Clinton Murdered 50,000 People Per Year

Well, not really. But the death rate under Bush is down by a dramatic 50,000 deaths per year, which means that 50,000 more innocent Americans died under Clinton than Bush, which means, if I understand the logic of the left, that Clinton killed them all.

Do I have that right?

The U.S. population may be aging, but the number of Americans who died in 2004 represents the biggest one-year decline since World War II, according to preliminary government data released Wednesday.

Nearly 50,000 fewer Americans died in 2004 than in 2003, according to data based on about 90% of U.S. death certificates. The preliminary number of U.S. deaths in 2004 was 2,398,343, compared with 2,448,288 in 2003.

The last decline this large occurred in 1944, when there were about 48,000 fewer deaths than in 1943, says Arialdi Minlead author of the report.

"We were surprised. We were scratching our heads," says Minino, a statistician at the National Center for Health Statistics. "Something of this magnitude is really out of the ordinary." U.S. deaths usually rise each year, he says, adding that the last decline occurred in 1997, when 445 fewer Americans died than in 1996.

The drop in deaths was accompanied by a slight rise in life expectancy at birth, and the 2004 preliminary estimate reached a record high of 77.9 years, about 5 months higher than in 2003, Minino says.

It's not clear why there was such a big drop in 2004, he says. Minino says he and his colleagues suspect a mild flu season might be one of many converging factors. Better treatments and improved access to health care are among the possible contributors to the decline, he says.

Damn Clinton for his murderous stinginess on access to health care. It was almost an American genocide, for crying out loud.

Anyway, it seems to put a damper on last week's Good Economy, Bad Economy spin, Reuters' effort to establish that a good economy will literally kill you.

Thanks to Dave.

posted by Ace at 01:20 AM

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