Sometimes statistics really do tell the truth. Thanks to Gerard Mulholland:
From NBC’s Mark Murray
With President Bush set to leave the White House less than two weeks from now, here’s a “Then and Now” to show what the United States looked like when Bush was entering office and what it looks like now as he’s leaving. The “Then” is the best-available figure as Bush was taking office in 2001. The “Now” is the most recent figure.
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
Then: 4.2% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2001)
Now: 6.7% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 2008)
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE
Then: 10,587 (close of Friday, Jan. 19, 2001)
Now: 9,015 (close of Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009)
BUSH FAVORABILITY RATING
Then: 50% (1/01 NBC/WSJ poll)
Now: 31% (12/08 NBC/WSJ poll)
CHENEY FAVORABILITY RATING
Then: 49% (1/01 NBC/WSJ poll)
Now: 21% (12/08 NBC/WSJ poll)
CONGRESS APPROVAL RATING
Then: 48% (1/01 NBC/WSJ poll)
Now: 21% (12/08 NBC/WSJ poll)
SATISFIED WITH THE NATION’S DIRECTION
Then: 45% (1/01 NBC/WSJ poll)
Now: 26% (12/08 NBC/WSJ poll)
CONSUMER CONFIDENCE (1985=100)
Then: 115.7 (Conference Board, January 2001)
Now: 38.0, which is an all-time low (Conference Board, December 2008)
FAMILIES LIVING IN POVERTY
Then: 6.4 million (Census numbers for 2000)
Now: 7.6 million (Census numbers for 2007 — most recent numbers available)
AMERICANS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE
Then: 39.8 million (Census numbers for 2000)
Now: 45.7 million (Census numbers for 2007 — most recent available)
U.S. BUDGET
Then: +236.2 billion (2000, Congressional Budget Office)
Now: -$1.2 trillion (projected figure for 2009, Congressional Budget Office)
I'm curious to see what people who say that history will judge president Bush favorably would reply to that – see president Berlusconi and several newspapers.
If anything, history will tell about the long term damage he did.
-sigh-
"Just days after giving birth, French justice minister is back at work – and more glamorous than ever"…
http://tinyurl.com/86mqyh
"Aznar has taken the bizarre step of publicly denying the rumours, while Sarkozy's office has refused to comment."…
http://tinyurl.com/5amv4m
"The latest revelations came as Mr Sarkozy's ex-wife Cecilia yesterday failed to ban a book in which she described the French president as a "stingy philanderer" who was unfit for office."…
http://tinyurl.com/63rh9x
"Sarkozy 'poster girl' hit by family drug allegations"…
http://tinyurl.com/28yn2m
"Is French minister Rachida Dati Mistreating her Staff ?"…
http://tinyurl.com/257oml
.
"Sarkozy's darling minister mired in 'false' CV row"…
http://tinyurl.com/yqwn8f
You couldn't make this stuff up could you?.
Craig,
You are obviously biased: You omit the great success of the Bush Regime.
Americans who are ignorant fear crazed Bigots.
Then: 20%
Now: 60%
"Below are charts showing the declining value of the two longest running currencies – the British pound sterling and the United States dollar, considered to be the most successful paper currencies of all time"…
http://tinyurl.com/93p7me
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – zero."
(Voltaire, 1694-1778)
Of the figures that you have posted, most are just opinion based – they can go up and down in just one month.
Of the proper statistical ones that you posted, none are actually that relevant!
Unemployment is just a guide to the efficiency of business. The more robots, the less cost, the more unemployment.
The Dow figure is also not really connected to real life. During recessions, when unemployment can go up, the Dow can also rise, as the companies are obviously becoming more profitable with less staff to pay – so why is it relevant?
The health insurance figure is one that many people with a lowest common denominator health service like the NHS don't understand. If youa re very rich, you don't need health insurance. If you are healthy, you don't need medical insurance. You don't need health insurance as the Hippocratic oath is going to make sure accidents don't kill you – and Medicare also helps! So why is the figures for the number of people on health insurance important for the status of a president?
Finally, the national budget has grown because the state has grown. There are now countless people on the government payroll – isn't that what socialists want? Thought you would be happy!
Craig your list is sophomoric and misleading.
For example, your self-serving assertions do not take into account the following:
bush inherited a clinton recession, not illustrated by your data.
bush inherited a dangerous clinton foreign policy — the attacks on 9/11 were put into operational phase during clinton's administration.
bush inherited a dismantled and weakened defense-intelligence bureaucracy.
bush inherited a destabilizing failed policy of sanctions against iraq that created the animus in the islamic world that led to 9/11.
katrina further undermined US prosperity, note that over 25,000 people were rescued by the Federal government in the aftermath of Katrina — yet the hardwired Left is silent to this unprecedented humanitarian victory
nonetheless, bush led the US to over 50 months of job growth despite these unprecedented problems that he didnt create.
zero terror attacks on US soil
Freedom for over 50 million in Central Asia
al qaeda marginalized and on the run
all of our pre-iraq war alliances are still intact despite the ramblings of the Left that the war would divide the West
Furthermore, the progressive community investment act forced financial institutions to give bad loans to unqualified minorities and the poor that was one of the primary causal factors that has led to the current credit crunch.
while acknowledging that the republicans and bush are responsible for expanding the size and scope of government — and botching the peace in Iraq until last year.
your account is a waste of bandwidth and not worthy of my time.
thats is why your website will never achieve more than a few random hits — note that I will no longer visit since I am interested in the truth — not hardwired, irrational subjectivity unsupported by fact and logic.