We Have Built a New Economy

President Clinton boasted in his 2000 state of the union speech, We begin the new century with over 20 million new jobs. By 1989, there were 7 million fewer unemployed Americans than seven years before. The S&P 500 rose almost fourfold between 1982 and 1990. Total real GDP growth in the 1990s was roughly equal to that of the 1950s. While the top 1% have seen their incomes rise 18% over the past decade, those in the middle have actually seen their incomes fall.