- 2 0 0 1 ▁to ▁late ▁ 2 0 0 3 . ▁More ▁recently , ▁high ▁oil ▁prices ▁have ▁caused ▁concern ▁about ▁increasing ▁infl ation . ▁ ▁Long - term ▁problems ▁include ▁in ade qu ate ▁invest ment ▁in ▁economic ▁infrastr ucture , ▁rapidly ▁rising ▁medical ▁and ▁p ension ▁costs ▁of ▁an ▁ag ing ▁population , ▁s izable ▁trade ▁and ▁budget ▁def ic its . ▁Under ▁the ▁Bush ▁administration , ▁product ivity ▁has ▁grown ▁by ▁an ▁average ▁of ▁ 3 . 7 6 % ▁per ▁year , ▁the ▁highest ▁such ▁average ▁in ▁ten ▁years . ▁ ▁While ▁the ▁G DP ▁recovered ▁from ▁a ▁re cess ion ▁that ▁some ▁claim ▁Bush ▁inherited ▁from ▁the ▁previous ▁administration , ▁pover ty ▁has ▁since ▁w ors ened ▁according ▁to ▁the ▁Census ▁Bureau . ▁The ▁percentage ▁of ▁the ▁population ▁below ▁the ▁pover ty ▁level ▁increased ▁in ▁each ▁of ▁Bush ' s ▁first ▁four ▁years , ▁while ▁it ▁decre ased ▁for ▁each ▁of ▁the ▁prior ▁seven ▁years ▁to ▁an ▁ 1 1 - year ▁low . ▁Although ▁the ▁pover ty ▁level ▁increased ▁the ▁increase ▁was ▁still ▁lower ▁from ▁ 2 0 0 0 ▁to ▁ 2 0 0 2 ▁than ▁it ▁was ▁from ▁ 1 9 9 2 ▁to ▁ 1 9 9 7 , ▁which ▁reached ▁a ▁peak ▁of ▁ 3 9 . 3 % ▁in ▁ 1 9 9 3 . ▁In ▁ 2 0 0 2 ▁the ▁pover ty ▁rate ▁was ▁ 3 4 . 6 % ▁which ▁was ▁almost ▁equal ▁to ▁the ▁rate ▁in