Obama's The One? How About Obama's the 0.8

Recovery Bummer.

In a report entitled "Unchartered Depths," the Committee finds that "employment is now 5.0% below what it was at the start of the recession, 38 months ago. This compares to an average rise in employment of 3.7% over the same period in prior post-WWII recessions." [Emphasis added and do note he's not talking about the unemployment rate but total employment, that is, workforce as a fraction of total population -- ace]

On economic growth, real GDP has risen 0.8% over the 13 quarters since the recession began, compared to an average increase of 9.9% in past recoveries. From the beginning of the recession to April 2011, real personal income has grown just .9% compared to 9.4% for the same period in previous post 1960 recessions. [I do not know the exact definition of "real GDP" he means but I would guess it's the standard figure, less inflationary growth and probably less population growth, too. In any event, you can see the wide disparity between Obama's real GDP growth figure and the average real GDP growth in actual recoveries -- ace.]

The standard response from Obama apologists is that recession of 2008 and 2009 was different because, as former Clinton administration economist Robert Shapiro puts it, "this was a financial crisis, and these take longer to recover from." In fact, in most cases, the deeper the recession, the stronger the recovery to make up for lost ground.

That was what Ronald Reagan's critics said when the U.S. economy soared during 1983 and 1984 with quarterly growth numbers exceeding 7%. At the time, liberal Keynesians yawned and declared the good times nothing more than a normal snapback from the deep recession.

On the plus side, Obama reads the shit out of a TelePrompTer at 8.8% increase over most presidents in a post-recession economy.

Dean Vernon Wormer Comments:

Zero point eight. It's more than a little below par, Mr. Obama. IT STINKS! It's the lowest on campus. It's the lowest in Faber history!

Boy, I am not feeling well, to keep missing these references that are just there for the plucking.

I Was Told There Would Be No Math In This Presidency: Crossroads PAC, a Karl Rove joint, starts a big-money tv ad campaign on... the economy, stupid.

posted by Ace at 05:55 PM

| Access Comments