"never in the history of this nation has one man been handed so much to deal with in regard to problems and disastrous caseload."
No....You are wrong again! Why, why, why are you so willingly ignorant??????
Before Obumbler, the last really hard recession this country faced lasted from July 1981 to November 1982. It came directly on the heels of a shorter recession, which lasted from January to July 1980. Ronald Reagan took office during this short period between recessions, so he certainly had every right to complain that he had “inherited” a pretty tough economic situation, just as Barack Obama claims today. (But he didn't!)
So let’s compare these two in terms of unemployment, interest rates, and other factors to see who faced a tougher economy:
| President | Unemployment | Inflation | Prime Rate |
| Ronald Reagan 1981-1982 |
7.4% | 10.8% | 20.5% |
| Barack Obama 2007-2009 |
5% | 4% | 7.25% |
Clearly, every economic indicator was worse at the start of the 1981 recession. Unemployment was higher, President Reagan was dealing with inflation more than double the rate faced by President Obama, and the prime interest rate (which guides all lending rates in the country), was more than triple.
Obviously, President Obama didn’t face a recession “as deep and as dire as any since the Great Depression.”
What is more telling, however, is how the economy looked later in each presidency. It is now 26 months since the “Great Recession” officially ended in June of 2009—just five months after Obama took office. (This was written in August 2011) Let’s compare the numbers today with those of January of 1985, which was 26 months after the recession of 1981-1982 ended:
| President | Unemployment | Inflation | Prime Rate |
| Ronald Reagan | 7.3% | 3.5% | 10.5% |
| Barack Obama | 9.1% | 3.6% | 3.25% |
Not only did Ronald Reagan face a more difficult economic situation, but his results were far better. This is even more amazing when you consider that the unemployment rate peaked at 10.8% in November and December of 1982, and fell to 7.3% from there—down 3.5 points. The 2007 recession unemployment rate peaked at 9.5% in June of 2009 (although it went as high as 10.1% after the “recovery” began). At best, this number has only fallen 1 point since its peak.
President Reagan also brought inflation from a stifling 10.8% down to 3.5%, the prime rate was cut in half.
When President Reagan left office in January of 1989, the unemployment rate had fallen to 5.3%. By the end of President Reagan’s first term in office (January 1985), which correlates to our 26-month mark after the start of the 1981 recession, over 5.3 million jobs had been created on his watch. In the 26 months since the start of the 2007 recession, 2.4 million jobs have been LOST on Barack Obama’s watch.
So why the difference? How did President Reagan take a more difficult economic situation and turn it around, while the economy stagnates and loses ground under Barack Obama? The answer is clear:
Ronald Reagan put his faith in the American people. Barack Obama puts his faith in government.
On August 13, 1981, Ronald Reagan signed the Economic Recovery Act. This law cut income tax rates by 23% across the board, and cut the top tax rate from 70% to 50%. Eventually the top rate fell to 28%. Note that this law provided NO government grants or “stimulus” money. It simply forced the government to take less of the people’s money to begin with—it gave them their money back so they could do with it as they chose.
In the years that followed, President Reagan also rolled back onerous regulations on individuals and businesses; these decisions all flow from the same idea, according to Reagan: “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” Reagan believed that if the government simply got out of the way of the people and their pocketbooks, the American people, freed from economic bondage, would stimulate the economy. And they did.
And that White House resident is more than happy to blame everybody but himself for the current economic situation (dare we say, “malaise”) of the country:
From only one month in 2011:
- “Obama Suggests Congress to Blame,” (The Atlantic Wire, August 11)
- “On Bus Tour, Obama Shifts Blame to Republicans,” (Reuters, August 16)
- “Obama Blames Tea Party for Holding Back Economic Recovery,” (The Raw Story, August 16)
- “Obama Blames Bush and GOP,” (Washington Wire, August 2)
- “Obama Blames Blogs, Fox News,” (Beltway Confidential, August 16)
- “Obama Blames the Internet for High Unemployment,” (Fox Nation, August 17)
Kind of sicknening, aint it!
