The chart below shows the change in the percentage of the population that is employed since the end of the current recession and compares that with what happened after the 1982 recession. As you can see, Obama has been an abject failure (h/t
John Taylor):
Are you suggesting that the '82 recession was remotely as bad as what Obama inherited? Don't forget that Reagan increased spending more than Obama has, and public hiring, AND did not inherit the worst deficit in history, but rather CREATED the worst deficit in history, which Clinton kindly fixed for him, thus paving the way for eorge W. Bush to dig another massive hole. Have you no perspective at all?
ReplyDeleteReagan had some notable accomplishments, but this comparison is grotesquely unfair, and what's more, I think you know it's unfair, you just don't care.
If the House had passed Obama's jobs bill last year there would likely be 1.3 million more people working. There was not ONE thing in that bill of which the sainted Reagan would not have approved under the circumstances. The HOuse Republicans are so determined to destroy Obama that they don't care if they make Americans suffer in their efforts. They are deliberately sabotaging the economy. If not deliberately sabotaging, then they are simply clinging religiously to a set of principles that have nothing to do with the real world, they believe in a sort of fantasy economics. Either way, to blame joblessness on Obama when he's tried to offer solutions but been stymied by the House is ludicrously unfair.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you smoking Sasha? Its likely that even the massive $862 billion stimulus didnt even create 1.3 million jobs. Plus, Obama cant even get a single DEMOCRAT to vote for his budgets in either house of congress. So dont blame the Republicans.
ReplyDeleteOn Reagan's spending, you must not be including the size of the stimulus bill in your calculations because just on a % of GDP basis, Reagan increased spending by 2% of GDP compared to Carter while Obama increased spending by 5% compared to Bush. Also Reagan had to deal with a federal funds rate of about 9-10%, he doesnt have the benefit of free liquidity coming from the Fed.
Obama's policies have made this recession worse while Reagans made that recession go away.
Oh and peak unemployment was higher during the 1982 recession, so at least on that metric, it was worse than the current one.
ReplyDeleteReal government spending per capita is at an extremely low ebb, FAR lower than it was under Reagan. You can find many charts on the internet to show the difference. I could offer you several places to look, but I'm guessing you'ld dismiss them as being cited by "liberals" and therefore untrustworthy. In particular state and local government spending and employment are WAY DOWN from the beginning of the recession. Many states used the original stimulus to pay down debt- not what the stimulus was meant for, but even conservative economists admit things would be far worse without that package. Look at spending under Reagan and spending under Obama. Find charts on conservative sites so you feel confident in the data. But look for THAT data- Total real government spending per capita.
ReplyDeleteIt should also be noted that the Reagan recession was largely created by an overly tight monetary policy at the Fed, intended to control inflation. In this case we're coming off an extremely loose monetary policy period promoted by Greenspan under Bush. As you know the Fed can't do much more now, you can't go lower. The Jobs plan that Obama proposed last August was shot down in the House. You can't deny that, even if you think the Jobs bill was a bad idea, it was not passed into law.
You might note that Romney is proposing increasing military spending as A WAY TO STIMULATE EMPLOYMENT(!!!)while at the same time opposing other governmant spending for the same purpose and arguing that IT DOESN'T WORK! The question you ought to ask is what is HE smoking? I think he knows perfectly well that fiscal policy is the answer right now, but he won't say so for fear of the extreme wing of his party.
While it may be unfair I still recall my first introduction to your site was your comparison of spending in D.C. public schools to the fees at Andover- this time try comparing apples to apples.
One more time, find charts on sites that YOU trust comparing real government spending per capita in the Reagan and Obama years.