“Gunny” Bob misled on purported “Clinton recession”

Ranting about alleged “broken” promises by Democrats, Newsradio 850 KOA host “Gunny” Bob Newman misleadingly stated that President Bush's tax cuts “have helped the country recover from the Clinton recession.” In fact, the U.S. economy went into recession in March 2001, after President Clinton left office.

During a rant about a variety of alleged “broken” promises by “Democratic Party big shots” on the January 8 broadcast of his Newsradio 850 KOA show, host “Gunny” Bob Newman stated that President Bush's tax cuts “have helped the country recover from the Clinton recession.” In fact, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the U.S. economy went into recession for the first time in 10 years in March 2001 -- after President Clinton had left office.

From the January 8 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Gunny Bob Show:

NEWMAN: Should Pelosi and her fellow extremist liberal liars be impeached, or should recalls be demanded? Democrats are already moving to raise your taxes to pay for their pet projects. I trust you are not surprised at that, either. I warned you many times last year that the liberals would stick to their tradition of raising taxes, even though Bush's tax cuts have helped the country recover from the Clinton recession. Are you cool with more taxes, or were you a chump when you voted?

NBER is a private, nonpartisan organization whose business cycle announcements have long been considered the definitive word on the dates of economic recessions and expansions. As Colorado Media Matters noted, NBER determined in a November 26, 2001, report that the U.S. economy went into recession after Clinton left office and Bush had assumed the presidency. According to the report, “The NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee has determined that a peak in business activity occurred in the U.S. economy in March 2001.” The report further noted:

A peak marks the end of an expansion and the beginning of a recession. The determination of a peak date in March is thus a determination that the expansion that began in March 1991 ended in March 2001 and a recession began. The expansion lasted exactly 10 years, the longest in the NBER's chronology.

As Media Matters for America has noted, NBER's president, Martin Feldstein, was a Bush campaign adviser.