Use this to counter GOP spin on ecomony going "gangbusters"

[roseBudd]

In fact why not email blast it telling all to forward the way right wing stepfords do their tripe.

Bush economy nothing to broadcast
By Brett Arends
Boston Herald Business Columnist

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The neocon talk-show hosts were so angry last week they could barely speak.

The “mainstream media” and “the drive-by media” and “the liberal media,” they said, were deliberately ignoring the president’s great record on the stock market, on gasoline prices and on jobs.

Why don’t the media talk about the Dow, they demanded.

OK. Let’s.

The Dow Jones Industrials Average closed last week at 11,867. That’s a gain of 1,279 points since George Bush took office on Jan. 20, 2001.

That’s an annualized gain of 2 percent.

Under Bill Clinton, it was 15.9 percent.

Bush’s dad: 9.8 percent.

Ronald Reagan: 11.3 percent.

These figures are public record.

The index also did better under Presidents Ford, Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge. Much better.

Since World War I, the only presidents with a worse Dow Jones Industrials record than the incumbent were Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter.

Hoover, Nixon, Carter, Bush? Hmmmm.

I’m saying nothing.

Let’s talk about gasoline prices.

Yes, they’re down 73 cents a gallon from the peak in August. Average today: $2.26. But in January 2001, they were $1.46. So they’re still up 55 percent.

Jobs?

Since January 2001, the jobless rate has risen from 4.2 percent to 4.6 percent.

Over that period, non-farm payrolls have added an average of 46,200 jobs a month. That’s good, right?

Clinton: 237,000 a month.

Reagan: 168,000.

Carter: 215,000. Carter!

Bush’s dad presided over a recession so bad it cost him his job. His record must be worse, right?

His average: 54,000 a month. That’s 17 percent higher than junior’s.

Hey, don’t blame me. They asked.

[bluescribbler]

1. K&R

:kick:

[roseBudd]

2. Email this to your repug relatives