Which economy, stupid?

Rochester Pundit ^ | 4-11-07 | Rochester Pundit

[ensignsj]

A Bush spokesman raises eyebrows by suggesting that the current economic surge is more robust than the surge of the late '90's

Allow me to preface this post by saying that presidents always get way too much credit and blame for the state of the economy.

Having said that, it's interesting to compare the economic conditions of the Bush presidency to the Clinton presidency. Bush Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto told the Examiner that "This is a much stronger expansion in a lot of ways. It's much deeper and more measured."

[ensignsj]

Bush's economy vs. Clinton's

[swmobuffalo]

Is there something with specifics?

[ensignsj]

Here’s some data from the examiner article:

DUELING DATA POINTS

From the Bush camp:

o Real wages rose 1.8 percent over the 12 months through February. This is substantially faster than the average rate of wage growth in the late 1990s.

o Since the first quarter of 2001, productivity growth has averaged 2.8 percent. This is well above average productivity growth during the Clinton years.

From the Clinton camp:

o Under Clinton, the economy created 3.5 times more jobs after 74
months than it did over the same period of time under Bush.

o During the Bush years, the number of Americans below the poverty line has increased by 5.37 million, while under Clinton the number fell by 7.68 million.

Here’s a link to the whole article:

http://www.examiner.com/a-663267~White_House_says_economic_surge_robust.html

[swmobuffalo]

Thanks

[Mr. Jeeves]

Yes, but it seems worse to the Left because Democrat politicians and their hangers-on aren’t able to make millions overnight in Internet start-up stock options. ;)