Running on the Economy

Economist Edward Carter has an excellent piece in National Review which I hope is a preview of television commercials to come:

Nine months prior to the 1996 presidential election, Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers cheerfully reported that the “American economy has performed exceptionally well over the past 3 years.” While that may not surprise you, you may however be surprised to learn that President George W. Bush’s economic record is, in many ways, better than the record Clinton ran on for reelection.
Compared with the “exceptional” years of 1993, 1994, and 1995, the first three years of George W. Bush’s presidency featured:
— lower inflation
— lower unemployment
— faster productivity growth
— faster labor compensation growth (i.e., wages and benefits)
— 29.4 percent ($6.9 trillion) more economic output
— 45 percent ($960 billion) more exports; and
— an economic growth rate 81.2 percent as fast as that under Clinton

Carter’s chart sums up the data well:
chart_carter2-25.gif

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