Day By Day

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The Bush Boom

Larry Kudlow celebrates the remarkable, indeed unprecedented, economic expansion that has taken place under Bush. [The link doesn't work, so I'll quote at length].

The big theme in today’s Dow crossing the 14,000 threshold for the first time is one of unprecedented global economic growth and a worldwide stock market boom.

Simply put, this is the greatest global stock market boom in history.

What we are witnessing here, in virtually every corner of the globe, is the success and the spread of unbridled free market capitalism. It is a dynamic worldwide march toward lower tax rates, deregulation, and, as market strategist Don Luskin put it on last night’s show, the “interconnectedness” of global economies through free trade, the free flow of capital, and the robust free exchange of information.

Despite the persistent doom and gloom refrain from various sourpuss prognosticators, it remains the greatest story never told.

And it's not over yet.

This Goldilocks stock market and economy is celebrating her one-year anniversary in a remarkable bull market run that began last July. Since last summer, the Dow is up over 30 percent; Europe is up 40 percent; Japan is up 18 percent; and the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) index is up a mind blowing 64 percent.

That’s called global prosperity.
Yep, it sure is. The free-trade policies followed by the past three administrations are paying off big time, not just for the U.S., but for people all around the globe. Yet short-sighted critics are trying to bring the global boom to an end. You know who I mean -- their names are Obama and Hillary.

Dan Drezner explains why these two candidates "scare the hell" out of him.

He points out that both candidates have sponsored legislation that would place trade sanctions on China to force them to revalue their currency.
Clinton and Obama are willing to screw over the American consumer for a self-defeating measure. Both of them should know better.
He explains why this is a really, really bad idea here.

This kind of protectionist legislation is one of the factors that could bring the global boom to a premature end. Both Obama and Hillary are being supremely irresponsible in proposing it.