A four-year lag? Riiiiiight. The US economy isn't that slow to adjust, especially in the information age.

Of course, the sock in the head the US economy took after 9/11, and the increased federal spending to fight the war in Iraq and Afghanistan have to be taken into account as well.

My beef with the Bush administration has been the tax cuts during a time of increased federal spending, which has led to huge deficits, and a larger national debt. Whether the tax cuts ultimately helped an economy that was staggered by 9/11, or hurt the economy by increasing the payments on the national debt is a matter that will be debated by Economists with Ph. D's for years to come. I know that many Nobel-Laureate Economists have spoken out against the Bush Administration policies..........but I suppose if they knew everything about the economy they'd be sitting back on their own island in the South Pacific sipping a cool drink.

But, hey, why talk about the economy when we can talk about ribbons from Viet Nam and the TANG and stuff?