually just blowing smoke out their ass?

http://www.cookpolitical.com/about/bios/cook.php

[driver8]

13. I could say that "it looks like he has had a 'bountiful year'" but

that would not be a nice thing to say...so I won't say it.

But I do have to wonder how he gets a head that big stuck up his ass??

[bookman]

14. If the economy is so good...

...why can't he afford a better rug!

[MadisonProgressive]

15. Looks like the supply of nuts is in for the winter hibernation!

[Mountainman]

16. It's probably going to be another good Xmas on Rodeo Dr this year

[njdemocrat106]

17. He ended his tirade on Hardball by saying the Dems have no discipline

You're certainly non-partisan, Mr. Cook. :sarcasm:

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

21. Yeah, but don't forget Tweety's response to that...

"Mice like cheese"...

Cook said that Dems have no discipline, Tweety asked why, Cook said that he didn't know, they both laughed like a couple of idiots and Tweety said "mice like cheese."

[barb162]

18. what a TOTAL liar

[Vinca]

20. GDP, GDP, GDP, GDP, GDP

Whenever you question the rosy economic report, this is what they parrot. The real story is we are becoming indentured servants to the Chinese government. They own more and more of us every day. I imagine they have a whole roster of "dumb American" jokes and, you have to admit, from their perspective it's damn funny. The Americans fire all their workers and send all the jobs to China, then the products are returned to America where minimum wage hamburger flippers gobble them up and more Chinese-made goods are ordered. At the same time, the minimum wage workers are paying taxes at a lower rate and the American government has to borrow money from China to fund - among other things - its economic policies. How many Americans does it take to screw in a Chinese-made light bulb??????

[Jim__]

23. And while GDP is going up ...

... real median income goes down. People in the middle (and below) are losing.

[Zynx]

22. I'm gonna say it, I'm gonna say it.

He looks like Peter Griffin.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

24. Ummm...........o.k.

Just about everyday I pick up the newspaper, I hear about MORE major manufacturing plants closing and thousands of people getting laid off, more jobs going overseas, gas prices remaining above $2/gallon and worse around the time of Hurricane Katrina, Rita, etc. and the oil compainies reaping record profits, corportate pensions and retirement plans being cut, health insurance premiums/deductibles continuing to rise without any apparent end in sight, state employees (at least in my state) NOT getting raises this upcoming year, and residents in my state/county paying more in state and local taxes to fund a new stadium (playground) for a multi-billion dollar sports franchise that I don't pay a squat of attention to. Did I miss something? WHAT good news????? Good for WHOM????? Companies and their CEOs may be reaping record profits but it sure as ain't improving the lives of the average ordinary persons whose lives are, if anything, getting steadily worse.

[GatoLover]

25. Good economic news

What follows is recent data on personal income and certainy appears to me as being "good news." Now it certainly might not be "good enough," or maybe it is, I don't know, but if you follow financial news at all you'd have to admit that a lot of data is positive. I don't think it's smart politically to attempt to manufacture bad news.

http://www.economicindicators.gov

EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EST, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2005

James E. Rankin: [phone] (Personal Income)BEA 05-51
Michael Armah: (202) 606-5302 (Personal Outlays)

PERSONAL INCOME AND OUTLAYS: OCTOBER 2005

Personal income increased $42.5 billion, or 0.4 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI)
increased $26.4 billion, or 0.3 percent, in October, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $15.1 billion, or 0.2 percent. In September,
personal income rebounded from the effects of Hurricane Katrina and increased $174.8 billion, or
1.7 percent, DPI increased $172.0 billion, or 1.9 percent, and PCE increased $46.8 billion, or 0.5
percent, based on revised estimates.





2005
June July Aug. Sept. Oct.
(Percent change from preceding month)
Personal income, current dollars 0.5 0.4 -1.0 1.7 0.4
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 0.5 0.4 -1.1 1.9 0.3
Chained (2000) dollars 0.4 0.1 -1.5 1.0 0.2
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 1.0 1.4 -0.5 0.5 0.2
Chained (2000) dollars 1.0 1.1 -0.9 -0.4 0.1




This news release also presents revised estimates of wages and salaries, personal taxes, and
contributions for government social insurance for April through June 2005 (second quarter). These
estimates reflect newly available second-quarter wage and salary tabulations from the quarterly
census of employment and wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.



The October, September, and August estimates of personal income reflect the effects of
Hurricanes Wilma, Rita and Katrina. Rental income of persons and proprietors' income together
were reduced by about $10 billion (at an annual rate) in October, by about $5 billion in September,
and by about $240 billion in August to reflect the uninsured losses of residential and business
property. "Other current transfer receipts from business (net)" was boosted by about $13 billion (at
an annual rate) in October, by about $7 billion in September, and by about $120 billion in August to
reflect insurance benefits payments to persons. Excluding these effects, which are discussed more
fully below, personal income increased $42.1 billion, or 0.4 percent, in October, after increasing
$52.1 billion, or 0.5 percent, in September, and $19.8 billion, or 0.2 percent, in August. Because
other effects of the hurricanes were embedded in BEA's source data and could not be separately
identified, BEA did not attempt to quantify their impact.

For more information on how disasters are treated in the national accounts, see FAQs on
"Disasters" on BEA's Web site.


Wages and salaries

Private wage and salary disbursements increased $32.9 billion in October, compared with an
increase of $15.2 billion in September. Goods-producing industries' payrolls increased $12.6
billion, in contrast to a decrease of $1.9 billion; manufacturing payrolls increased $10.2 billion, in
contrast to a decrease of $3.0 billion. Services-producing industries' payrolls increased $20.3
billion, compared with an increase of $17.1 billion. Government wage and salary disbursements
increased $1.5 billion, compared with an increase of $4.3 billion.

[HughBeaumont]

26. Really Chuckles? Let me see if that strategy works for me:

I'm Mr. Rogers!

Hey, I said it, so it MUST be true.

Oh wait, I guess I'm not.

Maybe if I repeat it often enough while looking in the mirror, my wish will come true!

Chuckles, GET A GRIP. People who were lucky enough to retire, such as my father, are taking it in the ass from the people who truly benefit from your "good news". The rest of us have about as much hope of retiring as I do of magically becoming Mr. Rogers. Your zero's administration has been that of wage decrease, middle class regression or stagnance and monied people's opulence skyrocketing at the behest of the "taxed" class.

Fat bastard shittier.