Salomon Sounds a Wary Note on the Economy
Perhaps nothing about the Clinton administration has been so surprising as the strength of the economy in 1993.</br></br>But 1994 could be a lot different from 1993. And if the economy deteriorates, President Clinton will inherit the blame, and his popularity - threatened at the same time by the emerging Whitewater story - could begin to fall.</br></br>It was the persistence of recession in 1992 that provided the spark for Clinton's victory over President George Bush, even though the downturn was bottoming out around Election Day, but not visibly enough to help the Republican incumbent.</br></br>Some Clinton advisers, while hoping that the prospect for change would give the economy a psychological boost, were not expecting the rebound that took place in 1993, although others expected the economy to be even better than it turned out.</br></br>It doesn't matter that very few economists, as New York investment adviser Sam Nakagama noted, "are willing to give much credit to President Clinton" for economic progress last year.