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Faced with the daunting task of running against a popular President during war time, the Democrats have fallen back on an old tactic: lie about the economy. Hey, it worked for them in 1992 against the current President's father, so why not try it again! The problem for Democrats is that George W. Bush is not his father and most voters have access to alternatives to the mainstream media sources. In other words, crying wolf isn't going to work this time.

Democrats successfully sold many voters on the "worst economy in fifty years" propaganda by appealing to their good nature. Sure, they might be doing okay, but what about their neighbors?! Tales of woe and opinion polls showing great concern about the economy portrayed America on the brink of disaster, even though the facts of the situation showed that another record-setting expansion had begun over a year prior to the elections. Predictably enough, the headlines following the elections let America know that hey, things were not so bad after all, so go ahead and start spending money again. No need to saddle the new (Democrat) President with a real economic downturn!

A similar effort is now underway. Democrats in 1992 leaned on the deficit and unemployment to obscure the real economic growth. Similarly Democrats today are pointing to the deficit and unemployment. Unfortunately for Democrats, neither the deficit nor unemployment are anywhere near historic highs. Democrats are on a mission, though, so they simply claim deficits and unemployment are at record levels. Once upon a time such blatant propaganda might have worked. After all, how many voters have access to The Bureau of Economic Analysis? In 1992, hardly anyone did. Today anyone with an Internet connection does. Voters can see for themselves that we are in the second year of yet another expansion.

Current Expansion

Year/Quarter	Change in GDP
2001 - Q4	2.7%
2002 - Q1	5.0%
2002 - Q2	1.3%
2002 - Q3	4.0%
2002 - Q4	1.4%
2003 - Q1	1.4%
2003 - Q2	3.1%
2003 - Q2 figures are revised estimates. Source: BEA

Similarly, the deficit deceptions can be exposed as lies and half-truths, as we did in an earlier article. Remarkably, even though voters are reading the truth in alternative media sources, the Democrats and mainstream media continue to tell the same old lies. Some liberal news sources have even acknowledged the truth, though in backhanded fashion like "Republicans counter that the deficit is not at historic levels when measured against the economy". Well, of course! I guess we can expect those liberal news sources to soon disclaim: "Republicans claim that two plus two does equal four when traditional rules of mathematics are used".

Finally, we can examine the unemployment situation. Any time a substantial number of people are looking for work, it is an issue. However, once the current numbers are placed in historical context, we see that the current rate of about six percent is not high. Indeed, before the last expansion pushed unemployment below five percent for a brief period, the vast majority of economists claimed that any unemployment level below six percent, the so-called "natural rate" of unemployment, would cause wage-push inflation. That is, over time the "natural rate" of unemployment is about six percent, and when you fall below that the lack of job applicants for newly created jobs caused the rate of pay to increase, thus "pushing" inflation higher. That was the widely accepted (especially by Democrats) theory a few years ago, yet Democrats now claim that an unemployment rate that is near that "natural level" is outrageously "high".

Next time a Democrat near you starts whining and moaning about the sorry state of the economy, invite them over to this reality, where things are getting better every day.

Democrats have fallen back on an old tactic: lie about the economy.

Unfortunately for Democrats, neither the deficit nor unemployment are anywhere near historic highs.

Some liberal news sources have even acknowledged the truth....

...things are getting better every day.