Yet once again America's economy defied the pessimists. On the back of strong productivity growth, resilient consumer spending and an upswing in corporate profits, it surged in the first three months of 2002. George Bush's $42 billion economic-stimulus bill seemingly came too late.

But by the summer the recovery was sputtering. A rash of corporate scandals undermined already weak investor confidence and sent equity markets into turmoil in July 2002. George Bush's projected $5.6 trillion budget surplus over ten years had almost disappeared and the country seemed set for a “double-dip” recession or the onset of deflation. To reinvigorate the creaking economy, George Bush reshuffled his economic-policy team and signed into law a second b

However, the good economic news has yet to filter down to the voters. President Bush's approval ratings for his handling of the economy have been consistently lower than his overall poll ratings - but they are improving.

Robert Reich, labor secretary in the Clinton administration, responded that the nation hasn't seen anything close to the job creation Lindsey forecast. "This has been the most anemic jobs recovery we've seen in recent American history," Reich said.

A further quarter were not sure whether it had created or lost jobs for US workers.

The sustained recovery should translate into job increases of 100,000 or more per month, which would translate into at least an additional 1.2 million more jobs next year, the first positive year for job growth since 2000. Since the recession began in March 2001, the country has lost 2.35 million payroll jobs.

The Bush administration has adopted a posture of benign neglect to the accelerating decline of the US dollar on international currency markets, which has fallen by 30% against the euro in 2003.

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