Why do people look at economic stats in measuring success?

Generally speaking yes, but when you take into account that the current administration has spent more in 2 months than all the previous administrations combined, you have to realize that things are going to get much much worse. We're looking at a crash of catastrophic proportions here not just the normal economic ebb and flow. We have to print more bills which means massive inflation and when we default on the $ we've borrowed we'll bottom out quickly. Growth is not silly to reference to when you realize the kind of massive debt we have. Even if the feds made the income tax rate 100% it would not even cover the interest on the debt we have now. When you have the normal ups and downs in an economy all of what you're saying applies but when the unemployment rate is still hovering at 9.1% not counting the people who have given up on work you know taxation is not going to increase revenue because there's not enough people contributing to the tax base. The massive spending is at fault. The kind of change we're looking at reaping from Obama is of catastrophic negative proportions because of all the spending. The libs really believe debt is just a number but we will at some point default. Even 100% taxation will not save us now!!!