With the American economy booming in the face of adversity, you might think President Bush would be getting some of the credit for economic policies that are working. Think again. The latest polls show, incredibly, that 4 of every 10 Americans think we're in a recession.
Yes, you read that right: a recession. No wonder only 37 percent of Americans in one recent poll approve of Bush's handling of the economy.
We urge that 40 percent who see a recession and the 61 percent who disapprove of Bush's handling of the economy to take a moment and consider the actual facts. The latest economic statistics tell a revealing story.
Here's what those new numbers show. Economic growth in the third quarter of this year was even stronger than estimated in October – 4.3 percent instead of the 3.8 percent previously forecast. The new numbers confirm 10 straight quarters of economic expansion, at close to an average annual growth rate of 4 percent. Which means the American economy has been growing at near record recovery rates since early 2003.
Job growth during November was 215,000 nationwide. Since early 2003, the economy has produced a total of 4.5 million new jobs. The unemployment rate is down from 5.5 percent earlier this year to 5 percent today, close to what economists consider full employment.
Personal income for American families is up by $750 billion since early 2004. Productivity gains, the key to rising incomes and wage rates, continue to surge. Productivity growth averaged about 3.8 percent from 2001 through 2004. A good share of that rising productivity is attributable to the retail revolution being driven by the liberals' corporate bogyman, Wal-Mart.
The major stock market indicators are at four-year highs, marking Wall Street's strongest overall performance since before the terrorist attacks in 2001. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was just short of 11,000 last week and the Nasdaq composite closed over 2,200 on Friday. For the year, the Dow is up 1.4 percent, climbing steadily since a tumble in October. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has grown impressively this year, up 5.6 percent to date.
This is, of course, anything but a recession. Rather, these figures denote a robustly expanding economy hitting on something close to all cylinders. That these economic indices are being rung up despite the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and oil prices that briefly reached $70 a barrel is a measure of just how strong the economy remains.
President Bush doesn't deserve all the credit, to be sure. Presidents generally get too much credit when the economy is good and too much blame when it isn't. But nothing rational can explain why 61 percent of Americans in a recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll disapproved of Bush's performance on an economy doing this well. We would guess that too many Americans are being swayed by the relentlessly negative coverage given the economy in much of the press and broadcast media.
Bush's pro-growth policies and especially his tax cuts are major factors in building this strong, steadily growing economy that benefits nearly all Americans. Bush and his administration deserve a lot more of the credit than they're getting.
