Quote:
Originally Posted by PR_Tom
Bushes own economic team when he took office said there was a surplus that they inherited, and that the country was NOT in recession. This is on the record.
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Right. We
weren't in a recession in January of 2001. It started in March of 2001. The question is whether Bush can reasonably take any of the blame for a recession that started just 38 days after he took office when there were already signs of an economic downturn in 2000. I don't think so.
The National Bureau of Economic Research panel debated whether the recession started as early as January anyway.
"The committee is waiting for more data at this point in time, and there might be changes to the historical dates of other recessions," Zerwitz said, noting the committee has set dates for every U.S. recession and expansion since 1854. She added that, while the revision could be as dramatic as moving the starting date of the recession all the way back to November 2000, it could also be less drastic -- moving the date back to February 2001, when payrolls outside the farm sector peaked, for example, according to Labor Department measures ... Zerwitz added that neither Bush nor Clinton should be held responsible for a cyclical recession."