Letter: Give president chance to recover from Sept. 11

Thursday, June 20, 2002 | 9:09 a.m.

The June 18 letter from James J. Poupard amused me. He compared the current economy to the "best" of the Clinton years. I am no fan of Bush's domestic policies, but we need to have a fair comparison.

True, the Dow hit 11,700 during Clinton's administration. It crashed to 9,771.85 on Jan. 18, 2001, his last day as president, as the dot.bomb bubble burst. Under Bush, the Dow has ranged from 7,926.83 (after 9/11) to 10,848. The current close of 9,706.12 (as of June 18) is less than 1 percent from when Bush took office.

True, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent in October 2000 during Clinton's term. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics ( www.bls.gov), unemployment was 4.2 percent (and rising), total employment was 136 million when Clinton left office. Unemployment is now 5.8 percent with 134.4 million (May 2002). Living in Las Vegas and seeing the number of unemployed tourism workers hints that 9/11 had an impact.

Yes, Bush turned surpluses into deficits. Until September 2001, we had surpluses. Was Bush to sit on his hands and do nothing after 9/11, lob a few missiles into Afghanistan and call it quits (as Clinton did)? You quote candidate Bush (correctly) regarding his plan for the surplus. Unfortunately, 9/11 happened. I hope he will be able to fulfill his promise.

The Federal Reserve and Office of Management and Budget both show the economy improving. May had the best new housing starts in several years. Interest rates are still incredibly low. Inflation is still held in check.

Give Bush the opportunity to recover from 9/11, then we can judge his performance.

KYLE L. TINGLE