5 sunbursts red , blue , orange , fg , burnt sienna and lobos for pink loopers <| sep |> The economy didn ' t crash . There was a recession caused by the bursting of the dot . com bubble . The economy crashed , banks collapsed , and we stood on the brink of a great depression after 2 terms of George W . Bush stewardship . Furthermore , cries of Internet ! or He inherited a good economy ! are designed to mask the failure of rightwing dogma like Trickle Down aka Voodoo Economics . When Bill Clinton took office unemployment was at 7 . 5 %. It declined every year of his presidency . By his last year in office , it was at levels last seen in 1970 . The decade before Bill Clinton took office was wracked by high inflation . Average annual inflation had fallen below 3 % only 1 time since 1967 . By contrast , it only rose above 3 % 1 year of Bill Clinton ' s entire time in office . The budget deficit rose every year for the 5 years leading up to Bill Clinton taking office . During Bill Clinton ' s presidency , it declined every single year reaching surpluses in the last 2 years . In the decade before Bill Clinton took office , Economic Growth was all over the board . A high year might be followed by a year of negative economic growth or there ' d be a year under 1 %. By contrast , during the Clinton years it never fell lower than 2 . 63 % and for 58 years was between 45 %. So , declining unemployment , declining deficits , low inflation and steady economic growth compared to prior years . These numbers across all markers are not simply due to the dot com bubble and , that ' s not inheriting a great economy , that ' s fostering one .