Economy

Last edited Sun Feb 9, 2020, 08:03 PM - Edit history (25)

This was last updated January 2018 and is good for comparing the Obama presidency to his predecessor. And it takes some shots at Mitt Romney's Massachusetts record.

I'll have to work on something comparing Trump's presidency so far (3 years) with Obama's ... but won't be able to get at it in time for the February 7, 2020 jobs report (which marks 36 months (3 years) under Trump).

On Facebook or comments on news articles at news.yahoo.com, one constantly faces a barrage of negative comments about how the economy was handled by "Oblamer" or "Obuhmuh" or "Obummer". (And on DU too, though without the name calling and direct blaming, but still with a lot of hand-wringing and laminations about the current economy)

Here are some canned responses to CONNEDservatives which I draw from and have used on such websites --

Do we really want to hand the keys back to the people who drove the economy off the cliff? When Bush left office, he handed Obama an economy that had already shed 4.3 million jobs in Bush's last 10 months, and the GDP was contracting at a 8.9% annual rate (Q4 2008). At the end of the Bush presidency, the unemployment rate was 3.5 percentage points higher than when he began his presidency.

Obama's entire 8 year record (including the 4.3 million jobs lost during his first 13 months that was a momentum carry-over from the massive job losses during Bush's last several months): 11.5 million payroll jobs were created - by cutting 0.3 million government jobs and creating 11.8 million private sector jobs. ( the actual numbers are, in thousands: Total: 11,488, Govt: -268, PrivateSector: 11,756, updated 1/31/18 ).

Bush only created 1.1 million payroll jobs in his entire 8 year presidency - ironically by creating 1.8 million government jobs and destroying 0.7 million private sector jobs

Ruinous Republican policies also drove the U.S. stock market (S&P 500) down 37% during those 8 Bush years -- from 1343 to 850. As an investor, I'd rather go with Obama -- it closed at 2264 on Obama's final full day in office, up 166% since he took office (that's somewhat more than a doubling -- 2.66 X). (Google: Historical Prices - Yahoo Finance S&P 500 ). Clearly the business and investor community has a lot more confidence in Obama than it did in Bush.

Now it may seem like Romney, the Great Successful Businessman, would do so much better if he had been given the chance. But you had no idea what Governor Etch-A-Sketch would do, as he radically shifts his positions all the time. For all we know, he would have jammed RomneyCare down your throat. What you do know is that as governor of Massachusetts, the state was 47th out of 50th in job creation (it ranked much better than that under his predecessor). And he moved the state from #2 in per-capita debt to #1. Oops, wrong direction. Oops, not a #1 ranking one wants to have.

He was talented at creating jobs in China. Not so well in Massachusetts. Great at outsourcing jobs. Never insourced any.

Romney's plan for $5 trillion in tax cuts via marginal rate reductions, and a $2 trillion increase in core defense spending, all paid for somehow by reducing some unspecified deductions and a huge helping of magic supply side fairy dust didn't sound like a plan for the economy but rather a plan for winning over the gullible in the 2012 election. I forget, how did that election thing work out? Kind of a 1-day story and then it was Petraeus and Benghazi and fiscal cliff this and fiscal cliff that and fiscal cliff some more day in and day out.

(When you are tired of arguing with statistics and facts, you can just post this):

Hey, TEA PARTY fanatics, google "Koch Brothers" if ya wanna see who's really behind your so-called "grass roots" movement.....it's really an "astro turf" job.....do you REALLY think rich corporations and rich people in general actually care about you, do you think they want to hang out with you? You guys are being used, but you're too dopey to even realize it.....the rich are laughing at you; while you champion their lower taxes/no taxes, they're laughing all the way to the bank....When was the last time YOU were able to have a good laugh????

To Do

Write rebuttals to:

# The economy was just fine until the Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007.
# The CRA and Clinton / Democratic policies caused the housing bubble (CRA = Community Reinvestment Act)
# The Trump economy is Making America Great Again.