Political Quotes

“We are glad that a recovery is underway. That recovery started in March 1991, 21 months before the previous administration left off, but in fact it has been a subpar recovery. Look at it. If you look at four quarters, the last four quarters of the previous recoveries in 1954, 1958, 1961, 1970, 1975, and 1982, there was an average of 5.8 percent economic growth. This one, it has been 1.7 percent. For eight quarters it is 4.6 percent for those previous recoveries. This one was 2.5 percent. If we look at the whole time of 11 quarters, on average it was 4.4 percent. This time it has been 2.7 percent. That is because of the tax increases in 1990, which some of us on this side of the aisle opposed. That is going to be exacerbated by the tax increases we just enacted last year. If we look at it in terms of jobs, in 1991 we created 2.3 million new jobs, whereas the 1982 recovery was 7.9 million new jobs, and in 1975, 7.2 million new jobs. This is a subpar recovery.”