Newspaper: Americans better off today than when Bill Clinton was president

To hear the parade of doom-and-gloom speakers at the Democratic National Convention, you'd think the United States was on brink of another Great Depression.

"Bush ruined the economy. McCain is the same as Bush" is the mantra the Democrats are repeating night after night. Only only problem. The Dems don't have the facts to back their rhetoric.

"We've heard a lot about how Bush has mismanaged the economy, but there's no evidence of this," the respected Investor's Business Daily states on its editorial pages. "In fact, incomes began growing in 2003 after falling in 2001 and 2002 and have trended upward every year since. The small bump in 2003 was followed by gains of $2,291 in 2004 and $2,210 in 2005."

From the IBD editorial, "The Pie Got Bigger" --

Thanks to a growing economy, Americans' real disposable income has increased every quarter but two from the beginning of 2003, when Bush's policies started going into full effect, to the first quarter of 2007. Some of the growth was remarkable, including a 7.5% jump in the fourth quarter of 2004 and a 6.3% increase in the third quarter of 2003.

In November, voters will pick a candidate to replace a president who did an exceptional job of steering the economy through tough circumstances, but hasn't gotten a shred of credit for it. The best choice is the man who's more interested in increasing income than redistributing — and ultimately shrinking — it.

Read the full editorial at the newspaper's Web site.