The Weakest Economic Recovery in Modern Times

Even in boom times, any president can expect candidates from the opposing party to subject his record to pitiless scrutiny. The economy under Barack Obama isn't exactly filling voters with confidence, so it's not surprising that presidential hopefuls are pretty severe in their critique.

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Reagan or Obama

INSPIRE AND IGNITE/Just a Thought, 12/10/2010 by Josiah Hill - How’s that bigger government is better idea working out for the American people? ∴ Let’s look at the recovery the country enjoyed under Reagan and compare it to the one we’re currently experiencing under Obama. ∴ Since the current recession ended in June of 09 according to the experts, we’ve now had 15 months of the Obama recovery. How does it compare to the first 14 months of the Reagan recovery? ∴ These figures come from government records and not any biased third party:

Consumer confidence: Reagan 103.9 / Obama 53.5
Average GDP growth: Reagan 7.7% / Obama 3%
Unemployment rate: Reagan 8% / Obama 9.6%

The evidence indicates that the Reagan recovery was much stronger than the one we are experiencing now. The difference? ∴ President Reagan believed that government was the problem. ∴ President Obama believes that government is the answer. ∴ Decide for yourself who is right. Read More......

Samuelson: Will U.S. Recovery Go Global?

WASHINGTON POST, 8/17/2009 by Robert J. Samuelson (Hat tip: John H. Detweiler) - Before we get too giddy about any U.S. economic "recovery," we should remember that the preceding economic collapse was global. No recovery can succeed unless it, too, is global. Will that happen? The world can no longer rely for growth on free-spending Americans, who are overburdened by debt and sobered by trillions of dollars of losses on homes and stocks. Without a substitute for American buying, any global revival will be feeble, because the United States needs export-led growth and other countries must somehow offset their lost sales to our market. Read more at the Washington Post...
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Green Shoots or Scorched Earth?

INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE, 8/14/2009, Bulletins From Clunkerville by Mike Whitney - Is the economy really recovering or is it all just hype? ∴ Here's what we know. The Fed doesn't drop rates to zero unless its facing a 5 alarm fire and needs to pull out all the stops. The idea is to flood the markets with liquidity in order to avoid a complete financial meltdown. It's a last-ditch maneuver and the Fed does not take it lightly. ∴ The Fed initiated its zero interest rate policy, ZIRP, eight months ago (December 16 2008) and hasn't raised rates since. In the meantime, Fed chair Ben Bernanke has pumped huge amounts of money into the financial system using thoroughly-untested and unconventional means. No one knows whether Bernanke can roll up his multi-trillion dollar lending facilities or not (and avoid Zimbabwe-like hyperinflation) because no one has ever created similar programs. It's all "make-it-up-as-you-go" policymaking. What we do know, however, is that the Fed intends to keep rates at rock-bottom for the foreseeable future, which means that the lights are all still blinking red. Read more at ICH... Read More......