Bush Decade, Awful Decade or the Lost Decade?

A few weeks ago I highlighted an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll which showed that a majority of Americans viewed the "Bush Decade" as either "awful" or "not so good". At that time I wrote that it should be no surprise, given the awful data released by the Census Bureau in September. It found the nation worse off in median income, poverty and in other important areas. Now, over the weekend, the Washington Post released a story looking at additional economic data. In that story they refer to 2000-2010 as a "lost decade" for the American economy.

The story starts by stating that this "lost decade" was the worst for the U.S. economy in modern times. For example, the report shows that there had been zero net job creation since 1999. No previous decade going back to the 1940's had job growth of less than 20%, much less a net loss of jobs. Furthermore, household income and net worth went down while total household debt rose 117%.

Although extremely depressing, the Post story does end on a somewhat positive note by saying that forecasters are generally expecting the job market to turn around in early 2010.

As for that last disaster of a decade, the only thing left to know is what we will call it? Will it be the "Bush Decade", the "Awful Decade", or the "Lost Decade"? However we refer to it, I just hope that we have learned a few lessons and don't return to the policies that helped usher it in.

ht: Think Progress