Enlistments grow despite wavering support for war (pre-Saddam capture)

Houston Chronicle ^ | Dec. 13, 2003 | PATRICK S. PEMBERTON

[angcat]

Nice chatting with you I have to go feed my daughter. Happy Holidays!

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

LOL. If you only knew. There is all kinds of stuff that would make you blush that goes on.

[jaugust]

...forgetting that Clinton inherited a Reagan economy. Reagan's economic policies were still in effect when BC took over. Also a Rep congress voted in in '94 kept Bill and Hillary's spending plans in check. Far more damage would have been done had this not been so. (apologies for OT comment)

[gcruse]

Eight years is a long time to give Reagan all the credit, don't you think? And, yes, Clinton had an opposition Congress. Are you wishing Bush did? Be honest. You can't knock Clinton for the the 1992-2000 economy without being a political partisan.

[ASOC]

Clinton had a little help - in the form of $10/barrel oil.
The last year he was in power, he took measures to endure oil went up big time and it did.

Oil at $10/barrel in the late 90's (adj for inflation) was, in essence, free.

Greenspan may have helped by reducing high interest rates, but other than that?

[gcruse]

By leaving Greenspan alone, Clinton let the good times roll. Other presidents who manipulated the Fed brought about financial woes. Give Clinton credit for letting Greenspan do his thing. To do otherwise, is just partisan bile. Lord knows Clinton traduced everything else he touched.

[Tamzee]

You can't knock Clinton for the the 1992-2000 economy without being a political partisan.

It's not partisan to point out that Clinton was merely incredibly lucky. He was fortunate to preside over the country during the phenominal tech boom and job growth that resulted from the Internet and home computing... in 1992 hardly anyone had heard of the "internet", by 2000 the Internet was an inherent part of the American culture and had spread across the globe.

[gcruse]

It's not partisan to point out that Clinton was merely incredibly lucky.

Good lord. Give the man credit for leaving Greenspan alone. Previous presidents mucked about and screwed things up.

[Tamzee]

I do give him credit for leaving Greenspan alone, but it didn't really require any genius for him to do that. I do get tired of Clinton being credited with the astounding economy that coincidentally occurred while he was in the White House. ANY president would have looked good during the 90's.

[gcruse]

ANY president would have looked good during the 90's.

"Anybody can coach the Cowboys.  Hell, I could do it."
                                 -----  Jerry Jones on firing Jimmy Johnson

Heh.  Clinton looked good?  The economy was good, he just rode it.
Importantly, he did not try to redirect it. 

Think Johnson's cranking up the mint to 'pay' for his War on Poverty
and real war which led to Nixon's having to deal with hyperinflation. 

Think Nixon's price controls which merely spread the misery.

Think Ford's "Whip Inflation Now" which had the substance and curative
power of bleached peanut husks.

Think Carter's wimped out "malaise" response to stagflation.

 Reagan's ramping up interest rates quelled inflation while tax cuts ignited the economy.

That's 1 good presidential action out of 5.  By leaving things alone, Clinton rates
a nod.  He knew what he didn't know.

[jaugust]

I take great offense to being called "partisan". To be so one has to be a Democrat, Republican, or any of the other parties floating around out there. To be a "Republican", IMO,one has to give money and time to the "party. I give neither to the Republicans. I am a conservative, which has everything to do with having studied and lived in the social and political climate of the 60's, 70's and 80's and thereby having beliefs which center around those things which I've seen which have worked and those things which do no not.

There is not one single economic policy which Clinton introduced which spurred the growth of the 90's. The ONLY thing Clinton was good at was political BS.

[jaugust]

"That's 1 good presidential action out of 5. By leaving things alone, Clinton rates
a nod. He knew what he didn't know."

That congress didn't allow Bill and Hillary to take over 1/7th of the economy for the purpose of National Healthcare was far and away a greater accomplishment than Clinton doing nothing.

[bjcintennessee]

Good lord. Give the man credit for leaving Greenspan alone. Previous presidents mucked about and screwed things up.

From all that I have read, Bush Sr. begged Greenspan to lower the interest rates, but Greenspan refused. Then, shortly after Clinton was in office, Greenspan lowered the interest rates and I find that very suspicious, as though Greenspan had his own agenda against Bush.

And you might recall that the Clinton/Gore campaign was based on how bad the economy was. And they lambasted Bush over his "no new taxes" pledge that the DemocRATic congress convinced him to break.

But even more damning to the "Clinton" economy was Clinton's state of the union address a couple of months after he was in office. In that address, he claimed that the economy was recovering from the prior administrations' mistakes. And yet, being so new to the office, Clinton had not passed a single bit of legislature to have made the "sudden" difference.

Clinton was handed an economy that was already on the rebound, and this could have happened sooner if Greenspan had not waited until Clinton took office before lowering interest rates.

Clinton took credit for a growing economy long before anything he could have initiated could ever had had an impact.