More Economic Spin From the Democrat Cheerleaders. As Usual, It’s Not True.

By way of James Joyner, this morning, I note Kevin Drum trying to spin his way through the truth:

Bush expansion is over, and Brad DeLong describes it as “the first business cycle during which median household income in America falls from peak to peak.” And indeed it is. The closest we’ve come to such a dismal recovery in the postwar era was the dreaded stagflation-driven economic expansion of Jimmy Carter’s presidency.

(Shake of the head) Let’s break this down, shall we?

How much of the difference is due to external sources, such as oil manipulation, or the 9/11 attacks?

Carter faced the oil thing, true, and I’ll remind you the result was 21% inflation, and high unemployment, despite having a Rubber stamp Democrat run congress.

Bush faced the 9/11 attack, (And the resulting military commitments) the oil manipulation and a less than friendly Congress and came up with what is currently around 6.5% unemployment… a figure that most of the world would LOVE to have…(including the Europeans we’re supposed to be emulating) and inflation of around 5.5%, or around one quater of what Carter produced, when Carter started in a far better position than Bush did.

If we’re going to, as Drum proposes, compare presidential performance between Bush and Carter, let’s tell the whole story, shall we?  I can understand why Drum didn’t bring all this up; After all, it’s a little hard to sell this nonsense…

And yet, somehow we’re still supposed to believe that Republicans know how to manage economic growth? Can someone please explain this to me?

…when you consider these additional factors I’ve mentioned… and Drum did not.

Will someone please explain to me why so many find Drum so impressive? If this is an example of the best Drum can produce, I do NOT understand.

(And I’m not even going to attempt Delong, just now… there’s only so much illogic I can take from liberals in one day)

 Added datapoint from McQ quoting the Census report out today:

*Income. Median household income rose to $50,233 in 2007 after adjusting for inflation. That’s $665 more than a year earlier but still below the peak of 1999. Income in black households rose for the first time since 1999

* Poverty. The poverty rate remained stable at 12.5% of households.

*Equality. The top one-fifth of households took home slightly less of the nation’s income in 2007. The middle and lower-middle class gained the most.

* Insurance. The number of people without health insurance dropped 1.3 million to 45.7 million. The uninsured fell to 15.3% from 15.8%. The primary reason for decline: More people, especially children, are covered by government-sponsored insurance.

*sigh*

How in the world can a party preach gloom and doom when stats like that are published right in the middle of their pitch?

Well, yes… and note that Drum ignored all of this. Gee… I wonder why, huh?