More Great Economic News

The last few days have seen more good economic news that, in some ways, makes the drop in unemployment part of a larger and rosier picture.

American consumers are feeling more upbeat than they have at any time since the fall of 2007, according to an unexpectedly strong reading of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters, released Friday. The report suggests that the holiday shopping season could turn out stronger than previously forecast. The widely followed index jumped to 83.1 in October — nearly a 5-point gain from the previous month and the highest since September 2007. Measures of both components of the index — people's assessment of their current financial conditions and future expectations — went up over the month. Sentiment improved for families making more than $75,000, as well as those making less.

All of this good news for the president as he heads into the last three weeks of the campaign. Of course, there is that issue of the debt and the deficit but there is some good news on that front as well.Total indebtedness including that of federal and state governments and consumers has fallen to 3.29 times gross domestic product, the least since 2006, from a peak of 3.59 four years ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Private- sector borrowing is down by $4 trillion to $40.2 trillion.

And the federal deficit, while still topping 1 trillion dollars, is down over 200 billion dollars, falling from 1.3 trillion to 1.1 trillion dollars.The government's revenue rose as more people got jobs and received income. Corporations also contributed more tax revenue than in 2011. This is because of the modest economic growth that has been occurring over the last few months. Government spending fell 1.7 percent to $3.5 trillion. The decline reflected, in part, less defense spending as U.S. military involvement in Iraq was winding down.

We are heading in the right direction, folks, and, considering where we were 4 years ago, I'd say that's very good news!