Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Dem depression

Donald Lambro:

John Kerry and running mate John Edwards keep hammering away at the Bush economy, knowing they will rise or fall this year based on what voters think about their financial security.
But the economy hasn't been cooperating with their pessimistic strategy, and probably isn't likely to in the final months of this campaign.
Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards still talk about the U.S. economy as if it were mired in a deep recession, seemingly refusing to acknowledge anything changed for the better in the jobs picture. However, the wave of economic reports coming out of the government and the financial community (including from private business analysts) tells a very different story.
"The economy appears headed for a banner year, despite a springtime spike in energy prices and a recent increase in interest rates," Associated Press economics writer Martin Crutsinger reported last week on the latest business forecasts.
"In fact, many analysts are forecasting that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product [GDP], will grow by 4.6 percent or better this year — the fastest in two decades," Mr. Crutsinger added.

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Many economists have long criticized the government's payroll numbers (which come from a nationwide poll of businesses) as less than accurate because they miss self-employed people who operate their own businesses but are not incorporated and often work out of their homes.
That's why the Labor Department's separate household survey can be a far better barometer of the jobs picture, even though it's largely ignored in news reports.
This survey reported a record 139 million Americans were working last month — up from 137.6 million since the end of 2000.
In other words, the labor force is not contracting, it is expanding, with new workers pouring into the jobs markets at ever-higher rates, another sign of increased confidence in a growing economy. More than 305,000 new workers entered the labor market last month — nearly 2.5 million in the last two years.