By: Will (Diary)  |  January 30th at 10:58 AM  | 

GDP Contracts 0.1% in Q4 2012 The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported today their advance estimate that the U.S. economy contracted at a compounded annual rate of -0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2012. A few months ago, The Washington Dispatch began tracking the progress of the current recovery against the 1980s recovery. Since the second quarter of 2009 (the last quarter of GDP contraction), real GDP growth | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  January 4th at 10:21 AM  | 

U3 Unemployment Rate 7.8% in December as Employment–Population Ratio Declines Again A Bureau of Labor Statistics report released today shows that the U.S. U3 Unemployment Rate was 7.8% for December. The Labor Force Participation rate matched its lowest total since the last recession of 63.6%. The Washington Dispatch began tracking the current employment recovery against that following the 1980s recession with the release of January 2012 unemployment and labor | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  December 10th at 10:43 AM  | 

New Record for Food Stamp Usage:  Over 47.7 Million Americans According to new data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Participation in the SNAP program reached a new all-time high of 47,710,324 individuals in September, on the strength of the largest monthly increase in 16 months–over 600,000 new participants in a single month. The number of participating households also hit a new high of more | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  December 7th at 10:07 AM  | 

U3 Unemployment Rate Falls to 7.7% in November as Labor Force Participation Declines Again A Bureau of Labor Statistics report released today shows that the U.S. U3 Unemployment Rate fell by 0.2% in November. The Labor Force Participation rate also fell by 0.2%, to 63.6%. The Washington Dispatch began tracking the current employment recovery against that following the 1980s recession with the release of January 2012 unemployment and labor | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  November 14th at 03:14 PM  | 

Willful Ignorance:  Democrats’ “Fiscal Cliff” Negotiation Stance Ignores Reality With the 2012 election in the rear-view mirror, the Obama administration and members of Congress have now turned their attention to the so-called “fiscal cliff.” The Democrats’ opening salvo?  Once again calling for tax increases, specifically $1.6 Trillion in new taxes over the coming decade generated by hiking rates on households with income in excess of $250,000. This | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  November 10th at 12:08 PM  | 

New Record for Food Stamp Usage:  Over 47 Million Americans According to new data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Participation in the SNAP program reached a new all-time high of 47,102,780 individuals in August, on the strength of the largest monthly increase in one year. The number of participating households also hit a new high of 22.7 Million.  The average benefit per person was | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  November 1st at 12:28 PM  | 

Failure:  The Obama Economic Record With only 5 days to go until the 2012 election, an election that by all accounts will find voters basing their choices heavily on economic factors, it’s time to reflect upon and examine the Obama economic record. UNEMPLOYMENT Obama administration policies over the past 4 years have not only coincided with no improvement in employment, in reality the employment situation | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 29th at 09:17 AM  | 

Washington Dispatch Poll of Polls for October 29, 2012:  Romney Maintains Slim Lead Mitt Romney (48.4%) leads Barack Obama (46.7%) by 1.7% nationally heading into the final week of campaigning. Less than 5% of the electorate remains undecided, with self-described independent voters making up the majority of undecided voters.  Mr. Romney holds an 11% lead among self-described independent voters, with 10% of independents still undecided | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 26th at 09:08 AM  | 

GDP Grows 2% in Q3 2012, Spurred by Massive Government Spending Binge The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported today their advance estimate that the U.S. economy grew at a compounded annual rate of 2% in the third quarter of 2012. The primary driver of improved growth over Q2 (1.25%) was a massive spike in government consumption, the largest in three years and accounting for over one-third | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 23rd at 11:15 AM  | 

Taxation vs. Economic Growth:  Weak Negative Correlation Today’s Fun Fact:  Since 1947, Overall levels of taxation in the U.S. have shown a weak negative correlation with economic growth: Data-Set Links: Federal Reciepts Gross Domestic Product ______________________________ The Washington Dispatch Facebook Page Twitter Account RedState Diary

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 22nd at 09:16 AM  | 

Washington Dispatch Poll of Polls for October 22, 2012:  Romney Up by 2% Nationally Mitt Romney (48.2%) leads Barack Obama (46.1%) by 2.1% nationally heading into their third and final debate this evening.  This represents the highest level of support for Mr. Romney thus far, as well as his largest margin over the incumbent. Links to Individual Polls: Rasmussen Public Policy Polling (PPP) Investor’s Business | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 21st at 09:22 AM  | 

