Why Republicans Win in November: The Economy Stupid!
I love the football analogy Rush Limbaugh has been using about Democrats recently, saying they are “spiking the ball at the 10″ celebrating victory, but have yet to actually score the touchdown.
One of the reasons Democrats have not won yet is the economy. Bush and the RNC are just now hammering the message about the economy and all the news is good.
Here are the facts.
The U.S. economy has grown 3.5% over the last four quarters. That is the fast growth of any nation in the entire industrialized world.
Productivity has expanded at 2.5% over the same period of time, well ahead of the productivity in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
The economy has created 1.8 million new jobs over the past year and 6.6 million jobs since August 2003. That is more jobs than were created in Japan and the European Union combined during this period.
The current unemployment rate of 4.6 percent is below the average for each of the past four decades.
By the way, the Bush tax cuts don’t work and should be repealed.
Real wages have increased by 2.2 percent over the past 12 months, faster than the average rate of the 1990s. It would have been higher except for higher energy costs.
Real after-tax per capita personal income increased by $2,660 since Bush took office in 2001.
By the way, Bush hates the middle class and only helps out his rich friends.
The Democrats and a willing media are doing their best to paint a picture of doom and gloom. They already talking about tax increases after they win. Despite, war, despite hurricanes, this economy is booming and the rising tide is lifting all boats.
The stock market is at it’s highester…EVER!…THAT’S….EVER!
The deficit has been cut twice as fast as predicted.
The Democrats look at all this and say it’s got to be fixed. The more this message gets out, the more people will start to reconsider voting Democrat just for the sake of change.
This economy scares Democrats in this election. The more people start to realize that things are looking pretty good, the less likely they are to want change. I think this November could be the death of the Democratic party as we know it. More on that in the next post.
nutslikebush Says: October 29th, 2006 at 1:12 am
I would give credit for a strong economy to the hard working people of this country and the companies that are doing the heavy lifting. I don’t think the republicans can claim much credit for the economy.
If the Republicans really thought that they could win on the economy, however, they wouldn’t be putting out one negative nasty attack ad after the next. The despiration is obvious. The Republican strategy is built on misinformation and depends on promoting fear and people’s most primative instincts to hate “the other.”
Go to http://www.Factcheck.org (a completely non-partisan fact checking organization) and take a look at the kinds of misleading crap the RNC is putting out. They can’t be trusted even to use honest ads, much less govern with integrity.
nutslikebush Says: October 29th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
As you analyze the performance of the domestic economy over the last couple of years don’t forget to consider that (1) the irrational exuberance of the housing market has inflated apparent growth of the economy, (2) earnings by oil companies have accounted for profits in the industrial sector, and (3) growth in the health care sector has shouldered most of the growth in the service sector. In fact, if not for the tremendous growth in health care over the past two years, economic growth would have been stagnant. Can we count on sustained growth in these three sectors to continue to support our economy (along with $12 billion per week of foreign investment)?
nutslikebush Says: October 29th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
I am interested in your analysis of this interview with Ron Suskind, a CIA terror analyst. He claims that the President actually knows “more than he lets on.” It is a very informative interview of the type that you are not likely to come into contact with via your mainstream conservative sources.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,445117,00.html
nutslikebush Says: October 29th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
Buck,
Median incomes in the US have DROPPED by 2.8% over the last 6 years. That is just the opposite of what you implied above. In my state, median incomes have declined by over 11% since Bush took office. I guess it is the economy, stupid.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_09/009459.php