President Bill Clinton’s economic strategy focused on policies that invested in people, innovation, and infrastructure—investments that strengthened communities and our middle class. By pairing that strategy with a smart fiscal approach, his administration and Congress during his two terms in office transformed a weak economy into a fundamentally strong one, turned deficits into surpluses, and created the conditions for strong future growth. And because he saw the changes globalization would bring to the world economy, his administration began to push for the kind of solutions our country would need to prosper in the 21st century as well.
Unfortunately, policymakers in the eight years that followed the Clinton presidency failed to build on this strategy, and the United States’ position of strength was lost. As a result, the U.S. economy faces even greater challenges today than it faced when Clinton took office.
Unemployment and growth are still weak in the wake of the Great Recession, and technology and globalization have wrought deep structural changes that policymakers have not adequately addressed. Yet many of the strategies Clinton championed can and should be used now more than ever, to strengthen the middle class, invest in the future, and put the economy on a firm path to growth once again. This issue brief examines the accomplishments of the Clinton era and highlights the lessons we can learn for use today.
-icanprogress.com
