Larry's (I think it was Larry but will not check it now - apologies if I'm wrong) numbers and claim of press cover-ups and Clinton's lying were a bit off base.

Gathering GDP data is a slow process! These financial numbers do not come out for months. After they come out, they are revised upwards and downwards for more months as more data comes in.

The numbers that Larry posted are the way things look today. *Not* the way they appeared at the time. At the time, the numbers *did not* indicate recession. No conspiracies are necessary to explain this.

And today, even though Greenspan says we is all recovered, we won't know for many months whether the GDP agrees with him. If it disagrees, was he lying? Was the press covering up?

<sarcasm now>
Was Clinton responsible for the booming economy during his admin? No way! Depending on your mood it was Newt, or Greenspan, or dot-comism. But certainly Clinton had nothing to do with it.
<enough of that>

The recession was here before and/or when Bush showed up. It was not his fault.

On the other hand, I know the conservatives hate to hear this one but I will say it anyway: Bush has at times had a serious negative effect on consumer confidence. Certainly we had a steady diet of how bad things were throughout the entire Republican pres campaign (this is just the way politics works and I don't blame you guys much for it). Then, once in office, *as president* he hammered it home some more, as a tool to get his stimulus bill passed. [I expect a non sequiter "yeah but Clinton was worse" arguement to refute this one] All told, I think it was excessive and I do fault him for it.

As for the huge and complicated issue of the effect of the tax cuts on the deficit, yes the conservatives are correct that not much of the package is now in effect. But *no*, calculating the deficits and creating budgets are *foreward-looking* activities that must take into consideration the affect of other chunks of "stimulus" that are not in effect today but will be in the years to come. And yes, the stimulus package has a decent-sized effect on the deficit.

And one of Bowser's most important points (at least I think so, past conservatives I have known would have thought so, too): Oh my God! We are back to borrowing large amounts of money. It's not important who's to blame, don't you guys even care???? I hate being a debtor. I would rather raise taxes and live more frugally, than owe continually increasing amounts of money.

I hate my rants, too. Sorry