Snow v. Rubin

Byron York found this comparison enlightening. Of course, real GDP and employment growth under Snow’s tenure was as strong as it was under Rubin’s tenure. Under Rubin’s tenure, the employment to population rose from 63% to 64.3%. But then it dropped for the first 2.5 years of the Bush Administration and has now crawled back to 63%. In terms of levels – rather than rates of change – Snow’s best period equals where Rubin’s worst.

But let’s talk about the Federal debt/GDP ratio, which was 57.4% and declining when the Clinton Administration turned over the reigns to the Bush Administration. When Rubin assumed the post of Treasury Secretary, it was 66.7% and is projected to reach that level again as a result of the fiscal fiasco that Snow bragged about.

Maybe Mr. York did not notice but Jimmy Carter’s first Treasury Secretary – Michael Blumental – presided over a period when growth averaged 4.8%. Not listed was Henry Fowler who served as LBJ’s Treasury Secretary from 1965 to 1968 when real GDP growth averaged 5%. And yet, York’s NRO colleagues think of Carter and LBJ as “economic morons”.