Meet the Newest Battleground State:  Minnesota In early August, The Washington Dispatch began its weekly swing-state and electoral college poll tracking model.  10 key states were identified as battlegrounds with the potential to go either way on November 6th based on polling data: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Based on state-level polling data, The Washington Dispatch is now adding Minnesota to | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 19th at 09:08 AM  | 

Electoral College Count for Friday October 19, 2012:  Romney Increases Lead Based on prior election results and The Washington Dispatch’s comprehensive analysis of state and national polls, Mitt Romney currently leads president Obama 281 electoral votes to 257: Based on current polling data and past election results, The Washington Dispatch does not project North Carolina or Indiana to be swing states in the upcoming election, and projects Mr. | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 17th at 09:26 AM  | 

Washington Dispatch Senate Projection for October 17, 2012:  48-52 Eleven of the U.S. Senate seats up for grabs this November are considered “toss-ups” by The Washington Dispatch, with Republicans in control 44 seats and Democrats in control of 45 (including independents who caucus with the Democrats). Based on prior election results and The Washington Dispatch’s comprehensive analysis of state polls, the Republicans are currently projected to end | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 15th at 10:31 AM  | 

Washington Dispatch Poll of Polls for October 15, 2012:  Romney Extends Lead Mitt Romney (48.1%) leads Barack Obama (46.6%) by 1.5% nationally heading into their second debate tomorrow evening.  This represents the highest level of support for Mr. Romney thus far. The two new polls released today with Obama out front by ABC/Washington Post and GWU/BattleGround actually increased Romney’s poll number in the aggregation. Both | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 14th at 01:13 PM  | 

The Romney debate bounce has now dwarfed the DNC bounce, and may turn into a lasting momentum shift. Tuesday’s debate is key. Romney CANNOT “lose” that debate in the eyes of the public — his lead is too narrow, and a shift of momentum back to Obama will push him back into the lead, because Romney actually polls BETTER nationally than he does state-to-state where | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 12th at 09:22 AM  | 

Electoral College Count for Friday October 12, 2012:  Romney Regains Lead Based on prior election results and comprehensive analysis of state and national polls, Mitt Romney currently leads president Obama 272 electoral votes to 266: Based on current polling data and past election results, we do not project North Carolina or Indiana to be swing states in the upcoming election, and projects Mr. Romney to win these states | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 6th at 04:25 PM  | 

According to new data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Participation in the SNAP program reached a new all-time high of 46,681,833 individuals in July. The number of participating households also hit a new high of 22.5 Million.  The average benefit per person was $134.20, and the total cost for the month of July was more than $6.2 Billion. Unfortunately for Food Stamp proponents, while | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 4th at 12:28 PM  | 

No explanation necessary: http://washington-dispatch.com/post/2012/10/04/Fiscal-Insanity-Illustrated-Obamanomics-vs-The-New-Deal.aspx

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 3rd at 10:31 AM  | 

Eleven of the U.S. Senate seats up for grabs this November are  ”toss-ups,” with Republicans in control 44 seats and Democrats in control of 45 (including independents who caucus with the Democrats). Based on prior election results and comprehensive analysis of state polls, the Republicans and Democrats are currently projected to end up with 50 seats each in the battle for the Senate. Of the eleven “toss-up” | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 2nd at 08:59 PM  | 

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported today that the U.S. economy grew at a compounded annual rate of 1.25% (rounded up to 1.3%) in the second quarter of 2012, down from 2% in Q1 2012. This represents a downward revision of 0.25% from the initial estimate of 1.5%, which I reported on in late July. A few months ago, I began tracking the progress of the current recovery against the | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 2nd at 11:37 AM  | 

Earlier this month the U.S. Census Bureau’s Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for July 2012 showed that inventory stockpiles once again rose in July. The final revised numbers for July now show that the excess of nondefense inventory (excluding aircraft) over new orders hit its second highest total ever recorded at $59.8 Billion, surpassing the peak seen during the recession following the bursting of the dot-com bubble, | Read More »

By: Will (Diary)  |  October 2nd at 11:35 AM  | 

From January of 2009 through August of this year, the cost of basic living necessities (consisting of the five basic necessities for most middle and lower income Americans:  Rent, Medical Care, Gasoline, Home Energy, and Groceries) has skyrocketed in comparison to income, which has remained stagnant:   Links to Individual Data Sets: Real Disposable Personal Income per Capita Real Personal Income Food at Home Gasoline Rent | Read More »