Progressive Revival

The Tale of Two Presidents and one Economy

By: Eric Sapp

Monday October 20, 2008

Marta Cook over at Faithful Democrats just did a great post on the differences between how American families fared during the Clinton and Bush years.

 

She based her post on a report by Third Way (my favorite of the progressive think tanks).  It's well worth the time to read the entire post (and report, for that matter), but here are a few of the highlights from Marta's post:

 

If income growth into the Bush years had kept up with the overall rate of growth during the Clinton years, the average American family would have pocketed $58,945 more from 2000 to 2008.

 

Between 1992 and 2008, gas prices have nearly tripled in real dollars. Third Way concludes, "The typical household will have spent $5,069 more for gas over the past eight years than it did from 1993 to 2000-or enough to pay nearly one year's tuition at a public university".

 

If the economy had kept up the same rate of growth during the Bush years as it did the Clinton years, America's economy would be larger, to the tune of $1.017 trillion. In addition, between 2000 and 2006, the number of uninsured Americans increased by 8.56 million.

 

To be fair, there are always other factors than the President that affect these things, but imagine how different our world would be if only a few hundred little old ladies in FL had not voted for Buchanan...

Advertisement
Comments
Kate
October 20, 2008 1:14 PM

Whoa now, don't go blaming FL-13. Buchannan was sued for election fraud for "losing" 13,000 votes. Leave the little old ladies alone!

I guess the only good that can come out of these disparaging numbers is the opportunity for Democrats to once again take office and revitalize the market, foreign relations, and everything else Bush has touched and destroyed. A new dawn is approaching and I can't wait!

Rachel
October 20, 2008 1:37 PM

These are staggering numbers and anyone paying the slightest attention to the news - or their own bank accounts - is seeing their political impact. But what concerns me more is the moral implications of these figures. Consider some of the factors that have contributed to this debt - war, our dependency on foreign oil, tax breaks for the rich. Each of these involves a myriad of moral and ethical issues from how we treat the sanctity of life, to the contempt we are showing for God's creation, to materialism of the kind about which the Bible offers dire warnings. And the same moral threads appear when we consider what we have not be investing in - healthcare (a life issue), education (intimately related with poverty), alternative fuels (an important step in caring for creation). We must look at this report with an eye not only toward the political and economic failure it represents, but the moral failure as well.

Post a Comment

By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.



Please type the text you see in the box below to verify your post and help us prevent spam. You have a limited time to type - you may wish to compose your comment in a separate document and paste it here upon completion.

Type the characters you see in the picture above.

Advertisement

Search This Blog

About Progressive Revival

Diana Butler Bass and Paul Raushenbush both stand firmly within the Mainline Protestant tradition and, along with guest bloggers of all religious backgrounds are dedicated to the revival of religious progressivism and its influence in American politics.

Contributors

Diana Butler Bass
Diana Butler Bass is a commentator and scholar in American religion. She is the author of seven books including A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story (HarperOne, 2009).
» Posts by Diana Butler Bass
Paul Raushenbush
Moderator of the Progressive Revival blog and the Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University.
» Posts by Paul Raushenbush
More »

feed icon Subscribe

RSS Feed

Receive updates from Progressive Revival

Calendar

Advertisement

Advertisement


About Beliefnet

Our mission is to help people like you find, and walk, a spiritual path that will bring comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness. More about Beliefnet.

Legal

Copyright © Beliefnet, Inc. and/or its licensors. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy. Constructed by Beliefnet.

Advertisement

Report as Inappropriate

You are reporting this content because it violates the Terms of Service.

All reported content is logged for investigation.