I originally believed that, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was considering running for governor of California, his candidacy might be the beginning of a bad precedent of parties recruiting celebrities to run for office.
This still seems evident with celebrities like Ben Affleck and Dennis Miller toying with the idea of running for high offices.
However, I have developed a whole new level of respect for Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He enlivened the Republican National Convention held at Madison Square Garden where he reused one of his famous one-liners to the cheers of the Republican faithful.
In his speech, he said that there are some who want you to believe that this is the worst time of your life economically.
To those who would have you believe that the days of economic malaise are making a comeback, he said, “don’t be economic girly men.”
Democratic spinmeisters are quick to label his comments as divisive. They say that this is the worst economy since the Great Depression. I laugh every time I hear that.
During the Depression, up to 30 percent of Americans were out of work. Many went hungry and even lost their homes. Those of you who lived during the Jimmy Carter years might remember the 7.5 percent unemployment rate, high taxes, the 21.5 percent interest rate and price inflation at 13.3 percent.
Are we really at that point?
Well, there is truth in all the criticism of the economy. However, what detractors fail to mention is that the economic downturn began when a Democrat was in office. In the final month of the Clinton administration, the manufacturing sector alone lost 76,000 “high paying” jobs.
But the slippage in the economy was not due to any reckless Clinton policies. Instead, it appears to be natural fluctuation in a transitional economy.
Clinton’s top economic adviser, Joseph Stiglitz, said, “It would be nice for us veterans of the Clinton Administration if we could simply blame mismanagement by President George W. Bush’s economic team for this seemingly sudden turnaround in the economy, which coincided so closely with its taking charge. But … the economy was slipping into recession even before Bush took office…”
After President Bush took office, the economy continued to move into a recessional stage.
Then came the 9/11 attacks on America. Energy prices increased, markets were disrupted, industries were on the brink of collapse and investors en masse divested their money from the economy.
Our economy lost an astounding 1 million jobs in just three months after 9/11.
Then our economy was affected by the corporate scandals and major bankruptcies which undermined faith in the markets and caused even more divestment in stocks. What is interesting about these companies is that their corruption and “book cooking” flourished during the economically prosperous ’90s.
Where are we now?
After a recession, 9/11, corporate scandals and war, we are experiencing great economic growth. Over a million and a half jobs were added to our economy since last August, unemployment is at 5.4 percent (lower than when Clinton was re-elected in 1996 and lower than the averages of ’70s, ’80s and ’90s), productivity is at a 50-year high, interest rates are at an all-time low and home ownership is at its highest level.
The Democratic National Committee should stop the intellectually dishonest campaign about the economy. Instead, they should tell us about what they are going to do to continue the recovery that started under the Bush administration.
Also, the next time they get morally outraged about job outsourcing killing our economy, they need to be reminded that Clinton, Gore and Kerry fought tooth and tail for NAFTA, which has caused outsourcing of American jobs to the cheap labor force of Mexico.
Edward Sanders is a junior political science major. He can be reached at [email protected].