I read Irwin Stelzer's column in The Sunday Times most weeks. I find him very readable and extremely well-informed on some issues. However, he's been absurdly euphoric about the American economy for the past 18 months and I've been waiting patiently for the time that he finally admits a chink of reality into his writings.
It seems to have happened this week. His article is headed "Okey, maybe I should worry just a little bit"! There we are then. He's worried a little bit. After writing about some of the bad figures in the economy, he ends his article on an upnote by talking of America's "envied world leadership in productivity gains" and that, despite all the problems, the economy will have grown by some 3% p.a. over the past couple of years. (Glen Hubbard, Bush's tame White House economist, came out with the same refrain for wont of any other figures to report when writing in the FT a week ago.) I've got news for both -- which oughtn't to be news for both well-informed gentlemen really. American productivity figures have been repeatedly shown to be optimistic in recent years -- after all the correct constituent data have been gathered in. Bush may well have been able to camouflage Enron and similar corruption so far by his declaration of war against Saddam, but the economy is not so easily fooled and it may be that there's still sufficient time for the next stock exchange slide in share prices to affect American voters before November's elections. (Not that it's any of my business whether the Republicans or Democrats have control after November, but I'd certainly like to see Bush discredited in plenty of time for Americans to select and elect a worthy President in 2004. The world deserves better.) Keith Hudson ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________
