FAIR: NYT Falls for White House Spin on Economy

[Doctor_J]

"In reality, few modern presidents would want to exchange their record of economic growth for George W. Bush's. Gross domestic product (GDP), the standard measure of economic growth, increased at an annual average rate of 2.6 percent from 2001 through 2006--the latest year available. This ranks the George W. Bush administration 6th out of seven administrations since 1960 in terms of economic growth (counting the Kennedy/Johnson and Nixon/Ford years as one administration each). Only the administration of Bush's father had slower annual growth. As economist Dean Baker noted in a rebuttal to Stolberg's piece (Beat the Press, 1/28/08), the statistics for each administration are:

Kennedy-Johnson -- 5.2%
Nixon-Ford -- 2.7%
Carter -- 3.4%
Reagan -- 3.4%
Bush I --1.9%
Clinton -- 3.6%
Bush II --2.6%

The fact that growth has been comparatively slow under the George W. Bush administration is a basic economic fact that any journalist covering politics ought to know, yet the New York Times' White House correspondent seems to be unaware of it. More than a year ago (7/12/06), Stolberg described Bush as "blessed with a growing economy but facing voters who do not give him much credit for it." She claimed that "by standard measurements, the economy does look good," citing "a gross domestic product that grew an average of 4 percent in the past three years."

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3252">More here

[shain from kane]

1. Isn't there a wide disparity on jobs created compared to people entering the

work force?


Add ?

[papau]

2. yes - multiple jobs are getting more common - census notes "workforce participation" has dropped

badly since Bush took office (or if you like Bush/media spin - more folks have been able to become stay at home parents).