The Bush record

President George W. Bush presided over the weakest eight-year span for the U.S. economy in decades, according to an analysis of key data. Economists across the ideological spectrum increasingly view his two terms as a time of little progress on the nation’s most difficult fiscal challenges. Yet Bush is still peddling the myth that he inherited a recession created by President Bill Clinton.

The National Bureau Of Economic Research records that the first Bush recession started March 2001. The current Bush recession began in 2007 and continues today.

Giving huge tax cuts to the top 1 percent of wage-earners gave us an additional unpaid $1.6 trillion debt to the deficit. The number of jobs in the nation increased by about 2 percent during Bush’s tenure — 3 million jobs in eight long years. It’s the worst job creation on record since Herbert Hoover.

This is the most tepid growth of any eight-year span since data collection began 70 years ago. Clinton, meanwhile, created 22.7 million jobs in eight years.

Also, gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic output, grew under Bush at the slowest pace for a period of that length since Truman’s administration.

We’re still early in the presidency of his successor. Let’s let President Barack Obama serve his full time in office, then judge him. I believe the facts will prove him to be a very good president.

Ronald Supercinski

Hamilton

Noisy airboats

I’m 63 years old and never in my life have I seen anyone driving down the road with a vehicle so loud that the driver and passengers needed ear muffs. It would not be legal. How then can it be legal to roar down the Brazos River in an airboat so incredibly loud that all occupants must wear muffs so as to avoid permanent ear damage?

I’m fortunate to own land in Falls County along the Brazos. Imagine, if you will, sitting in quite solitude and serenity on the bank of the river when you hear an ever-increasing yet distant roar. Could this be an airplane or perhaps a group of helicopters? Now you see the egrets and other aquatic birds flying in terror as the roar becomes more pronounced.

Finally, here it comes, stampeding the cattle that only moments earlier were peacefully grazing near the shore, scaring the wildlife and mudding up the water (yes, the Brazos can be clear at times) and destroying the tranquility of the river for miles and miles.

Legal? I don’t know, but I can’t see how it could be. At the very least, it’s rude behavior that is blasted for miles.

David Schimschat

Robinson

Living in Waco

The focus of the Tribune-Herald , the city and Chamber of Commerce has been to project a positive image of Waco. I live in Waco and enjoy it. My question: Why is the city of Waco not encouraging its employees to live in Waco?

At one time the terms of employment required that employees be city residents. Why should city employees live in surrounding communities and pay taxes to them and not to the city from which they receive their employment? I propose the city return to that policy and put its focus on Waco, a good place to live.

Clay Brown

Waco