Inflation has best showing in 3 years

It's Bush's fault!

The slowdown in inflation translated into more spending power for Americans. The government said average weekly earnings for non-supervisory workers rose by 2.1 percent last year, after adjusting for inflation. That was the biggest gain in nine years.

Wait - that's good, right?

Inflation-adjusted weekly earnings had fallen for three straight years, a development that Democrats argued in last fall's election campaigns showed that President Bush's economic policies were not working for the middle class.

Oh, guess not.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that construction of new homes rose by 4.5 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.642 million units, raising hopes that the worst of the housing slowdown may be coming to an end.

Wait, that's good too, right?

The report on the Consumer Price Index offered good news on that front, showing that core inflation was rising at an annual rate of 1.4 percent in the final three months of the year, just half of the 2.8 percent rate of increase turned in during the July-September quarter. It was the best showing of the year.

And that's good too, right? Well, what about fuel cost?

For all of 2006, energy costs rose 2.9 percent, a significant slowdown after an increase of 17.1 percent in 2005 and 16.6 percent in 2004. That price moderation occurred in recent months. After advancing at a 22.8 percent annual rate in the first six months of 2006, energy costs fell at a 13.4 percent rate in the final half of the year.

Hmmm...

Repeat after me: "GLOBAL WARMING! IRAQ!" It seems to be all that's left for the Democraps to complain about. Be prepared to hear it a lot.