Let the good times roll -- 248,000 new jobs

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Reagan wanted to control inflation so he raised interest rates.

That's not the president's job. It's the Fed's job.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

there are some people here who have no clue. . . i hope those who are will never be in a position to make any decisions that relate to economics.

[el freako]

Just to point out a major problem with your reasoning Giancarlo...

Originally posted by Giancarlo
It is a popular misconception that Presidents Bush and Clinton inherited large deficits "baked in the cake" from Reagan policies. When Reagan left the White House in January 1989, the fiscal outlook was expected to continue to improve rather than worsen. In that month, the CBO released its long-term forecast for the economy and the budget deficit.

Table 7 shows that the deficit was expected to continue to fall steadily to $110 billion and 1.5 percent of GDP by 1995.

Those forecasts were bases on continued growth of around 3% in the economy, but as you say...

Originally posted by Giancarlo
The economy works in cycles, and after a period of expansion there is usually a slow-down or recession. That's why the 1991 recession occurred.

So the forecasts were based on the economic cycle never happening (a consistant problem with CBO forecasts).

You can either claim that the fiscal situation was much better than is percieved or you can claim that the 1991 recession was a 'natural' occurance of the business cycle - you can't claim both (which is what you are doing).

[Odin]

Originally posted by Giancarlo
There is a cycle... policies put in effect from previous boom periods impact future booms. Clintons policies lead to the boom in the late 90s? Keep dreaming. That was private sector driven.

I agree, it was private sector driven, a private sector driven BUBBLE that is, caused by deregulation.

[DanS]

I'm sure the motivation behind this thread was strictly economic also!

Hey, you seem to be forgetting that Roland always accused me of economic cheerleading during Clinton's term.

Of course, he could have said that because I didn't live up to his highly refined sense of dourness, and the dourness of all you killjoys in this thread.