<<And while we're at it, who gets the credit for the long expansion? Should credit go to Clinton/Gore? Or to the policies of Reagan/Bush? Or to Greenspan? Or to the Republican Congress? Or maybe the true reason is demographics (e.g. Harry Dent)?>>
Democrats will say credit goes to Clinton/Gore or Greenspan/Rubin. Republicans will go back to their "sacred fountain" and give RR the credit for the early part, and the Republican Congress the credit for the second. Funny how the Democratic Congress gets no credit for the 80s, while the Clinton/Gore executive branch gets no credit for the 90s. No myopia among Republicans, is there? Such fair-minded folks.
There is also the Wired/Gilder explanation--that technology and, especially, people's sense of how to use it properly, has engendered this boom, which would have occurred no matter who was in office, as long as it wasn't stifled either by too tight money or absurd regulations. The 80s began it, and the 90s made it really boom, and, in this view, it will continue to boom if it isn't squelched by adverse government/central bank policies
As far as blame for any recession that may occur: IMHO, recessions are almost always "engineered", and the blame for this one goes to the Fed. Not just for their too tight policies of the past 6 months, but for too loose policies of late 99.
BTW, there may not be a lot of vocal demonstrations in the streets, but there is still a lot of bitterness. Many Democrats still believe that Gore ought to have won this election. One of George Will's favorite things to say about Clinton whenever was pushing something unpopular was that he elected with a minority of votes (less than 50% of the votes), so had no mandate. Somehow, I don't think he will be repeating such things about W. If Bush and the Republican Congress aren't very, very careful, I think that there will be a strongly Democratic Congress come '02. |
