For the record: U.S. economy doing rather well
UPDATE (Oct 10): The title of this post has become quite ironic given the events of the past few weeks. I would still challenge any critic of Bush’s economic policies (which I don’t care for all that much) to explain how Democratic economic policies would make things better.
I’ve grown weary of the oft-repeated conventional “wisdom” that the economy has tanked under Bush and that he is somehow responsible for such problems.
Some data to keep in mind next time you hear that particular bromide:
U.S. output has expanded faster than in most advanced economies since 2000. The IMF reports that real U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an average annual rate of 2.2% over the period 2001-2008 (including its forecast for the current year). President Bush will leave to his successor an economy 19% larger than the one he inherited from President Clinton. This U.S. expansion compares with 14% by France, 13% by Japan and just 8% by Italy and Germany over the same period.
The latest ICP findings, published by the World Bank in its World Development Indicators 2008, also show that GDP per capita in the U.S. reached $41,813 (in purchasing power parity dollars) in 2005. This was a third higher than the United Kingdom’s, 37% above Germany’s and 38% more than Japan’s.
Could Bush have done better? Certainly. Anyone with an understanding of free market economics can see ways Bush could have supported the economy better (e.g., staying away from that ridiculous entitlement prescription program).
But when the Democrats trot out the “poor economy” as a reason for rejecting the Republican party ... it’s not only disingenuous but dangerously untrue, insofar as traditional socialist policies — of even greater taxes, protectionism, and regulations — are the only alternative Democrats are offering.
See Keith Marsden’s full article “Bush Has a Good Economic Record” for more.
I’d be curious to know what countries did better than the U.S. over the past 10 years, and why.
UPDATE: (Sep 5, 2008) On the other hand, “Jobless rate jumps to 5-year high of 6.1 percent.” Hard to see how Democrats would make it better, though, since tax-and-spend provides no more stimulus than invest-and-spend.
And after this week, what do you have to say?
Pretty much the same thing I said last week — Democrats can only make things worse. It’s really not their place to complain about the economy when they just want to do the same as Republicans, only worse. More taxes, more government-granted monopolies immune to economic forces but later requiring taxpayer bailout, more bribes to government officials to keep the regulators at bay, etc. Democrats don’t have anything to run on, here.