Not that these are perfect comparisons, but just one data point.
Dow Jones Industrial Average:
January 21, 1993 – 3,256.81
January 20, 2001 – 10,659.98
June 23, 2008 – 11,842.36
Clinton: Days – 2,921; Average daily gain – 2.534; Net change – 7,403.13; Percentage change – 227.31%.
Bush: Days – 2,711; Average daily gain – 0.436; Net change – 1,182.38; Percentage change – 0.11%.
Yeah and my pension shows it! Gotta love those quarterly statements right now:-(
This is really cherry-picking. Does the president get all of the credit/blame?
I think had anybody presided over the dawn of the internet and the tech bubble, they would have been the beneficiary of the Clinton numbers. Certainly he deserves credit for a few things that were his doing and were good for the economy- welfare reform in particular, and then there are a few others that are still debatable: was NAFTA that great? I’d say the jury’s out, no matter your political persuasion, or even if you are a Clinton.
OTOH, no question, Bush has done his part to crush the economy- the war, failing to veto any spending while holding a majority, and otherwise overseeing robust government growth, swollen debt, and massive borrowing. Now that Bush doesn’t have a rubber stamp, things have oddly not changed with a Democratic Congress.
I think a more apt way of putting it is that we have been better off with a Democratic president and Republican Congress, while worse off with a Republican president with any Congress.
I’m trying to remember where I read someone commenting about the utility of divided government – the phrase that sticks in my mind is: “The more impediments to legislation, the better.”
I think we’ve been hurt more by bad legislation and the unintended consequences thereof than by the lack of legislation.
Then again, in the final analysis we’re dealing with people – always a challenge, that!
Should we also give credit to Clinton for CA home prices that made houses that should be worth $150,000 cost $500,000?
Giving credit for someone for making things cost (stock, houses, etc) more than their real value, then blaming when the things return to their real value, doesn’ agree with me.
Ten years from now, we’re going to look back upon the years ’03 to ’07 as pretty frickin good years.
Yeah, the economy could have been stronger. It didn’t slosh like it was 1999.
But taxes are pretty much never going to be lower than they are now, unless we start making old people eat dog food and stop getting their meds.
People remember the ’60s with fondness, despite the war and social turmoil, and come to think of it, a really unpopular president. I don’t see why the last 5 years are going to be any different.