I have written many blogs about the impact of the policy we have been following on the American economy. Many of the Joe users refute as “my opinion” many of the things I reported. Below are a series of actual data retrieved from federal government agencies using the Google search engine:
Item Dec 2000 March 2005 Source
National Debt $5.7 Trillion $ 7.7 Trillion Bureau of Public Debt
Annual Budget * $ 235.2 Billion Surplus $ 470 Billion Deficit CBO
Trade Deficit Annual $ 370 Billion $ 700 Billion U S Commerce Dept.
Gasoline Regular $ 1.61/gal $ 2.28/gal U S Dept of Energy
# without Health Ins. 39.8 Million 44.9 Million U S Census Bureau
Unemployment rate 3.7% 5.2% Dept. of Labor
* Amount reported under the “Unified Budget” which combines the Federal deficit with the
Surplus in Social Security and Medicare. The impact of adding the surpluses is to LOWER
the federal deficit by about $200 Billion in 2005.
NOTHING OF THE ABOVE IS MY OPINION BUT FACTUAL CHANGES SINCE GEORGE W. BUSH BECAME PRESIDENT!