Looking up: U.S. economy shows signs of recovery

Bush on Tuesday in the Rose Garden: "We need tax relief totaling at least $550 billion to make sure our economy grows."

With the major battles fought in Iraq, President Bush turned his attention to the home front on Tuesday in an effort to jumpstart the sagging U.S. economy. The president said that a $550 billion tax cut would ensure the economy's growth by encouraging Americans to invest more money, putting more cash into the pockets of the nation's consumers, and leading to the creation of 1.4 million new jobs by the end of 2004.

"In two years' time, this nation has experienced war, a recession, and a national emergency, which has caused our government to run a deficit. The best way to reduce the deficit is with more growth in our economy, which means more revenues to our treasury and less spending in Washington, D.C.," the president said.

Signs were cropping up across the U.S. on Tuesday that the economy was already improving. For the most part, stocks gained ground in Wall Street, and many of the nation's retailers said their sales were climbing.

Indications of recovery were also apparent at the box office last weekend. The comedy "Anger Management" broke all records for a film opening in the month of April. Martin Grove of the Hollywood Reporter Online said, "Clearly if you have 42 million dollars at the box office, and you divide that by five, you've got [about] eight million people who went to see the movie." Such a high number of moviegoers could indicate that Americans are ready to spend more freely at this time.

RESOURCES • Local retailers cash in on teen spending habits  • CNN/Money: Half empties vs. the half fulls  • CNN.com: 'Anger' tops box office with $44.5M

In addition, Carlson Wagonlit, one of the nation's largest travel companies, reported positive news regarding travel sales. The company said its agents saw an increase in leisure travel bookings after significant progress was reported in Operation Iraqi Freedom. And Wal-Mart, the country's largest retailer, reported gains in the month of April. The company said that its sales are up five to seven percent.

Economists say the upturn is due to a number of events. Diane Swonk, chief economist with Bank One, said that Americans are breathing a sigh of relief as an apparently successful war winds down. She added that people have been able to "move on with business, and we've certainly seen that everywhere from building contracts to getting outside and getting out and moving ahead."

The nation's financial institutions followed suit in reporting good news. Citigroup and Bank of America said their earnings are up over those of last year. CNN's Jan Hopkins reported that experts who keep track of overall retail sales in the country are optimistic that the U.S. could be emerging from the economic slump that came with the war.