09-03-2008, 05:42 PM
[quote freeradical][quote PeterB]
... and before someone (cough, freeradical, cough) brings this up, yes, I am aware that correlation is not causation, and that, yes, it's possible Clinton was not responsible for this. But-- it's hard to deny that it happened under his leadership, and... it wouldn't have happened if, at the very least, he hadn't been doing things which at least did not work against it, if not encouraged it. .
Bill Clinton got on the elevator at the right time. The cold war was over and defense spending was dramatically cut. Let's also not forget that a Democrat, I mean Republican controlled Congress sent Clinton budgets that restrained spending.
The cold war was already over and defense spending dramatically cut by the time that G. Bush, Sr. was President (excepting spending on the first Iraq war), that predates Clinton. Likewise the Republican-controlled Congress, which does not really correlate with the above graphs.
[quote freeradical]Oh, I like your graphics; they are indeed silly examples that do nothing to prove what caused an event. One could just as easily substitute "Congress" for "President" in each graph to "prove" a point.
As I stated, correlation is not causation. Still, if the sun rises every day in the east and sets in the west, it is reasonable to conclude that this is a generally valid assumption. I'm not sure what's "silly" about these examples. Please come up with some of your own, and then we can analyze yours. See above regarding Congress' role (or lack thereof) in these facts.
... and before someone (cough, freeradical, cough) brings this up, yes, I am aware that correlation is not causation, and that, yes, it's possible Clinton was not responsible for this. But-- it's hard to deny that it happened under his leadership, and... it wouldn't have happened if, at the very least, he hadn't been doing things which at least did not work against it, if not encouraged it. .
Bill Clinton got on the elevator at the right time. The cold war was over and defense spending was dramatically cut. Let's also not forget that a Democrat, I mean Republican controlled Congress sent Clinton budgets that restrained spending.
The cold war was already over and defense spending dramatically cut by the time that G. Bush, Sr. was President (excepting spending on the first Iraq war), that predates Clinton. Likewise the Republican-controlled Congress, which does not really correlate with the above graphs.
[quote freeradical]Oh, I like your graphics; they are indeed silly examples that do nothing to prove what caused an event. One could just as easily substitute "Congress" for "President" in each graph to "prove" a point.
As I stated, correlation is not causation. Still, if the sun rises every day in the east and sets in the west, it is reasonable to conclude that this is a generally valid assumption. I'm not sure what's "silly" about these examples. Please come up with some of your own, and then we can analyze yours. See above regarding Congress' role (or lack thereof) in these facts.