To the editor:

Say for a moment this election was not about newcomers, the last eight years, age, sex or race. Say it was about the economy. What do we know about the 40 years prior to the last eight years (20 years Republican and 20 years Democrat in the White House from 1960 to 2000)? Here are the facts (compiled from articles written in 2002 by Dwight Meredith, who publishes an online journal on politics, law and autism):

¢ Economic growth averaged 2.94 percent under Republican presidents and 3.92 percent under Democratic presidents.

¢ Inflation averaged 4.96 percent under Republican presidents and 4.26 percent under Democratic presidents.

¢ Unemployment averaged 6.75 percent under Republican presidents and 5.1 percent under Democratic presidents.

¢ Total federal spending rose at an average rate of 7.57 percent under Republican presidents and 6.96 percent under Democratic presidents.

¢ Total nondefense federal spending rose at an average rate of 10.08 percent under Republican presidents and 8.34 percent under Democratic presidents.

¢ The national debt grew $3.8 trillion under budgets submitted by Republican presidents and $720 billion under budgets submitted by Democratic presidents.

¢ Federal government nondefense employees rose in number by 310,000 under Republican presidents and 59,000 under Democratic presidents.

Do these facts validate your assumptions about economic leadership and budget management? If we do not wish to owe more than the $32,000 per citizen we currently owe, perhaps we better start paying attention to our long-term pocketbook.

George Wanke,
Lawrence