The president chatted with ABC News business reporter Betsy Stark yesterday as the White House tries to shift public attention away from the war and onto the economy. (via D. Froomkin)
Stark: “You’ve . . . been frustrated. You haven’t gotten more credit for this good economy. Can that be summed up in one word? Can that be summed up as Iraq?”
Bush: “I think so, yes. Look, it’s a — people are working and — and they’re — and wages are up. But we’re in a time of war. And its — war is unsettling. War is negative.” […]
Stark: “I know you don’t love polls. But I’m going to tell you one we did recently that showed that 67 percent say you don’t understand the problems of average Americans. Why do you think so many people feel that way?”
Bush: “You know, I don’t know. It’s an interesting question. I think it’s because of the war, again, I think because people are feeling pretty down about, you know, things because of the war. On the other hand, I know if the government took their money in terms of higher taxes, they would feel even worse.”
In other words, most Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of the economy … and it’s the war’s fault. “War is negative,” so much so, apparently, that we no longer are able to accurately assess the state of our finances. (And what’s with this question: “You haven’t gotten more credit for this good economy”? How about a little objectivity?)
As in most instances, I think Bush has the broader dynamic backwards. In the most recent Post/ABC poll, 29% of Americans said they approve of the president’s handling of Iraq; 41% said they approve of his handling of the economy. Bush believes the prior is dragging the latter down. I’d argue the opposite is happening. Americans are widely disappointed with the performance of the economy in recent years, but they say, “At least his handling of the economy isn’t as disastrous as the war.” In contrast to his fiasco in Iraq, Bush looks like a maestro when it comes to economic affairs.
Nico, meanwhile, patiently explains to the president (and for that matter, ABC’s Betsy Stark) that the economy, when judged on its merits, isn’t nearly as impressive as Bush and his supporters seem to think.
* Job growth is the weakest on record. Job growth during the current business cycle, beginning in March 2001, has averaged an annualized 0.5 percent per month, the lowest of any business cycle since the Great Depression. In fact, this is less than a quarter of the average of all prior business cycles since World War II.
* Sharp spike in costs for necessities. From March 2001 through June 2006, prices for the five largest consumption items–medical care, housing, food, household operation, and cars–grew more than twice as fast as they did for the smallest five consumption items. At the same time, college costs continue to soar.
* Wage gains have been minimal. Real wages have barely moved during the recovery or since the period when the economy stopped losing jobs in August 2003. Between March 2001 and December 2006, real hourly wages grew at an average annualized rate of 0.5 percent, and real weekly wages grew at an average annualized rate of 0.4 percent.
* Families spent all of their disposable income and then some. For the first time since the Great Depression, the personal saving rate became negative in 2005. In the third quarter of 2006, the saving rate was -1.2 percent, the sixth quarter in a row with a negative saving rate.
Note to Bush: Americans are capable of judging the war and the economy independently — and you’re failing on both.