Economic Indicators 1993-2005

A rising tide will lift all boats. This is a phrase used frequently by economists. What does it mean? It means that a generally improving economy will benefit everyone. But how do we know how well the economy is doing? By looking at some key economic indicators.

I will now discuss the following slides.

That was a lot of data. What does it tell us? I would like to make some observations. First, the U.S. economy is the world's largest, and it is growing. However, there is still much room for improvement. One such area for improvement lies in getting deficit spending under control.

President Truman once said “Give me a one armed economist.” He was the first President to consult a council of economic advisors. But he grew irritated when they would offer him one interpretation of the economic data, but then say “on the other hand…” So I know the data here is subject to different interpretations, but I hope I presented some useful economic information that will help you to evaluate how well our economic policy makers are doing their job.