The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) of Congress has just published a comprehensive report analyzing economic performance among the world's major economies (available at
www.house.gov/jec.) Titled "International Economic Performance Since the Stock Market Bubble," the report compares growth rates and job creation in the U.S., Japan, the European Union and Canada.
The report finds the U.S. economy has significantly outperformed other developed economies. This does not necessarily mean President Bush has done a great job, but it unambiguously means his economic policies have performed better than those of our major foreign competitors. In a global economy, it's an unbiased — and important — way of measuring who has done the best job.
The JEC report notes all developed nations suffered an economic downturn earlier this decade. Financial markets declined and unemployment rose in every major country. The key question is how various leaders responded. Mr. Bush aggressively moved to lower tax rates. He saw how lower tax rates during the 1980s helped trigger a record economic boom and wanted to repeat Ronald Reagan's successful formula. According to the JEC study, President Bush made the right decision:
c The U.S. economy has expanded 7.8 percent since the recession, the best performance in the developed world. Indeed, it has grown more than 3 times faster than European economies.
c The U.S. unemployment rate has fallen by 0.8 percentage points — again, the best performance in the developed world. The U.S. unemployment rate of 5.6 percent is far lower than the 8 percent unemployment rate in Europe.
On the two main indicators of economic prosperity, the United States is head and shoulders above the world's other developed nations. Many of these other nations are governed by politicians who think government should be bigger and taxes should be higher. But this approach inevitably fails, condemning citizens to economic decline and higher unemployment.
Originally Posted by Raistlin
I like this excuse. Notice how during most Republican administrations, the economy has been crappy. But it all must somehow be the Democrats' fault! In some cases it is, but "the true effect a President has doesn't show up until the next Democrat administration who improves the economy"(which is what it typically ends up being) smells a bit of bull.
