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Is Obama's inheritance of the worst economy since the Great Depression a myth?

OBAMA: January 2009

Unemployment Rate: 7.6%

Misery Index: 7.73%

REAGAN: January 2001

Unemployment Rate: 7.5%

Misery Index: 19.33%

MISERY Index: Combined unemployment and inflation rates inherited by each President

Harry Truman: 13.63%

Dwight Eisenhower: 3.28%

John F. Kennedy: 8.31%

Lyndon Johnson: 7.02%

Richard Nixon: 7.80%

Gerald Ford: 16.36%

Jimmy Carter: 12.72%

Ronald Reagan: 19.33%

George H. W. Bush: 10.07%

Bill Clinton: 10.56%

George W. Bush: 7.93%

Barack Obama: 7.73%

All but Ike and LBJ inherited a greater misery index than Obama.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misery_index_(economi...

The economy was on the road to recovery before Obama became President.

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty...

The recession ended in June 2009, before the stimulus took effect.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/20/news/economy/reces...

5 Answers

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  • Favorite Answer

    Your links are right. One says on Jan 2, 2009, that the economy will improve in 2009 because of the impending stimulus. Another says that the recession ended in June 2009 because of the current stimulus. Stimulus works!

  • HG
    Lv 4
    9 years ago

    The economy started to tank in 2007 when the artificial housing bubble began to deflate. This was caused by:

    1.) Deregulating the banks (Clinton)

    2.) Sub-Prime Mortgages (Bush-era mortgage and private equity firms)

    3.) The practice by these firms of knowingly creating bad products, mortgage derivatives, and then insuring them against loss. (Bush-era)

    3.) Lack of oversight on Fannie May/Freddy Mac (Barney Frank)

    Going back nearly 20 years, every president shares some responsibility for the mess we're in. I do not feel that Obama has done a very good job, but blaming him alone for the mess we are in is naive.

  • Marcie
    Lv 4
    9 years ago

    When Bush left office the economy was losing jobs at a rate of 600,000 per month.

    Today it is just about even which is crappy but better than Bush.

  • ?
    Lv 5
    9 years ago

    or maybe obama did the right things from the start

    i cant believe this, republicans are now saying that the economy wasn't that bad after all

    what the he-l is their message the economy as bad, the economy wasn't that bad

    we want ore jobs, we want less debt

    they need to get a strait message

    so what now, are you republican in favor of bailouts? because that is essentially what kept us ok

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  • Ronald
    Lv 6
    9 years ago

    i guess that depends whether your employed now are not.everyones misery is relative to there own conditions.

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