Thanks to policies enacted by Barack Obama and the Democrats, the economy is improving. Economists think we’ve now reached the point where good news will beget more good news, in a virtuous cycle. Rising job numbers and other economic indicators are improving confidence, which is leading to more hiring and consumer spending, which in turn leads to more improvements in economic indicators.

Economists are more optimistic about the recovery than they were just a few months ago, significantly upgrading their forecasts for 2011 as consumers open their wallets….

“This growth is now becoming self-reinforcing,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “Businesses are going to take their stronger sales and begin to hire more aggressively, generate more income, and we’re off and running.” [USA Today]

This is excellent news. I do still worry, though, about Republicans’ efforts to turn back the policies that have helped to create growth. Republican policies would take money out of the economy just as it’s starting to finally resume its growth. In particular, I’m thinking of their attacks on public workers and their opposition to unemployment benefits.

We can’t let politicians tell us that we’re overpaid. Remember, it’s consumers that create jobs by creating demand. Attacking consumers and elevating corporations does wonders for corporations, but it doesn’t help our economy. We can’t turn our backs on American consumers now, when we’re so close to breaking out of the recession.