frankenlies.com
#8: "Rotten" Facts From Franken
On page 41 of Truth, Franken prints the baseless claim that President Bush used 9/11 as "an excuse for a rotten economy" (emphasis mine).
"Rotten economy"? Sorry, Al. Here are some facts for you. They’re in graph form from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Any economist will tell you that the health of an economy is often revealed in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And our GDP has been very healthy under President Bush.1
See that third quarter of 2003? It was the largest single quarter of growth in nearly 20 years!2
"Unemployment," you say? President Clinton began his second term (Jan. 1997) with a nice 5.3 percent unemployment rate. President Bush? He began his second term (Jan. 2005) with an impressive 5.2 percent unemployment rate!3
"Rotten economy," Al? Sorry. Not even close.
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Notes:
1 U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Fall 2005. http://www.bea.gov/briefrm/gdp.htm
2 "U.S. Economic Growth Sizzles," CNN/Money, October 30, 2003. http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/30/news/economy/gdp/?cnn=yes
3 Figures are from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (Franken knows them well) http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?request_action=wh&graph_name=LN_cpsbref3.