The Bush Economy

Say it with me: "the Bush Economy".

Democrats have seen the economy as one of Bush's big weakness going into the 2004 election . Their talking points hammer on this term, repeating like parrots "the Bush economy".

2 reasons this bugs me:

1. They're rooting for the economy to fail - pure and simple. Then they can score a win and make the case for change. Not attractive.

2. In repeating their mantra "3 million jobs lost since Bush took office" they completely discount the 2 main reasons for the down economy early in Bush's term:
- the bust of the stock market bubble and
- 9-11.

Clinton benefitted greatly from the fraudulent dot.com bubble. People were hired in droves into companies that mostly existed on paper and were never profitable. Companies that came out of nowhere and became huge. (How did an upstart like AOL buy out TimeWarner?) It was quite symbolic of Clinton, who was a fraud himself. No core principles, waffling in the wind. When the bubble burst, jobs were shed from those paper thin dot.coms. (Story last month: TimeWarner to drop AOL from name. The adults are back in charge.)

And let's talk about 9-11. Anyone with a 2 year memory can understand the devasting blow that had on the economy. My own company had to go through a radical restructuring to survive. A lot of veterans were walked out the door in the 6 months after 9-11.

Would you expect otherwise? Imagine if you had asked the candidates in 2000 this question:

"Suppose well organized terrorists come across the ocean to America, hijack multiple airlines in multiple cities, and crash these flying bombs full of people into the heart of America's military (Pentagon) and financial (World Trade Center, wall street) centers. What will be the effect on the economy?
Now factor in the emotional blow to Americans. What' the effect on the economy?
Now factor in the need to project massive force accross the ocean into the heart of the terrorist enemy to take them down in their home so they can't hurt us again in our home. What's the effect on the economy?"

I think it's been amazing how the Bush administration reacted to those blows to the economy. I think the tax cuts were part of the right response.

And the news last month? 3rd quarter record growth. New job growth. It's turning around and will be roaring by 2004.

Say it with me again: "The Bush economy".