Krugman's War on the Truth

Eli,

Paul Krugman's War on the Truth continued on "This Week with George Stephanopoulus."

During an exchange, Mary Matalin argues this is the "worst recovery in the history of the country." Here's the offending passage, versions of which he likes to spout often.

"KRUGMAN: Not true. Just in the measure of the recovery it's way better than Bush's recovery. The actual growth since the bottom is a lot better. So were supposed to talk about that later but this is not true. You can argue with the unemployment rate is high because it was a hell of a recession but this is not, in fact -- that's not the way to do it."

"Way better than Bush's." Growth is a lot better since the bottom.

The graph below is from FRED, the online database from the St. Louis Federal Federal Reserve. It shows real GDP growth from the bottom of the recession ending in 2001 and the bottom of the recession ending in 2009.

"Way better than Bush's." Growth is a "lot better" since the bottom. Krugman may be a smart guy, but he's not a truthful guy.

It does matter. The narrative goes Bush's policies caused slow growth and a nasty recession. Obama's policies have saved the economy from a Second Great Depression and his policies have resulted in "way better" growth than Bush. But if growth is no better than Bush's and Bush's policies were bad for the economy than Obama's policies are just as bad since growth is just as bad.

Bill

PS. Welcome home. Why do the Patriots always look so good against Peyton Manning?