The president, trying to distract people from little things like illegal spying, the war and Jack Abramoff, decided to try to tout the wonderful state of the economy. Part of this little roadshow included the tired refrain that tax cuts have helped the economy–even though there’s almost no reputable economist that will make that argument with a straight face.

But, let’s stick with jobs for the moment. Our friends at the Economic Policy Institute show that, contrary to the president’s view, job growth is at best modest over the past few months and this “recovery” still lags far behind traditional economic recoveries. As EPI says, “The American job machine is no longer stuck in neutral, but neither has it shifted into high gear.” So, if the president really wants to praise tax cuts, when it comes to job growth, he’s not making a very strong argument.

I also remain a skeptic. It makes no sense to me to think that the economy is in good shape when people are deeper in debt than they have been in the past 15 years. That debt comes from having weak wage growth, growing medical costs, higher gasoline prices, among other burdens. When the housing market declines and people can’t take out home equity loans next year, where is the consumer spending going to come from?