Business Outlook Good News for Incumbents

Rhonda AdamsWith some exceptions, stocks are up, and the dollar is gaining. Even the price of crude is showing some fight after a drop that had some oil companies scraping the bottom of the barrel for profits. And that’s just the beginning of the good economic news in the United States. Payrolls are up as the US economy added 190,000 jobs last month and employers raised wages across the board.This news is not just good news for American workers. It’s great news for incumbent politicians at just about every level of government. Sure, there are some areas that are still hurting, but most elected officials can point to these numbers and say, “see, what we’re doing is working…” even if, precisely speaking, they haven’t really done much yet.As David Milberg has noted, “The real good news is that American business is making investments. From Google and Ford and Uber investing heavily in automated cars to SpaceX and others reaching for the moon and social media titans raking in record numbers. American business is rebounding nicely nearly a decade after the economy crashed into the Great Recession.”There’s still a lot of great skill jobs out there, and the labor market could certainly tighten up a lot more, but, from a PR perspective, this news makes for great reports for representatives reaching out to voters, beginning to plant positive seeds aimed at keeping their seat in the 2018 midterms.The strength of the dollar may well be the best news for many incumbents, as well as American business. As the dollar started to fade, other economies toyed with the idea of supplanting the United States as the home of international trade currency. China wants more international control over markets, the European Union is in a transitional phase, even as the Euro got a strong bump from the European Central Bank, and the emerging economy in India could change the game at any moment.For the average American who operates with a fairly vague idea about economic health, the idea of a “good” or “strong” economy relates directly to optimism and high approval ratings for individual representatives. They may still not trust all of Congress worth a plug nickel, but they think “their guy” is doing just fine. Well, when news like this comes out, pretty much everyone thinks “their guy” is doing good … so that means Congress, despite a low collective approval rating, gets a unilateral vote of confidence.While the numbers are preliminary, that should not stop many from borrowing some of that goodwill and translating it into some old-fashioned positive political PR. [author] About the Author: Rhonda Adams is a NYC based entrepreneur. [/author]