Contrary to the standard Republican historical rewrite, the economy was teetering on the edge of collapse in 1992, due to a belief that the deficit was out of control.
GDP in constant 1996 dollars 1990-1993
1990 Q1 6716.3 Q2 6,731.7 Q3 6,719.4 Q4 6,664.2
1991 Q1 6,631.4 Q2 6,668.5 Q3 6,684.9 Q4 6,720.9
1992 Q1 6,783.3 Q2 6,846.8 Q3 6,899.7 Q4 6,990.6
1993 Q1 6,988.7 Q2 7,031.2 Q3 7,062.0 Q4 7,168.7
All figures in $billions.
Source - bea.doc.gov
Link to source found at - epinet.org
No sign of the economy being on the edge of collapse in 1992. The economy grew every quarter. The economy was coming out of a recession that it occurred in 1990.
epinet.org is interesting. It shows the economic growth in this recovery as being weaker then in many past 20th century recoveries. However it does not include the strong growth in the first three quarters of 2000. Also this recovery was long, and started from a relatively shallow recession in 1990. Considering all of that it would seem the economy has done very well during the Clinton presidency, but it hasn't been some sort of economic miracle.
Tim |
