The republicans in congress and their cohorts, including the right wing neocon journalists are once again playing the blame game since President Obama became President. Lets look at the facts.
What the Clinton Administration bequeathed to President George W. Bush:
1. A government in the black with balanced federal budgets and record surpluses.
2. Paid down over $450 billion on the public debt.
3. The longest economic expansion in U.S. history.
4. Over 22.7 million new jobs created, a record with over 91% coming from the private sector.
5. Lowest unemployment rate in 30 years with five of those months in his last year in office at 3.9%. Unemployment rate went from 7.3% when he took office to 4.2% when he left. a decrease of 3.1%.
6. The unemployment rate never exceeded the high when he took office.
7. A yearly average price of a barrel of oil of $23.88.
8. A safe America.
For those reasons, Clinton left office with a 65% approval rating. The highest approval rating in modern times.
What the Bush administration bequeathed to President Obama:
1. Eight straight years of record federal deficit spending and debt. The results of the first 7 years of deficit spending was $2.13 trillion. Mr. Bush's final fiscal year budget will end Sept. 30, 2009 and is projected by the CBO to come in at over $1 trillion. That will bring his total deficit spending to over $3 trillion.
2. An economic recession.
3. A doubling of the national debt.
4. Over 4 million jobs lost in Bush's last 13 months in office.
5. One of the weakest job creation in the last 40 years.
6. An increase in the unemployment rate from 4.2% when he took office to 7.6% when he left. A
7. The economic price paid by the consumer for the record oil and gasoline prices. The average yearly price of a barrel of oil was $50.80.
8. Record home foreclosures.
9. A calamity with the collapse of the financial industry. That caused the President to recommend and then sign into law a $700 billion rescue package.
It should be noted the very first budget which ended fiscal Sept. 30, 2002 was in deficit to the tune of $157.8 billion and by Bush's own admission had not decided to go to war with Iraq so the war played no part in that reversal of fortune for the American people.
At this point we do not know what President Obama will bequeath to his successor, but time will tell. Those who are opposed to the Presidents policies will not wait. But after the last eight years of failed policies President Obama should be given a chance to make his policies work.
3 comments :
Republicans hate facts, that is why they lie.
It is almost impossible to believe how sad the Bush administration actually turned out. Then again, we had to live during this bad dream. What a waste of taxpayers money for 8 years. How could any President turn their back on the people like that.
Also, let's not forget that the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at about 3300 when Clinton took office, and nearly 11,000 when he left. By the time Bush left office, the Dow was down to about 8000. But for some reason, a lot of people still think Republican policies are good for the economy!
Post a Comment