Novak: Clinton Cooked Government Books?

NewsMax.com ^ | 8/08/02 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

Figures on corporate profits were wildly overstated by Clinton administration statisticians during 1999 and 2000, a government report issued last week reveals, begging the question of whether the feds engaged in the kind of bottom-line book-cooking that has recently seen a number of corporate executives being led away in handcuffs.

"The Commerce Department's painful report last week that the national economy is worse than anticipated obscured the document's startling revelation. Hidden in the morass of statistics, there is proof that the Clinton administration grossly overestimated the strength of the economy leading up to the 2000 election," reports nationally syndicated columnist Robert Novak.

Starting in 1999, as the report by Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis makes clear, before-tax business profits were overstated by a factor of 10 percent. As the presidential election drew closer, that discrepancy skyrocketed to nearly 30 percent.

The bogus figures gave the U.S. electorate a false picture of a thriving economy, allowing Clinton's would-be successor Al Gore to campaign as the rightful heir to "the longest economic boom in American history" when in fact the economy had been heading into the tank for two years.

Clinton Under Secretary of Commerce Rob Shapiro dismissed the notion that the distorted figures represented any kind of Enrongate-style fraud, insisting to Novak, that the agency's Bureau of Economic Analysis is "the most non-political, non-partisan agency in the government."

Still, Novak's report has more than a few in the business community wondering when those who presided over the government's fraudulent bookkeeping will be held to the same level of accountability as executives from WorldCom, Tyco and half a dozen other corporate giants now under investigation.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Clinton Scandals
Corporate Scandals

[kattracks]

Great links, thank you!

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

What steams me is this.... not only did Clinton get a completely sham economy, "It's the economy stupid," but Bush Sr. claims up and down that Greenspan sabotaged him by hiding a recovery. "It's the economy stupid." This is big, deep, and ugly.

All those demon-rats bragging about their sham economy making up for his lack of character. What good is a rosy economy when it's a $$%% LIAR IN CHARGE OF TELLING YOU what state the economy is in???!!!!

Sham economy outs Bush Sr. Sham economy props Clinton/Gore. Idiot voters saying character doesn't matter because their liar-in-chief is bragging about his great sham economy. And then sham economy hurts GW. BEAM ME UP!!!!!!

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Greenspan messed over GW's father. And now one must wonder how much Greenspan was involved in this fairy land economy? It had to be a lot I would imagine. Greenspan, the Kingmaker, tried to help Gore out? Didn't fly this time.

Gads what a god the media has made him out to be. The golden calf.

[backhoe]

To me, Greenspan's main talent seems to be spinning mellifluos, yet meaningless yarns to Congressmen & Senators at hearings. I'll be dogged if I can figure out what the man is talking about when he speaks.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

You're very welcome. Clinton's mischief - willfully leaving a mess for the incoming President - threatened our national security. His post-presidency behavior is more worrisome, imho. No former President would behave this badly. No existing laws cover his actions. Meeting with foreign leaders to criticize current US policy and undermine delicate international relations during wartime....I know no word to describe this. Perhaps someday "Bill Clinton" will do, like "Benedict Arnold" before him.

---

The CNN link proves that the mainstream media knew that the outgoing Clinton administration was setting traps for Bush. Perhaps the big media pardon-fest was a smokescreen...Clinton did far worse in those final days and if CNN knew, the "media" knew.

[lodwick]

bttt and Thank You.

[gitmo]

Rush said this was the largest accounting fraud of the century.

[Maelstrom]

bump

[Clinging Bitterly]

> Novak: Clinton Cooked Government Books?

Question marks are normally used only on questions.

Dave in Eugene

[Mo1]

Hidden in the morass of statistics, there is proof that the Clinton administration grossly overestimated the strength of the economy leading up to the 2000 election," reports nationally syndicated columnist Robert Novak

Well Well .. This might explain why Clinton kept coming out with his graph charts and telling us how great things were

Somehow I am NOT surpised

[F16Fighter]

There is NO telling what havoc this sloppy lunatic and his band of bong-smoking FOB had created but have yet to be unearthed during the eight years the White House was nothing more than a frat party...

Clinton was like the teen who's left at his parents house while they vacationed -- the house appears not to be burnt to the ground, but you do smell smoke...

[fire_eye]

No one who should be allowed out without a keeper, could possibly believe that if Clinton (a) *could* have ordered the books to be cooked in order to preserve Demoncratic hegemony, and (b) *thought* he could get away with it, he would *not* have done it without hesitation...

[farmfriend]

big bump

[BushMeister]

How on earth could Shapiro have been so wrong so consistently in doing such a crucial job and NOT HAVE HIS ASS FIRED?!? Especially after a change in administration...

[Humidston]

Wow. Thanks for that brilliant post! I'm now steamed all over again!!

....May a thousand camels crap in his Christmas pie!!

(Was that tame enough? ;-)

[maryz]

Thanks for the link!

[maryz]

"We laid a few traps," chirps a happy Clinton aide.....

Thanks for the info and the links!

[Madame Dufarge]

Wow - great work.

[Madame Dufarge]

that the agency's Bureau of Economic Analysis is "the most non-political, non-partisan agency in the government."

After the IRS, that is.

[F16Fighter]

"How on earth could Shapiro have been so wrong so consistently in doing such a crucial job and NOT HAVE HIS ASS FIRED?!? Especially after a change in administration..."

Good question that defies reason. Leaving a single Clinton appointee to remain onboard anywhere is akin to leaving a pyromaniac to continue running an ammo depot.