The silver lining: Maybe at last we can finally retire
that
awful phrase that has been flapping its way through the newspaper
headlines
since the Clinton campaign of 1992, "It's the economy, stupid."
No, it's not the economy, stupid. If it were the economy,
stupid, then House Speaker Dennis Hastert would be yielding his chair
to
Dick Gephardt, and George Bush would be deluged in rotten cabbages
every
time he appeared in public.
The economy, stupid? Let's take a look.
The markets? Down, down, down. During Bush's term, the Dow
has
gone from 10,578.20 on Jan. 22, 2001, to 8,397.03 on Oct. 31, 2002 --
a
decline of 20.6 percent. Unemployment? Up, up, up. January 2001 to
October
2002, nonfarm payrolls have fallen by 1.49 million, as the jobless
rate
has
jumped in Bush's term from 4.2 percent to 5.7
Basic economic indicators? Teetering between indifferent
and
terrifying. Gross domestic product, which averaged a 3.1 percent
annual
growth rate in the first seven quarters under Clinton, compared with a
1.4
percent average in the same period under Bush.