By the Numbers: The U.S. After 4 Years of Bush
From Numeralist:
Poverty Rate
2000: 11.3% or 31.6 million Americans
2003: 12.5% or 35.9 million Americans
Stock market
Dow Jones Industrial Average
1/19/01: 10,587.59
1/19/05: 10,539.97
NASDAQ
1/19/01: 2,770.38
1/19/05: 2,073.59
S&P 500
1/19/01: 1,342.54
1/19/05: 1,184.63
Value of the Dollar
1/19/01: 1 Dollar = 1.06 Euros
1/19/05: 1 Dollar = 0.77 Euros
Budget
2000 budget surplus $236.4 billion
2004 budget deficit $412.6 billion
That's a shift of $649 billion and doesn't include the cost of the Iraq war.
Cost of the war in Iraq
$150.8 billion
American Casualties in Iraq
Deaths: 1,369
Wounded: 10,252
The Debt
End of 2000: $5.7 trillion
Today: $7.6 trillion
That's a 4 year increase of 33%.
Let me guess, it's Clinton's fault.
Poverty Rate
2000: 11.3% or 31.6 million Americans
2003: 12.5% or 35.9 million Americans
Stock market
Dow Jones Industrial Average
1/19/01: 10,587.59
1/19/05: 10,539.97
NASDAQ
1/19/01: 2,770.38
1/19/05: 2,073.59
S&P 500
1/19/01: 1,342.54
1/19/05: 1,184.63
Value of the Dollar
1/19/01: 1 Dollar = 1.06 Euros
1/19/05: 1 Dollar = 0.77 Euros
Budget
2000 budget surplus $236.4 billion
2004 budget deficit $412.6 billion
That's a shift of $649 billion and doesn't include the cost of the Iraq war.
Cost of the war in Iraq
$150.8 billion
American Casualties in Iraq
Deaths: 1,369
Wounded: 10,252
The Debt
End of 2000: $5.7 trillion
Today: $7.6 trillion
That's a 4 year increase of 33%.
Let me guess, it's Clinton's fault.
posted by Cori at 1:02 PM
4 Comments:
More proof that Liberals shouldn't be Economists. If the previous President hadn't signed a "most favored" nations trade deal with China, an economy expanding faster than anything in recorded history, we wouldn't be forcing American businesses to sell things that they could sell elsewhere at a higher price. This is contributing to the trade deficit that started with previous administration. This is why the dollar is devaluated against the Euro. The European Union however is propering in China. If you think I am full of shit, go try and buy conrete or rebar right now, the proverbial building block of expanding nations. These items have QUADRUPLED!!!
FYI, the average murder rate for 20 years of Saddam's reign by his thugs was 50,000 annually. Therefore if 10,000 people died in two years of war we have successfully lowered that rate by 90%. What your 10,000 plus figure doesn't tell you is how many Iraqis have been sadly killed by there own and not us. Numbers you guys like to point out as "see I told you so" facts are nothing but numbers, not true facts.
Lastly... Diane Feinstein will more than likely keep her job over Boxer.
PS. Your blog is cool, seriously, and I am just on the other side. If I didn't contribute arguments to the contrary, you'd never have joy in calling a Republican an asshole. I hope you enjoy yourself!
Sick'em Dave!
Steve – I had a big problem with Clinton giving China MFN trading status. I’m sure you will recall that he had a lot of pressure from Republicans to grant China MFN status. It was us liberals who opposed it on account of China’s human rights problems. It was big business who wanted it, so that they could set up factories in a country with cheap labor and essentially no labor laws.
While the fall of the dollar is partly due to a growing trade deficit, it has more to due with Bush’s reckless spending spree and tax cuts for his rich buddies. He has taken the government from fiscal solvency into deficits as far as the eye can see in 4 years. This makes T-Bills look like a not so good investment. If you cannot demonstrate the ability to run your budget responsibly, you aren’t going to get the investment you need. With dollars looking as a not so stable an asset, various central banks and private investors have begun to divest themselves of assets held in US dollars, further driving down the dollar.
One of these days the treasury is going to issue a bunch of bonds, and they won’t all sell. Then, you’ll see the total collapse of the dollar. So far, mostly China and Japan have been willing finance our national debt, but that won’t last if we don’t demonstrate some willingness to deal with the deficit. And don’t give me that “we’ll cut it in half in five years” crap. Nobody out in the world believes it.
As a result, he has put us farther than ever into the pockets of the Chinese (and Saudis). Now, how are you going to apply pressure to China when they are financing our government?
The continued erosion of our manufacturing base, because Bush refuses to close tax loopholes that encourage outsourcing of jobs, also makes our economy, and the dollar, weaker. It also makes it hard to export goods when you don’t manufacture them anymore.
The conventional wisdom says that a lower dollar is supposed to close trade deficits, as the exports become more competitive and imports become more costly. But China has pegged their currency to the dollar and is riding it down, keeping them competitive against domestic production. Also, a Reuters article came out the other week stating that the trade deficit was the largest ever, partly because of increased imports from China, but also because of FALLING EXPORTS. Now, the dollar has been falling for four years now. When are exports going to go up?
By the way, Clinton was by no means the liberal that he’s made out to be, he was very centrist in his policies. Besides, whatcha bitchin’ about the price of rebar and concrete for? It’s just supply and demand. What are you, a communist? Don’t believe in markets dictating prices?
Re: Iraq, Reagan had no problem with Saddam and his thugs back when he was doing most of his killing. In fact, we sold him his anthrax and means for making chemical weapons back in the 80’s. We propped his ass up because he had a secular government compared to Iran’s. If you think that the USA has only the best interests of the common people around the world, then you have some studying to do.
I also noticed that you picked the low number of 10,000 civilians killed. That number is almost certainly bullshit. The Lancet did the only proper survey, and they came up with 100,000.
And if Iraq is such a great idea, why aren’t you over there? They’re sending 50 year olds these days, you’re probably young enough. Go enlist. Seriously, sign up or shut the fuck up. Betcha won’t. Chickenshit.
Good job, Dave! You go, boy!
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