All Positive, All The Time Week: Bill Clinton

The further we get away from the Bill Clinton presidency, the more I miss it. So with our country eyeing another recession and Coloradolib in the midst of its 2nd All Positive, All The Time Week, here are two lessons that our future Presidents could and should learn from our 42nd.

1. Save when times are good, so you can spend when times get rough: Clinton didn't take the roaring economy of the 1990's as a license to spend. Instead he built up a big surplus. That meant that when Bush needed to give the economy a boost after 9/11, he could afford what many assumed would be a short-term tax cut. Our next President won't be so lucky. He - or she - may simultaneously face a tricky economy and a huge deficit.

2. Consumer confidence can help the country survive recessions: The recession of 2001-2002 was accompanied by a 20% drop in business spending. Why? Because businesses behave more rationally than consumers, and corporations were readying for a prolonged recession. But consumers have short memories. And after the longest economic expansion in our country's history, consumers forgot what a recession felt like. And so they "defied a recession and Sept. 11 and kept spending at a healthy pace." Even at it's recession nadir, consumer confidence was still higher than it was the month Bill Clinton took office. (84.9 in November 2001, indexed to 1985 vs. 76.7 in January, 1993.)

I'm not claiming that Bill Clinton single-handedly recession-proofed the economy. Or even that he deserves sole credit for the Roaring Nineties. But his economic policy definitely paid dividends long after his administration was over.