Bush Good For Business? Dow Only Up 200 Points From Height of Clinton Years?

[Median Democrat]

The DOW closed at about 11,700 today. This reminded me that at the height of the Clinton Presidency in October of 1999, the DOW closed at 11,497. So, after eight year of supposedly pro-business policies, the DOW industrials have only advanced a mere 200 points from its height under the Bill Clinton era?

I mean, of course, the GOP's policies have been harmful to most American families. Indeed, median household net worth has declined under Bush's administration. However, despite the MSM's claim that the GOP is somehow pro-business, the stock market has been in a relative standstill over Bush's 8 years. Perhaps the GOP will discover that if you ignore average Americans, then they have less disposable income to spend on the various little knick knacks that power the American economy. Or, perhaps, we are discovering that any economic growth enjoyed during the Bush years was largely a shell game that was played with borrowed money thanks to McCain advisor, Phil Gramm.

[lurky]

1. OK, now adjust that for inflation and see what happens...

[bluerum]

3. Good point. Laughable.

Next time I hear someone say republicans (or conservatives) are good for the economy I will think of this and laugh in their face.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

2. And the record of jobs creation by the economy under Bush is pretty dismal

compared to the eight years under Clinton. The economy under Clinton created more than 22 million. Bush's economy has seen the creation of barely more than 5 million in about the same period of time. And a lot of the jobs under Bush have been jobs in the federal government, which has expanded deficit spending. And jobs in other sectors have seen stagnant wages.

When McCain says that he wants to create jobs, he doesn't have too many good Republican models, least of all the crazy trickle-down theory.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/job-creation/

[Median Democrat]

6. Another Irony is McCain/Bush's Desire to Privitize Social Security

Ironically, the stock market upside they base their plan on was based on performance during the Clinton years. Given the flat performance of the DOW industrials, as well as most stock sectors under Bush, do we will really want to junk social security in favor of private accounts. Sadly, foreign funds did much better relative to domestic funds under Bush.

Maybe that is Bush's foreign policy at work. He made other nations richer relative to us, because Americans are generally worse off following his presidency. I shudder to think what other pro-business policies McCain plans to roll out.

[nilram]

4. and, imo, it's not done declining

I listen to a guy (Phil Grande) who claims the current economy is built on the loosening of credit that started when the DOW was around 10,700 -- and that the DJIA can't start rebuilding until it gets back down to that point. Grande's an interesting character -- calls BS on a lot of the BS that DU-ers see (like the phoney inflation numbers the government publishes) -- but his politics are more on the libertarian side. So, fairly awful politics, but very interesting economic and financial views.

[texastoast]

5. Phil Gramm needs to stay at the forefront of this whole debate

He's a wicked little shit who was one of THE operatives that brought about the regulations that allowed the subprime lending mess.


"While advising the McCain campaign, Gramm was being paid by a UBS to lobby Congress about the U.S. mortgage crisis. During this time, "the mortgage industry pressed Congress to roll back strong state rules that sought to stem the rise of predatory tactics used by lenders and brokers to place homeowners in high-cost mortgages."<5> According to Politico.com, Gramm had input on McCain's March 26, 2008 policy speech on the mortgage crisis.<6> He was deregistered as a lobbyist for UBS on April 18th, 2008.<7>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Gramm


Further reading:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/ubs-forced-to-seek-bailout-after-extra-10bn-writedown-764382.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/28/mccains-cronies-handling-gramms-enronubs-baggage/