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Given this framing, every piece of positive economic data was problematic for Romney. And trouble lurked in the trend lines. The jobs picture was slowly, steadily improving. From February 2010 through August 2012, the economy had added about 4.2 million jobs. A few more good reports, and the economy would claw back all the positions lost since early 2009¡ªand start to recoup the jobs lost in 2008. As the headline payroll numbers came in positive, he was left pointing to the unemployment rate, or noting other components of the report that were less rosy. And it left Romney arguing that the news that more than 100,000 people want back to work, and regained the income and dignity that comes with a job, was somehow irrelevant. <a href="http://www.coach-outlets-store-online.com/"><b>coach outlet online</b></a> All sense of time disappeared as the nurses readied the tiny infants for another premature arrival¡ªthis time into the wind and spitting rain of the outside world. A tap on the shoulder, ¡°We¡¯re ready to move, Margot¡ It¡¯s time to go,¡± and there was no turning back. Save for volunteers¡¯ flashlights, the stairwell was dark. Six doctors and nurses juggled the infant boy¡¯s life-sustaining equip-ment (breathing tube, feeding tube, central line, IV, and heart monitor). ¡°He couldn¡¯t breathe for himself. We had to breathe for him,¡± Condon explains. ¡°On one level I was probably scared, but I wasn¡¯t feeling it,¡± she said. ¡°It was a beautiful thing¡ªeveryone helping each other. I was calm.¡± ¡°Stay calm, hold the baby close, watch the stats, make sure the breathing tube is in, watch IV line,¡± she whispered to herself during her descent down nine dark flights holding the two-pound baby boy¡ªtoo new for a name¡ªborn only eight hours earlier. ¡°It became a mantra that I repeated over and over,¡± she says. ¡°One step at a time¡ One step at a time.¡± As summer turned to fall, however, the improvement in the consumer and labor economy was increasingly obvious. More people working means more jobs and higher consumer confidence, which translates into higher spending, which translates into more demand for goods and services, which leads to more jobs. On Monday, Oct. 1, U.S. automakers reported blow-out car sales for September, up 13 percent from the year before and the best monthly total since February 2008. The University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment had come in at its best levels since before the recession. <a href="http://www.coach-outlets-store-online.com/"><b>coach bags</b></a> Scores of women who worked at Tony Dokoupil: A Return to the Battlefiel <a href="http://www.coach-outlets-store-online.com/"><b>coach purses</b></a> Shortly after dinner, residents of Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn, saw the first black waves on their lawns. The neighborhood was supposed to be protected by barrier islands, but Sandy sent the ocean into the one-story bungalows, thickening photo albums and floating the kids¡¯ toys. It chased Tom McCabe into an attic and threatened to float him, too, if help didn¡¯t arrive soon.The police were over-whelmed with evacuations, but a pair of ex-Marines stepped in, planning every-thing on the fly, just as they had done in Iraq. They found a ride, and a boat, and they navi-gated through the chest-high surf until they found McCabe, who later looked sheepish talking about the whole ordeal. ¡°It¡¯s never been this bad,¡± he explained on local television, still wet from the storm.But while McCabe was being saved, he was also a source of salvation. His rescu-ers were members of Team Rubicon, a nonprofit that deploys veterans to disas-ter zones, where they help others, and¡ªin ways the military is just beginning to understand¡ªthey also help themselves. ¡°There¡¯s a renewed sense of purpose, of community, and self-worth,¡± cofounder William McNulty explains by phone, noting ex-actly what veterans lose along with the uniform. There have been 22 missions this year alone, bringing more than 4,500 veterans into the fold. But the Sandy response was the biggest of all: 11 teams have fanned out across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, fixing roofs, clearing debris, and quarterbacking the recovery. They¡¯ve mobilized for tornados in Alabama, Missouri, Texas, and across the Midwest, as well as hurricanes in Maryland and Louisiana. ¡°This is a new model of veteran integra-tion,¡± says McNulty after the storm, as financial donations poured in. <a href="http://www.coach-outlets-store-online.com/"><b>coach handbags</b></a> That gratified member still lost his way, taking his own life early last year. About 18 veterans do the same each day, making self-harm among the leading killers of American soldiers. But the death shocked Wood and McNulty, and they refocused their efforts on relief in the United States, which had the potential to engage more vet-erans, more frequently, and maybe save more lives. <a href="http://www.coach-outlets-store-online.com/"><b>http://www.coach-outlets-store-online.com/</b></a> It was the first time the unemployment rate had fallen below 8 percent since January 2009. But flows are more important than levels, and more easily understood. Or to put it another way, it¡¯s not so much where things are that matter, but the direction they¡¯re going. Since hitting its lows in 2009, the economy had been fitfully¡ªand then steadily¡ªimproving. Between March 2009 and the fall of 2012, the stock markets had essentially doubled. In October, the economy was in its 39th straight month of growth. Even the housing market was coming around. And incumbents tend to get rewarded for improvement. |
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(Neelryphype,10/11/2012) |