Is the New York Times now spinning that happy days are here again?

I used to have some respect for financial writer Floyd Norris, but this looks like the usual New York Times pro-Obama good-time spin:

High & Low Finance
Why So Glum? Numbers Point to a Recovery
By FLOYD NORRIS
Published: April 8, 2010
The American economy appears to be in a cyclical recovery that is gaining strength. Firms have begun to hire and consumer spending seems to be accelerating.

That is what usually happens after particularly sharp recessions, so it is surprising that many commentators, whether economists or politicians, seem to doubt that such a thing could possibly be happening.

Usually you can depend on the White House to view the economy with the most rose-tinted glasses available. But it was not until last week, after a strong employment report, that President Obama started to sound a little optimistic.

Strong unemployment report? 9.7% unemployment is strong? Can anyone trust these numbers when discouraged workers don’t even count anymore? The federal government hiring a million temporary census workers shows an economic recovery?

It is possible, of course, that I am wrong and the prevalent pessimism is correct. Many economic indicators, including Thursday’s retail sales report, are looking up, but that does not prove the recovery will be self-sustaining. There are issues relating to over-indebted consumers and local governments. The housing collapse will have an impact for some time.

There are issues relating to over-indebted local governments? You don’t say!

Floyd, Floyd, Floyd. There’s a lead story in today’s business section. it’s this:

As Greek Bond Rates Soar, Bankruptcy Looms

Good times?

Two days ago, I did this diary on Red State:

Can bankrupt California & Los Angeles survive?

You mean, Floyd, that Los Angeles is not running out of cash in the next 30 days? That over half a trillion dollars in California pensions obligations announced in your New York Times has somehow solved itself in two days?

Here’s a cheery Business Insider piece for you:

Flimsy Auctions Signal The US Is Heading For A Debt Crisis
Ron Hera | Apr. 8, 2010, 4:40 PM
(This guest post comes from Hera Research)

Investors often seek safety from financial market turbulence in US government bonds since they offer virtually no risk of default and, unlike cash or gold, provide a yield.

At the same time, sovereign debt default concerns outside the US, e.g., Iceland, Dubai, and Greece, have been linked to short-term rallies in the US dollar and have diverted attention from the fiscal challenges facing the US.

However, since seven US states are in worse financial condition than Greece, Ireland, Portugal or Spain, shelter may prove hard to find.

Now if we can find a few hundred more Chris Christies who are actually trying to put states on the right track, maybe I can believe in a turnaround. But I’ve looked at the federal government and the governments of states such as New York and California, and I don’t see things getting better. In fact, they’re getting worse.

Back to Floyd Norris’s closer:

Change a few words (Reagan to Obama, Democrats to Republicans, 1984 to 2012) and you have an accurate description of the current political climate. Could the Republicans be as wrong now as the Democrats were then?

No.

On his personal NYT blog, Norris admits that not many people are buying his opinion, and that he just may be completely clueless:

April 8, 2010, 5:34 pm
Optimism Is Scarce
My Friday column, arguing that the economy is doing much better than most of the commentators say it is, was posted this afternoon, and has generated more e-mail than I am used to getting.

Those who think I am right have yet to be heard from. Here are some excerpts:

You’ve got to be kidding with this article. The Democrats and Obama are doing everything possible to stifle any recovery. Higher taxes, burdensome regulation, government takeovers of the economy etc. Anyone with even the most basic background in economics understands that this is exactly the wrong thing to do. Uncertainty regarding the government’s next action is clearly stifling business investment. Of course to people in the echo chamber at the NY Times none of this is understood. Try reading Amity Schlaes book, “The Forgotten Man,” and perhaps you’ll answer your own question.

. . .

Mr. Norris. You’re comparing apples to oranges. The apple — a cyclical recession — is NOT what we’re going through. The orange — an asset & credit bubble recession — is. Think Japan 1990-2010; think USA 1930-1940. Anyone who’s comparing THIS recession to other post-WWII recessions is making a deeply flawed analogy. See Shiller, Ferguson, Koo, Johnson, Rogoff, Baker and even Krugman!

. . .

Reason for glum outlook: stimulus money pumped into the economy dries up midsummer, well before anyone expects significant job recovery. There has been no significant financial reform enacted, meaning the jokers who brought the nation’s real economy to its knees have seen no downside … like prison time.

Maybe The New York Times is too easy a target for “Friday Stupid”?