Worst economy since Hoover drags on ...

Machine tool demand soars

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. machine tool demand in September rose significantly from a year earlier and also from August, two industry trade groups said in a report released Sunday.

The American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) and the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) said U.S. machine tool demand stood at $389.20 million in September, up 74.6 percent from $222.86 million in September 2003.

September demand was 89.8 percent higher than August's $205.01 million. August demand was revised downward from $225.52 million reported a month ago.
In the first nine months of 2004, machine tool demand stood at $2.147 billion, up 42.2 percent from $1.509 billion in the same 2003 period, the report showed.

"Manufacturing in the U.S. continues to show signs of a strong comeback. Machine tool orders in September hit their highest level in four years with all regions of the country showing growth," said AMTDA President Ralph Nappi in a statement.

He added that the re-election of President Bush to a second term "will further solidify the comfort of manufacturing with continued capital investments." (emphasis ours)

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Why, however can this be? As recently as last Tuesday, the "smart" people painted a bleak picture of a Dickensian America, where breadlines stretched for miles ... and armies of homeless old fogeys slept in the parks and alleyways ... Why, we were told the only way to escape living in our own Hooverville was to raise taxes on the eeeeevil wealthy ...

Good thing the "idiots" won.