"It's the economy stupid!"

Al Sonnenstrahl:

Thank you for the kind response (although later verified this wasn't his original letter with 90% of being intact) on the successful establishment of our new deaf and hard of hearing national grassroots organization called "DeafRepublicans."

However, first off, what ever happened to the discussion on John Kerry's 20 years of "accomplishments" as a Senator from Massachussett regarding disability issues? And yet you mentioned Clinton four times in your open letter to DeafRepublicans and never about John Kerry. I can understand why, too. President Bush has done more for ADA than John Kerry and John Edwards, combined, ever did. And President Bush continues to support deaf and hard of hearing when it comes to telecommunications.

Second off, yes, the economy is far more important than relay services, captioning and access to emergency services for deaf people and the likes. Without ensuring a successful and strong economy none of these services would become available or at least become restricted for the general public.

But with a strong economy we are able to form grassroots organizations that address various concerns regarding social services and support to the general public, including people with various disabilities and conditions. With a strong economy we can well afford to address these social issues and support concerns when we have the ability to give tax breaks, offer grants, and other financial and economic incentives that would ensure that these social services and support concerns benefit deaf and hard of hearing Americans.

As you may know, the economy improved every month ever since the recesson turned around in late 2002. Stocks have gone up, record housing constructions were witnessed over the past two years, small businesses booming, tax-breaks to businesses have helped hire more people, and we have witnessed the lowest mortgage rate as low as 4.5% (much lower than even during Clinton's time) for a 30-year loan leading to an all-time record house buying spree never before seen. And with more buying of houses people buy furniture, appliances, and other materials for their houses helping the economy along and recover more strongly than ever. With a strong economy, we have strong consumers, including the 27 million deaf and hard of hearing Americans. And with a strong demand we can and must demand better services for deaf and hard of hearing Americans.

Today, right now, we have GDP = 3.7%. And what was Bill Clinton's at same point in '96? 3.4%.

And the jobless rate for President Bush right now is 5.4% compared to Clinton at the same time right before he was re-elected had a rate of 5.6%.

As you can see, a strong economy helps in getting better services to everybody because more money is available for services, technological development and business incentives enabling further growths.

Without a strong economy Research and Developments among the hundreds of companies' research laboratories would be stunted in their quest for new technology enabling deaf and hard of hearing Americans greater autonomy and independence.

It wasn't the deaf or hard of hearing American consumers who demanded we have the internet.

It wasn't the deaf or hard of hearing American consumers who demanded we have AIM, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ chat services.

It wasn't the deaf or hard of hearing American consumers who demanded that we have Blackberry PDAs or web-enabled cell-phones with a QWERTY feature built in for text writing.

It wasn't the deaf or hard of hearing American consumers who demanded cell-phones with silent vibrating mode for calls.

It wasn't the deaf or hard of hearing American consumers who demanded that we have web-cams and high speed connection such as satellite, cable or a dedicated line enabling frame speed of 30 fps or more with near smooth video quality in real-time for easy sign language and video communication.

It wasn't the deaf or hard of hearing American consumers who demanded that we improve the telecommunication infrastructure such as Wi-Fi or Wi-max, and 3rd generation cell phones capable of taking pictures and record video shots that would put Dick Tracy's wrist phone to shame.

Because consumers' confidence and the confidence of large corporations and businesses to invest in technology in the United States, more deaf and hard of hearing Americans are seeing greater independence among themselves much more quickly because of a strong economy. Without a strong economy while in a deep recession would lead to a lack of consumer buying because jobs would be few and businesses would be languishing. We would have to wait for these technological marvels to develop when the economy improves. And because of President Bush's help, the economy rebounded after what no other president in history has gone through experiencing the horrible chain of events in a single year:

* Stock market crash
* Dot-com bubble burst
* Collapse of Enron and other large business who underwent a finacial shake-up by the SEC for massive frauds.
* Collapse of the NASDAQ financial regulations
*9/11 on American soils for the first time.
*Over 1 million jobs lost 3 months after 9/11

A sextuple (6) whammy all within a year! Losing a few trillion dollars in the process.

And yet we

*established a new Homeland Security department
*went to war in Afghanistan
*went to war in Iraq
*went to war against terrorists and terrorists organization
*offered tax-breaks to Americans that stimulated the economy and job growths.
*got stronger in our economy

And to add additional stresses to an already strong economy this year, President Bush and America had to weather four hurricanes that slammed into Florida. These events were unprecedented in all of weather record keeping when four hurricanes slammed into Florida in a single season. But because of a strong economy, we easily weathered the two month of economic fury by the four hurricanes causing billions of dollars of damage and numerous deaths. Bush quickly signed for monetary and relief effort from the impact of all four huricanes. The economy is still going strong and continues to get stronger.

No other president in all of American history experienced this sextuple (6) whammy in one year and recovered from it by having the shortest recession in American history! It wasn't Clinton, Carter, Bush 41, Reagan, Ford, Nixon, Kennedy and so on, it was President George W. Bush who had to experience all this, for bad and for good.

Without a strong economy abortion would be less of a focus. So would be about deaf services, gun control, and stem cell research. Because all you would want to do is survive and look for a job.

Just like what Clinton said in 1992, "It's the economy stupid." And he's right! Without a good economy none of things regarding services to deaf and hard of hearing Americans would mean not a thing when everybody is trying to survive. The economy has rebounded so much that America has faith in its businesses and people. And with President Bush' 3.7% GDP and 5.4% jobless rate, beating Clinton's GDP and jobless rate in the very same position a few days before he was re-elected as President Bush is now.


Now, let's review history over both Clinton and Bush's last year and half GDP growth records:

Clinton........GDP Growth.......Bush......GDP Growth..........
2nd Qtr '95......0.7%...............2nd Qtr '03........4.0%...............
3rd Qtr '95........3.3%..............3rd Qtr '03........7.4%...............
4th Qtr '95........3.0%..............4th Qtr '03........4.2%...............
1st Qtr '96.........2.9%..............1st Qtr '04.........4.5%...............
2nd Qtr '96.......6.7%...............2nd Qtr '04........3.3%..............
3rd Qtr '96........3.4%..............3rd Qtr '04.........3.7%..............
Avg GDP........3.3%..........Avg GDP.........4.5%...........

Source: - US Dept of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis. Knock yourself out.

In your letter Mr. Sonnenstrahl you mentioned Clinton 4 times but never mentioned anything about John Kerry's accomplishment in the areas of disability. President Bush technology alone is increasingly taking over the role that will benefit all of 28 million deaf and hard of hearing Americans. Components are being built more efficiently and easily because of the constant improvements in computational speed in computer ships and increasingly sophisticated software programming.

Now, if you say that's the economy is bad then it does not make any sense to pour more money into social services and support systems when you need to revive the economy first. A better economy means more money available for these things. And, again, if you still say the economy is bad, then certainly you're saying that Clinton's jobless rate and GDP records were no better either but worse than Bush.

What it all boils down to, Mr. Sonnenstrahl, is this phrase, "It's the economy stupid." And you can thank Clinton for that quote.