Past, present and future

Yesterday, George Will asked this rhetorical question:

For the July-September quarter, economic growth was 8.2 percent, the fastest since 1984, productivity growth was 9.4 percent, the fastest since 1983, and manufacturing reached its highest level since 1983. Is it pure coincidence that in 1983-84, as today, the nation was deep into the first term of a tax-cutting Republican administration?

Later in the day, the Conference Board seemed to answer it:

Revising its year-end economic forecast sharply upward, The Conference Board today projected that real GDP growth will hit 5.7% next year, making 2004 the best year economically in the last 20 years.

Of course, we all remember that 20 years ago Ronald Reagan squeaked out re-election over Walter Mondale. Will history repeat itself for the current Republican president? We’ll see!