more bad economic news

U.S. Trade Deficit Hits High on Storms
WASHINGTON - The trade deficit soared to a record in September as the Gulf Coast hurricanes helped push America's foreign oil bill to an all-time high. The politically sensitive deficit with China also set a record.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the deficit jumped to $66.1 billion in September, 11.4 percent higher than the $59.3 billion imbalance recorded in August. It was a far bigger increase than analysts had been expecting and reflected in part a record $23.8 billion in oil purchases as the price skyrocketed, reflecting widespread shutdowns of production facilities following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

So far this year, the deficit is running at an annual rate of $706.4 billion. This puts the country on track to far surpass the old deficit record of $617.6 billion set last year and gives critics ammunition to argue that President Bush's trade policies are not working.

In other economic news, the government reported that the number of Americans who have lost their jobs because of the string of devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes rose to 542,000 last week. Last week's increase included 15,000 applications for jobless benefits related to Katrina and Rita and 6,000 attributed to Hurricane Wilma.
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U.S. exports actually fell by 2.6 percent to $105.2 billion in September, the biggest monthly decline in four years.

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How often has bush said that the economy was booming? Maybe he just meant that it is booming for his big oil friends and who cares about anyone else, anyway?