Oh Tax Cuts, Is There Anything You Can't Do?

Next time you're polled on whether you approve of the President's handling of the economy, go ahead and mark yourself down for a "Strongly Agree".

In the latest slug of good economic news, the Labor Department today released its weekly Unemployment Insurance Claims Report, showing seasonally adjusted new jobless claims plummeted to a 5-year low.

It's a compelling illustration of just how flexible and resilient our economy has become in recent years, with a persistently improving job market, despite two massive employment shocks (9/11 and Hurricane Katrina).

Consider the following chart, plotting the weekly new claims figure over the 5 years of the Bush administration.

There's still a lot of daylight between current fiscal policy and the true Pro-Growth Promised Land, but imagine the malaise we'd be suffering if our economy were subjected to shocks like these during the pseudo-socialism of the pre-Reagan era.

Even five years ago, before any of W's savory tax cuts went into effect, we'd've had a much more difficult time recovering from the economic ripple effects of these disasters.  Making these cuts permanent is one of the first Congressional orders of business when the 109th reconvenes at the end of the month.  Let's hope they appreciate how critical this legislation has been to our economic good fortune to date and how much future growth can be either fueled or staved off, depending on their votes.