It's become the norm to consider the Bushit years as an overall disaster for middle class Americans, and it was. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, writing in today's New York Times, has another piece of evidence to present: the net worth of the average American household is lower than it was in 2001. Debt rose as consumers assumed that their assets -- principally their houses and stocks -- would continue to increase. Not so, and Americans saved less of their incomes in the past 8 years that in preceding years, exacerbating an economy based on credit and inflated assets.
Small wonder that Dumbya's rating among Presidential historians places him just above Millard Fillmore, and such luminaries as Warren G. Harding and James Buchanan, at a comfy #36 of 42 previous presidents (Grover Cleveland having served before and after President Benjamin Harrison).
