Item: Since January, the economy created 1.6 million payroll jobs. The unemployment rate remained at only 5 percent in November -- historically low -- jobs and jobless claims having recovered from a Katrina "spike."
Item: Though the minimum wage hasn't risen since 1998, the earned income tax credit results in about the same hourly compensation as 1982.
Item: Interest rates and inflation have risen, but mostly due to (hopefully temporary) energy prices (page 4)--and both remain historically low.
Item: Despite predictions, home sales haven't slowed.
Item: The Federal budget deficit decreased by 80 billion last year (page 9) and, as a percentage of GDP, is below recent peaks.
Item: Productivity grew between 4.1 percent (page 6-7) and 4.7 percent in the third quarter.
Item: Public debt topped 8 trillion. But that figure ignores inflation; in real terms, the actual level is about the same as it was in 1980. And the amount of public debt held by foreign governments is stable:
(source: Treasury Department) Item: Armed with similar data, Angry Bear created a nifty chart:
(source: Angry Bear)Conclusion: I'm unhappy with the Administration's inability to reduce public spending. Still, as Angry Bear observes:
while spending on Defense and Homeland Security (the red line) has indeed risen quite sharply under the Bush administration, other types of discretionary spending (the green line) have risen only quite modestly, and are still slightly below where they were in 1995.So don't overreact. America's economy is booming, "galloping" even--especially as compared with Europe.
More:
Angry Bear's data here and here. And don't miss Pejman Yousefzadeh in Tech Central.
Still More:
Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) summarizes the Bush economy. And Jerry Bowyer on National Review Online publishes this "killer" chart:
(source: Bush Boom Continues Unabated)(via Glenn Reynolds, RedState.Org)
2 comments:
It`s an interesting debate; watching the war in Iraq and the immense financial resources expended to keep the war machine operating at peak efficiency (not to say the troops well fed - love those Halliburton cafeterias that serve lobster and filet mignon!) I wonder just how long the US economy can continue fund its policy to 'force project' in the world. As a citizen of a neighbouring country that recognizes that it is the US military that provides much of the necessary muscle to protect us from harm, I am always very concerned about how Republican presidents can argue about fiscal conservatism on one hand and spend like the dickens on the other. It happened in Canada as well; under the Mulroney years, spending increased and the deficits remained fairly stable at about 30 to 40 billion, while the politician argued strenuously for fiscal discipline.
I am heartened to see the economy growing, employment up and spending down; Just keep it up and start living up to your 'fiscal disciplinarian' policies.
Phil-
I get it, I get it. I said I wasn't happy with the Republicans' failure to trim the discretionary spending budget. But:
1) Anytime Bush proposes cuts, or slowing the rate of increase, in particular programs, liberal and the media raise a stink ("Bush to cut benefits for minorities, handicapped").
2) The Democrats are unlikely to do better.
3) As Angry Bear and I attempt to demonstrate, compared to GDP, Bush's spending isn't as bad as you claim.
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