Ronnie had 10 consecutive months of over 10% unemployment ratings and it took him 20 months to get there from the day he took office .... I have the emperical data from the BLS to prove it.
Originally Posted by CJ7
I'm not sure what your point is. Are you saying good or bad?
Reagan got unemployment down significantly and 20 months is not a long time in terms of economics and shifting an entire economy. RR got the unemployment rate down a couple of points below Carter AND simultaneously dropped inflation by a DOZEN points.
Awesome accomplishments that are difficult to argue with. Are you really going to quibble that 20 months was too long? It would be a better argument to point to increased deficits, not the time it took to turn the economy around.
Obama has had over 32 months and unemployment is still significantly higher than when he came into office and he has NOT had to fight inflation.
I'm not trying to criticize Obama, I'm just giving you comparative measurements.
Overall, I think more of the problem we are having now can be laid at the feet of Bush, rather than Obama. But a BIG part of our problems cannot be laid at the feet of either. There are world wide systemic changes going on and we are NOT in control of the world wide economy, despite what some believe. The state of the economy in China has huge impacts on our economy.
I think Obama has the economy going in the right direction, but we are moving very slowly. And we are on the brink of dropping back into another recession.
Well paying jobs are not recovering at all. According to a recent chart I saw, we have actually gained back more low paying jobs than we lost during recession. But middle income and high income jobs are still below pre-recession levels. So while we now have more $35,000 jobs than before, we have less $75K and $200K jobs.
We are essentially replacing higher paying jobs with lower paying jobs as people who used to make good money are now forced to take whatever they can get.
And the current employment statistics are artificially low. Many people have simply given up looking for work and are staying at home while their spouses work. But these people are no longer counted among the unemployed. The REAL unemployment rate is closer to 10% if not actually over it.