corrente

Including the unemployment figures. Peter G. Gosselin and Edwin Chen of the LA Times write:

As President Bush heads for the Midwest today to trumpet his economic program, his first stop, in Kansas City, Mo., illustrates the trouble that he faces with the election year's approach. The metropolitan area has been walloped by the loss of nearly 10,000 high-paying telecom jobs and — in a recovery that's so far jobless — there is little relief in sight.

In picking Kansas City for his speech, Bush is, in effect, dodging one economic problem — the steady loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs — that the administration might actually be able to do something about. The area has a comparatively small manufacturing sector, with only 7% of its labor force in factories compared to 20% or more in such nearby cities as Joplin, Mo.

"Kansas City is one of the few places in the Midwest where you can make an economic speech and not end up hearing about the loss of [manufacturing] jobs to low-cost producers overseas," said Thomas.

Many observers say Bush's proposal for a manufacturing czar is intended to make him appear decisive without actually having to make those decisions. The administration hopes that the economy will solve the problem for the White House by beginning to generate new jobs before political pressure grows for Bush to act.

In the meantime, however, the president and his political advisors will have to pick their stage sets carefully.

"Dodging" a problem? "Appearing decisive without actually having to make decisions"? Not our aWol!