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The March jobs numbers are in and it is encouraging news. It’s a little too early to declare victory, but it’s nice to see a little uptick. It’s done good things for the stock market, and perhaps there will be some Tinkerbell Effect which carries over to some other economy sectors. Carry over is important because most of the growth came in retail, restaurant, and construction. No offense intended, but those jobs don’t tend to garner the same wages as manufacturing and technology jobs which is where much of the erosion has occurred. This results in a general decline in living standards, which in turn curbs consumer spending, which is about all that’s buoying our economy right now. The upturn in healthcare and financial sectors are the lone bright spots in terms of growth in types of jobs. Yet certainly the picture is better than the last time we added jobs only to find out they were all government positions and either beats unemployment.

The double whammy of disgust award goes to both political parties who can’t seem to see past their own self interests. Bush is running about crying nana-nana-boo-boo and declaring his economic incentive plans successful and legislating that all is right with the world. Kerry is trying desperately to make this look like it’s not good news and going about sucking the joy out of it. Although in fairness, his dour expression would appear to be some sort of black hole of joy which sucks the fun out of anything within his event horizon. He’s the only person I’ve ever seen who can look bored while snowboarding. On the flip, George appears to get a huge giggle out of finding matching socks in his drawer. Lighten up John. We can’t afford to have you blow this.