Synopses & Reviews
The authors cut through party bias to present the quantifiable facts about how modern presidents have performed on critical national issuesPoliticians and the media spend a lot of time telling Americans how the presidents and their administrations are performing, but this analysis always skews along party lines. In Presimetrics, Kimel and Kanell take a fresh look at modern politics by gathering data from numerous government sources in order to compare and rank presidential performance on critical issues, from employment and health care to taxes and family values. The results frequently defy expectations:
• Reagan, godfather of neoconservatives, increased the federal workforce more than any president since LBJ
• Clinton, a hero to Democrats, cut funding for the NEA by a larger percentage than any other president
• Nixon/Ford outperformed all administrations on Democratic issues like Federal spending on social programs
The lively text clearly explains how various policies of each administration affect the data, and fascinating information graphics lend even greater depth to the discussion, showing at a glance how multiple administrations stack up.
About the Author
Michael E. Kanell is an economics writer for the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has appeared on television and radio, including CNBC, NPR, and various local stations across the country. He has a bachelor's degree in history from Princeton University and a law degree from Boston University, where he was also adjunct professor of the College of Communications. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.Michael E. Kanell is an economics writer for the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has appeared on television and radio, including CNBC, NPR, and various local stations across the country. He has a bachelor's degree in history from Princeton University and a law degree from Boston University, where he was also adjunct professor of the College of Communications. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.Nigel Holmes is an award-winning information graphics specialist. His work has appeared in countless publications, including
Time (where he worked as graphics director),
Adweek, GQ, Details, Discover, Money, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, and more. He lives in Westport, Connecticut.Mike Kimel is an economic consultant who has built sophisticated statistical tools used by the military, NASA, and other government agencies. He also taught economics and advanced statistics at Pepperdine University, ran the internal consulting group for a Fortune 500 telecom company, and worked for a Big 4 accounting firm. He holds a Ph.D in economics from UCLA. He lives in Akron, Ohio, where he works at a diversified regional energy company. He is a contributing blogger on angrybear.com, one of the top economic blogs in the country.