The Decade's Midpoint

Wall Street Journal ^ | December 21, 2005 | PETE DU PONT

[West Coast Conservative]

North Korea says the Bush administration "is made up of political imbeciles and master hands at faking up lies." The president of Iran says there was no Holocaust, the whole thing was a myth. And Russia continues its return to communism, intending to require all nongovernmental organizations to register with and have their programs approved by the government. From year to year, some things never change.

But there were some significant happenings this year that may change the way the world works. Two thousand five saw a very strong American economy and some real success in the U.S. effort to bring freedom to the people of Iraq and defeat Islamic terrorism. The bad news was a Republican congressional failure to control federal spending and limit the expansion of the federal government, and the United Nations' failure to reform after its participation in the greatest corruption scandal in the history of the modern world.

The good news is that the American economy is doing very well: 10 consecutive quarters of 4% annualized economic growth, which helped create 1.8 million new jobs this year and four million in the past two years. The tax cuts of the Bush administration are one of the reasons for this success, for they stimulate economic growth, and that growth produced a 14.6% increase in federal tax revenues in 2005. Even liberals should be happy, for the percentage of income taxes paid by the top 1% of taxpayers has grown from 19.3% in 1980 (before the Reagan tax cuts) to 27% in 1988 and 34% currently.

The war for freedom in Iraq is progressing too. Iraqis held their third purple-thumb election last week, electing a legislature following a transitional assembly in January and approving their constitution in October.

[Past Your Eyes]

Question for ya: Did the decade start on January 1, 2000 or 2001?

[Little_shoe]

Just think in another five years we can get a series of episodes on "I love the 2000s" on VH1.

[Fido969]

So, are we "imbeciles" or "master hands"?

[Forgiven_Sinner]

"Question for ya: Did the decade start on January 1, 2000 or 2001?"

It can start at either time; it's strictly convention. Most people start the decade when the 9 becomes a 0--2000.

There was a kerfluffle about 2000 not being the true end of the millinium--since there was no year zero. That's true, but irrelevant. It was 1000 years since year 1000. That's a millennium.

The year 1000 was the 1000th year since year 1. 1001 would be the start of the second millenium--from year 1. That would make 2001 the start of the third millennium--from year 1. Year 1000 was the start of the second millennium--from year -1.

Year 1 was the estimated year of Jesus' birth. It was 4 to 5 years late, but the calendar was already established by the time this was realized.

Conventionally, we mark millennia from the change of digits. We don't care about when it started or historical irregularities like no year 0.

[Past Your Eyes]

Who is this "we" you speak of? I care about it. If it's as you say, then the mid point of the decade was a year ago, not now.
";^)