Sunday, June 10, 2007

George Will on the Stealth Economy

The stock market has been breaking records, unemployment is at 4.5%, we have had steady economic growth for 65 months, uh .. "the economy is bad". Or at least that is what folks that are polled believe--it is a "fact" that contributes to the low Bush poll numbers.

George Will does a good job of covering the facts, the Democrats response, and discusses the strange idea of "equal outcome" in a world where God has certainly chosen to not distribute ability or motivation equally. What he doesn't discuss is the right turn of the French. Apparently, even the French have realized that economic growth has some reality-based components. Will the Democrats ever come to that realization?

Democrats' Prosperity Problem

Early in George W. Bush's presidency, liberal critics said: The economy is not growing. Which was true. He inherited the debris of the 1990s' irrational exuberances. A brief (eight months) and mild (the mildest since World War II) recession began in March 2001, before any of his policies were implemented. It ended in November 2001.

In 2002, when his tax cuts kicked in and the economy began 65 months -- so far -- of uninterrupted growth, critics said: But it is a "jobless recovery." When the unemployment rate steadily declined -- today it is 4.5 percent; time was, 6 percent was considered full employment -- critics said: Well, all right, the economy is growing and creating jobs and wealth, but the wealth is not being distributed in accordance with the laws of God or Nature or liberalism or something.

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