To hear John Kerry tell it,
We just set a record for yearly production: a GDP of nearly $12 trillion, or $120,000 per family. As for what really counts, personal well-being: A record 69 percent of Americans own their own homes, and the account balance in the average 401(k) plan is $77,000, up 22 percent in three years.
On the eve of his nomination at the Republican Convention in
He was dealt an extremely miserable hand by his predecessor. As Bill and Hillary Clinton were leaving the White House, the tech-stock bubble was deflating, and GDP and employment growth were slowing sharply. A recession began two months later.
The fraud at Enron, WorldCom and other companies, which would bloom into historic scandal in the fall of 2001, also occurred under
It is, frankly, a miracle that the
More interesting, compare Bush’s economy to
The unemployment and inflation rates today are precisely the same as at this time in 1996. Total job gains from January to July were somewhat higher in 1996 than in 2004, but in 1996 manufacturing jobs actually fell — while they rose by 81,000 in 2004. Also this year, GDP growth and productivity were considerably higher than in 1996.
The ABC News/Money Magazine personal-finance index is 59 percent — which is higher than the 18-year average. “I think economic growth will be faster in the second half of 2004 than in the first,” writes David Malpass, the highly regarded Bear Stearns strategist.
So why all the gloom and doom? Three reasons