When the current administration took office our economy experienced the dot.com melt down, the fear of Y2K disaster (that never happened), and the extremely contentious (but still civilly decided) election results. After the election we had the stunning attack of 911, the hugely expensive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the record market fraud disasters of Enron, WorldCom, and others; and the record natural disaster of Katrina.

China and India have risen to giant economic powers, with both threatening competition and still discovering opportunities. Yet the economy is humming, and employment is stronger that even the previous administration’s tenure.

Americans Are Working And Taking Home More Pay
from WhiteHouseCommunications@whitehouse.gov

The Bureau Of Labor Statistics Released New Jobs Figures – 132,000 Jobs Created In June. Since August 2003, more than 8.2 million jobs have been created, with more than 2 million jobs created over the twelve months ending in June. Our economy has now added jobs for 46 straight months, and the unemployment rate remains low at 4.5 percent.

Real After-Tax Per Capita Personal Income Has Risen By 9.9 Percent – Nearly $3,000 Per Person – Since President Bush Took Office.

Real Wages Rose 1.1 Percent Over The 12 Months Ending In May. This is faster than the average rate during the 1990s, and it means an extra $729 in the past year for the typical family with two wage earners.

The Economy Has Now Experienced Over Five Years Of Uninterrupted Growth, Averaging 2.9 Percent A Year Since 2001. Real GDP grew a strong 3.1 percent in 2006.

Since The First Quarter Of 2001, Productivity Growth Has Averaged 2.8 Percent. This is well above average productivity growth in the 1990s, 1980s, and 1970s.

Purchasing Managers Reported Manufacturing Expansion For The Fifth Consecutive Month In June. The Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index rose to 56 in June.

Tips to Dennis Dorsey for the report

From HKO
I can attest to the low unemployment by the quality of the available worker pool. Economic and job data is complicated enough that many will pick and pull what conclusions they want out of it.
Domestically Bush has failed to promote any Social Security reform or decent health care reform, or succeed in any acceptable changes in immigration policy. This has alienated his support from the right. His troubles and wars in the Middle East and social stances on issues like stem cell research have demonized him from the left.
Unfortunately all of this has dwarfed the success of his tax and economic policy during one of the most volatile and tumultuous periods since Truman.

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