THROUGH BUSH-COLORED GLASSES
-Editorial, NYT - March 16, 2008
Mr. bush admitted on Friday that times are tough. So much for the straight talk.
Mr. Bush went on to paint a false picture of the economy.
Mr. Bush boasted about 52 consecutive months of job growth during his presidency. What matters is the magnitude of growth, not ticks on a calendar. The economic expansion under Mr. Bush - which it is safe to assume is now over - produced job growth of 4.2 percent. That is the worst performance over a business cycle since the government started keeping track in 1945.
Mr. Bush also talked approvingly of the recent unemployment rate of 4.8 percent. A low rate is good news when it indicates a robust job market. The unemployment rate ticked down last month because hundreds of thousands of people dropped out of the work force altogether. Worse, long-term unemployment, of six months or more, hit 17.5 percent. We'd expect that in the depths of a recession. It is unprecedented at the onset of one.
Mr. Bush was wrong to say wages are rising. On Friday morning, the day he spoke, the government reported that wages failed to outpace inflation in February, for the fifth straight month. Productivity growth has also weakened markedly in the past two years, a harbinger of a lower overall standard of living for Americans.
Exports have surged of late, but largely on the back of a falling dollar. The weaker dollar makes American exports cheaper, but it also pushed up oil prices. Potentially far more serious, a weakening dollar also reduces the Federal Reserve's flexibility to steady the economy.
Finally, Mr. Bush's focus on the size of the federal budget deficit ignores that annual government borrowing comes on top of existing debt. Publicly held federal debt will be up a stunning 76 percent by the end of his presidency. Paying back the money means less to spend on everything else for a very long time.
>>>As stated above, "Mr. Bush went on to paint a false picture of the economy" - Why the hell should ANYONE be surprised? This Andover cheerleader LIED about going to war in Iraq, and he LIED about the serious problems in our economy. A LIAR is a LIAR is a LIAR.
"If we talk about the economy, we'll lose"
-Bush44's top aide
"This campaign is not about issues"
-Rick Davis, Bush44's Campaign Manager
AI
