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Originally Posted by onetime2
Some questions then:
How much impact do you believe the President exerts on the economy?
Can you give some examples of the actions/policies which Bush initiated between his election in November 2000 and the end of 2001 that caused unemployment to increase?
Assuming you believe the President can substantially impact the economy through his policies, how long do you think it takes for such policies to change economic indicators?
Do you know what productivity has been doing over the last decade or so?
Any thoughts on the relationship between productivity levels and employment levels?
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I can give examples of bush attempting to take credit for the economy's rebound(heh.). Obviously, the president thinks he has some input in the health of the economy. Do you think that he has zero influence on the economy? Shit, our economy is so open to influence that the stock market falls if alan greenspan doesn't eat enough fiber.
As for productivity, it is an indicator of something, but productivity is only a small piece of the economic pie. Whether it is an indicator of a healthy economy depends on whether you factor in the health and well being of the average employee into your calculations. Higher productivity in this context means the employee is being asked to do more for the same amount of pay. Productivity usually increases as more people are layed off because those who aren't layed off are forced to fill the empty chairs of their excoworkers.
If you listen to the politicians talk, all of the positive trends in our economy are the result of their guy's policies and all of the negative trends are the result of the other guy's policies.