Pres. Bush by the Numbers

Telling economic statistics from the fourth quarter of 2002:

0.7 PERCENT — rise in gross domestic product — the smallest gain in GDP since the beginning of the current recession.

1 PERCENT — increase in consumer spending — the smallest in a decade.

$3.5 BILLION — amount the administration promised to the states, on the heels of 9/11, to defray their homeland-security expenses for what was described as "our army at home." It would help fund the jobs of emergency first responders and other AFSCME members.

$0 — amount delivered to the states by mid-February, well over a year later. The money, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton noted recently, "is not even in the pipeline."

Fallout from both the Bush recession and the non-arrival of homeland-security funds:

$54 BILLION — amount of 9/11 assistance from the feds sought by Gov. George Pataki of New York, a stunning indicator of the need at the state level.

$600 MILLION — total that Bush's proposed elimination of taxes on stock dividends would cost the state of Ohio alone over the next two fiscal years.

$127 MILLION — Michigan's estimated cut in state aid to public schools.

$121 MILLION — Ohio Gov. Bob Taft's proposed cut of state-agency budgets.

12,000 — number of elderly or disabled people losing medical benefits in Oregon;

100 — number of state troopers laid off there.

And a distressing statistic attributable to another Bush, Gov. Jeb of Florida: 10,000 long-term state employees stripped of civil service protections.