The Clinton Economy Easily Beat the Bush Economy
Your editorial "The Bush Economy" (Jan. 17) states "Democrats like to claim the 1990s were a golden age while the Bush years have been disastrous." For the Clinton years, their claim is accurate.</br></br>The average annual growth rate of real GDP during Bill Clinton's presidency was 3.7%. The average annual growth rate of real GDP during the first seven years of George W. Bush's presidency was just 2.3%. When the growth rate for 2008 is announced, the average annual growth rate of real GDP for Mr. Bush's eight years in office will be less than 2%.</br></br>Bill Clinton presided over a huge expansion in private-sector employment during his eight years in office: Payrolls increased by 21.14 million. Private-sector payrolls have increased by just 1.3 million under Mr. Bush. In other words, for every 16 private-sector payroll jobs created while Bill Clinton was in office, President Bush has overseen the creation of just one private-sector payroll job. To say the least, that is a significant difference, especially when one considers that Mr. Clinton raised tax rates and Mr. Bush reduced them.</br></br>The robust economic and private-sector employment growth during the Clinton years was also reflected in the stock market. The S&P 500 index stood at 435.71 at the end of 1992. Eight years later it was 1,320.28, an increase of 884.57 points or 203%. At the end of 2008 the S&P 500 index stood at 903.25, declining 417.03 points or 31.6% over eight years.</br></br>There is one area where George W. Bush easily surpassed Bill Clinton: the growth in federal spending. From the fourth quarter of 1992 to the fourth quarter of 2000 the annual rate of federal spending increased by $421.6 billion. By the third quarter of 2008 the annual rate of federal spending was running higher by another $1.244 billion.