Real GDP
Ace got me thinking about Real GDP. He has a great piece about where the old media sets the bar, for Europe and for the United States.
I started digging and created two graphs.
This graph tries to illustrate the similarities and differences between this President’s economy and his predecessor. The major point that I take away from this graph is that real GDP grew every year under Bush, though you would be hard pressed to have read that in the media. Each datum is the percentage increase in real GDP from the prior year. Clinton had solid growth. Bush had the “Clinton recession” but the recovery looks solid and current real GDP numbers are approaching those of the Clinton era.
This next graph is a look at the Euro community, and the G7 nations, versus the United States alone. The US is in the G7 numbers, so when you look at the graph, just imagine how bad the other countries have to be to balance out the good data from the United States.
During the Clinton years, the Euro community and the G-7 seemed to lag the U.S. They have recovered from the “Clinton recession” though not nearly as well as we have. What has accompanied the real GDP growth for both Bush and Clinton has been low unemployment rates [primarily in the later years for Clinton] and low inflation.
Ace’s point is well made. The current economy as measured by real GDP is robust by any definition of the word.
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