Turn that Frown Upside Down!

This afternoon, the Labor Department announced that unemployment was 5 percent in December , which is the highest it's been in 2 years. You know that that means it's time for, kiddies? Tax cuts! Yay!

Yeah, so, despite the fact that the unemployed don't really pay that much in income taxes, being as they're, you know, unemployed and thus without income, White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters this afternoon that "We've done tax cuts before and it's led to growth," which totally explains why unemployment is climbing again, obviously.

Other economic indicators (new housing starts, manufacturing numbers) are also circling the drain, but Bush is totes on top of it! He wants us all to know that "We can't take economic growth for granted," which, since our economy's not growing is, um, sorta obvious. We can't just pretend everything's hunky-dory anymore, which is why he's going to cut taxes again and hope to God the Fed lowers interest rates again and that he can get out of office before he might have to really do something.

 Unemployment Up, Stoking Recession Fears [Yahoo News]