Harvard Business School Vs. President Bush Tonight the president will claim that the economy is on the road to recovery after the Clinton-initiated recession and the Attacks of Sept. 11th. John Kerry will remind him that he's presided over the first net loss of jobs since Herbert Hoover.Of course, those who support our dear leader will take Kerry's comment with a grain of salt, just as I will with any claim Bush makes. Just as Bush ignored and dismissed the assessments of generals like Shinseki, he dissmisses and ignores the advice of the world's top economists. In one of the most egregiously under-reported articles of the campaign season, 56 members of the Harvard Business School faculty and 113 other professors from the nation's top universities sent an open letter to the president regarding his economic policies. The opening paragraph is stunning: As professors of economics and business, we are concerned that U.S. economic policy has taken a dangerous turn under your stewardship. Nearly every major economic indicator has deteriorated since you took office in January 2001. Real GDP growth during your term is the lowest of any presidential term in recent memory. Total non-farm employment has contracted and the unemployment rate has increased. Bankruptcies are up sharply, as is our dependence on foreign capital to finance an exploding current account deficit. All three major stock indexes are lower now than at the time of your inauguration. The percentage of Americans in poverty has increased, real median income has declined, and income inequality has grown. Read The Open Letter Bush: Out of touch with the reality in Iraq, out of touch with reality at home. Don't take my word for it--ask the nation's top economists.