Economy

Rove was well known to have advised Dubya to put war spending (over $150 billion a year throughout Bush's calamitous 2nd term) "off the books" - where they still figure to this day (deficit figures for that period exclude those monies).

So it stands to reason he was probably behind the ludicrous 3-point-something inflation readings. I recall an economist estimating actual inflation at 6% annually for 2004-07 - reaching a high of 16% by the summer of '08 (y-o-y).

Are they exact? Who's to say - but no one who lived in this country for all that time can deny those estimates are much closer to the truth.

"Karl, you put on weight again?"

"No"

"Don't shit me buddy. That kind of inflation, we can't lie about."