The latest news out of the U.S. Department of Commerce ought to create plenty of red faces in Washington.
Among those doing the most blushing should be those who misdiagnosed the recent recession and those who rode to political power with exaggerated claims that the only cure for what ailed the economy was major surgery - the kind performed mostly on the taxpayers' wallets.But fair play and politics seldom even recognize each other. So don't expect any apologies from those who kept insisting that last year America was in the grips of the worst slump since the Great Depression.
What a hoax! Just how big a hoax is clear from this week's report from the Commerce Department showing that the broadest gauge of economic performance was stronger than previously thought during most of George Bush's presidency.
In fact, the economy is now seen to have been doing better than perceived during the presidential election campaign, particularly in the politically crucial second quarter of 1992. Growth for the period is now put at a rate of 2.8 percent, twice as fast as was reported on three occasions last summer when the political conventions were under way.
Likewise, though the current recovery is modest by comparison to previous recoveries, the fact remains that the United States shows the best growth of any advanced industrial economy.
For this achievement, President Clinton deserves none of the credit. In fact, he will merit plenty of blame if the big tax hikes he pushed through Congress exert their usual drag on the economy.
The harm inflicted by the tax hikes can still be minimized if Washington will promptly follow them with further cuts in federal spending, as promised.
In any event, the latest figures from the Commerce Department simply confirm the truism that when Washington tries to heal the economy it habitually applies excessive doses of the wrong medicine and acts so tardily that it does more harm than good. Won't the federal government ever learn to keep its hands off and let the economy heal itself?