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by Donald Lambro, TownHall.com
Despite the gloom and doom we heard in last year’s elections, a torrent of upbeat economic reports show the Bush economy is alive and well, and it is likely headed for a healthier performance in 2007.
Last week’s report from the government’s Bureau of Economic Analysis must have come as a shock to President Bush’s Democratic critics when it showed the economy racing along at a brisk 3.5 percent annual growth rate in the last three months of 2006. For the year, the economy grew at a stronger than expected 3.4 percent, propelled by falling oil and gas prices, higher wage and job growth, increased consumer purchasing power and even an uptick in housing sales.
The bullish report came out at a politically perfect time for Bush, as he delivered an optimistic speech on the economy on Wall Street and toured the New York Stock Exchange, where he was greeted like a rock star as the financial markets soared to record highs – boosting worker retirement funds in the process…
But it wasn’t just Wall Street that was benefiting from the Bush rally. The benefits were seen throughout the economy…
Throughout last year’s election, the Democrats and most of the national news media were wrongly portraying the American economy in decline, despite the fact that the economy was growing by nearly 3.5 percent for the year. This was fueled by healthy job growth, creating 9.3 million new jobs since the end of the 2001 recession. That compares to only 360,000 in Japan and 1.1 million in Europe over this period.
Last week’s reports from the Fed, government surveys and independent polls showing that a majority of Americans approve of the Bush economy was indisputable evidence that strong economies are built on lower tax rates. Bush, like the Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy tax cuts before him, has proved that once again in spades.
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