Cancel 2016.2
The Almighty
That's actually a good chart showing that the ecnomy Obama inherited was worse than the economy Reagan inherited. Thanks. But using such a long time period really obscures the differences. So, like, here's real GDP (blue) and nominal GDP (red) from 1978 though January 1981. This is what Reagan inhereited:
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And here's real GDP and nominal GDP from 2006 thorugh Janury 2009. This is what Obama inherited:
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Which do you think is worse?
Also, too, I appreciate that you are now using the correct unemployment number of 7.5% (down from your original claim of 9.5%). Well, Obama inherited 7.6% unemployment which was rising and on an upward trajectory. And since you're really smart and know all about employment as a lagging indicator, you know full well that the employment effects of the Great Recession had hardly reached their peak at the time of Obama's inauguration.
You credit Reagan for doing nothing. I get it.
The economy Reagan inherited had problems, not doubt. But those problems were amendable to traditional policy solutions: increased interest rates on the monetary side and increased spending and tax cuts on the fiscal side. And those policy solutions were imlemented. For Obama, traditional monetary policy tools were not available as interest rated were already as zero. Hence, quantitative easing, which is better than nothing but a non-traditional tool for good reason. On the fiscal side, things were positive as the start but for now the government is cutting spending instead of increasing it, which is contraining growth. In the end, you've got a very big problem not amenable to traditional tools of monetary policy and fiscal policmakers doing the opposite of what they ought to be doing. I wonder why the economy sucks
LMAO... but those policies that he had to implement forced a recession. Those were a direct result of Carter failing to act. The same policies Reagan implemented should have been done in the late 70's. Volcker began to do so under Carter, but then reversed course when the economy started slowing down.
Hyperinflation, anemic growth, double digit interest rates... again, ask anyone that remembers living in the late 70's which was worse.
Again... the markets began rebounding in early 2009... Obama inherited that too. Reagan inherited a mess. As you admit, he HAD to let Volcker implement the policies that led to the recession. That is what the economy required at the time for a long term solution.