It certainly wasn't a cornucopia of abundance and prosperity that one might assume given that Clinton did all of the right things according to mainstream orthodox economists. He was initially in the right place at the right time to enjoy the dot-com bubble, but that high waned as it became evident that the private sector was financing its economic growth with private bank debt and false GDP growth.

The recession was also shortened by Bush taking us into war (another similarity to some previous recessions/depressions) and spending in large deficits on security and his Medicare D.