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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 237 -- The Bush Economy.

The Bush Boom-

Critics of the booming American economy (and of the Bush administration's record on the American economy) like to ignore the past 30 months or so and instead linger on the first several months of George W. Bush's administration, back in 2001.

It's no wonder, given that the most strident critics are more concerned with talking down the economy than the truth. Allowing Bush to take credit for boom times the way President Clinton did in the 1990s is unthinkable.

Indeed, those months in 2001 were not all that great, economically. Jim Jeffords of Vermont, in a head-scratching career move, left the GOP. There wasn't enough support in Congress for meaningful tax relief. President Bush had inherited a lagging economy, but somehow it was all his fault.

And then 9/11 happened.

The events of September 11, 2001 hurt the American economy, there's no doubt about that. Business investment was down. Spending was down. Attitudes were down.

But since the time President Bush's tax cuts took effect, in May of 2003, the economy has recovered nicely.

Jerry Bowyer explains:

Why do we begin counting 10 quarters ago? Because while Bush’s overall GDP average remains tempered by the anemic economy he inherited, it has grown by leaps and bounds since he signed his full tax cut (the so-called “tax cut for the rich”) into law. It’s admittedly easier to judge a president by everything that happens after he’s sworn in, but no president is an island, and no president gets to enact his policies the day he takes the oath of office. Since President Bush got the tax cut he wanted, Americans have gotten the economy they’ve earned.

GDP growth during the Clinton era: 3.6%
GDP growth over the past 20 years: 3.1%

GDP growth since the Bush tax cuts: 4.1%
GDP growth today: 4.3%

Meanwhile, GDP growth in the European Union this year: 1.6%

Yay economy!
Boo politically-motivated pessimists!

Meanwhile, since the enactment of those Bush tax cuts, the jobs picture just keeps getting better:

Ideas and policies have consequences. The correlation between tax relief and a growing economy is certainly a powerful reminder of that.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Cigarette Smoking In The Movies.

Posted by Will Franklin · 6 December 2005 10:56 AM

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