Ok, I hope Whirl really reads this topic and responds- ditto to I. M and the rest of these anti-Obama haters. You guys love to say how bad Obama is and how high the UE rate is how much spending Obama has done, but let's re- visit and take a trip down history lane.
We can all agree that from Day 1- Obama inherited the follwing:
A. Two wars- one of which he voted against as a senator and that many felt was unjustified
B. An UE rate that was spiraling out of control
C. A housing crisis that was really bad
D. There was one huge TARP that was near a trillion dollars before Obama stepped in office.
Ok so basically it's fair to say Obama was handed a mess. It wasn't like in 2000 when Clinton handed Bush: a budget surplus, no wars, a booming economy, and a low UE rate.
Now let's go back to 1980- the last great Republican President Ronald Reagan was handed the following from Carter:
A. High UE rate
B. Sky high gas prices
C. Inflation
D. Oil embargo
E. Mid East crisis with Iran holding American hostages
Now thanks for the research from Doove who posted the following links:
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000.
A few things worth noting. The unemployment rate in May '09, 4 months after Obama took office and inarguably prior to his policies having any major impact, was 9.4%. Today it stands at 9.2%, and it's actually down from it's peak of 10.1% in Oct '09.
For the purpose of comparing apples to apples, let's look at the record under Bush. In May of his inaugural year, the UE rate stood at 4.3%. 25 months later, in June of '03, it stood at 6.3% - an increase of 2 full percentage points. For Obama, from May of '09 to June of '11, the same respective 25 month period for his Presidency, it's gone from 9.4% to 9.2% - a minor drop, as opposed to a 2 percentage point increase.
Just pointin' out the facts.
Edit: Oh, and when Bush took office it was 4.2%. When he left, it was 7.8%. Good thing he cut taxes or God only knows what the unemployment rate would have looked like when he left office.
On top of that Doove posted the following:
Join Date: Dec 19, 2009
Location: Buffalo NY
Posts: 1,377
Reviews: 3
And should anyone care about a similar comparison to the Reagan years:
In May of Reagan's first year, the rate was 7.5%. 25 months later, in June of '83 it was 10.1%.
So to recap: Using the same respective time periods in their Presidencies, under Bush, the UE climbed by 2 percentage points. Under Reagan, it increased by 2.6 percentage points. Under Obama, it dropped by 0.2 percentage points.
We report, you decide.
However, for some odd reason no rebuttal from I..M or Marshall- hmmm I wonder why?
So my question to you Whirl- why the double standard? Reagan sure as hell didn't have the country on his feet in 3 years?
Reagan also raised taxes and during his years he spent more money than all over the Presidents before him combined? Again why no outrage for the Gipper?
The reason being Whirl is that it's hard to defend a LIE and easy to defend the Truth- because when the truth is presented to you- you run, duck and don't respond because you have no real answers- I would like or you to respond Whirl.