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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RMF who wrote (68645)	1/6/2014 8:19:40 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 71588

If you eliminate the data that doesn't agree with you your left with the data that does. Wow what a surprise. Actually though in this case you didn't eliminate the data that disagrees with you, as following your suggest still leaves a steady trend up from post WWII to Reagan (maybe Reagan and Bush I), then an interruption of the trend with the peace dividend combined with the tech boom, but then a resumption of the trend (and actually beyond the trend) in recent years. OK that resumption isn't shown under your rule since you want to eliminate it, but I see no reason to do so. Also even following your rules you still have a trend up from post WWII to Reagan, not an explosion under Reagan. Eliminating wars make a bit more sense, but mostly only the three biggest (Civil, WWI, WWII) if your going to eliminate for all wars, then what about the cold war? What about Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan? Only if the war is big enough to dominate federal spending should it possibly be not counted, and really only if its big enough to dominate federal spending despite a large increase in such spending. If the country is mobilizing for war like WWII, that's a very special circumstance (and also you had rationing and other government controls that distort the economy and statistics about it), but absent such circumstances I don't think it makes any sense to drop out the data. Reagan's blurb of blue went through the early 80's economic distress and continued on even after the economy had begun its expansion. And Obama's is much bigger (in fair terms, percent of GDP, but also in nominal and real dollars, in total and per capita) despite the fact that the recession ended awhile ago. Obama's peak deficits are near the Civil War peak. A severe recession is not an equivalent crisis to the Civil War.