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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (195602)	7/23/2004 6:11:46 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1575908

The NRO link was accurate if limited. It focuses on the equivalent periods in Clinton's and Bush's presidency and shows how Bush compares favorably. More importantly it points out that - Since the Bush administration began, non-farm productivity has increased at a 4.1 percent annual rate — the fastest pace for the start of any presidency since Harry S. Truman occupied the White House. Yes, but the NRO doesn't bother to make any effort to compare apples to apples. The Clinton recovery came after a much more serious recession that was prompted in part by a major structural shift in employment. If you remember, Bush I began to make significant cutbacks in the military and defense spending. Bases were being closed all over the nation. Defense industries were making substantive reductions in force. It was a time of significant employment change. Southern CA alone lost over a million jobs in a 3 year period from 1992 to 1995. A lot of high paying jobs were lost. By comparison, Bush II was handed a gold plate that needed a little cleaning to get the tarnish off. Clinton should have been so lucky. As I have said in the past, economics is not this administration's forté. and Most private-sector forecasters expect the U.S. economy will grow faster this year (on an average annual basis) than in any year since 1984. Yeah, well, those forecasters haven't been around for earnings this month. Since this is the first full year of recovery, its possible their forecast may happen but its not likely. The country is infected with a econ. malaise that doesn't seem to want to go away. At 5.6 percent, the national unemployment rate is now lower than the average unemployment rate of the 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s. Yes, because it started at 3.9% in 2000, the lowest since WW II. Bush didn't work the miracle; Clinton did. ted