The Good Old Days

Feeling a little bit nostaligic. Sometimes its a good idea to take a look back and remember where we came from. Its easy for things to get lost as the time slips by. Was wondering where we were in the United States about 8 years. It's amazing how much things can change...

• The president had 65% approval rating, the highest end-of-term approval rating of any President since Dwight D. Eisenhower.
  
  
• Average economic growth of 4.0 percent per year, compared to average growth of 2.8 percent during the Bush Senior administration.
  
  
• The economy had grown for 116 consecutive months, the most in history.
  
  
• More then 22.5 million jobs had been created—the most jobs ever created under a single administration, and more than were created in the previous 12 years (bush and reagan). Of the total new jobs, 20.7 million, or 92 percent, were in the private sector.
  
  
• Economic gains spurred an increase in family incomes for all Americans. Since 1993, real median family income increased by $6,338, from $42,612 in 1993 to $49,950 in 2000 (in 2000 dollars).
  
  
• Overall unemployment was at its lowest level in more than 30 years, down from 6.9 percent in 1993 to just 4.0 percent in January 2001. The unemployment rate was below 5 percent for 40 consecutive months.
  
  
• Unemployment for African Americans was 7.3 percent in 2000, the lowest rate on record.
  
  
• Unemployment for Hispanics fell from 11.8 percent in October 1992 to 5.0 percent in 2000, also the lowest rate on record.
  
  
• Inflation was at its lowest rate since the Kennedy Administration, averaging 2.5 percent, and fell from 4.7 percent during the bush senior administration.
  
  
• The poverty rate declined from 15.1 percent in 1993 to 11.8 percent in 1999, the largest six-year drop in poverty in nearly 30 years. This left 7 million fewer people in poverty than there were in 1993 and they were at their lowest percentage since 1969. The lowest poverty rates for single mothers, black Americans, and the aged ever recorded.
  
  
• The government had an economic surplus. The surplus in fiscal year 2000 was $237 billion—the third consecutive surplus and the largest surplus ever.
  
  
• The cost for a barrel of oil was under $30 a barrel. The cost of a gallon of gas was $1.17
  

There are of course more things that have changed. An invasion of a foreign country for no reason hadn't occured recently. Banks weren't failing. No congressional sessions to bailout financial institutions, people could pay their mortgage...

Kind of brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it? I long for the good old days...

Palin Debate Lies

It was difficult to really call into question many of the facts that Palin made in her debate because of the few times she actually said anything noteworthy beyond the word 'Maverick' and the often repeated Republican mantra of a vote for democrats means higher taxes.

If they were both running for president and not VP, 82% of the people watching the debate said that Biden would have been a better presidential candidate then Palin. Considering that on any give issue, there are about 20-25% who always vote the party line or choice, this means Palin barely got the hard core party vote. Of course our current commander in chief doesn't have an approval rating much higher, so I guess she's got a chance...

Everything here can be verified on FactCheck.org or CNN's Fact Check pages.

• Palin mistakenly claimed that troop levels in Iraq had returned to “pre-surge” levels.
  
  FACT: Levels are gradually coming down but current plans would have levels higher than pre-surge numbers through early next year, at least.
  
• Palin repeated a false claim that Obama once voted in favor of higher taxes on “families” making as little as $42,000 a year.
  
  FACT: He did not. The budget bill in question called for an increase only on singles making that amount, but a family of four would not have been affected unless they made at least $90,000 a year.
  
• Palin claimed McCain’s health care plan would be “budget neutral,” costing the government nothing.
  
  FACT: Independent budget experts estimate McCain's plan would cost tens of billions each year.
  
• Palin wrongly claimed that “millions of small businesses” would see tax increases under Obama’s tax proposals.
  
  FACT: several hundred thousand business owners would see increases.
  
• Palin said that Obama had accused American troops of doing nothing but killing civilians, a claim she called "reckless" and "untrue."
  
  FACT 1: Heres what Obama said. "We’ve got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we’re not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there."
  
  FACT 2: The Associated Press found that in fact U.S troops were killing more civilians at the time than insurgents: "As of Aug. 1, the AP count shows that while militants killed 231 civilians in attacks in 2007, Western forces killed 286. Another 20 were killed in crossfire that can’t be attributed to one party." Afghan President Hamid Karzai had expressed concern about these civilian killings, a concern President Bush said he shared.

And while not in the debate, the latest lie is that Obama is supported a terrorist. Talk about a stretch. The article she is basing this on concluded the article with this statement:

"the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers."

Of course coming from Palin, this actually makes sense. She basis that she has good foreign policy experience because her state borders both Canada and Russia. Based upon that, I must have excellent foreign policy experience from partying in Cabo.

Based upon McCains age and Obama's race, their is a significant chance that whichever presidential candidate actually takes office, they may not live through their entire term. That's just they way it is. That being said, the VP that will go into office needs to be given greater consideration then in previous elections. Watch the Couric interviews and tell me this is the right person to be staring down a Putin or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a time of crisis. Compare that with Biden in the same situation and the choice is easy.