Non-Carnage

   Employment continues to rise, the jobless rate continues to fall in major metro areas around the country, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts more economic growth through the coming year at about the same pace as 2016, the Federal Reserve says it will hold interest rates where they are and it plans on only "gradual increases" in its key federal funds rate.
   So how does all this square with the dire warnings and lamentations of "carnage" in America, a "disastrous" economy and severe job losses?
   The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment rates were lower in December than a year earlier in most of the nation's major urban areas, with 27 of them posting jobless rates of less than 3 percent as the national rate was 4.5 percent.
   Also, payroll employment rose in 292 of the nation's 387 metropolitan areas, the BLS said.
   The CBO, meanwhile, said it expects national output to grow by 2.3 percent this year, with a potential slowdown to 1.9 percent in 2018.
   Given all this, and its own statistical information, the Fed looks to  "only gradual increases" in the federal funds rate, and it's likely to remain "for some time," below its long-run target range. In the minutes of its most recent meeting, the Fed's Open Market Committee said it will maintain its target range of 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent as it waits for "further strengthening" in the labor market.
   Yet for all the good news coming from various sources that the economy is relatively healthy as more people find jobs and unemployment remains low, the new president talks of a staggering economy and promises to push for a GDP growth rate of as much as 7 percent.
   "We report, you decide," as the slogan goes on the conservative Fox News channel.
   You can choose to accept hard data -- solid numbers from independent, non-partisan career professionals, or you can believe the unsupported rantings of a political braggart.
   There is always a choice.