Although you'd never know it from media reports of the last eight years, as today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required) describes, by almost every measure the economy has fared extremely well under President Bush. This despite the recession he inherited, 9/11, and two wars. I would strongly encourage you to read the entire column -- it's well worth it -- but here are a few excerpts:
- The U.S. unemployment rate averaged 4.7% from 2001-2007. This compares with a 5.2% average rate during President Clinton's term of office, and is well below the euro zone average of 8.3% since 2000.
- The average per-capita consumption of the U.S. population (citizens and illegal immigrants combined) was second only to Luxembourg's, out of 146 countries covered in 2005. The U.S. average was $32,045, well above the UK ($25,155), Canada ($23,526), France ($23,027) and Germany ($21,742). China stood at $1,751.
- President Bush will leave to his successor an economy 19% larger than the one he inherited from President Clinton. This U.S. expansion compares with 14% by France, 13% by Japan and just 8% by Italy and Germany over the same period.
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